Radix UI
Unstyled, accessible React component primitives for building your own design system.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 19.4knpm a week 91M
Tailwind CSS alternatives
9 tools you can use instead of Tailwind CSS, ranked by live GitHub stars and npm downloads. Radix UI, shadcn/ui and Material UI are the most used. Stats updated 16 hours ago.
When Tailwind CSS is not a good fit
Tailwind CSS is an open source, utility-first CSS framework that lets developers style elements by composing small utility classes directly in their markup, instead of writing separate CSS files. It remains free and MIT-licensed. On 9 September 2026 Shopify acquired Tailwind Labs, the company behind it; Tailwind CSS itself is unaffected by the acquisition, though the paid Tailwind Plus component library closed to new customers as part of the change.
It is a weaker choice for:
- Teams that want a component library with prebuilt, ready-to-use UI out of the box, since Tailwind is a styling framework, not a component set
- Developers who strongly prefer separating markup and styles rather than utility classes in HTML
- Anyone hoping to buy new Tailwind Plus components, since that product is closed to new customers
The alternatives
Most used first.
Tailwind CSS vs Radix UI
shadcn/ui
Copy-paste, customizable UI components built with Tailwind CSS, not installed as a package.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 125knpm a week 13M
Material UI
React component library implementing Google's Material Design, with free core and paid MUI X components.
Pricing FreemiumPaid from $299 a developer a year for MUI X ProOpen source yesStars 99.1knpm a week 12M
Ant Design
Enterprise-focused React component library and design system, maintained by Alibaba's Ant Group.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 99.7knpm a week 4.4M
Headless UI
Unstyled, accessible UI components from the Tailwind CSS team, for React and Vue.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 28.8knpm a week 8.7M
Mantine
Full-featured, styled React component library with over 100 components and hooks.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 31.8knpm a week 3.2M
Chakra UI
Styled, accessible React component library with a simple, composable styling API.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 40.7knpm a week 2M
DaisyUI
Component class plugin for Tailwind CSS, adding semantic component names like btn and card.
Pricing FreemiumOpen source yesStars 42.5knpm a week 1.2M
Ant Design Pro
Free, open source React boilerplate for enterprise admin dashboards, built on Ant Design.
Pricing Open sourceOpen source yesStars 38.8knpm a week 146k
Tailwind CSS and its alternatives, side by side
| Tool | Pricing | Free plan | Paid from | Open source | GitHub stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tailwind CSS | Freemium | Yes, Tailwind CSS itself is completely free and open source | Tailwind Plus (paid components/templates) is closed to new customers as of the Shopify acquisition | Yes, MIT | 97.8k |
| Radix UI | Open source | Yes, Radix UI is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 19.4k |
| shadcn/ui | Open source | Yes, shadcn/ui is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 125k |
| Material UI | Freemium | Yes: MUI Core's 40+ components are free and open source | $299 a developer a year for MUI X Pro | Yes, MIT (MUI Core); MUI X components are proprietary on paid tiers | 99.1k |
| Ant Design | Open source | Yes, Ant Design is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 99.7k |
| Headless UI | Open source | Yes, Headless UI is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 28.8k |
| Mantine | Open source | Yes, Mantine and Mantine UI are both free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 31.8k |
| Chakra UI | Open source | Yes, Chakra UI is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 40.7k |
| DaisyUI | Freemium | Yes, the core DaisyUI plugin is completely free | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 42.5k |
| Ant Design Pro | Open source | Yes, completely free and open source | Not listed | Yes, MIT | 38.8k |
Pricing facts come from each tool's official pricing page, with the checked date on the tool's own page.
Questions
What is the most popular alternative to Tailwind CSS?
By GitHub stars, Radix UI is the most used alternative to Tailwind CSS listed on ScratchDB, with 19.4k stars.
Which Tailwind CSS alternatives are open source?
Radix UI, shadcn/ui, Material UI, Ant Design, Headless UI, Mantine, Chakra UI, DaisyUI and Ant Design Pro are open source.
Which Tailwind CSS alternatives have a free plan?
Radix UI, shadcn/ui, Material UI, Ant Design, Headless UI, Mantine, Chakra UI, DaisyUI and Ant Design Pro have a free plan. The table on this page shows what each one includes.