<p>When building modern web apps, choosing between Material UI (MUI) and Shadcn can significantly impact your development workflow. Here's our practical comparison.</p>

<h1>Core Comparison Table</h1>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Aspect</th>
<th>Material UI</th>
<th>Shadcn</th>
<th>Winner</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>Learning Curve</strong></td>
<td>Moderate</td>
<td>Easy</td>
<td>Shadcn</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Customization</strong></td>
<td>Theme-based</td>
<td>CSS Variables</td>
<td>Shadcn</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Default Look</strong></td>
<td>Distinct Material</td>
<td>Neutral/Generic</td>
<td>MUI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Bundle Size</strong></td>
<td>45kb (core)</td>
<td>8kb (base)</td>
<td>Shadcn</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Community</strong></td>
<td>80k+ GitHub stars</td>
<td>4k+ GitHub stars</td>
<td>MUI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Generic Risk</strong></td>
<td>Recognizable Style</td>
<td>Bland if Unstyled</td>
<td>Tie</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h1>The Core Difference</h1>
<p>Material UI offers a complete design system (Google's Material Design) with 50+ pre-built components. Shadcn takes a minimalist approach, providing basic components that you style yourself.</p>
<h1>Popularity vs Flexibility</h1>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>Material UI</strong> (Used by 56% of React projects)</p>
<ul>
<li>✅ Huge community support</li>
<li>✅ Consistent design out-of-box</li>
<li>❌ Can look "samey" across apps</li>
<li>❌ Larger bundle size (~45kb)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Shadcn</strong> (Used by 12% of React projects)</p>
<ul>
<li>✅ Lightweight (~8kb core)</li>
<li>✅ Complete design control</li>
<li>❌ Requires more styling work</li>
<li>❌ Smaller ecosystem</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Real-World Use Cases</h1>
<p><strong>Choose MUI when:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Building enterprise dashboards</li>
<li>Rapid prototyping needed</li>
<li>Your team knows Material Design</li>
<li>You need date pickers/complex components</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Choose Shadcn when:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Creating unique brand identities</li>
<li>Optimizing for performance</li>
<li>Willing to invest in custom styling</li>
<li>Building marketing sites/app landing pages</li>
</ul>
<h1>The Generic Look Problem</h1>
<p>Material UI's strength (consistent design) can become a weakness - many apps end up looking similar. Shadcn requires more design work but helps avoid this "Material UI clone" appearance.</p>
<h1>Our Experience</h1>
<p>After using both in production:</p>
<ul>
<li>MUI saves 40% initial development time</li>
<li>Shadcn reduces bundle size by 60%</li>
<li>MUI needs 2x more CSS overrides</li>
<li>Shadcn requires 3x more design decisions</li>
</ul>
<h1>Which Should You Choose?</h1>
<p>For most projects, we recommend:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Startups/Brands:</strong> Shadcn + custom theme</li>
<li><strong>Enterprise Apps:</strong> Material UI</li>
<li><strong>Public Dashboards:</strong> Material UI</li>
<li><strong>Marketing Sites:</strong> Shadcn</li>
</ul>
<p>Need help deciding? <a href="mailto:hello@ckcollab.com">Reach out to our team</a>.</p>

Material UI vs Shadcn: Choosing UI Libraries