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Tailwind CSS VS Tailwind CSS Play

Compare Tailwind CSS VS Tailwind CSS Play and see what are their differences

Tailwind CSS logo Tailwind CSS

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

Tailwind CSS Play logo Tailwind CSS Play

An advanced online playground for Tailwind CSS
  • Tailwind CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13
  • Tailwind CSS Play Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-13

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.

Tailwind CSS Play features and specs

  • Rapid Prototyping
    Tailwind CSS Play allows developers to quickly prototype ideas directly in the browser without setting up a development environment.
  • Immediate Feedback
    Changes made to the code are reflected in real-time, enabling immediate feedback and iterative design adjustments.
  • No Installation Required
    Because it's a browser-based tool, it eliminates the need for installing Tailwind CSS or any other dependencies locally.
  • Sharing and Collaboration
    Developers can easily share their Tailwind CSS Play sessions via URL, facilitating collaboration and feedback from team members or the community.

Possible disadvantages of Tailwind CSS Play

  • Limited Functionality
    As an online playground, Tailwind CSS Play may not support all features or plugins available in a full development environment.
  • Performance Constraints
    Browser-based tools can experience performance issues, especially with large or complex code, compared to local setups.
  • No Offline Access
    Being an online tool, it requires an internet connection, which can be a limitation for developers working in offline settings.
  • Potential Security Concerns
    Sharing URLs and code online might introduce security risks if sensitive data or proprietary code is included.

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

Tailwind CSS Play videos

No Tailwind CSS Play videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tailwind CSS and Tailwind CSS Play)
Developer Tools
97 97%
3% 3
Design Tools
96 96%
4% 4
CSS Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Web App
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 Tailwind CSS Play

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

Tailwind CSS Play Reviews

We have no reviews of Tailwind CSS Play yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Tailwind CSS seems to be a lot more popular than Tailwind CSS Play. While we know about 1017 links to Tailwind CSS, we've tracked only 43 mentions of Tailwind CSS Play. 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 (1017)

  • Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs
    > When I’m trying to debug a web app, it’s hard to orient myself in the DevTools if the entire UI is “div soup” That’s tame. Try adding some Tailwind CSS. After monitoring Tailwind CSS since its early days, and believing I had some pretty serious philosophical disagreements with it, I recently took an opportunity to try it out in earnest, and it is so mindbogglingly obnoxious in dev tools that... - Source: Hacker News / about 18 hours ago
  • MailPlanet🌍: Visualize email origins on a global map
    Styling: Tailwind CSS (Assumed, common with Next.js). - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • How to add markdown to a Next.js project
    This article assumes the reader is a developer that knows their way around Markdown, TypeScript, React.js, and [Next.js] https://nextjs.org/). Familiarity with Tailwind-css would also be useful. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • SonicScan - A Music Fingerprinting and Identification App
    Then I learned Tauri and used my favourite frontend framework SolidJS with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI to build the UI with MotionOne to add animations and Tauri to build the desktop/web/android/ios app. - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • 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 / about 2 months ago
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Tailwind CSS Play mentions (43)

  • Tailwind V4 Is Finally Out
    Man their very playground at https://play.tailwindcss.com/ gives this unreadable crap (sorry for swearing) on the first line:
        relative grid min-h-screen grid-cols-[1fr_2.5rem_auto_2.5rem_1fr] grid-rows-[1fr_1px_auto_1px_1fr] bg-white [--pattern-fg:var(--color-gray-950)]/5 dark:bg-gray-950 dark:[--pattern-fg:var(--color-white)]/10
    . - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Show HN: Turn Tailwind into editable WordPress Block styles – build sites faster
    I think a preview would be useful, like Tailwind Play: https://play.tailwindcss.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Creating a Scrolling Logo Animation with Tailwind CSS
    Copy and paste the generated code into the Tailwind playground. Here's the code generated by Visual Copilot in Quality mode:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Unlock Your Web Design Creativity with Tailwind CSS: A Guide for CSS Developers
    Congratulations on making it this far! If you're wondering how to master all these utility classes, remember that practice makes perfect. Utilize the official site's documentation for guidance. For practice on using the various utilities outside projects, I recommend using Tailwind Play. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Beginners guide to TailwindCSS !
    Practice on Tailwind Play It is the official online playground for Tailwind CSS, you can experiment and tryout your design straight away. There is no need to install anything, just start coding. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

Shuffle for Tailwind CSS - Tailwind CSS editor for busy developers

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.

Tailwind Builder - Tailwind CSS editor for busy developers

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

ska-tailwind-editor - Edit Tailwind HTML visually as WordPress blocks and get HTML or JSX back to use in your project.