Looking for a Preline UI alternative? This page compares Preline 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.
Preline UI | shadcn/ui |
|---|---|
MIT License Open source MIT License | MIT License Open source MIT License |
ALL Frameworks Preline is framework agnostic and works everywhere | Only React Frameworks shadcn only works with React |
66 Unique components Preline has 77 Components, 66 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 Preline 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 |
84.6kB JavaScript size Imported JavaScript bundle size (minified) | 2000kB JavaScript size Imported JavaScript bundle size (minified) of dependencies installed by shadcn CLI |
3 Dependencies Preline has 3 third-party dependencies. | 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. |
400kB Dependency size | 91MB Dependency size |
5400 GitHub stars | 84900 GitHub stars |
12700 Used by open source projects Based on GitHub's public repositories | 22600 Used by open source projects Based on GitHub's public repositories |
32000 NPM downloads Weekly downloads from NPM | 173000 NPM downloads Weekly downloads from NPM |
Yes CDN Preline CSS file is available on CDN | No CDN shadcn CSS file is not available on CDN |
No Semantic class names Preline 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 Preline 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 |
No works without Node.js Preline requires a Node.js environment | No works without Node.js shadcn requires a Node.js environment |
No No-build version Preline does not provide micro CSS files for each component | No No-build version shadcn does not provide micro CSS files for each component |
Yes P3 colors Preline uses wide-gamut P3 colors by default | No P3 colors shadcn does not use wide-gamut P3 colors by default |
Yes RTL support Preline supports right-to-left (RTL) layouts | No RTL support shadcn does not supports right-to-left (RTL) layouts by default |
No Runtime CSS customization Preline 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 Preline doesn not use native CSS nesting | No Native CSS nesting shadcn doesn not use native CSS nesting |
37 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. | |
1. Install daisyUI as a Node package:
npm i -D daisyui@latestpnpm add -D daisyui@latestyarn add -D daisyui@latestbun add -D daisyui@latestdeno i -D npm:daisyui@latest2. 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.