Material UI vs. Mantine

ImageBy SW Habitation
Material UI

Material UI

vs
Mantine

Mantine

You know how building a website can feel like a lot, especially when you’re trying to style every little thing yourself? Buttons, forms, layouts… it adds up fast. That’s where UI frameworks really save the day. They give you a bunch of premade design elements that you can just drop in and go. It’s like having a design starter pack that helps your site look clean and professional, without spending forever tweaking the details.

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

Material UI
  • 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.


What is Mantine?

Mantine is a React component library with over 100 UI components and 50+ custom hooks, designed to help developers build modern, accessible, and performant UIs. It supports RTL layouts, dark mode, and complete theme customization, all while staying lightweight.

Mantine doesn’t force you into a predefined design system. You build your own style while enjoying great developer experience, full TypeScript support, and zero CSS-in-JS lock-in.

Key Features of Mantine

Mantine
  • 100+ Modular Components: Buttons, modals, tabs, date pickers, accordions, and more.
  • 50+ Built-in Hooks: Clipboard, notifications, form validation, hotkeys, modals, etc.
  • Full Theming System: Custom colors, fonts, spacing, radii, shadows, etc. with MantineProvider.
  • Dark Mode & RTL Support: Native dark mode toggle and right-to-left support out of the box.
  • Flexible Styling Options: Use Emotion, CSS Modules, or inline styles — your choice.
  • Responsive Design: Built-in Grid and responsive props.

Advantages of Mantine

  • Fast Development: Prebuilt components + hooks mean fewer extra dependencies.
  • Design Freedom: No locked-in theme or design system — perfect for building your own brand UI.
  • Dark Mode + RTL: Native support with easy toggles — no extra setup.
  • Hook-Powered: Includes handy hooks like useClipboard, useHotkeys, useForm, etc.
  • Lightweight: Optimized and tree-shakable — loads faster with a smaller bundle size.
  • Fully Typed: Built with and for TypeScript — no need for custom typings.

Disadvantages of Mantine

  • Smaller Community: Limited plugins, templates, and community resources compared to MUI or Bootstrap.
  • No Predefined Design System: Offers full freedom but requires extra design effort for polished UIs.
  • Still Evolving: Newer framework; some components may lack long-term maturity.
  • Lacks Pro-Level Components: No built-in advanced elements like data grids or calendars.
  • Low Enterprise Adoption Not yet common in large-scale corporate environments.

Comparison Between Material UI vs Mantine

FeaturesMaterial UIMantine
PhilosophyMaterial Design implementation for ReactModern UI components + utility hooks for flexible development
Ease of UseEasy for React users, comprehensive docsVery beginner-friendly with simple API and built-in docs
CustomizationThemeProvider and style overrideFully customizable via theme overrides, component-level props
Design SystemMaterial Design systemNo predefined system; freedom to create your own
ResponsivenessResponsive components and gridResponsive components and props + built-in Grid
File SizeCan be large; use tree-shakingLightweight and tree-shakable
Learning CurveLow to mediumLow to moderate (faster with React/TypeScript knowledge)
PricingFree core, paid Pro componentsFree and open-source (MIT licensed)
Best ForEnterprise-level UIs with Material DesignCustom UIs, modern dashboards, fast MVPs, RTL/dark mode projects
Styling MethodEmotion or styled-componentsEmotion (default), also supports inline styles and CSS Modules
AccessibilityFollows Material Design a11y standardsFully accessible components with ARIA, keyboard nav
Dark ModeTheme support with dark modeBuilt-in toggle support via theme
FrameworkReactReact only
Bundle SizeLarge; optimize with tree-shakingSmall to medium; optimized with tree-shaking

Use Cases of Material UI

  • React dashboards and admin panels
  • Feature-rich web apps with consistent UI
  • Teams needing robust component libraries with theming

Use Cases of Mantine

  • Custom UIs with full design freedom
  • Modern dashboards, admin panels
  • Lightweight SaaS apps
  • RTL and dark-mode web apps
  • Startups and solo developers

Conclusion

UI frameworks make building a polished website way easier. Whether you're working on something simple or a big project, they help you get things looking just right without having to stress over every little design decision. With ready-to-use components, responsive layouts, and modern styles, you can build faster and smarter.

So, pick one that works for you, and start creating a site that looks amazing from the get-go.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between MUI Core and MUI X?

Is Material UI mobile-friendly?

Can I use Material UI with TypeScript?

Is Mantine production-ready?

Does Mantine support dark mode and RTL?

Can I use Mantine without Emotion?

Does Mantine work with TypeScript?

How does Mantine compare to MUI or Chakra UI?