Comparing Meraki UI vs shadcn/ui. Which one is better in 2025?

Meraki UI shadcn/ui

Looking for a Meraki UI alternative? This page compares Meraki UI and shadcn/ui, two popular UI component libraries. We are comparing features, size, efficiency and usage data to help you choose which component library is better for your next project.

Meraki UI
shadcn/ui
MIT
License
Open source MIT License
MIT
License
Open source MIT License
ALL
Frameworks
Meraki UI is framework agnostic and works everywhere
Only React
Frameworks
shadcn only works with React
18
Unique components
Meraki UI has 31 Components, 18 of them are unique – for example pagination and button group are considered as same.
43
Unique components
shadcn has 50 components, 43 of them are unique – for example pagination and button group are considered as same.
2
Built-in Themes
Meraki UI has light and dark themes
2
Built-in Themes
shadcn has 2 themes
No
Supports more than two themes
Does not support more than 2 themes at the same time
No
Supports more than two themes
Does not support more than 2 themes at the same time
17kB
JavaScript size
Meraki UI requires Alpine.js
2000kB
JavaScript size
Imported JavaScript bundle size (minified) of dependencies installed by shadcn CLI
0
Dependencies
Meraki UI has no dependencies, but it requires Alpine.js
159
Dependencies
shadcn CLI installs 159 third-party dependencies (Not including React and Tailwind CSS). Using more third-party dependencies increases the risk of security vulnerabilities, compatibility problems, and long-term maintenance headaches from deprecated packages.
0
Dependency size
Meraki UI has no dependencies, but it requires Alpine.js
91MB
Dependency size
2600
GitHub stars
84900
GitHub stars
?
Used by open source projects
Can't measure
22600
Used by open source projects
Based on GitHub's public repositories
?
NPM downloads
Can't measure
173000
NPM downloads
Weekly downloads from NPM
Yes
CDN
Meraki UI uses Tailwind CSS class names which is available on CDN
No
CDN
shadcn CSS file is not available on CDN
No
Semantic class names
Meraki UI does not use semantic CSS class names. Using semantic and descriptive CSS class names improves readability and maintainability of code independent of the current framework.
No
Semantic class names
shadcn does not use semantic CSS class names. Using semantic and descriptive CSS class names improves readability and maintainability of code independent of the current framework.
No
Global customizations
Meraki UI requires changing class names one by one at build time to do customization
No
Global customizations
shadcn requires changing JavaScript props one by one at build time to do design token customization
Yes
works without Node.js
Meraki UI does not requires a Node.js environment
No
works without Node.js
shadcn requires a Node.js environment
No
No-build version
Meraki UI does not provide micro CSS files for each component
No
No-build version
shadcn does not provide micro CSS files for each component
No
P3 colors
Meraki UI does not use wide-gamut P3 colors by default
No
P3 colors
shadcn does not use wide-gamut P3 colors by default
Yes
RTL support
Meraki UI supports right-to-left (RTL) layouts
No
RTL support
shadcn does not supports right-to-left (RTL) layouts by default
No
Runtime CSS customization
Meraki UI customizations requires changing Tailwind CSS class names at build time
No
Runtime CSS customization
shadcn customizations requires changing JavaScript props at build time
No
Native CSS nesting
Meraki UI doesn not use native CSS nesting
No
Native CSS nesting
shadcn doesn not use native CSS nesting
0
Open GitHub issues
As of April 2025
895
Open GitHub issues
As of April 2025
No
Automatic install and update
Components are installed individually via the CLI tool rather than as a package. This requires installing more dependencies for each component.
Yes
Requires maintenance
shadcn components exist in your codebase meaning you should manually maintain, debug and develop them. They will not receive updates and bug fixes automatically .Updating them manually according to shadcn changes means resetting all your customizations on each update.
No
Semantic versioning for components
shadcn works as a registry of components, rather than a library. The CLI tool generates component files in your project. After that, there's no versioning, no updates, and no compatibility guarantees between components.

Install daisyUI

1. Install daisyUI as a Node package:

npm i -D daisyui@latest
pnpm add -D daisyui@latest
yarn add -D daisyui@latest
bun add -D daisyui@latest
deno i -D npm:daisyui@latest

2. Add daisyUI to app.css:

@import "tailwindcss";
@plugin "daisyui";

This comparison page is for informational purposes only and does not mean to criticize libraries or projects. Information is based on GitHub public data, NPM registry data and official documentation websites of the libraries. If you found any outdated information, please open a PR to update it. All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners.