Open Props vs. Material UI
By SW Habitation
Open Props
Material UI
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 Open Props?
Open Props is a modern CSS framework built entirely around CSS custom properties (variables). Instead of sending prebuilt UI components or heavy utility classes, it provides a set of reusable design tokens that you can apply anywhere. Think of it as a toolbox of modern CSS features rather than a ready-made UI kit.
It’s not a traditional framework like Bootstrap or Tailwind. Instead, it’s closer to a design system foundation—a library of variables for colors, typography, shadows, gradients, animations, spacing, and sizes. Developers can use these variables in raw CSS, Sass, or even combine them with other frameworks.
Because it’s framework-agnostic, Open Props works well with plain HTML, React, Vue, Angular, or even with utility-first libraries like Tailwind.
Key Features of Open Props
- Design Tokens Out-of-the-Box: Colors, gradients, fonts, shadows, borders, animations, spacing.
- Framework-Agnostic: Works with vanilla CSS, SCSS, PostCSS, Tailwind, or any frontend setup.
- Utility Classes (Optional): Comes with optional helpers like margin: var(--size-3).
- Theming Made Simple: Supports dark/light mode with just a few variable overrides.
- Modern CSS-Only: No JavaScript, only pure CSS properties.
- Lightweight by Design: Extremely small bundle size compared to component-heavy frameworks.
- CDN Ready: Drop in via a <link> or import with NPM.
Advantages of Open Props
- Flexible: Can be used standalone or alongside other CSS frameworks.
- Theming Support: Switch to dark mode or brand colors by redefining tokens.
- Beginner-Friendly: Easy for anyone who already knows CSS variables.
- Ultra Lightweight: Just variables, no unnecessary bloat.
- Encourages Best Practices: Pushes developers towards scalable, token-based design systems.
- Easy to Customize: Override props once to apply across your project.
Disadvantages of Open Props
- Small Community: Limited templates, examples, and resources compared to Bootstrap/Tailwind.
- Not Plug-and-Play: Great for design systems, but not ideal if you want instant UI.
- No Prebuilt Components: You’ll need to design buttons, modals, navbars yourself.
- Challenging Learning Curve for Beginners: Requires understanding of CSS variables and design tokens.
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
- 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.
Comparison Between Open Props vs Material UI
Use Cases of Open Props
- Developers who want flexibility without being tied to Tailwind/Bootstrap.
- Building custom design systems from scratch.
- Lightweight personal projects or portfolios.
- Teams that want theming and scalability at the token level.
- Adding modern CSS tokens to legacy projects.
Use Cases of Material UI
- React dashboards and admin panels
- Feature-rich web apps with consistent UI
- Teams needing robust component libraries with theming
Other Resources
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.
Frequently asked questions
Is Open Props a CSS framework like Bootstrap or Tailwind?
No, Open Props is not a framework. It’s a collection of CSS custom properties (design tokens).
Can I customize the values in Open Props?
Yes, Open Props variables can be overridden to fit your own design system.
Does Open Props make my CSS heavy?
No, Open Props is lightweight and you can import only the modules you need.
Does Open Props work with React, Vue, Next.js, etc.?
Yes, Open Props is framework-agnostic and works anywhere CSS works.
Is Open Props safe to use in production?
Yes, Open Props is stable, actively maintained, and widely used in real projects.
What is the difference between MUI Core and MUI X?
MUI Core: Free, open-source components like button, textField, grid.
MUI X: Advanced components like data-grid Pro, date Picker some are paid.
Is Material UI mobile-friendly?
Yes, it is responsive by default and works well with mobile devices. You can use the Grid, Box, and responsive sx props to adjust layouts for different screen sizes.
Can I use Material UI with TypeScript?
Yes. MUI has full TypeScript support. Install types if necessary,
npm install --save-dev @types/react