RAMAnimatedTabBarController vs Material
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A Swift library that adds animations to iOS tab bar items and icons.
Open source · MIT
A Swift UI framework for iOS apps with Material Design-style components and animations.
The short answer
Choose RAMAnimatedTabBarController if you need…
- iOS developers who want animated tab bar icons without writing the animation logic from scratch
- Developers building a UI prototype who want a quick visual upgrade to navigation
- Teams already using CocoaPods, Carthage, or manual folder import for iOS libraries
Choose Material if you need…
- iOS developers who want Material Design-style components without building them from scratch
- Developers maintaining existing Swift projects that already use Material
- Projects that need Material's card, text field, or navigation drawer components
Side-by-side
| RAMAnimatedTabBarController | Material | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 11.1k | 12k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Swift | Swift |
| Last code update | 5 years ago | 4 years ago |
What each one is
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
Animated Tab Bar is an iOS library written in Swift that lets developers add motion effects to the buttons in an app's bottom tab bar, such as bounce, rotation, flip, and frame animations. It works by replacing the standard tab bar controller and items with Ramotion's custom classes, then attaching an animation to each item. It is aimed at developers who want a more lively tab bar than the default iOS look.
Material
Material is a UI/UX framework for building iOS apps in Swift. It provides ready-made interface components such as cards, text fields, navigation drawers, toolbars, and floating action menus, styled after Google's Material Design look. It also uses the separate Motion library to handle animations and transitions.
Best for
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
- iOS developers who want animated tab bar icons without writing the animation logic from scratch
- Developers building a UI prototype who want a quick visual upgrade to navigation
- Teams already using CocoaPods, Carthage, or manual folder import for iOS libraries
Material
- iOS developers who want Material Design-style components without building them from scratch
- Developers maintaining existing Swift projects that already use Material
- Projects that need Material's card, text field, or navigation drawer components
Strengths
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
- Ships with nine ready-made animations that can be attached in Interface Builder or code
- Simple setup: swap in the library's tab bar controller and item classes, then add an animation
- Available through CocoaPods, Carthage, Swift Package Manager, or direct folder import, and released under MIT
Material
- Covers many common components (cards, drawers, tabs, search bar, snackbar) in one package
- Includes sample projects in a separate repository to learn from
- MIT license permits use in commercial projects
Not ideal for
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
- Developers targeting Android or web, since the library is iOS-only (reason: it is built with UIKit classes)
- Projects that need actively maintained code, since the last push was January 2022 and the latest release is 5.1.0 (reason: the README does not state current support status)
- Teams using SwiftUI's TabView exclusively, since the README describes UITabBarController-based setup (reason: the README does not mention SwiftUI)
Material
- Teams starting a new app today, since the README lists iOS 8.0+ and Swift 4.0+ and the last push was in May 2022
- Android or cross-platform projects, since this is iOS-only
- Developers who need SwiftUI support, which the README does not mention
Trade-offs
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
- The last push was 2022-01-26 and the README lists Xcode 10.2, so compatibility with current Xcode and iOS versions is unverified
- The README is brief and does not document the full API or how it behaves with complex layouts
- Some included examples are animation-only; there is no documented support for SwiftUI
Material
- The README targets old tooling (iOS 8.0+, Xcode 8.0+) and the last push is from 2022
- Documentation is mostly sample links and GIFs; the README gives little API detail
- The latest release lists no binaries, so you install through a dependency manager or by copying source
Getting started
RAMAnimatedTabBarController
Install with CocoaPods (add to Podfile)
pod 'RAMAnimatedTabBarController'Material
Install CocoaPods
gem install cocoapodsInstall the pod (after adding pod 'Material', '~> 3.1.0' to your Podfile)
pod installFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between RAMAnimatedTabBarController and Material?
RAMAnimatedTabBarController: A Swift library that adds animations to iOS tab bar items and icons. Material: A Swift UI framework for iOS apps with Material Design-style components and animations. RAMAnimatedTabBarController suits ios developers who want animated tab bar icons without writing the animation logic from scratch, while Material suits ios developers who want material design-style components without building them from scratch.
Are RAMAnimatedTabBarController and Material free?
RAMAnimatedTabBarController: Free and open source. Material: Free and open source.
Is RAMAnimatedTabBarController or Material more popular?
Material has more GitHub stars (12k) than RAMAnimatedTabBarController (11.1k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to RAMAnimatedTabBarController and Material?
Other options people compare them with include FoldingCell, Hero, barba.js, React, Dear ImGui.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.