NextUI vs DaisyUI: Which One is Better in 2025?

When it comes to UI component libraries, NextUI and DaisyUI are two popular choices. Both offer unique features and cater to different needs. In this article, we'll compare their key features, pricing, limitations, and user reviews to help you make an informed decision.

NextUI: Overview and Key Features

NextUI is a modern UI component library designed to enhance the development experience with a focus on performance and customization.

• Customizable Themes: NextUI offers extensive theme customization options, allowing users to adjust colors, typography, and spacing to match their brand identity.
• Pre-built Components: NextUI includes a wide range of pre-built components such as buttons, forms, and modals, which can be easily integrated into projects to save development time.
• Responsive Design: NextUI components are designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that applications look great on all devices, from desktops to mobile phones.
• Dark Mode Support: NextUI provides built-in support for dark mode, enabling users to switch between light and dark themes effortlessly.
• Accessibility Features: NextUI prioritizes accessibility by adhering to ARIA standards and providing keyboard navigation support, making applications usable for all users.
• Performance Optimization: NextUI is optimized for performance, with lightweight components and minimal dependencies, resulting in faster load times and better user experiences.
• TypeScript Support: NextUI offers full TypeScript support, providing type safety and better developer tooling for a more robust development process.
• Integration with Next.js: NextUI seamlessly integrates with Next.js, leveraging its features like server-side rendering and static site generation for improved performance and SEO.

NextUI's Reviews

The overall user feedback on NextUI is highly positive, with users praising its design and functionality while noting a few areas for improvement.

1. Product Hunt: 4.8/5

• "NextUI in combination with TailwindCSS has enabled me and my team to ship with unprecedented speed thanks to lovely ergonomical API design from the NextUI team 💯" - Gus, 5/5
• "Beautiful animated and customizable components! Probably my favorite component UI library for React/NextJS. I use it with App Router, many components work in React server components, but obviously more complex components will only work in client components." - Noah Youngs, 4.5/5
• "NextUI is a game-changer! 🚀 Its intuitive design and components have completely transformed my UI development process. Kudos to the team behind NextUI for creating such a powerful library!" - Yury Volk, 5/5
• "Tailored functionalities allow for a high degree of personalization, making it suitable for a variety of business needs across industries." - Huzaifa Kamboh, 4.5/5
• "My development is now much faster with NextUI. If you want to enjoy coding you should use this." - Hüseyin Ataş, 5/5

Positive Aspects:

• User-friendly and intuitive interface
• Powerful and advanced features
• Quick and easy app development
• Strong community and customer support

Common Concerns:

• Occasional compatibility issues with complex components in React server components

DaisyUI: Overview and Key Features

DaisyUI is a popular UI component library that extends Tailwind CSS with pre-designed components and utility classes.

• Pre-designed Components: DaisyUI offers a wide range of pre-designed components such as buttons, cards, and modals. These components are ready to use and can be easily customized to fit any design.
• Utility Classes: DaisyUI extends Tailwind CSS with additional utility classes. These classes simplify the process of styling elements, making it easier to achieve the desired look without writing custom CSS.
• Theme Customization: DaisyUI allows users to customize themes by adjusting colors, fonts, and other design elements. This feature helps in maintaining brand consistency across different projects.
• Responsive Design: DaisyUI components are designed to be fully responsive. They adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring a consistent user experience on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
• Accessibility Features: DaisyUI prioritizes accessibility by adhering to ARIA standards. It includes features like keyboard navigation support, making applications usable for all users.
• Integration with Tailwind CSS: DaisyUI integrates seamlessly with Tailwind CSS. This integration allows users to leverage the power of Tailwind's utility-first approach while benefiting from DaisyUI's pre-designed components.
• Custom Plugins: DaisyUI supports custom plugins that extend its functionality. Examples include plugins for form validation, date pickers, and tooltips, which enhance the overall development experience.

DaisyUI's Reviews

Overall user feedback on DaisyUI highlights its ease of use and customization capabilities, with some users noting initial complexity with Tailwind CSS.

1. G2: 4.7/5
2. Product Hunt: 4.6/5

• "daisyUI saved me months of component design." - Erick Rodriguez, 5/5
• "daisyUI is awesome! Makes code much cleaner for often used sets of classes without massive amounts of extra CSS bloat." - Aaron Moy, 4.5/5
• "Using a component library such as daisyUI is such a productivity hack. No going back from that." - Josef Büttgen, 5/5
• "I found Tailwind CSS complicated, but daisyUI looks like something I can give a try." - Bonnie, 3.5/5
• "It's great! Been using it in all my projects!" - Sara Vieira, 4.8/5

Positive Aspects:

• Ease of use and faster development process
• Clean and semantic HTML structure
• Highly customizable and themeable components
• Pure CSS with no JS dependency
• Works across all frameworks

Common Concerns:

• Initial complexity with Tailwind CSS
• Lack of specific ratings from trusted platforms like G2 for new users seeking validation

Feature Comparison: NextUI vs. DaisyUI

Similarities

Despite their unique approaches, NextUI and DaisyUI share several important features:

• Customizable Themes: Both libraries offer extensive theme customization options to match brand identities.
• Pre-built Components: Each provides a wide range of pre-designed components like buttons, forms, and modals.
• Responsive Design: Components in both libraries are designed to be fully responsive across various devices.
• Accessibility Features: Adherence to ARIA standards and keyboard navigation support are prioritized in both libraries.
• Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with their respective frameworks, React for NextUI and Tailwind CSS for DaisyUI.
• Community Support: Both libraries have active communities on platforms like GitHub and Discord.

Differences

Critical differences between NextUI and DaisyUI will likely influence your choice.

• Primary Focus: NextUI focuses on providing a modern React UI library with a strong emphasis on performance and customization. DaisyUI, on the other hand, enhances Tailwind CSS with a comprehensive library of pre-built components and utility classes.
• Customization Options: NextUI offers extensive customization through a custom TailwindCSS plugin, allowing users to create and modify themes. DaisyUI provides customization via Tailwind CSS utility classes and a theme generator, supporting various predefined themes.
• Component Library Size: NextUI includes multiple packages, allowing users to install only the components they need. DaisyUI offers 61 components and over 500 utility classes, providing a wide range of options for building user interfaces.
• Integration Capabilities: NextUI components are built to be compatible with React server components and the new Next.js `app/` directory structure. DaisyUI is framework-agnostic and integrates seamlessly with Tailwind CSS, without requiring a JavaScript bundle file.
• User Interface Design: NextUI supports light and dark modes and is designed to be accessible out of the box. DaisyUI emphasizes semantic class names and a design system that includes responsive design options and semantic colors, ensuring a consistent and visually appealing UI.

Pricing Comparison: NextUI vs. DaisyUI

NextUI Pricing

NextUI offers a range of pricing plans designed to cater to different user needs and organizational sizes.

• Solo Plan: $249 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
  • Single user license
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Customer support
  • Free updates
  • All Figma files included
• Startup Plan: $399 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
  • 5 user licenses
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Priority tech support
  • Customer support
  • Free updates
  • All Figma files included
• Organization Plan: $799 (one-time payment plus local taxes)
  • 25 user licenses
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Priority tech support
  • Customer support
  • Free updates
  • All Figma files included

If you require more than 25 licenses or have any other questions, you can reach out to support for a custom payment link and additional licenses as needed.

DaisyUI' Pricing

DaisyUI's pricing structure is straightforward and designed to cater to various user needs. However, specific pricing details are not available on the website. For accurate and detailed pricing information, users are advised to contact the company's support team.

• Individual Plan: Contact support for pricing details
  • Single user license
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Customer support
  • Free updates
• Team Plan: Contact support for pricing details
  • Multiple user licenses
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Priority tech support
  • Customer support
  • Free updates
• Enterprise Plan: Contact support for pricing details
  • Custom user licenses
  • Access to all components
  • Lifetime access
  • Unlimited projects
  • Priority tech support
  • Customer support
  • Free updates

Subframe, a Better Alternative to NextUI and DaisyUI

Subframe is a visual UI design tool that syncs directly with your code. We offer a drag-and-drop editor that uses real components, making it easy to create pixel-perfect, responsive layouts. Our tool instantly converts designs into clean, production-ready React and Tailwind code, eliminating the need for handoff and speeding up your workflow.

Subframe's Features

Subframe is a UI design tool tailored for the AI era, offering a seamless design-to-code experience.

• Component-Based Design: Subframe helps create user interfaces with real, reusable components instead of static mockups. The visual editor includes a responsive drag-and-drop canvas for building precise, production-ready layouts.
• Pre-Built UI Templates: Subframe offers a library of customizable templates inspired by established design patterns. Each template is built with reusable components to help speed up the design process.
• Code Export: Subframe generates clean, production-quality React and Tailwind code. Designs can be copied directly into a codebase, reducing time spent on handoff and manual CSS adjustments.
• Free to Get Started: Subframe offers free access to its visual design tools with no credit card required.
• AI Integration: Subframe leverages AI to assist in going from idea to interface quickly, adapting to the user's design style.

Subframe's Pricing

Subframe pricing is designed to cater to different user needs:

• Free Plan: $0 per user/month
  • 1 project
  • Up to 3 page designs
  • Up to 3 team members
  • 100s of UI templates
  • Limited AI features
• Pro Plan: $29 per user/month
  • Up to 3 projects
  • Unlimited page designs
  • Unlimited team members
  • Custom components
  • 100s of UI templates
  • Full AI beta access
• Custom Plan: "Let's talk"
  • Unlimited projects
  • Unlimited page designs
  • Integrate your components
  • Dedicated Slack support
  • Figma plugin
  • Unlimited AI

For more information, visit the Subframe Pricing page. Book a demo with Subframe to see how it can transform your UI design process.

Subframe's Reviews

Users have shared positive feedback about Subframe, noting its user-friendly interface, time-saving tools, and the quality of the UI designs it produces. The platform has earned a 5/5 rating on Product Hunt. Customers especially value the visual editor, drag-and-drop functionality, and AI features that help refine designs based on user input.

• "Without Subframe, the frontend build of this tool would've taken a lot longer and a lot more financial resources." - 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

NextUI, DaisyUI or Subframe? Which is The Best Tool For You

NextUI excels in providing a modern React UI library with a strong emphasis on performance and customization, making it ideal for developers who need a robust, type-safe environment. DaisyUI, with its extensive component library and utility classes, is perfect for those who want to leverage Tailwind CSS for rapid development and clean HTML structure.

However, if you seek a tool that seamlessly integrates design and code, Subframe stands out. It combines real component-based design with AI-powered features, generating production-ready React and Tailwind code. This makes Subframe the optimal choice for those looking for both design flexibility and efficient code generation in a single platform.

Get started on Subframe for free to see how it can streamline your workflow and transform your UI design process.