Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Kendo UI VS jQuery UI

Compare Kendo UI VS jQuery UI and see what are their differences

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Kendo UI logo Kendo UI

Fast, light, complete: 70+ jQuery-based UI widgets in one powerful toolset

jQuery UI logo jQuery UI

Curated set of user interface interactions, effects, widgets, and themes built on top of the jQuery JavaScript Library
  • Kendo UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24
  • jQuery UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-17

Kendo UI features and specs

  • Comprehensive Component Library
    Kendo UI offers a wide range of built-in widgets and components such as grids, charts, schedulers, and more. This extensive collection allows developers to build complex and feature-rich applications with ease.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Kendo UI provides support for various frameworks and libraries including jQuery, Angular, React, and Vue. This ensures flexibility and allows developers to integrate Kendo UI components seamlessly into their existing projects.
  • Performance Optimization
    The library is optimized for performance, ensuring that components load quickly and are responsive. This is particularly beneficial for enterprise applications that demand high performance.
  • Comprehensive Documentation and Support
    Telerik offers detailed documentation, tutorials, and a strong support system for Kendo UI, helping developers to quickly resolve issues and understand component usage.
  • Customization and Theming
    Kendo UI provides extensive customization options and themes that allow developers to tailor the appearance and behavior of components to fit the specific needs of their applications.

Possible disadvantages of Kendo UI

  • Cost
    Kendo UI is a commercial product and requires purchasing a license. The cost can be a barrier for small businesses or individual developers with limited budgets.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to the extensive range of features and components, there can be a steep learning curve, especially for developers who are new to the library or front-end development in general.
  • Bundle Size
    Kendo UI's vast array of components can contribute to larger bundle sizes, which can impact the initial load time of the application.
  • Dependency on Third-Party Libraries
    While Kendo UI supports multiple frameworks, it often requires additional dependencies, which can complicate the setup and add to the project’s overall complexity.
  • Potential Overhead
    For applications that do not require extensive UI components, using Kendo UI might introduce unnecessary overhead, both in terms of performance and development complexity.

jQuery UI features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    jQuery UI simplifies creating and managing complex UI components with straightforward syntax and comprehensive documentation.
  • Compatibility
    jQuery UI is highly compatible with older browsers, offering a broader range of support compared to more modern frameworks.
  • Extensibility
    jQuery UI is designed to be modular and extendable, allowing developers to use only the components they need and easily extend or theming them.
  • Rich Set of Widgets
    It comes with a variety of pre-built widgets such as datepickers, accordions, and sliders, which can save development time.
  • Animated Effects
    jQuery UI includes many built-in animation effects that can enhance the user experience without requiring additional libraries.
  • Theming
    The library provides Themeroller, a tool that allows developers to create custom themes easily, ensuring UI consistency and branding.

Possible disadvantages of jQuery UI

  • Performance
    Due to its extensive feature set, jQuery UI can be relatively heavy, which may affect performance, particularly in resource-constrained environments.
  • Not Mobile-First
    jQuery UI is not designed with mobile-first principles in mind, making it less optimal for modern responsive web applications.
  • Learning Curve
    While easy to use for simple tasks, mastering jQuery UI for more complex applications may require a significant learning curve.
  • Dependency on jQuery
    Since jQuery UI relies on the jQuery library, it adds an additional dependency which can be limiting if you prefer or are required to use vanilla JS or another library.
  • Declining Popularity
    With the rise of modern frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular, jQuery UI has seen a decline in popularity and community support.
  • Limited Modern Features
    Compared to contemporary UI libraries, jQuery UI lacks some of the modern features and performance optimizations found in newer libraries.

Analysis of Kendo UI

Overall verdict

  • Kendo UI is a robust and reliable UI component library that is well-suited for developers looking to expedite the development process with pre-built, high-quality components, while still retaining the ability to customize and scale their applications. Its wide range of features and strong community support make it a worthwhile investment for both small and large projects.

Why this product is good

  • Kendo UI, developed by Telerik (now part of Progress Software), is considered a good choice for building modern web applications due to its comprehensive suite of UI components. It offers seamless integration with popular frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue, which makes it versatile for various project requirements. Additionally, it provides extensive documentation, professional support, and frequent updates, ensuring developers have the resources they need to maintain and enhance their applications. The components are designed to be highly customizable, which allows developers to tailor them to their specific design and functionality needs.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need a comprehensive set of UI components for building web applications.
  • Teams using popular frameworks like Angular, React, or Vue who require seamless integration.
  • Organizations looking for professional support and detailed documentation to supplement their development efforts.
  • Projects that require highly customizable UI components to meet specific design and functionality requirements.

Analysis of jQuery UI

Overall verdict

  • jQuery UI is a solid choice for projects that already use jQuery or for developers who need to implement standard UI components quickly and easily. However, for projects starting from scratch, considering more modern alternatives that align with the current state of JavaScript development, such as React, Vue, or Angular, might be beneficial due to their extensive ecosystems and support for modern development patterns.

Why this product is good

  • jQuery UI is a popular library that extends the capabilities of jQuery with a robust set of user interface interactions, effects, widgets, and themes. It is particularly well-suited for developers who are already familiar with jQuery and need to implement features quickly without starting from scratch. Its components are widely used because they are both customizable and reliable, and it is backed by a large community that offers support and contributions. Furthermore, jQuery UI simplifies complex interactions and effects that would otherwise require significant effort to code manually, especially for those who seek cross-browser compatibility.

Recommended for

    jQuery UI is recommended for developers working on legacy projects that heavily rely on jQuery, or for quick, short-to-medium-term projects where ease of use and speed of implementation are paramount. It is also suitable for educational purposes, helping beginners understand DOM manipulation and UI interaction concepts. However, for new projects aimed at creating highly interactive and scalable applications, a framework or library that supports modern front-end technologies may be more appropriate.

Kendo UI videos

Kendo UI R3 2019 Release Webinar

More videos:

  • Review - Kendo UI R3 2017 Release Webinar
  • Review - What are the Kendo UI Vue Components? (1/5)

jQuery UI videos

jQuery UI tutorial: Adding a user interface with jQuery UI | lynda.com

More videos:

  • Review - jQuery UI Ultimate:Design Amazing Interfaces Using jQuery UI : Understanding the curriculum.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Kendo UI and jQuery UI)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
25 25%
75% 75

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, jQuery UI seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 15 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.

Kendo UI mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Kendo UI yet. Tracking of Kendo UI recommendations started around Mar 2021.

jQuery UI mentions (15)

  • Let Me Talk About Component-based Front-end Development
    The once popular jQuery, with its strengths fully utilized in jQuery UI and Bootstrap, provides many UI components and is also friendly to backend developers, seemingly meeting the requirements. However, looking at their component implementation and resource loading forms—. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    jQuery UI: An open-source library for building user interfaces based on jQuery. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • What is a component library and should you build your own?
    Fortunately, when I started web development in earnest, many of these issues were ironed out. By this point, there were still a handful of libraries that made writing complex interfaces with cross-browser support a little easier. Jquery UI, the first component library I used, supported accordions and other widgets. But the browser is constantly evolving, and we now have a native way of implementing this accordion... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Best ReactJS library for Drag-n-Drop Table for plugin Admin view?
    Because WordPress is already have these jQuery & jQuery UI libraries (https://jqueryui.com/). Source: about 2 years ago
  • jQuery 3.6.2 Released
    We still use jQuery + jQuery UI on our website because it is basically battle tested through 15+ years. https://jqueryui.com/ It is easy as hell. What's there to not like? I don't care to be called names or being old fashioned. I also don't care about "right" tooling for frontend. As far it works and it is robust and it is going to be around for many years, I am fine with it. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Kendo UI and jQuery UI, you can also consider the following products

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