Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Autoprefixer VS Bootstrap

Compare Autoprefixer VS Bootstrap and see what are their differences

Autoprefixer logo Autoprefixer

autoprefixer - Parse CSS and add vendor prefixes to rules by Can I Use

Bootstrap logo Bootstrap

Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and JS for popular UI components and interactions
  • Autoprefixer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-01
  • Bootstrap Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-22

Autoprefixer features and specs

  • Automated CSS Vendor Prefixing
    Autoprefixer automatically adds vendor prefixes to CSS rules, ensuring compatibility with different browsers without manually writing prefixes.
  • Keep Up with Browser Updates
    Autoprefixer stays updated with the latest information about browser support, allowing developers to focus on writing standard CSS and not worry about changing requirements.
  • Configurable Browsing Target
    Developers can specify the target browsers and versions, making it possible to control the level of backward compatibility needed for a project.
  • Integrates with Build Tools
    It integrates smoothly with various build tools and task runners like webpack, Gulp, and Grunt, streamlining the development workflow.
  • Reduces File Size
    Autoprefixer only applies necessary prefixes based on specified browser support, which can help keep the CSS footprint small compared to manually adding excess prefixes.

Possible disadvantages of Autoprefixer

  • Potential Overhead
    There might be an initial setup time to properly configure Autoprefixer with the desired build tools and browser targets.
  • Dependence on Tools
    Using Autoprefixer requires integration into a build process or toolchain, which might not suit smaller projects or those without a build process.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers who are new to post-processing tools, understanding and correctly applying tool configurations might take some learning time.
  • Not a Silver Bullet
    While Autoprefixer handles vendor prefixing, it doesn't correct other CSS-related issues, which might still require manual adjustments and cross-browser testing.

Bootstrap features and specs

  • Responsive Design
    Bootstrap's grid system ensures that webpages are responsive and adapt to different screen sizes seamlessly.
  • Pre-designed Components
    Bootstrap comes with a variety of pre-designed components like buttons, forms, modals, and navigation bars that streamline the development process.
  • Cross-browser Compatibility
    Bootstrap ensures that your website will function correctly across different browsers, reducing the time spent on debugging issues related to browser inconsistencies.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The documentation is comprehensive and well-organized, making it easier for developers to understand and implement Bootstrap features quickly.
  • Community Support
    With a large and active community, finding help and resources related to Bootstrap development is relatively easy.
  • Customizable
    Bootstrap allows you to customize the default styles and components using Sass variables, making it adaptable to any project needs.
  • CDN Support
    Bootstrap can be included via Content Delivery Networks (CDN), which can help to speed up the initial load time of your web pages.

Possible disadvantages of Bootstrap

  • Uniform Look
    Websites built with Bootstrap often look similar because many developers use the default styles and components without customization.
  • Overhead
    Including the entire Bootstrap library can add unnecessary weight to your project if you only use a small fraction of its features.
  • Learning Curve
    For beginners, the extensive set of features and classes can be overwhelming and take some time to learn.
  • Dependency on jQuery
    Older versions of Bootstrap heavily rely on jQuery, which can be a disadvantage for projects that aim to minimize dependencies.
  • Specific Structure
    Bootstrap works best when you adhere to its predefined structure and classes, which can limit flexibility for more complex or unique designs.
  • Customization Challenges
    Deep customization can be difficult and time-consuming, especially if you need to override many default styles and behaviors.
  • Performance Issues
    Using a large number of Bootstrap components can lead to performance issues, particularly on lower-end devices.

Autoprefixer videos

Stop Worrying about Vendor Prefixes with Autoprefixer | XI to Eye vol 8

Bootstrap videos

Is Bootstrap Still Worth It? -- 1 Design, 2 Code Bases.

More videos:

  • Review - BOOTSTRAP Review | Best CSS Library ?
  • Review - Should you use Bootstrap?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Autoprefixer and Bootstrap)
CSS Framework
10 10%
90% 90
Developer Tools
3 3%
97% 97
Development Tools
14 14%
86% 86
Design Tools
4 4%
96% 96

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Autoprefixer and Bootstrap

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Bootstrap Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
Bootstrap alternatives are a suite of different tools and frameworks that web developers and designers employ for creating dynamic, responsive websites and applications. These tools, like Bootstrap itself, offer pre-written code for different elements of a website - from typography and buttons to navigation bars and image carousels - but each has its unique features and...
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
UIKit is a modular front-end framework like Bootstrap and a Bootstrap competitor designed to develop fast and powerful web interfaces. You can utilize it with HTML or JavaScript based on your preference. It offers built-in support for right-to-left languages and includes an extensive library of components. This framework like Bootstrap provides a convenient solution for...
Source: coursesity.com
9 Best Bootstrap Alternatives | Best Frontend Frameworks [2024]
The only downside it has as compared to Bootstrap and Foundation is it is only a CSS framework, which means no JavaScript. So you will have to write your own JavaScript or Jquery to toggle your dropdowns or perform other basic interactionhttps://bulma.io/s of the sort. Overall it is a great alternative to Bootstrap, which is also being updated very frequently.
Source: hackr.io
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
Bootstrap is one of the most popular CSS frameworks globally and received instant popularity because of its responsive design. It was also the first framework that gave priority to mobile devices. With Bootstrap, there is no need for a separate design for mobile viewing. You just need to add the necessary classes, and the website will adapt to the screen size based on the...
Source: hackr.io
15 Best CSS Frameworks: Professional Bootstrap and Foundation Alternatives
This is why Bootstrap is by far the most popular framework on the market. All developers have heard of Bootstrap, and more than 80% of them say they are happy using it.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bootstrap seems to be a lot more popular than Autoprefixer. While we know about 363 links to Bootstrap, we've tracked only 22 mentions of Autoprefixer. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Autoprefixer mentions (22)

  • Exploring Tailwind Oxide
    Unlike other frameworks, you can’t just npm install and write code. Take one look at the Tailwind CSS installation page and before you even begin, you need to decide if you want to install it with the CLI or as a PostCSS plugin. Wait, you know CSS, but what is PostCSS? Then, you keep reading and you see something about CSS preprocessor and you might wonder what that is too. Then, you see that you not only have to... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Native CSS nesting now supported by all major browsers!
    Mixins - This allows you to reuse a set of rules inside another rule. I never really found a good use case for mixins. They were available to me when I was still using Bootstrap with LESS, but using them seemed a little complex, because you always need to look up what they do and the resulting CSS output is not always clear. If you're thinking of using them for browser prefixes (e.g. -webkit-transform), I would... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • 23 of the best Eleventy Themes (Starters) for 2023
    Simple, fast, and a little bit opinionated, Eleventy Plus Vite features Eleventy 2.0.0-canary, the new Eleventy 2.0 Dev Server with live reload, Vite 3.0 as Middleware in Eleventy Dev Server (using eleventy-plugin-vite), build output post-processing by Vite (with Rollup), CSS/Sass post-processing with PostCSS including Autoprefixer and cssnano, a custom CSS/Sass structure, basic fluid typography based on Utopia,... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • The Complete Guide for Setting Up React App from Scratch (feat. TypeScript)
    w/ postcss-preset-env(v7.8.3): convert modern CSS into something most browsers can understand, determining the polyfills you need based on your targeted browsers or runtime environments. It takes the support data that comes from MDN and Can I Use and determine from a browserlist whether those transformations are needed. It also packs Autoprefixer within and shares the list with it, so prefixes are only applied... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • How do I deal with CSS for Safari?
    As others have said, you need to normalize. Also, you may need something like autoprefixer if you're using styles that have different vendor prefixes. https://github.com/postcss/autoprefixer. Source: over 2 years ago
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Bootstrap mentions (363)

  • Have I Been Pwned 2.0 is Now Live
    Not in the so distant past, when Bootstrapped themes were becoming the face of the Internet, a new framework came to town — TailwindCSS. The smart thing they did was introduced the framework with a few brilliant template and a lot of styled components. I bought the initial copy and does a lot of people. Those templates, TailwindUI.com (now TailwindCSS.com/plus)[1] became the gradien-y, dark-ish, glow-y design you... - Source: Hacker News / 18 days ago
  • How to Build a Blog with Laravel (& Send Slack Notifications)
    This will show the posts passed from the controller in a row of cards. Please notice that you are linking to Bootstrap’s CDN for easy styling. If there are no posts, a message on a card saying that there are no posts will be shown. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Overengineered Anchor Links
    Yeah, good point. It's kinda common to have a big footer. Examples: https://getbootstrap.com/, https://stake.us/ (casino) That way on desktop you could get away with a 50vh margin under the content and then another 50vh for the footer. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • The 3 Best Python Frameworks To Build UIs for AI Apps
    FastHTML allows developers to build modern web applications entirely in Python without touching JavaScript or React. As its name implies, it is quicker to begin with FastHTML. However, it does not have pre-built UI components and styling. Getting the best out of this framework requires the knowledge of HTMX and UI styling using CSS libraries like Tailwind and Bootstrap. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Tailwind CSS vs. Bootstrap: Which Framework is Better for Your Project?
    Bootstrap is one of the oldest and most established CSS frameworks, originally developed by Twitter in 2011. It takes a component-based approach to web development, providing a comprehensive collection of ready-to-use UI elements and prebuilt components. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Autoprefixer and Bootstrap, you can also consider the following products

PostCSS - Increase code readability. Add vendor prefixes to CSS rules using values from Can I Use. Autoprefixer will use the data based on current browser popularity and property support to apply prefixes for you.

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

Sass - Syntatically Awesome Style Sheets

Materialize CSS - A modern responsive front-end framework based on Material Design

Less - Less extends CSS with dynamic behavior such as variables, mixins, operations and functions. Less runs on both the server-side (with Node. js and Rhino) or client-side (modern browsers only).

Bulma - Bulma is an open source CSS framework based on Flexbox and built with Sass. It's 100% responsive, fully modular, and available for free.