Vanilla Framework CSS vs. Chakra UI
By SW Habitation
Vanilla Framework CSS
Chakra 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 Vanilla Framework CSS?
Vanilla Framework is an open-source, lightweight, and extensible CSS framework developed by Canonical (the creators of Ubuntu). It’s designed to provide a consistent and responsive design foundation without unnecessary bloat. Unlike component-heavy frameworks such as Bootstrap or Foundation, Vanilla focuses on clean base styles, responsive layouts, and utility classes that can be extended into full design systems.
It’s particularly popular for enterprise projects and design systems where consistency, accessibility, and scalability matter more than having hundreds of prebuilt UI widgets.
Key Features of Vanilla Framework
- Lightweight & Scalable: Provides only what you need, no bloat.
- Responsive Grid System: Built-in grid system for mobile-first design.
- Accessibility First: Designed with WCAG compliance in mind.
- Design Consistency: Used by Canonical across Ubuntu products.
- Sass Support: Highly customizable via Sass variables and mixins.
- Framework Agnostic: Works with plain HTML, React, Angular, Vue, or any setup.
Advantages of Vanilla CSS
- Good Documentation: Clear guidelines with usage examples.
- Clean and Lightweight: Minimal CSS, loads fast, and avoids bloat.
- Consistent UI/UX: Ideal for creating unified design systems.
- Enterprise-ready: Backed by Canonical, proven in large-scale projects.
- Customizable with Sass: Change themes, colors, and spacing easily.
- Accessibility Focused: WCAG-compliant components for inclusive design.
Disadvantages of Vanilla Framework
- Less Popular in Freelance/Startup Space: Mainly adopted by enterprises like Canonical.
- No Built-in JavaScript: Only CSS, you’ll need custom JS for interactivity.
- Limited Community Support: Not as popular as Bootstrap or Tailwind.
- Learning Curve with Sass: Beginners may find customization tricky.
- Smaller Ecosystem: Fewer templates, themes, and third-party plugins.
What is Chakra UI ?
Chakra UI is a popular React component library that lets you build accessible, responsive UIs with ease. It provides a collection of components with built-in ARIA attributes, theme support, and responsive design via style props.
It’s ideal for devs who want plug-and-play components with built-in styling and dark mode.
Key Features of Chakra UI
- Component-rich: Inputs, modals, alerts, menus, tooltips, accordions, etc.
- Style Props: Apply margin, padding, color, size directly via props.
- Accessibility: ARIA-compliant components out of the box.
- Themeable: Custom themes, variants, dark mode support.
- Emotion CSS-in-JS: Built with Emotion for dynamic styling.
- TypeScript Support: Fully typed and developer-friendly.
Advantages of Chakra UI
- Easy to use with minimal setup.
- Style props eliminate the need for external CSS.
- Great documentation and community support.
- Built-in dark mode and responsive utilities.
- Clean and maintainable code structure.
Disadvantages of Chakra UI
- Limited design flexibility if you want pixel-perfect UI.
- Larger bundle size due to style props and runtime styling.
- Less control over raw DOM/styling.
- Not Tailwind-friendly out of the box.
- Can be verbose for deeply nested component trees.
Comparison Between Vanilla Framework CSS vs Chakra UI
Use Cases of Vanilla Framework CSS
- Company Websites: clean, responsive base styling.
- Dashboards & Web Apps: modular grid + utility classes.
- Design Systems: consistent Sass variables & mixins.
- Prototypes / MVPs: fast setup with pre-styled elements.
Use Cases of Chakra UI
- MVPs, SaaS apps, portfolios that need speed + simplicity
- Devs who prefer using props for styling
- Teams focused on accessibility and fast prototyping
- Apps where the design doesn’t need to be pixel-perfect
- Projects using Emotion or CSS-in-JS ecosystem
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 Vanilla Framework free to use?
Yes, it is open-source and completely free to use under the LGPLv3 license.
Does Vanilla Framework include JavaScript components?
No, it’s a CSS-only framework, so you need to implement JavaScript for dropdowns, modals, etc.
Is Vanilla Framework beginner-friendly?
Yes, for basic usage. But customization requires some knowledge of Sass.
Who uses Vanilla Framework?
It is used by Canonical (Ubuntu) and related projects, but developers can also use it for general web projects.
Should I use Vanilla Framework instead of Bootstrap?
If you want a lightweight, enterprise-ready design system with a focus on accessibility, Vanilla is great. But if you need ready-to-use components with JS support, Bootstrap might be better.
Is Chakra UI good for accessibility?
Yes! Chakra UI is designed with accessibility (a11y) in mind, following WAI-ARIA standards.
Does Chakra UI support dark mode?
Yes, it has built-in dark mode toggling using the ColorModeProvider.
What styling method does Chakra UI use?
Chakra uses Emotion (a CSS-in-JS library) and style props for inline styling.
Can I create custom themes in Chakra UI?
Definitely. Chakra has a powerful theming system that supports tokens, variants, and full overrides.
Is Chakra UI production-ready?
Yes. It’s widely used in SaaS apps and has a strong developer community.