Ant Design vs Layui
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 React component library and design system for building enterprise web apps.
Open source · MIT
A free, open-source UI component library for building web pages with plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
The short answer
Choose Ant Design if you need…
- React developers building admin dashboards or internal business tools
- Teams that want a consistent visual style without designing every component from scratch
- Projects that need TypeScript types for their UI components
- Developers who want theme customization through a CSS-in-JS system
Choose Layui if you need…
- Developers maintaining existing sites or admin panels built on Layui
- Non-front-end developers who want UI components without learning a framework
- Small projects that prefer plain browser-native code
- Teams that already use Layui 2.x in production
Side-by-side
| Ant Design | Layui | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 100k | 30.6k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Beginner |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | See the README |
| Main language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
Ant Design
Ant Design is a UI library for React, written in TypeScript, that provides a set of ready-made components such as buttons and date pickers, along with a design language to keep screens consistent. Developers install it from npm as the package named antd and import components into their own web applications. It also supports theme customization and internationalization.
Layui
Layui is a set of ready-made user interface components for websites, such as buttons, forms, tables and pop-up windows. It follows a plain approach: you write standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript for browsers, without a build system or a specific framework. The README says it was built to lower the barrier for people who are not front-end specialists to create complex web interfaces.
Best for
Ant Design
- React developers building admin dashboards or internal business tools
- Teams that want a consistent visual style without designing every component from scratch
- Projects that need TypeScript types for their UI components
- Developers who want theme customization through a CSS-in-JS system
Layui
- Developers maintaining existing sites or admin panels built on Layui
- Non-front-end developers who want UI components without learning a framework
- Small projects that prefer plain browser-native code
- Teams that already use Layui 2.x in production
Strengths
Ant Design
- Large set of React components available out of the box
- Written in TypeScript, so component types are available to users
- Supports theme customization and internationalization for dozens of languages
Layui
- Free and MIT-licensed, so it can be used in commercial projects under that license
- Works with plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with no framework required
- Long history since 2016 and active releases, with the latest version listed as v2.13.9
Not ideal for
Ant Design
- Projects that do not use React, since the components are built for React (reason: the README describes it as a React UI library)
- Beginners who only want a simple static website (reason: the library assumes familiarity with React and a build setup)
- Teams that need a non-Ant visual style and do not want to override the default theme (reason: the design language is opinionated)
Layui
- Teams starting a new large single-page app: the README says Layui 3 is still in development, and the README does not describe a React, Vue or similar integration
- Projects that need a modern component ecosystem: the README does not compare its component depth or accessibility with other libraries
Trade-offs
Ant Design
- Requires familiarity with React and a JavaScript build toolchain
- Visual style is opinionated, so heavy restyling takes effort
- Supported environments are listed as modern browsers, server-side rendering, and Electron, with no version details beyond the browser table in the README
Layui
- Layui 3 is listed as in development, so the current line is version 2
- The README is mostly a project history and does not give detailed feature or browser support information
Getting started
Ant Design
Install with npm
npm install antdInstall with yarn
yarn add antdLayui
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/layui/layui.gitFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ant Design and Layui?
Ant Design: A React component library and design system for building enterprise web apps. Layui: A free, open-source UI component library for building web pages with plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Ant Design suits react developers building admin dashboards or internal business tools, while Layui suits developers maintaining existing sites or admin panels built on layui.
Are Ant Design and Layui free?
Ant Design: Free and open source. Layui: Free and open source.
Which is easier to set up, Ant Design or Layui?
Layui is easier to get started with (rated beginner); Ant Design is rated intermediate and usually needs more setup.
Is Ant Design or Layui more popular?
Ant Design has more GitHub stars (100k) than Layui (30.6k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Ant Design and Layui?
Other options people compare them with include Material UI, Chakra UI, Mantine, daisyUI, Ant Design Mobile.
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.