SoybeanAdmin vs vue-admin-template
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 Vue 3 admin dashboard template with TypeScript, Vite, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS.
Open source · MIT
A minimal Vue admin dashboard starter with Element UI, axios, and lint setup.
The short answer
Choose SoybeanAdmin if you need…
- Developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with Vue 3
- Teams that want TypeScript, linting and a monorepo structure already configured
- Developers who want to learn a modern Vue stack through a working example
- Projects that need both static and backend-driven permission routing
Choose vue-admin-template if you need…
- Developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in Vue
- Teams already familiar with Vue and Element UI
- People who want a small base project to extend with their own pages and logic
Side-by-side
| SoybeanAdmin | vue-admin-template | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 15.2k | 20.4k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Clone and build from source |
| Main language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last code update | 16 days ago | 3 years ago |
What each one is
SoybeanAdmin
SoybeanAdmin is a starter template for building back-office admin panels, the kind of web app used to manage users, data and settings. It is built on Vue 3, Vite, TypeScript, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS, and includes layouts, themes, internationalization, automatic file-based routing, and sample pages such as 403, 404 and 500. Developers use it as a ready-made starting point so they do not have to set up these pieces themselves.
vue-admin-template
This is a starter template for building admin dashboards with Vue. It bundles Element UI components, axios for calling servers, icon fonts, and lint checks so you do not have to wire these up yourself. The README describes it as minimal, so it is meant to be a clean base rather than a finished product.
Best for
SoybeanAdmin
- Developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with Vue 3
- Teams that want TypeScript, linting and a monorepo structure already configured
- Developers who want to learn a modern Vue stack through a working example
- Projects that need both static and backend-driven permission routing
vue-admin-template
- Developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in Vue
- Teams already familiar with Vue and Element UI
- People who want a small base project to extend with their own pages and logic
Strengths
SoybeanAdmin
- Uses a current, widely used front-end stack with TypeScript support
- Includes many ready-made pages, layouts and tooling such as linting and a command-line helper
- Has a large community, with about 15,000 GitHub stars and a MIT license
vue-admin-template
- Simple, small starting point with Element UI, axios, and lint already set up
- Has a live demo and documentation linked from the README
- MIT licensed, so it can be used in commercial work
Not ideal for
SoybeanAdmin
- Non-developers looking for a finished tool to install and use without coding; it is a template to build from
- Teams on Vue 2 or React, since this is a Vue 3 project (a React version exists separately)
- Projects that need the 2.x line long-term, since the README says 2.3 is the last maintained major version and new features are going into 3.0
vue-admin-template
- Non-developers who need a ready-made dashboard with no coding (the README assumes you run npm commands and edit code)
- Projects that need TypeScript out of the box (the README points to a separate TypeScript template instead)
- Projects needing built-in role-based route permissions in this branch (the README says that lives in a separate permission-control branch)
Trade-offs
SoybeanAdmin
- The README says the 2.x line is ending maintenance and 3.0 is still in development, so the project's future direction is changing
- Requires pnpm for installs; npm and yarn are discouraged by the README
- Documentation is primarily in Chinese; the English README is a separate file and was not reviewed here
vue-admin-template
- The README describes it as minimal, so you will add most features yourself
- The README notes the current version uses vue-cli and an older branch is needed for the non-vue-cli version
- Browser support is listed as IE10+ and recent browser versions, which may matter for modern tooling choices
Getting started
SoybeanAdmin
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/soybeanjs/soybean-admin.gitInstall dependencies
pnpm ivue-admin-template
Clone the project
git clone https://github.com/PanJiaChen/vue-admin-template.gitEnter the project directory
cd vue-admin-templateFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between SoybeanAdmin and vue-admin-template?
SoybeanAdmin: A Vue 3 admin dashboard template with TypeScript, Vite, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS. vue-admin-template: A minimal Vue admin dashboard starter with Element UI, axios, and lint setup. SoybeanAdmin suits developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with vue 3, while vue-admin-template suits developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in vue.
Are SoybeanAdmin and vue-admin-template free?
SoybeanAdmin: Free and open source. vue-admin-template: Free and open source.
Is SoybeanAdmin or vue-admin-template more popular?
vue-admin-template has more GitHub stars (20.4k) than SoybeanAdmin (15.2k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to SoybeanAdmin and vue-admin-template?
Other options people compare them with include Vben Admin, Vue Admin Better, VueUse, Formily, AdminLTE.
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.