Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Tailwind CSS VS Start Bootstrap

Compare Tailwind CSS VS Start Bootstrap and see what are their differences

Tailwind CSS logo Tailwind CSS

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

Start Bootstrap logo Start Bootstrap

Bootstrap Themes, Templates, Snippets, and Guides
  • Tailwind CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13
  • Start Bootstrap Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-28

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.

Start Bootstrap features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Start Bootstrap provides a range of easy-to-use tools and templates that simplify the process of building a website. This is ideal for beginners or those who need to rapidly develop a functional site without extensive coding knowledge.
  • Design Variety
    The platform offers a diverse collection of templates and themes that cater to different design preferences and industries, allowing users to choose from various aesthetic styles and functionalities.
  • Responsive Design
    All templates come with responsive design features, ensuring that websites built using Start Bootstrap are mobile-friendly and perform well across different devices and screen sizes.
  • Free Resources
    Start Bootstrap provides a selection of free templates, which is advantageous for individuals or small businesses operating with limited budgets.
  • Community Support
    There is an active community around Bootstrap and Start Bootstrap, providing forums, discussions, and additional resources for problem-solving and enhancements.

Possible disadvantages of Start Bootstrap

  • Limited Customization
    While the templates are easy to use, they can be limiting for developers who require highly customized solutions, as significant modifications may be time-consuming or complex.
  • Dependence on Bootstrap Framework
    Start Bootstrap heavily relies on the Bootstrap framework, which may not be suitable for projects requiring a distinctive, non-standard design due to Bootstrap's signature style.
  • Potential Overhead
    Incorporating Bootstrap libraries can add unnecessary overhead to projects, potentially affecting website performance if not managed properly.
  • Learning Curve for Newbies
    Though simpler than building from scratch, beginners may still face a learning curve in understanding Bootstrap’s classes and grid system to maximize the utility of Start Bootstrap.
  • Generic Designs
    Some users might find that the templates, although varied, lead to a somewhat generic look due to their wide availability and use, lacking uniqueness.

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

Start Bootstrap videos

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

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tailwind CSS and Start Bootstrap)
Developer Tools
98 98%
2% 2
Design Tools
97 97%
3% 3
CSS Framework
97 97%
3% 3
Themes Marketplace
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Tailwind CSS and Start Bootstrap. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

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

Start Bootstrap Reviews

We have no reviews of Start Bootstrap yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Tailwind CSS seems to be a lot more popular than Start Bootstrap. While we know about 1013 links to Tailwind CSS, we've tracked only 9 mentions of Start Bootstrap. 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 / 15 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 / 20 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 / 28 days 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 1 month ago
View more

Start Bootstrap mentions (9)

  • Create your portfolio with GitHub Pages
    This code creates a simple HTML file with a header, an about me section, and a projects section. It also links to a CSS file that styles the website. You can customize this code to add your own content and styling. Or you can use a template from a site like HTML5 UP or Start Bootstrap to get started. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Designing a website
    Is there a specific place you look for these templates? A quick search found https://startbootstrap.com/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Simplest free way to generate a static small biz (handyman) website ?
    Great free templates on startbootstrap. They give you all the static files you need, all you need to do is customize. Https://startbootstrap.com/. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • How to use build a Live Dashboard with Python
    We'll get some CSS and JS from https://startbootstrap.com before writing the code for dashboard-single.html and dashboard files. Click Download after going to the URL. Unzip the file and place the css and js directories in our project's static directory. Let's move on to the frontend of our application now. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • HOW TO EARN MONEY FROM WEB 🤑🤑DEVELOPMENT!
    Find an awesome pre-made template (I like to use ones that are built with Bootstrap4 and SASS, it makes them so much easier to edit) from somewhere like https://bootstrapmade.com/, https://wrapbootstrap.com/, or https://startbootstrap.com/. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

Themesberg - Start you development with Free and Premium Bootstrap UI Kits, Themes, templates and code snippets

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.

WrapBootstrap - WrapBootstrap is a marketplace for premium Bootstrap themes and templates.

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

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