Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Bootstrap VS Bootswatch

Compare Bootstrap VS Bootswatch and see what are their differences

Bootstrap logo Bootstrap

Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and JS for popular UI components and interactions

Bootswatch logo Bootswatch

Free themes for Bootstrap
  • Bootstrap Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-22
  • Bootswatch Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-01

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.

Bootswatch features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    Bootswatch themes can be easily integrated into Bootstrap projects, allowing developers to quickly switch themes without extensive configuration changes.
  • Variety of Themes
    Bootswatch offers a wide range of themes to choose from, providing flexibility and a variety of design options for different project needs.
  • Free and Open Source
    All themes provided by Bootswatch are free to use and open-source, making it accessible for developers without cost concerns.
  • Consistent Updates
    Bootswatch is regularly updated in line with Bootstrap versions, ensuring compatibility and access to the latest features and bug fixes.
  • Customization
    While Bootswatch provides predefined themes, they are also customizable, allowing developers to tailor themes further according to project-specific requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Bootswatch

  • Limited Custom Designs
    Although Bootswatch offers multiple themes, the design options can be somewhat generic and might not suit highly tailored design needs.
  • Dependency on Bootstrap
    Bootswatch themes require a base knowledge of Bootstrap, making it less ideal for developers unfamiliar with the Bootstrap framework.
  • Potential Overhead
    Integrating Bootswatch may add additional CSS dependencies, potentially increasing the size of the final stylesheets if not managed properly.
  • Not Unique
    Since Bootswatch themes are publicly available, using them as-is can result in websites that look similar to others, lacking uniqueness.
  • Less Control Over Details
    Using predefined themes often means limited control over specific style details, which might be a drawback for projects requiring intricate design specifications.

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?

Bootswatch videos

No Bootswatch videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Bootstrap and Bootswatch)
Developer Tools
97 97%
3% 3
Design Tools
96 96%
4% 4
CSS Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Web App
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

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.

Bootswatch Reviews

We have no reviews of Bootswatch yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bootstrap seems to be a lot more popular than Bootswatch. While we know about 364 links to Bootstrap, we've tracked only 19 mentions of Bootswatch. 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.

Bootstrap mentions (364)

  • Build a Real-time Chat App with Vue 3, Socket.io and Nodejs
    Next, we will set up the frontend part of our real time chat app using Vue 3 and Bootstrap. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • 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 โ€” 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 / 5 months 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 Bootstrapโ€™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 / 6 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 / 6 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 / 7 months ago
View more

Bootswatch mentions (19)

  • Vanilla JavaScript Support for Tailwind Plus โ€“ Tailwind CSS
    I agree, take a look at Bootswatch: https://bootswatch.com I find it very nice that you can re-theme or brand your app with virtually no code or class changes. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • A tour of CLI tools for installing Java and creating projects
    ? What is the base name of your application? Jhispterdemo ? Which *type* of application would you like to create? Monolithic application (recommended for simple projects) ? What is your default Java package name? com.mycompany.myapp ? Would you like to use Maven or Gradle for building the backend? Gradle ? Do you want to make it reactive with Spring WebFlux? Yes ? Which *type* of authentication would you like to... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • I made a tool that takes any Pokemon and makes a colour palette out of it! (for web devs) v2
    The colors primarily, I suppose. Something similar to what you see in https://bootswatch.com/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • *very new to using R on posit cloud* | is there a list of themes that can be put in the โ€œtheme:โ€ function anywhere? i havenโ€™t been able to find any online. just curious! i like to make my docs look pretty :)
    That ^ . And Iโ€™ve found the Bootswatch page a very helpful visual aid. https://bootswatch.com/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Update 1.6 for Bucket budgeting app OpenBudgeteer
    Themes are now supported. Visit Bootswatch for more details. To select a theme use the new option APPSETTINGS_THEME as docker environment variable or in the appsettings.json file. Source: almost 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

Bootstrap Zero - Open-source, free Bootstrap templates collection.

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

150 ChatGPT 4.0 prompts for SEO - Unlock the power of AI to boost your website's visibility.

Foundation - The most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world

Workflows by Anvil - Anvil Workflows empowers you to streamline and scale paperwork processes without extra resources.