dnd-kit vs React-Grid-Layout
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 toolkit for building drag and drop interfaces on the web, with adapters for several frameworks.
Open source · MIT
A React component library for draggable, resizable grid layouts with responsive breakpoints.
The short answer
Choose dnd-kit if you need…
- Developers building sortable lists or grids in a React, Vue, Svelte, or Solid app
- Teams that want keyboard and screen reader support built into drag and drop
- Developers who need to customize sensors, collision detection, or animations
- Projects that want a lightweight, MIT-licensed drag and drop dependency
Choose React-Grid-Layout if you need…
- React developers building dashboards with movable panels
- Teams migrating from v1 who can use the legacy wrapper for a smoother transition
- Projects that need responsive layouts with different arrangements at different screen widths
- Developers who want TypeScript types included with the library
Side-by-side
| dnd-kit | React-Grid-Layout | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 17.8k | 22.5k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last code update | 5 days ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
dnd-kit
dnd-kit is a set of JavaScript packages that let developers add drag and drop to web pages and apps. It has a framework-agnostic core and a DOM layer, plus thin adapters for React, Vue, Svelte, and SolidJS, with plain JavaScript also supported. It is used to build things like sortable lists, grids, and multi-container layouts.
React-Grid-Layout
React-Grid-Layout is a grid layout system for React, similar in purpose to Packery or Gridster, that lets users drag and resize items within a grid. It is responsive and supports breakpoints, where layouts can be supplied by the developer or generated automatically. It is React-only and does not require jQuery.
Best for
dnd-kit
- Developers building sortable lists or grids in a React, Vue, Svelte, or Solid app
- Teams that want keyboard and screen reader support built into drag and drop
- Developers who need to customize sensors, collision detection, or animations
- Projects that want a lightweight, MIT-licensed drag and drop dependency
React-Grid-Layout
- React developers building dashboards with movable panels
- Teams migrating from v1 who can use the legacy wrapper for a smoother transition
- Projects that need responsive layouts with different arrangements at different screen widths
- Developers who want TypeScript types included with the library
Strengths
dnd-kit
- Supports pointer, mouse, touch, and keyboard input out of the box
- Framework-agnostic core with adapters for several popular frameworks
- Ships with default ARIA attributes and customizable screen reader instructions
React-Grid-Layout
- Supports responsive breakpoints, with layouts provided by the user or autogenerated
- Written in TypeScript with its own types in v2, and no jQuery dependency
- Includes many demos covering common patterns such as static items, bounded layouts, and min/max sizes
Not ideal for
dnd-kit
- Non-programmers looking for a ready-made tool; it is a code library that must be integrated into a project
- Projects that only need simple file upload drop zones, since the README focuses on element dragging and does not cover that case
React-Grid-Layout
- Non-React projects, since the library is React-only
- Developers who need a simple static grid and not drag or resize behavior, where plain CSS grid is likely sufficient
- Teams that cannot update to a v2 API with a required width prop without reworking existing code
Trade-offs
dnd-kit
- As a toolkit, it requires writing code and understanding its layered package structure
- The README is truncated and points to external docs for full API details, so this entry relies on limited information
React-Grid-Layout
- v2 has breaking changes, including a required width prop and a removed UMD bundle, so upgrading takes effort
- Requires a bundler such as Vite, webpack, or esbuild since the UMD build was removed
- Drag start now fires after 3px of movement rather than on mousedown, which may change existing behavior
Getting started
dnd-kit
Clone the repository (contributors)
git clone https://github.com/clauderic/dnd-kitInstall dependencies (monorepo, from README)
bun installReact-Grid-Layout
Install from npm
npm install react-grid-layoutFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between dnd-kit and React-Grid-Layout?
dnd-kit: A toolkit for building drag and drop interfaces on the web, with adapters for several frameworks. React-Grid-Layout: A React component library for draggable, resizable grid layouts with responsive breakpoints. dnd-kit suits developers building sortable lists or grids in a react, vue, svelte, or solid app, while React-Grid-Layout suits react developers building dashboards with movable panels.
Are dnd-kit and React-Grid-Layout free?
dnd-kit: Free and open source. React-Grid-Layout: Free and open source.
Is dnd-kit or React-Grid-Layout more popular?
React-Grid-Layout has more GitHub stars (22.5k) than dnd-kit (17.8k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to dnd-kit and React-Grid-Layout?
Other options people compare them with include React DnD, interact.js, Sortable, Muuri, Puck.
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.