Angular Material vs Materialize
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
Official Angular UI component library (Material Design) plus tools for building custom components.
Open source · MIT
A CSS framework that gives web pages ready-made styled parts based on Google's Material Design.
The short answer
Choose Angular Material if you need…
- Angular developers who want ready-made, accessible UI components
- Teams already following Material Design guidelines
- Developers building custom components who need common interaction logic from the CDK
- Projects that want components maintained alongside the Angular framework
Choose Materialize if you need…
- Developers building a web page or app who want a Material Design look quickly
- Teams that want a ready-made component set instead of custom styling
- Developers who need broad older-browser support, since the README lists IE 11+
Side-by-side
| Angular Material | Materialize | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 25k | 38.8k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Beginner |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 3 months ago |
What each one is
Angular Material
This is the official set of UI building blocks for Angular, the web framework from Google. It includes Material Design components such as those for common interface parts, and a toolkit (the CDK) for building your own custom components with shared interaction patterns. It is split into several npm packages, including @angular/aria for accessible headless directives and @angular/google-maps and @angular/youtube-player for embedding those services.
Materialize
Materialize is a free, open-source CSS framework built on Material Design, Google's visual design system. It provides pre-styled components and layout tools so you can build web pages that look consistent without writing all the styling yourself. It is installed by download, npm, or a CDN link and is documented on its website.
Best for
Angular Material
- Angular developers who want ready-made, accessible UI components
- Teams already following Material Design guidelines
- Developers building custom components who need common interaction logic from the CDK
- Projects that want components maintained alongside the Angular framework
Materialize
- Developers building a web page or app who want a Material Design look quickly
- Teams that want a ready-made component set instead of custom styling
- Developers who need broad older-browser support, since the README lists IE 11+
Strengths
Angular Material
- Official project maintained by the Angular team at Google
- Stated goals include accessibility, internationalization, and thorough unit and integration testing
- Released under the MIT license with a clear support policy tied to Angular's release schedule
Materialize
- Free and MIT-licensed, so it can be used in commercial work
- Documented on an official site with a getting-started guide
- Available through several channels: direct download, npm, cdnjs, and Git clone
Not ideal for
Angular Material
- Projects not using Angular, since these packages are built specifically for it
- Teams that need a non-Material visual style without customization effort, because the components are designed within Material Design bounds
- Beginners with no Angular experience, who should learn the framework first
Materialize
- Projects that need a distinctive custom look, because the framework imposes Material Design styling
- Anyone wanting a non-coding design tool; this is a code library
- Projects needing the newest browser features only, since the README lists older browser minimums that may not match modern needs
Trade-offs
Angular Material
- Only useful inside Angular projects
- Customization is described as working within the bounds of the Material Design specification
- README does not detail specific components or APIs; see the documentation site for those
Materialize
- The README marks the Bower install method as deprecated
- The README mentions a beta branch alongside the stable 1.0.0 release, so users must choose a version carefully
- The README does not describe the full list of components in detail, so fit should be checked in the docs
Getting started
Angular Material
Install Angular Material and CDK (from the Getting Started guide link; exact command not in README)
git clone https://github.com/angular/componentsMaterialize
Install with npm
npm install materialize-cssClone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize.gitFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Angular Material and Materialize?
Angular Material: Official Angular UI component library (Material Design) plus tools for building custom components. Materialize: A CSS framework that gives web pages ready-made styled parts based on Google's Material Design. Angular Material suits angular developers who want ready-made, accessible ui components, while Materialize suits developers building a web page or app who want a material design look quickly.
Are Angular Material and Materialize free?
Angular Material: Free and open source. Materialize: Free and open source.
Which is easier to set up, Angular Material or Materialize?
Materialize is easier to get started with (rated beginner); Angular Material is rated intermediate and usually needs more setup.
Is Angular Material or Materialize more popular?
Materialize has more GitHub stars (38.8k) than Angular Material (25k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Angular Material and Materialize?
Other options people compare them with include Material, Material Design In XAML Toolkit, Bootstrap, Bulma, 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.