Comparing Ant Design and Material UI by Tien Nguyen

Ant Design vs Material UI: Choosing the Best React UI Library

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CATEGORY Insights

AntDesignandMaterialUIarepowerful,open-sourcelibrariesthatsimplify thecreationofhigh-quality userinterfaces Withtheircomprehensivesetofpre-builtcomponentsplusalargecommunity ofdevoted developersbackingthemup,thesetwohavebecomego-totoolsforReactapplications

We’llcomparethesetwolibrariesintermsoftheirdesignprinciples,componentsandfeatures, customizationoptions,andperformanceandscalability Wewillalsodiscussusecasesforeachlibrary, aswellastheprosandconsofusingthem By theendofthisarticle youllhaveaclearunderstandingof whichlibrary isbestsuitedforyourproject

Table of Contents 1 Background on Ant Design 2 Background on Material UI 3 Comparison of Ant Design vs Material UI 3 1 Design Principles 3 2 Components and Features 3 3 Customization Options 3 4 Performance and Scalability 3 5 Learning Curve 3 6 Popularity 4 Use Cases

Home  Insights  Ant Design vs Material UI: Choosing the Best React UI Library

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Asafront-enddeveloper,youarelikely tounderstandthenecessity ofaUIlibrary tobuildReactprojects properly Withseveraloptionsavailablewithdistinctadvantagesanddisadvantages,thisarticlewill comparetwoofthemostcommonly usedReactlibraries: Ant Design vs Material UI

Beforedivingintothecomparison,let’srsttakealookatabriefoverviewofAntDesignandMaterialUI

January 7 2023

BackgroundonAntDesign

AlibabaGroup’sAntDesignisanopen-sourcedesignsystemthathasgainedimmensetractionamong Reactdeveloperssinceitslaunchin2015 Withavariety ofprebuiltUIcomponents,thelibrary makesit incredibly simpletoensureuniformity throughoutyourapplicationwithoutany hassle

AntDesignstandsoutfromotherdesignsystemsduetoitsuseofChineseuserinterfacedesign principlesandguidelines Asacomprehensivelibrary,thesystemcontainsanarray ofcomponentssuch asformcontrols,navigationelements,anddatavisualizationtoolsthatareessentialforcreating beautifuldesignswithease

WhenitcomestousingAntDesignwithinReactprojects theprocessisstraightforwardandfully customizable Thelibrary presentsasetofhooksandcomponentstobeutilizedwithfunctional componentsinsideReact Furthermore,youcanaccessalargecollectionofmodicationoptionsthat allowyoutoaltertheappearanceandbehavioraspectsoftheseelementsasyouwish

TogiveyouaglimpseofhowAntDesignworksinpractice,here’sanexampleofabasicformconstructed withitscomponents:

5 Pros and Cons 5 1 Ant Design 5 2 Material UI 6 Conclusion 1 import React from 'react' 2 import { Form, Input, Button, Checkbox } from 'antd' 3 4 const layout = { 5 labelCol: { 6 span: 8, 7 }, 8 wrapperCol: { 9 span: 16, 10 }, 11 } 12 const tailLayout = { 13 wrapperCol: { 14 offset: 8, 15 span: 16, 16 }, 17 } 18 19 const ExampleForm = () => { 20 const onFinish = (values) => { 21 console log('Success:', values) 22. } 23 24 const onFinishFailed = (errorInfo) => { 25 console log('Failed:', errorInfo) 26 } 27 28 return ( 29 <Form 30 {...layout} 31 name='basic' 32 initialValues={{ 33. remember: true, 34 }} 35 onFinish={onFinish} 36 onFinishFailed={onFinishFailed} 37 > 38 <Form Item 39 label='Username' 40 name='username' 41 rules={[ 42 { 43 required: true, 44 message: 'Please input your username!', 45 }, 46 ]} 

BackgroundonMaterialUI

MaterialUIisanincredibly usefulandpopularopen-sourceUIlibrary forReactprojects Developedby GoogleonthebasisofitsMaterialDesignguidelines,itservesasacomprehensivesuiteofpre-builtuser interfacecomponents WithMaterialUI,developerscanquickly createuniformity andconsistency intheir applicationsalongwithcustomizableandaccessibleelements

Thelibrary offersawideselectionofcomponentsthatareinsyncwiththeMaterialDesignstandards By doingthis yourReactapplicationnotonly looksmodernandsophisticatedbutisalsoup-to-datewiththe currentdesigntrends Theseelementsincludedatavisualizationtools formcontrolsaswellas navigationfeatures,soyou’llhaveeverythingtocreatesomethingtruly unique

IntegrationwithReactisseamlessandstraightforward

MaterialUIprovidesasetofcustomhooksand componentsthatcanbeusedwithReactfunctionalcomponentsandhooks,makingiteasy toimplement inany Reactproject Additionally,thelibrary includesavariety ofcustomizationoptionsthatallowyouto adjusttheappearanceandbehaviorofcomponentstosuitthespecicneedsofyourproject

Here’sanexampleofasimpleformbuiltwithMaterialUIcomponents:

47 > 48 <Input /> 49 </Form Item> 50 51 <Form.Item 52 label='Password' 53 name='password' 54 rules={[ 55 { 56 required: true, 57 message: 'Please input your password!', 58 }, 59 ]} 60 > 61 <Input Password /> 62 </Form.Item> 63 64 <Form Item { tailLayout} name='remember' valuePropName='checked'> 65 <Checkbox>Remember me</Checkbox> 66 </Form Item> 67 68 <Form Item { tailLayout}> 69 <Button type='primary' htmlType='submit'> 70 Submit 71 </Button> 72 </Form.Item> 73 </Form> 74 ) 75 } 76 77 export default ExampleForm 1 import React, { useState } from 'react' 2 import Button from '@mui/material/Button' 3 import TextField from '@mui/material/TextField' 4 5 const ExampleForm = () => { 6 const [values, setValues] = useState({ 7 name: '' , 8 password: '' , 9 }) 10 11 const handleChange = (name) => (event) => { 12 setValues({ values, [name]: event target value }) 13 } 14 15 const handleSubmit = (event) => { 16 event preventDefault() 17 console log(values) 18 } 

ComparisonofAntDesignvsMaterialUI

DesignPrinciples

AntDesignandMaterialUIhavedistinctapproacheswhenitcomestodesignprinciples

AntDesign’sminimalistandfunctionaldesignapproachprovidesuserswithaseamlessexperience By strictly followingtheirownsetofdesignguidelines,allcomponentswithinthelibrary aregivenan identicallookandfeelthatguaranteesconsistency throughout Thisnotonly makesforamoreefcient userjourney butalsoallowsdeveloperstoimplementAntDesignintotheirprojectswithoutany hassle

Onthecontrary,MaterialUIreliesonGoogle’svisionary MaterialDesignprinciples Thelibrary strivesto offeracohesiveandeffortlessuserexperiencethroughitscomponents Additionally,itfocuseson creativethinkingandinvolvementplusencouragesfront-enddeveloperstousetheminnewwaysfor freshideas Furthermore,thelibrary placesgreatemphasisonanimationandmotion,whichprovidesan excitinguserjourney

AntDesignoffersaminimalistandstraightforwardstylewhereasMaterialUIbringsinmoremodern ingenuity Whatyoudecideonwillbedeterminedby theprojectathandandyourpreferreddesign aesthetic

ComponentsandFeatures

BothAntDesignandMaterialUIofferawiderangeofpre-builtcomponentsthatcanbeusedtobuild userinterfaces However,they dohavesomedifferencesintermsofthecomponentsandfeaturesthey offer

AntDesignoffersawiderangeofenterprise-levelcomponents suchasadatatable atreestructure andaformbuilder Italsoprovidesasetofinternationalizationtoolstohelpdeveloperscreate multilingualinterfaces Thelibrary alsohasabuilt-inaccessibility systemthatensuresthatall

userswithdisabilities 19 20 return ( 21 <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}> 22 <TextField 23 id='name' 24 label='Name' 25 value={values name} 26 onChange={handleChange('name')} 27 margin='normal' 28 fullWidth 29 required 30 /> 31 <TextField 32 id='password' 33 label='Password' 34 value={values.password} 35 onChange={handleChange('password')} 36 margin='normal' 37 type='password' 38 fullWidth 39 required 40 /> 41 <Button type='submit' variant='contained' color='primary'> 42 Submit 43 </Button> 44 </form> 45 ) 46 } 47 48 export default ExampleForm 

componentsareusableby

AntDesigncomponents

MaterialUI,ontheotherhand,offersawiderangeofMaterialDesign-inspiredcomponents,suchas buttons cards anddialogs Italsoprovidesasetoflayoutandgridcomponentsthatcanbeusedto createresponsivedesigns Thelibrary alsohasabuilt-inthemesystemthatallowsforeasy customizationofthelookandfeelofthecomponents

Intermsoffeatures,AntDesignhasmoreenterprise-levelcomponentsandinternationalizationtools, whileMaterialUIhasmorelayoutandgridcomponentsandabuilt-inthemesystem

Itsworthnotingthatbothlibrariesareactively developedandtheircomponentofferingsmay change overtime

CustomizationOptions

Whenitcomestocustomizingthelookandfeelofthecomponents,bothAntDesignandMaterialUIoffer differentoptions

AntDesignprovidesasetof variablesthatcanbeusedtocustomizethecolor,typography,and spacingofthecomponents Italsooffersasetoftheme-lesslesthatcanbeusedtocreateacustom theme Thisallowsdeveloperstoeasily changethelookandfeelofthecomponentstomatchtheirbrand ordesignstyle

MaterialUI ontheotherhand providesabuilt-inthemesystemthatallowsdeveloperstoeasily change thecolorandtypography ofthecomponents Thelibrary alsoprovidesasetofCSSclassesthatcanbe usedtochangethespacingandlayoutofthecomponents Inaddition,MaterialUIalsooffersasetof Reacthooksthatcanbeusedtocustomizethebehaviorandappearanceofthecomponents

PerformanceandScalability

Performanceandscalability arekey factorstoconsiderwhenchoosingaReactUIlibrary BothAnt DesignandMaterialUIhaveoptimizedtheirlibrariesforperformanceandscalability

AntDesignhasafocusonperformance anditscomponentsarelightweightandfast-loading Thelibrary alsoemployslazy loading,whichspeedsuptheloadingtimeofcomponents

MaterialUIalsoprioritizesperformance withitscomponentsdesignedtobelightweightandfastloading Thelibrary usescodesplittingandtreeshakingtominimizethesizeofthenalbundleand enhanceloadingtime

Whenitcomestoscalability,bothlibrariescaneasily handlelarge-scaleprojects AntDesignoffersa widerangeofenterprise-levelcomponentsandinternationalizationtools,makingitsuitableforlargescaleprojects Similarly,MaterialUI’scollectionofMaterialDesign-inspiredcomponentsalsomakesit suitableforlarge-scaleprojects

LearningCurve

Whenitcomestothelearningcurve,bothAntDesignandMaterialUIhavearelatively steeplearning curve Thisisbecausebothlibrariescomewithalargesetofcomponentsandfeaturesthatneedtobe understoodbeforethey canbeeffectively usedinaproject

AntDesignhasaslightly steeperlearningcurvethanMaterialUIasitcomeswithasetofstrictdesign guidelinesandawiderangeofenterprise-levelcomponents Thismeansthatdevelopersneedtospend moretimeunderstandingthedesignprinciples,layoutandcomponentbehaviorbeforethey canstart

MaterialUIdashboardtemplate

less 

buildingtheirproject

Butonceyouhaveagoodunderstandingofthelibrary,youcaneasily makeuseof themany built-incomponentsandtoolsitprovides

MaterialUIhasarelatively milderlearningcurve Thelibrary followsMaterialDesignguidelineswhich arewidely acceptedandusedinmany applications Thelibrary alsohasasmallersetofcomponentsand featuresthatareeasy tounderstandanduse

Popularity

BothAntDesignandMaterialUIarewidely usedandpopularReactUIlibraries However,MaterialUIis morepopularamongdevelopers

Accordingtorecentdata,MaterialUIisoneofthemostpopularReactUIlibraries,with over 2 1 million weekly downloadsonnpm Ithasalargeandactivecommunity ofdevelopers,with over 84k starson GitHubandmany contributors It’salsohasahugenumberofthird-party packagesandpluginsthat extenditsfunctionality

Ontheotherhand,AntDesignhas nearly 1 million weekly downloadsonnpmand 83 9k starsonGitHub AntDesignhasalargeuserbaseinChina,andit’ssupportedby ateamofdevelopersatAlibaba,oneof thelargeste-commercecompaniesintheworld

Bothlibrarieshavegooddocumentationandalargenumberofexamplesandtutorials makingiteasy for developerstolearnandusethem

UseCases

WhenreviewingtheusecasesofbothAntDesignandMaterialUI itisclearthatthey eachpossesstheir ownuniquesetofadvantagesanddrawbacks

AntDesignoffersanexcellentuserexperiencethatisperfectforenterprise-levelprojects Theconsistent designguidelinesandaccessibility focusmakeittheidealoptionforbuildingapplicationsthatwillbe usedby awiderangeofusers It’sagoodchoiceifyouneedmultilingualsupportinyourproject

AntDesignhasbeenusedinaplethoraofreal-worldcases,especially inChinesetechcompanies,such as:

Alibaba

Tencent(QQ WeChat etc)

Baidu

Xiaomi

Eleme

Taobao

JDcom

Tmall

Ctrip

Huawei

MaterialUIistheperfectchoiceformodern engagingprojectsthatcallforanintuitiveuserinterface Its componentsareinspiredby MaterialDesignanditputsemphasisonanimationaswellasmotiontooffer anexperiencetailoredprecisely toyourusers’needs Italsolendsitselfperfectly whenyouneeda responsivedesignandcustomizationsthatcanbedonequickly andwithease

Therearenumerousreal-worldapplicationsofMaterialUI,including:

Google(GoogleDrive,GoogleCalendar,GoogleMaps,GooglePhotos,etc)

Airbnb

Uber

Netix

Spotify

Dropbox

Microsoft(Ofce365,Outlook,OneNote,etc)

GitHub



ProsandCons

Inthissection,wewillbediscussingtheprosandconsofusingAntDesignandMaterialUI

AntDesign

Pros:

Strictdesignguidelinesensureaconsistentandefcientuserexperience

Emphasisonaccessibility makesitusableby awiderangeofusers

Widerangeofenterprise-levelcomponentsandinternationalizationtools

Goodperformanceandscalability

LargeuserbaseinChina

Cons:

Lessexibility intermsofcustomization

Moreminimalistandsimpledesignaestheticmay notbesuitableforallprojects

MaterialUI

Pros:

MaterialDesign-inspiredcomponentsprovideacohesiveandintuitiveuserexperience

Emphasisonanimationandmotionmakesforamoreengaginguserexperience

Built-inthemesystemallowsforeasy customizationofthelookandfeelofthecomponents

Goodperformanceandscalability

MorepopularamongdevelopersthanAntDesign

Largeglobaluserbase

Cons:

Lessenterprise-levelcomponentsandinternationalizationtoolscomparedtoAntDesign Moremodernandcreativedesignaestheticmay notbesuitableforallprojects

Conclusion

Inthisarticle,wehaveconductedacompleteanalysisofAntDesignandMaterialUI–twowidely-used ReactUIlibraries Wevecomparedtheirdesignprinciples components&features customization potentials,performanceandscalability,andassessedeachlibrary’susecasesbeforelistingoutitspros andcons

AntDesignistheperfectchoiceforambitiousenterprise-levelprojects offeringconsistentandefcient userexperiences,accessibility support,internationalizationtools,strictdesignguidelines,top-notch componentsandperformanceoptimization

Forcreativeandengagingprojectsthatneedamodernlook,MaterialUIistheperfectoption Itoffers componentsinspiredby MaterialDesignwithanemphasisonanimationandmotion–plus,ithasabuiltinthemesystemforeasy customizationandoutstandingperformance

Carefully considertheindividualneedsofyourprojectinordertomakeasounddecision Bothlibraries bringtheirownsetofadvantagesandshortfalls,sotheselectionbetweenthemiscontingenton satisfyingthoseparticularrequirements

Forfurtherreading,werecommendcheckingoutourblogpostonthecomparisonofChakraUIand TailwindCSS,twootherpopularUIlibraries Thiswillgiveyouabroaderunderstandingoftheoptions availableandhelpyoudecidewhenchoosinganidealUIlibrary foryournextproject

Trello

ARTICLE

Tailwind

In-Depth



Chakra

CSS: An

Analysis for React Developers