Ant Design Pro vs react-admin
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A React starter template with admin-style pages built on Ant Design.
Open source · MIT
A TypeScript/React framework for building admin dashboards on top of REST or GraphQL APIs.
The short answer
Choose Ant Design Pro if you need…
- Developers building internal admin dashboards or back-office tools in React
- Teams who want to start from Ant Design components and page templates
- Developers who want a mock data setup for building screens before a backend exists
- Teams that want a starting point with built-in tests and a lint workflow
Choose react-admin if you need…
- Developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools on top of an existing API
- Teams already using React who want standard CRUD screens without writing everything from scratch
- Projects that want TypeScript support but can also be written in plain JavaScript
- Developers who want to plug in a data provider for a specific backend
Side-by-side
| Ant Design Pro | react-admin | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Framework | Framework |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 38.9k | 27k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last code update | 8 days ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
Ant Design Pro
Ant Design Pro is a starter project for building enterprise web applications in React and TypeScript. It comes with ready-made page templates such as dashboards, forms, lists, profiles, and login screens, built on the Ant Design component library. Developers use it as a starting point so they do not have to set up the layout, routing, and common pages from scratch.
react-admin
React-admin is a frontend framework for building single-page admin applications that run in the browser. It connects to existing REST or GraphQL APIs and provides ready-made components for lists, edit forms, authentication, and similar pieces. It uses Material Design by default, and its components can be replaced when you need something different.
Best for
Ant Design Pro
- Developers building internal admin dashboards or back-office tools in React
- Teams who want to start from Ant Design components and page templates
- Developers who want a mock data setup for building screens before a backend exists
- Teams that want a starting point with built-in tests and a lint workflow
react-admin
- Developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools on top of an existing API
- Teams already using React who want standard CRUD screens without writing everything from scratch
- Projects that want TypeScript support but can also be written in plain JavaScript
- Developers who want to plug in a data provider for a specific backend
Strengths
Ant Design Pro
- Ships with many common enterprise page templates, so the starting layout is largely done
- Built on Ant Design and Umi Max, with TypeScript throughout
- Includes mock development, i18n, and unit and e2e test setup as described in the README
react-admin
- Backend agnostic: the README lists more than 45 data provider adapters for REST and GraphQL
- Built from loosely coupled components and hooks, so parts can be replaced individually
- Comes with official examples, documentation, a tutorial, and an active community on Discord and StackOverflow
Not ideal for
Ant Design Pro
- People who are not comfortable with React, TypeScript, or the command line, since setup and customization assume developer skills
- Projects that do not use Ant Design or React, because the template is built around both
- Teams that need very small static sites, since the template ships with a large set of pages and dependencies
react-admin
- Non-developers looking for a finished admin tool they can use without coding, since it is a framework that must be built into an app
- Projects that do not use React, because the framework is built on React
- Public-facing consumer websites, since it is designed for admin-style interfaces
Trade-offs
Ant Design Pro
- The README is short on detail for each template, so you will need to read the code and docs to learn how pieces fit together
- The simple-version command deletes files permanently and cannot be undone
- Targets modern browsers only, as listed in the README
react-admin
- Requires working knowledge of React and a build setup; not suited to people who only want a configuration-based tool
- Default look is Material Design, so a different visual style takes extra customization work, as the README notes
Getting started
Ant Design Pro
Clone the repository
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/ant-design/ant-design-pro.git myappEnter the project folder
cd myappreact-admin
Install react-admin from npm
npm install react-adminFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ant Design Pro and react-admin?
Ant Design Pro: A React starter template with admin-style pages built on Ant Design. react-admin: A TypeScript/React framework for building admin dashboards on top of REST or GraphQL APIs. Ant Design Pro suits developers building internal admin dashboards or back-office tools in react, while react-admin suits developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools on top of an existing api.
Are Ant Design Pro and react-admin free?
Ant Design Pro: Free and open source. react-admin: Free and open source.
Is Ant Design Pro or react-admin more popular?
Ant Design Pro has more GitHub stars (38.9k) than react-admin (27k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Ant Design Pro and react-admin?
Other options people compare them with include refine, Tabler, go-admin, ngx-admin, umi.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.