Bulma vs. Material UI

What is Bulma?

Bulma is a modern, open-source CSS framework based entirely on Flexbox. Unlike Bootstrap or Foundation, Bulma is a pure CSS framework, it doesn’t come with JavaScript components, which makes it lightweight, simple, and easy to use.

Bulma is especially loved by developers who want a minimalist yet responsive framework for quickly building prototypes, small projects, and clean modern websites.

Key Features of Bulma

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• Lightweight: Small file size and fast performance.
• Clean Syntax: Readable, intuitive class naming convention.
• Customizable with Sass: Use Sass variables to easily adjust themes and styles.
• Flexbox-based Grid: Fully powered by Flexbox for responsive and modern layouts.
• Responsive Modifiers: Easy-to-use breakpoints for mobile, tablet, desktop, and widescreen.
• Pure CSS: No JavaScript dependencies — works with any JS framework or vanilla JS.
• Utility Classes: Includes helper classes for spacing, colors, display, typography, and more.

Advantages of Bulma

• Responsive by Default: Built-in responsive utilities.
• Fast Prototyping: Perfect for quick MVPs and small apps.
• Lightweight: No extra JavaScript, only CSS.
• Modern Layouts: Built entirely on Flexbox.
• Cross-Browser Consistency: Works well across modern browsers.
• Beginner-Friendly: Super easy to learn and use.

Disadvantages of Bulma

• Not Ideal for Enterprises: May not scale as well for very large applications.
• No JavaScript Plugins: Requires manual integration for modals, dropdowns, or carousels.
• Smaller Ecosystem: Fewer themes, templates, and community add-ons compared to Bootstrap.
• Limited Components: Doesn’t have as many prebuilt components as Bootstrap or Foundation.

What is Material UI ?

Material UI also known as MUI is a popular ui framework that helps developers build modern, good-looking websites. MUI provides a collection of ready-made components like buttons, forms, menus, and cards that follow Google’s Material Design which is a clean and consistent visual style.

As it built on React, MUI saves you time by letting you use these predesigned parts instead of starting everything from scratch.

Whether you're building a small personal project or a large web application, MUI helps make your site look professional and work well on both computers and mobile devices.

Key Features of Material UI

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• Rich Component Set: Buttons, dialogs, data grids, pickers, more.
• Accessibility: Prefers WCAG best practices and ARIA attributes.
• Material Theming: Customizable palettes, typography, and spacing.
• CSS-in-JS: Dynamic styling via Emotion or styled-components.
• Dark Mode Support: Easy theme toggling built-in.
• Tree Shaking: Supports importing specific components to reduce bundle.

Advantages of Material UI

• Comprehensive Component Library: It covers almost every common UI need: buttons, forms, grids, modals, tables, tooltips, and more. It constantly updated with new components and features.
• Customizable Themes: Lets you easily change colors, typography, spacing, and more. plus you can create your own design system or match an existing brand style as well.
• Enterprise-Ready: It is used in production by large companies and apps as its stable, well-documented, and actively maintained by a strong development team.
• Responsive Design Support: Components that adapt to different screen sizes with built-in responsive utilities.
• Internationalization (i18n) Support: Easily supports multiple languages and right-to-left (RTL) layouts.
• Layout System: Built-in grid and flexbox systems simplify layout creation.
• Seamless Integration with React: It is designed specifically for React, with hooks, states, and props handled smoothly.

Disadvantages of Material UI

• Styling Confusion: Multiple styling options like styled components, emotion, sx prop, makeStyles etc, can be overwhelming or inconsistent.
• Learning Curve: New developers may find MUI's system like themes, styling with sx, custom breakpoints complex at first time.
• Some Features Are Paid: MUI X Pro and Premium components like advanced data grid require a commercial license.
• Look Can Be Generic: Many apps using MUI may look similar if not customized enough. Extra effort is needed to give your app a unique appearance.
• Too Tied to React: MUI only works with React. Not usable in plain HTML/JS or other frameworks like Vue or Angular.
• Bundle Size: It can increase the size of your app bundle if not optimized specially with MUI X.