Best UI libraries for React

If you don’t like writing CSS, you can use a UI library that does all the hard work for you. But there are a lot of options. So In this article, I will compare the best React UI libraries and tell you which one is the best. Let’s begin!

Contents

• React-Bootstrap
  • Example
  • Pros
  • Cons
• MUI (Material UI)
  • Example
  • Pros
  • Cons
• Ant Design
  • Example
  • Pros
  • Cons
• Chakra UI
  • Example
    • Pros
    • Cons
• NextUI
  • Example
  • Pros
  • Cons
• Blueprint
  • Example
  • Pros
  • Cons
• Conclusion

React-Bootstrap

Almost every dev knows bootstrap because of its large community. React-bootstrap is based on the Bootstrap CSS framework which is converted into react components.

Example

So If I needed to add a button, I can import and use it like this.

import Button from 'react-bootstrap/Button';

function Home() {
	return <Button variant="primary">Primary</Button>;
}

Pros

• High community Support
• Lots of components
• Free templates
• Maintained

Cons

• Design looks the same (You’ve seen that focus ring many times)

MUI (Material UI)

If you like Material Design (Like me) this library is the best.

Example

Adding a simple button would be like this:

import Button from '@mui/material/Button';

function Home() {
	return <Button variant="text">Text button!</Button>;
}

Pros

• Community is good
• Good UI components
• Provides utilities
• Good documentation
• Typescript support
• Highly Customizable

Cons

• If you don’t like material design, things may not be good

Ant Design

Ant design is a minimalistic component library for creating Enterprise level products.

Example

import { Button } from 'antd';

const App = () => <Button>Default Button</Button>;

Pros

• Minimalistic design
• Supports other JS frameworks
• Supports TypeScript

Cons

• Most of the templates are in Chinese

Chakra UI

Chakra UI is a mix of Tailwind CSS and Bootstrap. Which we can use to create beautiful sites.

Example

import { Button } from '@chakra-ui/react';

function Home() {
	return <Button colorScheme="blue">Button</Button>;
}

Pros

• Elegant UI
• Lots of Components
• Easy to use
• Highly Customizable
• Provides utilities
• Typescript support

Cons

There are no cons to this library.

NextUI

NextUI is a modern-looking UI library that looks very attractive. It is inspired by Material Design and other popular UI libraries.

Example

import { Button } from '@nextui-org/react';

function Home() {
	return <Button>Default</Button>;
}

Pros

• Modern-looking UI
• Provides utilities
• Typescript support

Cons

• Still a work in progress
• Small community
• Components look laggy because they have lots of animations

Blueprint

Blueprint is a UI library for creating sketchy and simple websites.

Example

import { Button } from '@blueprintjs/core';

function Home() {
	return <Button>Default</Button>;
}

Pros

• Nice looking UI
• Provides utilities
• Typescript support

Cons

• Documentation is confusing

Conclusion

Now that you have a good understanding of the best UI libraries, here is what you choose.

• React-Bootstrap - You like bootstrap and you don’t mind the design being not unique.
• MUI - You like Material Design and creating large websites.
• Ant Design - You are a minimalist and you like to create simple websites.
• Chakra UI - You like Boostrap’s design and Tailwind’s power.
• NextUI - You like web3 and dark websites.
• Blueprint - You like sketchy websites.