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Tailwind CSS VS Responsively

Compare Tailwind CSS VS Responsively and see what are their differences

Tailwind CSS logo Tailwind CSS

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

Responsively logo Responsively

Develop responsive web-apps 5x faster!
  • Tailwind CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13
  • Responsively Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16

A web browser that aids responsive web app development. Preview all target screens in a single window side-by-side. Brings down your development time. Use your already-familiar dev-tools from the browser. No additional learning curve!

Tailwind CSS features and specs

  • Utility-First Approach
    Tailwind CSS uses a utility-first approach, promoting the use of small, reusable utility classes to style elements directly in your markup. This can lead to more readable and maintainable HTML.
  • Customization
    The framework is highly customizable. You can easily configure its default theme, add your extensions, and create custom utilities. Tailwind’s config file allows for deep customization of all aspects of the framework.
  • Consistent Design
    Using utility classes ensures design consistency because the same classes will apply the same styles globally.
  • Responsive Design
    Tailwind CSS has excellent built-in support for responsive design. You can easily apply different styles for different screen sizes using responsive utility variants.
  • Performance
    Tailwind purges unused CSS in production, resulting in smaller final output files and improved performance.
  • Integrates Well with Frameworks
    Tailwind CSS integrates smoothly with modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular.
  • JIT Compiler
    The Just-in-Time (JIT) mode in Tailwind CSS generates styles on-demand, reducing the development build sizes and speeding up the development process.

Possible disadvantages of Tailwind CSS

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For developers coming from traditional CSS or other CSS frameworks, getting used to Tailwind's utility-first approach may take some time.
  • HTML Congestion
    Due to the utility-first approach, HTML files can get filled with numerous utility classes, making it look cluttered and harder to read.
  • Initial Setup
    Setting up Tailwind CSS initially can be complex, especially for beginners. Configuration settings and integrations with build tools can be confusing.
  • Verbosity
    Some developers find the inline utility classes verbose, particularly when complex styles are required, which can lead to bloated template files.
  • Limited Abstractions
    Tailwind doesn't provide higher-level abstractions such as components out of the box, like other frameworks (e.g., Bootstrap) do. Developers need to build and maintain these abstractions themselves.
  • Dependency Tailoring
    While Tailwind aims to be minimalistic, it may enforce some dependencies or build tool integrations that could be unnecessary for very simple projects.

Responsively features and specs

  • Multi-device Preview
    Allows simultaneous preview of a website on different device screen sizes, facilitating responsive design testing and debugging.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, it allows for community contributions, transparency, and no licensing fees.
  • Sync Scrolling and Clicks
    Enables synchronized scrolling and clicking across all previews, making it easier to test interactions and layouts uniformly.
  • Customizable Viewports
    Users can add, remove, or adjust predefined viewports to match specific device requirements or test cases.
  • Lightweight and Fast
    Designed to be performant and quick, reducing the overhead on development machines and improving productivity.
  • Cross-platform
    Compatible with multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring broader user adoption.

Possible disadvantages of Responsively

  • Limited Browser Support
    May not offer the same level of browser compatibility testing as dedicated tools like BrowserStack or Sauce Labs.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    New users might require some time to get accustomed to the interface and functionalities compared to more straightforward testing tools.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple device previews simultaneously can consume considerable system resources, which might slow down other tasks.
  • No Cloud Integration
    Lacks integration with cloud services for remote testing, unlike some paid alternatives.
  • Dependence on Electron
    As an Electron-based app, it might have a larger memory footprint compared to native applications.

Tailwind CSS videos

Why I Don't Like Tailwind CSS

More videos:

  • Review - Vanilla CSS vs Bootstrap vs Tailwind CSS - Which one should you choose?
  • Review - Get Started with Tailwind CSS in 15 Minutes

Responsively videos

Responsively App Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Responsively Style Checkboxes, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 16
  • Review - Line up Form Elements Responsively with Bootstrap, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 18

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tailwind CSS and Responsively)
Developer Tools
96 96%
4% 4
Design Tools
95 95%
5% 5
CSS Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Browser Testing
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 Tailwind CSS and Responsively

Tailwind CSS Reviews

  1. Awesome framework

    I use it in all my current projects. It's easy to start and very customisable. Love it so much! I improved the speed of development 2x times by using Tailwind.


22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
Tailwind CSS comes with features such as responsive design, customizability, hover, focus, and active states out of the box. These enable developers to build sophisticated, interactive interfaces with ease. When it comes to integrations, Tailwind CSS can be integrated with popular front-end frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular, enhancing its utility across different...
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
If you want to learn the valuable skill of Tailwind CSS, we highly recommend taking the "Tailwind CSS From Scratch" course by Brad Traversy on Udemy. In this introductory course, you will build great-looking layouts quickly and efficiently using Tailwind CSS utility classes.
Source: coursesity.com
10 Best Free React UI Libraries in 2023
TailwindCSS is a utility-first CSS framework designed to build modern and beautiful websites in no time. Here, utility class names define what to do. Each utility class comes with pre-defined CSS properties.
11 Best Material UI Alternatives
Tailwind CSS promotes a modular approach to styling, where devs can combine classes to create unique and responsive designs. It offers utilities for layout, typography, colors, spacing, and more, allowing developers to create consistent and visually appealing interfaces with minimal effort.
Source: www.uxpin.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
Tailwind enables faster development of the front-end. Instead of a default theme or built-in UI components, you’d get pre-designed widget menus and utility classes to build your website. Tailwind has modular components, and if you make changes in one place, other parts of your code won’t get impacted. Tailwind requires the least amount of learning and is easy to use. You can...
Source: hackr.io

Responsively Reviews

  1. Open source and best
    🏁 Competitors: Sizzy, Polypane

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Tailwind CSS seems to be a lot more popular than Responsively. While we know about 1013 links to Tailwind CSS, we've tracked only 45 mentions of Responsively. 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.

Tailwind CSS mentions (1013)

  • Top 5 Free React UI Libraries to Use in 2025
    Shadcn/ui contains a set of beautifully designed and accessible components, and it works seamlessly with major React frameworks. It’s open-source and has amassed 85.5k (and counting) GitHub stars. It’s built on the shoulders of giants — Radix UI and Tailwind CSS, making it one of the best to work with. Unlike many other UI libraries, the components are not just installed as npm modules, they’re downloaded into... - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • Tailwind vs Linaria: Performance Investigation
    We're going to investigate the difference in performance between Tailwind and Linaria. Tailwind, you already know. And Linaria has been getting quite a lot of traction since styled components went into maintenance mode recently. We'll cover why Linaria is a good choice for this comparison a bit further. - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
  • How to Integrate Tailwind with 11ty – With Code Examples
    It is a well-known fact that Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework. It lets you style elements directly within your HTML, thanks to pre-defined classes. Unlike other CSS frameworks that offer pre-built components, Tailwind offers these low-level utility classes that let you create your own design system. Thus, this makes crafting unique responsive designs effortless as there is not much to do with custom CSS. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • 🎨 Smooth UI Transitions in HTML with Grains.js, TailwindCSS and g-class directive
    Note: It's best to utilize TailwindCSS to use ready-made styles via their classes. g-class directive has nothing to do with TailwindCSS, however. It only switches class names based on state. After that, you can use whatever you want. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • ## Vibe Coding Adventures: Day 1 — HealthLens AI
    By having the AI building the skeleton of the project, I learn few things. First, this tool is fantastic for building impressive frontend applications with clean, well-structured Tailwind CSS styling. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

Responsively mentions (45)

  • Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
    To save other readers a click: https://responsively.app/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • 22 Unique Developer Resources You Should Explore
    URL: https://responsively.app What it does: View your website across multiple devices and screen sizes simultaneously. Why it's great: Perfect for real-time responsive testing — save time and effort! - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Responsively App: The Ultimate Tool for Web Developers on Windows
    You can download Responsively App from their official website. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My Hacktober Journey as a Contributor
    Hacktoberfest has been an incredible ride! As a maintainer of the Responsively App, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing developers come together to support and improve our open-source project. Seeing the growth in contributions this year has been both surprising and inspiring. It’s been a chance for us to engage with developers who are as excited about improving Responsively as we are. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Show HN: Test your website on 180 device viewports (with multi-device mode)
    This reminded me of a very similar one but for the desktop from a few years back. Here you go; https://responsively.app Source at https://github.com/responsively-org/responsively-app. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Tailwind CSS and Responsively, you can also consider the following products

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

Polypane - The browser for ambitious web developers that want to 5× their quality and efficiency.

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.

Sizzy - The browser for designers and developers

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

Responsinator - Designed to test responsive websites on different devices.