How do you choose a component library for your project?

Hi there 👋🏻

Building user interfaces has never been easier, the abundance of beautifully crafted component libraries has made it incredibly effortless to build high-quality, rich and interactive user interfaces in a very speedy manner.

But with all the choices that are available out there, how do you choose? Is it the design, the development experience, the documentation? Or maybe a whole bunch of reasons and factors you take into consideration? 🤔

Drop your reasons in the comments section!

Comments

[vigneshiyergithub]

Couple of main decision influencing points:

• Is the component covering all my use-cases, functionality wise?
• Is it easily customisable?

Ideally I would like component to own's it primitive responsibility and my work only should be to decide where to use and how it should look.

Headless UI architecture fits perfectly here. ShadCN UI is a great example of this. You can literally have any design incorporated with those components while preserving it's underlying functionality

[Ben Halpern]

I think depending on the answers on customizability, I think a good question is always "am I okay with the tradeoffs of not being able to customize it?"

Obviously a lot of the time it's not just you, but the team/product/company — and I think in this case over-communicating the trade-offs is key.

[Sohail SJ | chakraframer.com]

Hey there! 👋🏻 Building interfaces has become so easy with today’s component libraries. But with all the choices out there, how do you pick the right one? Here’s my quick guide on what I usually consider:

1. Budget 💸: If there’s room in the budget, Tailwind CSS offers incredible customization. On a tight budget, though, Bootstrap and Chakra UI are excellent picks with ready-to-use design systems.
2. SEO 🌐: For SEO-friendly setups, Tailwind, plain CSS, or SASS are great options. Libraries like Chakra UI and PrimeReact are feature-rich but may be a bit less optimized for SEO.
3. Speed 🚀: Tailwind CSS is known for speed, but if you need something with fast setup and effective performance, Chakra UI is super efficient for building interfaces quickly.
4. Component Variety 🧩: For projects that need tons of components (think dashboards or control panels), PrimeReact is a top choice. It offers an extensive component library with both free and paid themes for added customization.
5. Customization 🎨: If you need full control over the design, Tailwind CSS is highly customizable, perfect for achieving unique styling while staying consistent with your design system.
6. Developer Experience & Docs 📚: A smooth developer experience and great documentation save so much time. Plus, a strong community provides fantastic support and resources.

Keynotes on Selection:

• Effective and fast: Chakra UI
• Highly Customized: Tailwind CSS
• Admin/Control Panels: PrimeReact with both free and paid themes

[@whereisthebug]

It's not always an easy task.

First of all, I prioritize libraries that are backed by trusted people or relevant organizations, over those made by some random person. I also look for good documentation!

Another factor, for me, is popularity. If many people use it, some of them probably talked about problems and solutions they had.

[Alex]

Documentation certainly important, look on how many people using it, can loosely measure by amount of stars on GitHub repo, also look on amount of open issues and how fast they get resolved.
Look for Typescript usage, TS types make life easier, if main repo uses plain JS, types will be out of sync.
Look for tests, if there any complex enough functionality, if it's not just styling.

Can take into account review from people whose expertise you respect.

And how new library is, if library existed for a few years, most of questions about them already answered, can find articles as well.

[gleamso]

As solo player, choosing the right component library was crucial. Here's my decision process:

Development Speed vs. Customization
I went with shadcn/ui because it offers a unique "copy-paste" approach and import via CLI feature - you own the components and can modify them freely. This gives me:

• Quick start with enough beautiful, accessible components
• Full control over customization
• No vendor lock-in

Bundle Size Consideration
Since each component is copied into your project, you only include what you use.

Developer Experience
A few things that made shadcn/ui stand out:

• TypeScript-first approach
• Radix UI primitives for accessibility
• Great documentation

Design System Flexibility
The Tailwind + CSS Variables approach makes it easy to:

• Maintain consistent theming
• Create variations quickly
• Match your brand identity

If you need an all-in-one solution with official support, I guess MUI or Chakra might be better choices.

[zoujia]

Here are my considerations: 😄

1. Detailed documentation
2. Well-designed APIs and customisable
3. Demos for various common scenarios
4. Stable update frequency
5. Good UI & UE (if it's a UI lib)

[ANIRUDDHA ADAK]

Absolutely incredible! 😻.

[Rasheed K Mozaffar]

Glad you found it helpful!