Shadcn vs Radix: Which One is Better in 2025?

When comparing Shadcn and Radix, you need to understand their key features, pricing, and limitations. Both tools offer unique benefits but serve different purposes. This article will review each tool's strengths and weaknesses, helping you make an informed decision on which one suits your needs best.

Shadcn: Overview and Key Features

Shadcn is a versatile tool designed for developers seeking efficient and customizable solutions for their projects.

• Component Library: Shadcn offers a comprehensive library of pre-built components, including buttons, forms, and modals, which can be easily integrated into projects.
• Custom Themes: Users can create and apply custom themes, allowing for consistent branding and design across different applications.
• Accessibility Features: Shadcn ensures all components are accessible, adhering to WCAG guidelines, making it easier to build inclusive web applications.
• Responsive Design: Shadcn components are designed to be fully responsive, ensuring optimal performance and appearance on various devices and screen sizes.
• Integration with Popular Frameworks: Shadcn supports integration with popular frameworks like React and Vue, providing flexibility for developers working in different environments.
• Custom Plugins: Shadcn allows the use of custom plugins, such as date pickers and rich text editors, to extend functionality and meet specific project needs.
• Documentation and Support: Shadcn provides extensive documentation and community support, helping users quickly find solutions and best practices.
• Performance Optimization: Shadcn components are optimized for performance, ensuring fast load times and efficient resource usage.

Shadcn's Reviews

Overall, users appreciate Shadcn for its high-quality, minimalist design and its ability to enhance user experience, though some areas for improvement are noted.

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

• "High quality, minimalist UI library that I love the most." - Clu Soh, 5/5
• "They enhance the overall user experience, making navigation and interaction a breeze for end-users." - Denise Moore, 4.5/5
• "This library is amazing. It is evident by how many new startups are adopting this UI library." - Ife Odubela, 4.8/5
• "I appreciate the way it's crafted with minimal aesthetics. This design system is time-saving, loved it!" - Ahnaf Habib, 4.7/5
• "This library is so good. I used this library in my previous product company, LUMI." - Muhammad Rayyan, 4.6/5

Positive Aspects:

• High-quality and minimalist design
• Enhances user experience
• Widely adopted by startups
• Time-saving
• Provides precise, actionable insights

Common Concerns:

• No common concerns are mentioned in the provided reviews.

Radix: Overview and Key Features

Radix is a robust UI component library designed to help developers build accessible and high-quality web applications.

• Accessible Components: Radix ensures all components meet WCAG standards, making web applications usable for people with disabilities.
• Unstyled Components: Radix provides unstyled components, allowing developers to apply custom styles and maintain design consistency across projects.
• Headless Architecture: Radix uses a headless approach, separating logic from presentation, which offers greater flexibility in integrating with various frameworks like React and Vue.
• Custom Hooks: Radix includes custom hooks for managing state and side effects, simplifying complex state management tasks in applications.
• TypeScript Support: Radix offers full TypeScript support, providing type safety and better developer experience through improved code quality and error detection.
• Comprehensive Documentation: Radix features extensive documentation, including code examples and best practices, helping developers quickly understand and implement components.
• Community and Support: Radix has an active community and support channels, offering resources and assistance for troubleshooting and optimizing usage.

Radix's Reviews

Overall, users find Radix to be a high-quality, accessible UI component library with some areas for improvement.

1. Product Hunt: 5/5

• "This is really nice! Definitely going to use this for my upcoming project, which is going to use Radix UI. Congrats on the launch and good luck!" - Moritz Tomasi, 5/5
• "So many websites have buggy dropdowns and modals. With Radix, these primitives just work, i.e., pressing ESC just closes a modal as you'd expect. No customization needed. Would love for them to expose the underlying React Contexts of their components for easier modification." - Wouter Raateland, 5/5
• "Amazing team, amazing products. Kudos!" - Onurhan Demir, 5/5
• "Radix UI rocks! I’ve been using it for a long time and it’s awesome for making cool and accessible UI components for React. It’s super easy to use, has great docs, and is fast. The best part is that it doesn’t have any styles, so you can make it look however you want." - Chuck Chen, 5/5
• "Such a well-packaged toolkit, leaves all of the visual/styling configuration open while providing a well-opinionated structure to the hierarchy of the components; accessibility batteries included ❤️" - Jay Almaraz, 5/5

Positive Aspects:

• High-quality, accessible UI components
• Easy to use with great documentation
• Unstyled components allow for full customization
• Well-packaged toolkit with a well-opinionated structure
• Strong focus on community involvement

Common Concerns:

• Some users would like the underlying React Contexts of components to be exposed for easier modification

Feature Comparison: Shadcn vs. Radix

Similarities

Despite targeting slightly different audiences, Shadcn and Radix share some important similarities:

• Component Libraries: Both offer extensive libraries of pre-built, accessible components for streamlined development.
• Framework Compatibility: Each supports integration with popular frameworks like React and Vue, providing flexibility for developers.
• Customization Options: Both platforms allow for extensive customization, including themes and styles, to maintain design consistency.
• Open Source: Shadcn and Radix are open-source, encouraging community contributions and collaboration.
• Comprehensive Documentation: Each provides detailed documentation to help users understand and implement their components effectively.
• Accessibility: Both ensure their components meet WCAG standards, making web applications usable for people with disabilities.

Differences

Critical differences between Shadcn and Radix will likely influence your choice.

• Component Styling: Shadcn offers pre-styled components, while Radix provides unstyled components, allowing developers to apply custom styles.
• Headless Architecture: Radix uses a headless approach, separating logic from presentation, whereas Shadcn integrates both, offering a more traditional component structure.
• Custom Plugins: Shadcn supports custom plugins like date pickers and rich text editors, a feature not highlighted in Radix.
• TypeScript Support: Radix offers full TypeScript support, enhancing type safety and code quality, which is not explicitly mentioned for Shadcn.
• Performance Optimization: Shadcn emphasizes performance optimization for fast load times, a focus not specifically noted for Radix.

Pricing Comparison: Shadcn vs. Radix

Shadcn Pricing

Shadcn offers a range of pricing plans designed to cater to different needs and project sizes. Here is a breakdown of the available options:

• Free Plan: Includes access to the basic component library and community support.
• Pro Plan: $29/month. Offers advanced components, priority support, and access to custom themes.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing. Provides all Pro features plus dedicated support, custom plugins, and performance optimization services. Contact support for more details.

Radix' Pricing

Radix offers a variety of pricing plans to accommodate different team sizes and project needs:

• Basic Plan: $0 per month. Includes 3 team members, expense tracking, invoicing, payment tracking, transaction recording, basic reports, and email support.
• Growth Plan: $49 per month. Includes 10 team members, online payments, recurring invoices, bill management, inventory tracking, detailed reports, and phone support.
• Pro Plan: $99 per month. Includes unlimited team members, custom invoices, multi-business support, team collaboration, app integrations, advanced security, and priority support.

Subframe, a Better Alternative to Shadcn and Radix

Subframe is a visual UI design tool that syncs seamlessly with code. We combine a drag-and-drop editor with real, component-based design, allowing precise control for pixel-perfect, responsive layouts. Our tool instantly translates designs into clean, production-ready React and Tailwind code, removing the need for handoff and speeding up delivery.

Subframe's Features

Subframe is a visual UI design tool that syncs seamlessly with code, offering a unique blend of design and development capabilities.

• 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 transforming ideas into interfaces quickly, adapting to the user's design style for a more efficient workflow.

Subframe's Pricing

Subframe offers flexible pricing plans to suit different needs:

• Free Plan: $0 per user/month. Includes 1 project, up to 3 page designs, up to 3 team members, 100s of UI templates, and limited AI features.
• Pro Plan: $29 per user/month. Includes up to 3 projects, unlimited page designs, unlimited team members, custom components, 100s of UI templates, and full AI beta access.
• Custom Plan: Custom pricing. Includes unlimited projects, unlimited page designs, integration of your components, dedicated Slack support, Figma plugin, and unlimited AI.

For more details, visit our Subframe Pricing page. Book a demo with Subframe today to see how we 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

Shadcn, Radix or Subframe? Which is The Best Tool For You

Shadcn excels in offering pre-styled components and custom plugins, making it ideal for developers who need ready-to-use elements and performance optimization. Radix stands out with its unstyled components and headless architecture, providing flexibility for developers who prefer to apply custom styles and manage state with custom hooks. However, Subframe uniquely integrates design and code, combining a visual editor with AI-powered features to generate production-ready React and Tailwind code.

If you prioritize pre-styled components and performance, Shadcn is a great fit. For those who need unstyled components and a headless approach, Radix may be the better choice. But for those looking for a seamless blend of design flexibility and efficient code generation, Subframe stands out.

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