Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Bulma VS Skeleton CSS

Compare Bulma VS Skeleton CSS and see what are their differences

Bulma logo 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.

Skeleton CSS logo Skeleton CSS

A Beautiful Boilerplate for Responsive, Mobile-Friendly Development
  • Bulma Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-14
  • Skeleton CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

Bulma features and specs

  • Simple and Elegant Design
    Bulma offers a clean, modern aesthetic that looks great out of the box. This eliminates much of the need for extensive customization to achieve a professional look.
  • Responsive Layouts
    Bulma is built with a flexible grid system that ensures your designs are responsive. This makes it straightforward to create web pages that look great on both desktop and mobile devices.
  • Ease of Use
    Bulma has a straightforward class-based syntax that is easy to understand and implement. This simplifies the development process, especially for newcomers.
  • BEM Methodology
    Bulma employs Block Element Modifier (BEM) methodology for CSS, which helps in writing clean, understandable, and scalable code.
  • No JavaScript Dependencies
    Bulma is purely a CSS framework, meaning it doesn't come bundled with JavaScript. This allows you to integrate it with any JavaScript framework of your choice, like React or Vue.js, without any conflicts.
  • Well-Documented
    The official Bulma website has extensive documentation, including examples and code snippets, which makes it easier to learn and implement.
  • Active Community
    Bulma has an active community of developers who contribute to its development and are available for support, which can be helpful when facing issues or needing guidance.

Possible disadvantages of Bulma

  • Limited Customizability
    While Bulma is designed to be easy to use, its simplicity can sometimes limit your ability to customize components as deeply as you might be able to with other frameworks.
  • Lack of Components
    Bulma does not come with as many built-in components as some other CSS frameworks like Bootstrap. You might find yourself needing to create custom components for some features.
  • No JavaScript
    The lack of built-in JavaScript functionality means you will need to write or integrate JavaScript separately for more interactive elements, such as modals or carousels.
  • Performance Overhead
    Like most CSS frameworks, using Bulma can introduce some performance overhead due to unused CSS. You'll need to use a tool like PurgeCSS to remove unused styles for optimal performance.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its simplicity, there can still be a learning curve for developers who are accustomed to other frameworks like Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS.
  • Small Community compared to Others
    While the community is active, it is smaller compared to more established frameworks like Bootstrap, potentially making it harder to find solutions to less common issues.
  • Semantic Class Names
    Bulma emphasizes semantic class names following the BEM methodology, which can be verbose and may require a change in practice for some developers.

Skeleton CSS features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Skeleton CSS is extremely lightweight, with a file size of just about 400 lines of code, making it quick to load and easy to manage compared to bulkier frameworks.
  • Simplicity
    Its simplicity makes it easy to learn and implement, which is ideal for beginners or for small projects that don't require complex styling.
  • Responsive Grid
    Skeleton CSS includes a responsive grid system, which helps in creating responsive layouts that easily adjust to various screen sizes.
  • Clean Design
    Skeleton offers a clean and minimal design by default, providing a good starting point for further customization without unnecessary bloat.

Possible disadvantages of Skeleton CSS

  • Limited Components
    Skeleton CSS lacks the range of components available in larger frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation, making it less flexible for larger or more complex projects.
  • Customization
    While its simplicity is an advantage, it also means less out-of-the-box customization options compared to more comprehensive frameworks.
  • Community and Support
    Skeleton CSS has a smaller community and fewer resources or plugins available, meaning less peer and developer support is accessible compared to more popular frameworks.
  • Scalability
    It is less suited for large-scale applications where a more feature-rich and modular framework might be necessary to manage complex requirements.

Bulma videos

S.H. Figuarts BULMA Dragon Ball Action Figure Review

More videos:

  • Review - S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ball Adventure Begins Bulma Review
  • Review - Bandai SH Figuarts BULMA Review BR / DiegoHDM

Skeleton CSS videos

Skeleton Anatomy and Physiology Review Bones 01

More videos:

  • Review - skeleton anatomy easy review for practical exam bones and structures
  • Review - Unboxing and Review Head Unit Skeleton SKT 8197 Universal

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Bulma and Skeleton CSS)
Design Tools
81 81%
19% 19
CSS Framework
76 76%
24% 24
Developer Tools
86 86%
14% 14
Development Tools
80 80%
20% 20

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Bulma and Skeleton CSS

Bulma Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
I chose Bulma for its efficient use of Flexbox, a layout model that allows a responsive design with minimal effort. This efficiency sets Bulma apart from many other CSS frameworks. In my judgment, Bulma stands out as the best choice for developers seeking a powerful, Flexbox-based CSS framework for creating flexible and intuitive web designs.
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
Suppose you want to learn the valuable skill of working with the mobile-first Bulma framework. In that case, we highly recommend taking the "Master Bulma CSS Framework" course by Jeppe Schaumburg Jensen on Udemy. In this course, you will master the latest version of Bulma and create real projects and themes while learning HTML, web design, and coding.
Source: coursesity.com
9 Best Bootstrap Alternatives | Best Frontend Frameworks [2024]
Bulma comes with a beautiful range of colors out-of-the-box, and it won’t be wrong if we call it the most beautiful framework out there in the market. It can be used directly to get really nice-looking websites with the very least effort.
Source: hackr.io
11 Best Material UI Alternatives
Bulma’s simplicity, extensive documentation, and community support make it a popular choice for projects of all sizes. Whether you’re building a landing page, a dashboard, or an eCommerce site, Bulma provides a solid foundation for building aesthetically pleasing and functional interfaces.
Source: www.uxpin.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
Although new, Bulma has quickly climbed up the list of top 10 CSS frameworks. It has no JavaScript components (no .js) and the most readable CSS classes. To create grids, Bulma has a powerful system known as tiles, making the page elegant and neat. It is highly modular and easy to learn. Although small, Bulma has a community of passionate individuals wanting to change the...
Source: hackr.io

Skeleton CSS Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
Balance Functionality and Performance: High functionality might come with the cost of performance. For example, MUI is exceptional for material design, but it might be heavier compared to lighter frameworks like Skeleton. Strive for a balance between the functionality you need and the performance you can afford to sacrifice.
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
However, it's important to note that Skeleton lacks active maintenance, posing a significant drawback. Additionally, the security of the Skeleton website is currently questionable. Furthermore, its use of outdated markup for layout, such as floats and clear fixes, may present compatibility issues in modern web development environments.
Source: coursesity.com
9 Best Bootstrap Alternatives | Best Frontend Frameworks [2024]
Skeleton is a lightweight CSS framework, majorly popular for its 12-column fluid grid, which consists of rows and columns, similar to other CSS grids. The newer version of Skeleton adopts a mobile-first approach, which enables the layout to be the center of attraction, irrespective of the screen size. Being lightweight, Skeleton can speed up the front-end development process.
Source: hackr.io
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
As the name suggests, the Skeleton is a light framework. If your website is small and straightforward, Skeleton provides a necessary collection of CSS elements to speed up your development. It provides lightly styled forms, tabs, buttons, etc. You get a responsive grid, Vanilla CSS, and media queries for your project without the larger frameworks' complexities. It is a great...
Source: hackr.io
15 Best CSS Frameworks: Professional Bootstrap and Foundation Alternatives
As a two-in-one solution, Skeleton quickly made it on our list. This is both a boilerplate and a comprehensive CSS framework. We enjoyed customizing its 12-column grid during our testing, and we found out that it has virtually no learning curve.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bulma should be more popular than Skeleton CSS. It has been mentiond 115 times since March 2021. 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.

Bulma mentions (115)

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Skeleton CSS mentions (17)

  • Concrete.css
    I had been using similar projects such as skeleton[0] and milligram[1] for small experiments such as repfl[2], and wanted to create something similar that I would find aesthetically pleasing and that would fit in as little space as possible. The current version of concrete.css is less than 1kb minzipped! [0] http://getskeleton.com/ [1] https://milligram.io/ [2] https://repfl.ch/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: How to build online calculator website?
    Here's my personal goto: Find some minimal CSS framework. My preference is Skeleton [0] or Bootstrap [1]. The key is just finding something minimal that works without too much fuss. Personally, I rather have a minimal framework provide 'responsiveness' so I don't have to worry about it but I also want it to get out of the way of anything I do. Use JQuery [2]. Don't rely on CSS for animations or interactivity. In... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Suggest minimal CSS framework
    I've used http://getskeleton.com/ in the past. I think it's probably just what you're looking for. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Pdf generated from form
    I use an older css library called skeleton. It’s a utility framework that came out before css grid. It has a really nice and easy to use grid system built without css-grid. I had to get rid of the media queries to get it work but it’s been great otherwise! Source: over 2 years ago
  • what do you do when coding for responsive?
    I use a minified and customised simple boilerplate / grid system based in skeleton (http://getskeleton.com/). It has no mediaqueries predefined, but the rules for each screen resolution are stated. I start making the website for computer screen formats (large resolutions) and end adapting up the design to phone screens. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Bulma and Skeleton CSS, you can also consider the following products

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

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

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

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

UIKit - A lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces

Semantic UI - A UI Component library implemented using a set of specifications designed around natural language