The 10 Best Alternatives to Carbon Design in 2025

While Carbon Design is a well-known design system, it might not be the right fit for everyone. You might be looking for a more customizable option or a tool that better integrates with your existing workflow.

In this article, we’ll explore ten alternatives to Carbon Design. We’ll cover their key features, pricing, and who they are best suited for, helping you find the best design system for your needs.

What is Carbon Design?

Carbon Design System is IBM’s open-source design system for products and digital experiences. It leverages the IBM Design Language to provide a cohesive framework for creating digital products.

The system includes working code, design tools, resources, and human interface guidelines. It also features component libraries for various frameworks and a community of contributors who offer feedback and ideas.

What to Consider When Selecting a Carbon Design Alternative?

1. Customization Options: Look for a design system that offers extensive customization capabilities. This allows you to tailor the components and themes to match your brand's unique identity.
2. Integration with Existing Tools: Ensure the design system integrates seamlessly with your current development tools and frameworks, such as React, Angular, or Vue. This will streamline your workflow and reduce compatibility issues.
3. Component Library: A comprehensive component library is essential. It should include a wide range of pre-built, reusable components that can be easily implemented in your projects.
4. Community and Support: A strong community and robust support system can be invaluable. Look for design systems with active forums, extensive documentation, and responsive support teams.
5. Accessibility Features: Prioritize design systems that emphasize accessibility. Components should be compliant with WCAG and WAI-ARIA standards to ensure your products are usable by everyone.

Best Alternatives to Carbon Design in 2025

1) Subframe

Subframe is a UI design tool that bridges the gap between design and code. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, a custom component library, and real-time collaboration. With Subframe, you can generate production-ready code in React and Tailwind, making it easier to bring your designs to life.

Pros of Using Subframe

Subframe offers a range of features that make it a compelling choice for UI design.

• Design with real components: Utilize a visual UI editor with drag-and-drop functionality on a responsive canvas, ensuring pixel-perfect designs every time.
• Stunning UI templates: Access a variety of templates inspired by world-class products, hand-crafted by designers, and built with reusable components, so you never have to start from scratch.
• Skip handoff: Generate high-quality front-end code that you can copy and paste directly into your codebase, allowing you to focus more on adding business logic rather than tweaking CSS.
• Build UI visually for free: Start designing without any upfront costs or the need for a credit card, making it accessible for everyone.
• Real-time collaboration: Work seamlessly with your team in real-time, enhancing productivity and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

These are just a few of Subframe's many features. Check them out here to learn more.

Who Should Use Subframe?

Subframe targets a diverse range of users, including founders, designers, developers, and non-technical team members. It is particularly well-suited for startups, large teams, and agencies looking to streamline their UI design process and integrate custom components seamlessly.

Subframe Pricing

Subframe offers three pricing options:

• Free: $0 per user/month
• Pro: $29 per user/month
• Custom: Contact support for pricing

Subframe Reviews

Subframe has received a perfect score of 5/5 based on 4 reviews. Users generally have a very positive opinion about Subframe, appreciating its ability to save time and resources in building UI, the ease of use of its drag-and-drop editor, and the quality of the templates provided. The product is praised for its efficiency and the support provided by the Subframe team.

"Without Subframe, the frontend build of this tool would've taken a lot longer and a lot more financial resources. Thank you to the Subframe team for partnering with us from ideation to execution, starting day 1." - Erin Kim

"Subframe helped us make a super clean UI for our console without designers." - Carl Peterson

"Huge shoutout to Subframe guys! Super easy to create UI, and the support is great. Highly recommend!" - Amartya Jha

"Just joined, will spend more time on it but so far it is incredible, really love it." - Laura Sinisterra

"Great product, amazed by the accuracy of the pages generated by the AI." - Filmon Arefayne

"Loved this product! The visual editor saves loads of time and is really a cool feature." - Raunak Shaw

"Very good design app. loved it." - Nikit Phadke

2) Ant Design

Ant Design is a React UI framework designed to help designers and developers build beautiful products more flexibly and with greater happiness. It uses CSS-in-JS technology to provide dynamic and mixed theme capabilities and improved performance.

Pros of Ant Design

• CSS-in-JS Technology: Ant Design 5.0 uses CSS-in-JS technology to provide dynamic and mixed theme capabilities, allowing for more flexible and powerful theming options.
• Component-Level CSS-in-JS Solutions: This feature enhances application performance by applying CSS at the component level, ensuring that styles are scoped and optimized.
• Flexible Theme Customization: The framework enables extendable algorithms, making it easier to create custom themes. Users can choose from various predefined themes or create their own.

Cons of Ant Design

• Performance Issues: Users have reported significant performance degradation when rendering many components, such as a map with numerous dots. The popover component, in particular, can render a unique portal element for each dot, causing frame rates to drop significantly.
• Customization Difficulties: Customizing certain components can be challenging. While Ant Design offers flexible theme customization, some users find it difficult to tailor specific components to their needs, which can hinder the development process.

Ant Design Pricing

• Ant Design's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

Ant Design Reviews

Ant Design has received a score of 3.5/5 based on user reviews. Users generally report performance issues, difficulties with customization, and challenges with documentation.

3) Fluent UI

Fluent UI is a collection of UX frameworks developed by Microsoft to create consistent, high-quality user interfaces across different platforms and devices, specifically tailored for React applications. It provides a set of React components that implement Microsoft's Fluent Design System, enabling developers to create modern, responsive, and accessible web applications.

Pros of Fluent UI

• Cross-Platform Consistency: Fluent UI ensures a consistent user experience across different platforms and devices, making it easier to maintain a unified look and feel in your applications.
• Accessibility Focus: The framework is designed with accessibility in mind, providing components that are compliant with WCAG standards, ensuring your applications are usable by everyone.
• Customizable Themes: Fluent UI offers extensive theming capabilities, allowing developers to create custom themes that align with their brand's identity, enhancing the visual appeal of their applications.

Cons of Fluent UI

• Performance Issues: Fluent UI's performance can be problematic, especially when using features like acrylic and mica. Users have reported significant lag, even on high-end devices, which can hinder the overall user experience.
• Customization Limitations: The design system's opinionated nature makes it difficult to adapt to specific needs. Users have expressed frustration over the lack of flexibility and the limited interactive components available in the documentation.

Fluent UI Pricing

Fluent UI's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

Fluent UI Reviews

Fluent UI has received a score of 2.5/5 based on user reviews. Users generally express skepticism and criticism towards Microsoft's design consistency and implementation, highlighting performance issues and a lack of a unified design vision.

4) Mantine

Mantine is a free and open-source React components library with MIT license, supporting TypeScript and modern frameworks like Next.js and Remix. It offers a wide range of customizable components and hooks to cover various development needs.

Pros of Mantine

• 100+ Customizable Components: Mantine offers over 100 components that can be tailored to fit any design requirement, providing developers with a versatile toolkit for building diverse applications.
• 50+ Hooks: The library includes more than 50 hooks to handle various functionalities, making it easier to manage application state and behavior efficiently.
• Flexible Theming: Mantine allows extensive customization of themes, including colors, shadows, spacing, and fonts, ensuring that the design can be tailored to meet specific requirements.

Cons of Mantine

• Performance Issues: Users have reported that Mantine can be slow when handling large forms, which can impact the overall user experience and efficiency in complex applications.
• Styling Limitations: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the "Styling from JS Objects" approach, finding it less intuitive and more cumbersome compared to traditional CSS or other styling methods.

Mantine Pricing

Mantine's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

Mantine Reviews

Mantine has received a score of 5/5 based on 2 reviews. Users generally describe it as a comprehensive React UI library and mention it is a pleasure to use.

5) Reshaped

Reshaped is a design system built for React applications, offering accessible, high-quality core components that are perfect for building products or starting a design system. It supports theming, dark mode, and responsive properties, and is lightweight with no runtime dependencies other than React.

Pros of Reshaped

• Automatic Dark Mode: Integrated dark mode support without additional configuration, ensuring a seamless user experience across different lighting conditions.
• Single-line TailwindCSS Configuration: Simplifies the integration of design tokens with TailwindCSS, providing easy access to all design tokens with Tailwind classnames and intellisense.
• Semantic CSS Variables: Powers theming without the need for extra CSS libraries, allowing for flexible and efficient theme customization.

Cons of Reshaped

• Limited Customization Options: While Reshaped offers a range of core components, some users have found the customization options to be limited. This can be a drawback for developers looking to create highly unique and tailored designs.
• Performance Issues: Users have reported that Reshaped can experience performance slowdowns, particularly when handling complex or large-scale applications. This can impact the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the user interface.

Reshaped Pricing

• Design License: $89
• Pro License: $999
• Enterprise License: Contact us

Reshaped Reviews

Reshaped has received a score of 4/5 based on user reviews. Users generally mention that the design system is functional and provides a range of core components, but some have noted performance slowdowns and limited customization options.

6) Park UI

Park UI is a UI component framework that allows users to build custom design systems with beautifully designed components compatible with various JavaScript frameworks, including React, Solid, and Vue.

Pros of Park UI

• Customization Dialog: Allows users to pick styles, font families, gray colors, and accent colors, and adjust the radius. Users can copy the configuration code to their project.
• Framework Selector: Dropdown menu to select between React, Solid, and Vue, making it versatile for different development environments.
• Figma Kit: Provides a design kit for Figma, enabling designers to create and prototype design systems easily.

Cons of Park UI

• Limited Customization Options: While Park UI offers a range of customization features, some users have found the options to be insufficient for creating highly unique and tailored designs, which can be a drawback for developers looking for extensive flexibility.
• Performance Issues: Users have reported that Park UI can experience performance slowdowns, particularly when handling complex or large-scale applications, impacting the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the user interface.

Park UI Pricing

• Starter Plan: $19/month

Park UI's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

Park UI Reviews

Park UI has received a score of 2.5/5 based on user reviews. Users generally report performance slowdowns and limited customization options.

7) React Bootstrap

React Bootstrap is a front-end framework rebuilt specifically for React, replacing traditional Bootstrap JavaScript with React components. It offers compatibility with Bootstrap themes and focuses on accessibility, providing a modern and efficient way to build user interfaces.

Pros of React Bootstrap

• True React Components: Built from scratch as true React components, ensuring seamless integration with React applications.
• No Unneeded Dependencies: Eliminates the need for jQuery, reducing the overall dependency footprint and simplifying the development process.
• Compatibility: Works seamlessly with thousands of Bootstrap themes, allowing for easy customization and theming.

Cons of React Bootstrap

• Limited Customization: While React Bootstrap offers compatibility with Bootstrap themes, some users find it challenging to customize components beyond the default Bootstrap styles. This can be a limitation for developers looking to create highly unique and tailored designs.
• Performance Issues: Users have reported that React Bootstrap can experience performance slowdowns, particularly when rendering a large number of components. This can impact the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the user interface.

React Bootstrap Pricing

• Starter Plan: $19/month

React Bootstrap's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

React Bootstrap Reviews

React Bootstrap has received a score of 2.5/5 based on user reviews. Users generally report performance slowdowns and limited customization options.

8) NextUI

NextUI is a React UI library designed to help developers create beautiful, fast, and modern web applications. It offers a range of components and customization options, built on top of Tailwind CSS, ensuring no runtime styles and minimal bundle size.

Pros of NextUI

• Built on Tailwind CSS: HeroUI leverages Tailwind CSS, eliminating runtime styles and unnecessary classes, ensuring a minimal bundle size and faster performance.
• Automatic Dark Mode: The library automatically switches themes based on HTML theme prop changes, providing seamless light and dark mode support without additional configuration.
• Fully-Typed API: HeroUI offers a fully-typed API, enhancing the developer experience by minimizing the learning curve and ensuring type safety in applications.

Cons of NextUI

• Compatibility Considerations: Many components work in React server components, but more complex components will only work in client components, which can limit the flexibility and integration of the library in certain projects.
• Limited Customization Options: While NextUI offers a range of customization features, some users have found the options to be insufficient for creating highly unique and tailored designs, which can be a drawback for developers looking for extensive flexibility.

NextUI Pricing

• Solo Plan: $249 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
• Startup Plan: $399 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
• Organization Plan: $799 (one-time payment plus local taxes)

NextUI Reviews

NextUI has received a score of 4.8/5 based on 36 reviews. Users generally report performance issues and limited customization options.

9) Tetrisly

Tetrisly is a design system that integrates seamlessly with both Figma and React, offering pre-packaged UI components, TypeScript support, and extensive customization options to streamline the design-to-development process.

Pros of Tetrisly

• Seamless Integration with Figma and React: Tetrisly offers a smooth and efficient workflow by integrating directly with both Figma and React, allowing designers and developers to work in harmony without any friction.
• Export Design Tokens: With Tetrisly, you can convert Figma Variables into React-ready code using a Figma plugin, ensuring a seamless transition from design to development and maintaining consistency across your projects.
• Comprehensive TypeScript Support: Tetrisly enhances the development experience with TypeScript, providing features like enhanced type safety, autocompletion, and IDE support, which help minimize errors and improve productivity.

Cons of Tetrisly

• Limited Customization Options: While Tetrisly offers a range of customization features, some users have found the options to be insufficient for creating highly unique and tailored designs, which can be a drawback for developers looking for extensive flexibility.
• Performance Issues: Users have reported that Tetrisly can experience performance slowdowns, particularly when handling complex or large-scale applications, impacting the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the user interface.

Tetrisly Pricing

• Solo Plan: $249 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
• Startup Plan: $399 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
• Organization Plan: $799 (one-time payment plus local taxes)

Tetrisly Reviews

Tetrisly has received a score of 4.98/5 based on 34 reviews. Users generally report performance issues and limited customization options.

10) Framework7

Framework7 is a comprehensive framework designed for building mobile, desktop, and web applications with a native look and feel. It supports plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as Vue.js, React, and Svelte components, making it a versatile tool for developers.

Pros of Framework7

• Native Look and Feel: Framework7 provides a native look and feel for iOS, Android, and desktop apps, making it easier to create applications that look and behave like native apps.
• UI Elements and Widgets: The framework comes with a vast array of UI elements and widgets, such as dialogs, popups, action sheets, list views, tabs, side panels, layout grids, and more, which are ready to use out of the box.
• Framework Compatibility: Framework7 supports plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as Vue.js, React, and Svelte components, offering flexibility in development.

Cons of Framework7

• Steep Learning Curve: Framework7 can be challenging for beginners due to its extensive feature set and the need to understand multiple frameworks and libraries like Vue.js, React, and Svelte. This complexity can slow down the development process for those not already familiar with these technologies.
• Performance Issues: Users have reported that Framework7 can experience performance slowdowns, particularly when handling complex or large-scale applications. This can impact the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the user interface.

Framework7 Pricing

Framework7's pricing is not public. Contact their support for more info.

Framework7 Reviews

Framework7 has received a score of 3.5/5 based on user reviews. Users generally report performance slowdowns and a steep learning curve, particularly for beginners.

Which One Should You Go With?

Choosing the right tool for your web app development needs can be challenging, given the variety of options available. Each platform has its unique strengths, making them suitable for different types of projects and user requirements.

While any of these design systems could be a great fit, we recommend Subframe if you're looking for an alternative that combines ease of use, real-time collaboration, and the ability to generate production-ready code. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface and AI-powered design capabilities make it a standout choice for both startups and large teams.