Base UI vs shadcn/ui
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
Unstyled, accessible React UI components you style yourself.
Open source · MIT
Copy-in React UI components you customize as your own code, built on Tailwind CSS.
The short answer
Choose Base UI if you need…
- React developers who want accessible components without a fixed visual style
- Teams building a custom design system
- Projects that already have their own CSS or styling approach
Choose shadcn/ui if you need…
- Developers building React or Next.js interfaces who want full control over component code
- Teams that want a consistent design system they can change freely
- Designers working with developers who need components that match a custom look
- Projects already using Tailwind CSS, which the topics list suggests is the styling base
Side-by-side
| Base UI | shadcn/ui | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 11.3k | 127k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | See the README |
| Main language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
Base UI
Base UI is a library of user interface components for React, such as the building blocks for menus, dialogs and similar controls. It handles structure, behavior and accessibility but ships with no visual styling, so developers can make the components match their own design. It is aimed at teams building their own design systems or web apps.
shadcn/ui
shadcn/ui is a collection of UI components (buttons, forms and similar pieces) that you add to your own project as source code rather than installing as a locked package. You can then edit, extend and restyle them. The README describes it as a starting point for building your own component library.
Best for
Base UI
- React developers who want accessible components without a fixed visual style
- Teams building a custom design system
- Projects that already have their own CSS or styling approach
shadcn/ui
- Developers building React or Next.js interfaces who want full control over component code
- Teams that want a consistent design system they can change freely
- Designers working with developers who need components that match a custom look
- Projects already using Tailwind CSS, which the topics list suggests is the styling base
Strengths
Base UI
- Built by the team behind Radix, Floating UI and Material UI, per the README
- Unstyled, so visual design stays fully under your control
- Licensed under MIT
shadcn/ui
- Component code lives in your project, so you can change it without waiting on an upstream release
- The README states the components are open source and MIT licensed
- Large community interest, with over 120,000 stars on GitHub
Not ideal for
Base UI
- People who want a ready-made look out of the box, since the components are unstyled and need styling work (the README describes them as unstyled)
- Non-React projects, since the README describes a React component library
shadcn/ui
- People who want a finished, unstyled-free app or website template; this is a set of building blocks
- Developers who do not use React, since the topics point to a React-focused stack
- Beginners without basic web development knowledge, as adapting components requires reading code
Trade-offs
Base UI
- Requires you to supply all styling yourself
- Documentation and details live on an external site, so the README alone gives limited specifics
- The README is truncated, so some details could not be verified
shadcn/ui
- Because you own the code, you are responsible for updating components yourself
- The README provided is short, so detailed setup and feature information lives on the external docs site
- Relies on a specific stack (React and Tailwind) as indicated by the topics, which limits use elsewhere
Getting started
shadcn/ui
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/shadcn-ui/uiFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Base UI and shadcn/ui?
Base UI: Unstyled, accessible React UI components you style yourself. shadcn/ui: Copy-in React UI components you customize as your own code, built on Tailwind CSS. Base UI suits react developers who want accessible components without a fixed visual style, while shadcn/ui suits developers building react or next.js interfaces who want full control over component code.
Are Base UI and shadcn/ui free?
Base UI: Free and open source. shadcn/ui: Free and open source.
Is Base UI or shadcn/ui more popular?
shadcn/ui has more GitHub stars (127k) than Base UI (11.3k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Base UI and shadcn/ui?
Other options people compare them with include Headless UI, HyperUI, BootstrapVue, Chakra UI, Material UI.
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.