Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

FlowBite VS UIKit

Compare FlowBite VS UIKit and see what are their differences

FlowBite logo FlowBite

Build UI interfaces and simplify the process of integrating into live websites with Tailwind CSS

UIKit logo UIKit

A lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces
  • FlowBite Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14
  • UIKit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

FlowBite features and specs

  • Design Consistency
    FlowBite offers a standardized design system that ensures a consistent look and feel across all components and pages. This helps in maintaining uniformity in design, which is particularly useful for large projects.
  • Component Library
    It comes with a rich library of pre-built components such as buttons, modals, and navigation bars. This speeds up the development process as you don't have to build these from scratch.
  • Customization
    FlowBite allows for a high level of customization, enabling developers to tweak components and styles to fit their specific project requirements.
  • Integration with Tailwind CSS
    FlowBite integrates seamlessly with Tailwind CSS, a popular utility-first CSS framework. This allows developers to take advantage of Tailwind's powerful styling capabilities.
  • Documentation
    The platform provides thorough and easy-to-understand documentation, which helps in quickly getting up to speed with using FlowBite components and utilities.

Possible disadvantages of FlowBite

  • Learning Curve
    There can be a steep learning curve for developers unfamiliar with Tailwind CSS or component-based design systems, requiring time to become proficient.
  • Dependency on Tailwind CSS
    The reliance on Tailwind CSS means that developers need to be familiar with this CSS framework. If you are not already using Tailwind CSS, adopting FlowBite may require significant changes to your existing setup.
  • Performance Overhead
    Including a large number of pre-built components and utilities can add to the performance overhead, making the web pages larger and potentially slower to load.
  • Limited Design Choices
    While FlowBite offers a range of components, the design styles are somewhat predefined. This might limit creativity and make it difficult to implement highly unique designs without extensive customization.
  • Community and Support
    Although growing, FlowBite's community and support resources are not as extensive as other more established design systems and frameworks. This can make it harder to find help or third-party plugins.

UIKit features and specs

  • Modularity
    UIKit is highly modular, allowing developers to include only the components they need. This can lead to more efficient and faster loading webpages.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The framework comes with extensive and well-detailed documentation, making it easier for developers to get started and effectively utilize components.
  • Responsive Design
    UIKit is designed with responsiveness in mind, offering a sleek user experience across different screen sizes and devices.
  • Customization
    UIKit allows for deep customization through its LESS and SCSS files, enabling developers to modify the framework according to their needs.
  • Active Community
    There is an active community which leads to consistent updates and a wealth of shared resources and plugins.

Possible disadvantages of UIKit

  • Learning Curve
    For beginners, UIKit can be complex and might require a learning curve to become proficient in its use.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    Compared to more mature frameworks like Bootstrap, UIKit may offer fewer third-party integrations and plugins.
  • Potential Overhead
    Including too many unnecessary components can add to the overhead, resulting in slower load times if not managed properly.
  • Inconsistencies Across Browsers
    Occasional inconsistencies may be noted across different browsers, which may require additional effort to resolve.
  • Less Recognition
    UIKit is not as commonly recognized as some other frameworks, which may lead to challenges in finding developers experienced with it.

FlowBite videos

The ULTIMATE Figma UI Kit (Flowbite)

UIKit videos

Should I Learn SwiftUI instead of UIKit?

More videos:

  • Review - SwiftUI vs UIKit – Comparison of building the same app in each framework

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to FlowBite and UIKit)
Design Tools
47 47%
53% 53
Developer Tools
48 48%
52% 52
CSS Framework
0 0%
100% 100
Web App
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

FlowBite Reviews

Tailwind CSS: 15 Component Libraries & UI Kits
Flowbite has over 450 components; the documentation has component code for HTML with options to install as a library for the most popular frameworks. The project has over 2,800 stars on GitHub and gets around 50,000 weekly downloads on npm.
Source: stackdiary.com
22 Best Sites for Free Tailwind Components
In addition to hundreds of developed pages and Tailwind components, such as application UI, marketing UI, and e-commerce layouts, Flowbite’s pro edition includes a Figma design system based on Tailwind CSS utility classes.
How to Choose a Tailwind Component Library (Plus the Top 6 Options)
The last component library in our list and our second paid one is Flowbite. It has over 450 components across various types of designs and applications much like some of our previous libraries. But, an interesting thing about this library is you can also get the Figma files for the components so your designer and developers can be perfectly in sync with each other, further...
Source: prismic.io

UIKit Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
UIkit includes an extensive collection of HTML, CSS, and JS components, all easy to use and customizable. Features include a responsive grid system, navigation components, form elements, and more. Though UIkit does not offer explicit integrations, its modular nature means it can be easily incorporated into many different web development workflows and tools.
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
One of the advantages of UIKit is that it offers a wide range of UI components, even more than Bootstrap. It also includes unique components like Totop, Thumbnav, and more. Considering its rich set of resources, UIKit can be regarded as an ideal alternative to Bootstrap.
Source: coursesity.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
UI Kit has a comprehensive collection of CSS, HTML, and JS components. It is modular and lightweight. Used for iOS application development, UIKit is one of the bestfront-end CSS frameworks.
Source: hackr.io
10 of the Best Bootstrap Alternatives
UIKit offers an easy approach to developing sophisticated web interfaces. It’s a modular front-end framework that can be used with HTML or JavaScript. With this structure, you may quickly create your web layouts with ease. This structure is perfect for laying out your website. When compared to Bootstrap, this framework offers more UI components. It also includes oddity parts...
Best CSS Frameworks in 2019
Our fourth framework to consider is UIkit. UIkit is “a lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces” (UIkit). The framework comes with built-in animations, is customizable and has out-of-the-box designs.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, UIKit seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 22 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.

FlowBite mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of FlowBite yet. Tracking of FlowBite recommendations started around Sep 2021.

UIKit mentions (22)

  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    UIkit: A lightweight and modular front-end framework. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Building UIs with Franken UI, a Shadcn alternative
    Franken UI is compatible with UIkit 3 and can work as a standalone CSS framework but can be integrated with Tailwind CSS for faster styling and customization. The design of Franken UI is influenced by shadcn/ui. It aims to provide a solution to developers who are not comfortable using React, Vue, or Svelte by leveraging UIkit for JavaScript and accessibility. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • SwiftUI vs. UIKit: What is the best choice for building an iOS user interface in 2024?
    As an iOS engineer, you've likely encountered SwiftUI and UIkit, two popular tools for building iOS user interfaces. SwiftUI is the new cool kid on the block, providing a clean way to build iOS screens, while UIkit is the older and more traditional way to build screens for iOS. SwiftUI uses a declarative style where you describe how the UI should look, similar to Jetpack Compose in Android. UIkit, on the other... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • How To Build a Web Application with HTMX and Go
    All that's left is adding a little style. I won't claim to be a frontend engineer or a UI designer, so I just used UIKit to easily add modern-looking style to the HTML table and buttons. As mentioned throughout the article, the CSS classes and other small details are excluded since they are not directly relevant to the tutorial. See the full example on GitHub to try running it for yourself. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • On the search for a truly "good" UI framework.
    Can try UIKIT out if you're looking around, I've used it solely for some quick slider stuff in certain projects and use it fully in others. The docs are pretty good and they have a discord community that's fairly active. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing FlowBite and UIKit, you can also consider the following products

DaisyUI - Free UI components plugin for Tailwind CSS

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

Tailwind UI Kit - 600+ components, 30 templates, React, Angular, & Vue support

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

TailGrids - Handcrafted Library of Tailwind CSS UI Components, Blocks, Sections, UI Kit and Templates to Speed up Your Development Workflow.

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