7 Best React UI Frameworks and Component Libraries in 2023

Looking for the best React UI framework for your project?

Because of its popularity, you’ll find a wide range of frameworks designed to help you create a great-looking interface for your React project. To make your search for the best framework easier, we’ve endeavored to curate our picks for the top seven options in 2022 and beyond.

Throughout the remainder of this post, we’ll explore the different functionalities and usability of each UI framework so you can choose the best one for your development goals.

Let’s jump right in…

Best React Framework and Component Libraries in 2023

Here’s what we’re going to cover briefly in this post:

First of all, Material UI (MUI) is an excellent React UI framework with several pre-built components and templates. For example, it comes with pre-built sliders, drop-down menus, and navigation tools so you don’t have to waste time developing your own. In addition, each component meets current accessibility standards and is fully customizable.

In addition, MUI has advanced theme features. You can work with Google’s Material Design system and further customize your code with CSS helpers. With these tools, you can control the styling and use of components from the same place.

These features aim to speed up the development process and allow full customization. In addition, they also make the user interface suitable for design needs.

A disadvantage of using MUI is that some of the documentation is not written for absolute beginners. You need a basic level of development experience to get the most out of this React UI framework. In addition, the documentation often does not keep up with all interface updates.

Overall, we do not recommend MUI newcomers. However, if you are looking for a wide library of components and almost unlimited customization options, you might appreciate this UI framework.

If you are looking for a comprehensive web design system, you should use Grommet. It’s an easy-to-use option that comes with lots of helpful UI components and detailed guidelines on how to use the programming language, layout, and more.

In fact, Grommet focuses on offering many layout components that are not available with other UI frameworks. It also has multiple design templates, patterns, and sticker sheets.

Grommet is one of the most accessible UI frameworks. It includes tools like screen reader tags and keyboard navigation to make the interface more user-friendly. In addition, it has out-of-the-box support for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

However, Grommet is less customizable than some other UI frameworks. This simplicity may benefit beginners, but other users may feel limited. Grommet also uses an external CSS system, which means you need to be careful when applying global styles to your work.

React Redux is probably best known for its predictability. All you have to do is specify what values ​​you expect from your components. The interface extracts and updates them automatically. As such, it’s a straightforward interface that allows you to test your code in different environments and closely compare the results.

In addition, React Redux is one of the best user interfaces for debugging applications. It comes with devtools to identify changes in your application state, log them and send error reports. These features make React Redux an indispensable tool for fine-tuning the details of your applications.

In addition, React Redux automatically applies performance optimizations. The UI only re-renders the components after significant changes. As a result, you can design applications that run at full capacity.

However, using React Redux can be time-consuming. Every time you want to change the functionality of your application, you have to write several lines of code in different files. So it might not be the best React UI framework for complex development projects.

If you’re looking for a router UI to use alongside another interface, consider React Router. This routing solution matches all of your application components to their URLs, ensuring you’re delivering a seamless experience to your users.

React Router can be a time saver that speeds up your application. Typically an application has about four levels of layouts with different hierarchies. Luckily, React Router will automatically change your layouts along with the URL, meaning there are fewer routes to create on your end.

In addition, React Router automatically selects the best routes for your application. It evaluates multiple possibilities, ranks them, and renders the most specific route. This feature eliminates the hassle of setting up your own route order.

Keep in mind that React Router isn’t the most modern router UI available. There are smaller alternatives on the market. Therefore, you should consider whether you prefer a more streamlined or a more powerful interface for your development needs.

Blueprint UI is mainly designed for desktop applications. It is also a complex user interface that can create data-heavy web interfaces with multiple components and modules.

Altogether, Blueprint has a library with more than 30 standard components. You can customize each with CSS to tweak its style. Additionally, the interface has built-in tools to further customize these components and apps with minimal coding needs on your end.

Blueprint has thorough documentation for almost every aspect of its functionality. These tutorials include both written and visual walkthroughs to help you master the interface. As such, Blueprint is a relatively easy-to-use option that might be more accessible than MUI.

Unfortunately, Blueprint isn’t the best UI for mobile apps. Although it supports mobile interactions, it lacks many of the mobile components that you find in an interface like MUI.

Fluent UI is a Microsoft-based user interface that you can use to develop cross-platform applications. Although many developers use the interface for Microsoft apps, you can use Fluent with React for your other projects as well.

The framework has an extensive library of components, including basic inputs, notifications, and menus. These elements are also easy to insert and come with standard styling options to suit most needs. In addition, you can easily customize these components for your specific project.

Fluent UI uses an intuitive system that applies CSS to each component. Therefore, changes to an element do not affect your global styles. Depending on your application needs, this feature can be an advantage or disadvantage.

Also, like MUI, Fluent lacks detailed documentation. Although tutorials cover the basics, they often make assumptions about developer experience levels. Therefore, you might not like using this interface framework if you are new to development.

If you want a front-end React UI framework for web development, you should consider React Bootstrap. It’s one of the most popular options, and for good reason.

React Bootstrap provides a pure React experience that has no dependencies on iQuery. It’s also one of the original React libraries, which means it contains a large number of components. In addition, these elements have been designed to maximize accessibility. So you don’t need to customize them when making your theme, plugin or app accessible to its users.

With this UI framework, you can design your projects on the backend and prototype them on the frontend. Therefore, React Bootstrap could be an excellent choice for development teams working on different aspects of their applications.

However, back-end developers may not like the UI layout. Using actions and reducers mimics a front-end environment. Therefore, you may need to customize your code or read the UI documentation to become familiar with it.

Kickstart 2023 with the right React UI framework

Overall, we recommend MUI as the best React UI framework for web development. It has an extensive library of components and templates, all of which can be customized to suit your needs. While not the most beginner-friendly interface, MUI offers accessible features and almost complete control over your application development.

By the way. If you’re looking for tools to help boost your development with React, then check out this React bundle from Creative Tim. It’s a bundle of all their React UI kits and admin templates – more than 120 assets combined.