Catppuccin vs Dracula
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 set of soothing pastel color palettes for coding, design, and other tools.
Open source · MIT
A dark and light color scheme that gets applied to code editors, terminals, and other apps.
The short answer
Choose Catppuccin if you need…
- Developers who want a readable, colorful dark or light theme for their editor or terminal
- Designers who want a consistent pastel palette across projects
- Maintainers looking to add Catppuccin colors to their own tools, using the style guide
- People who prefer a warm, soft color scheme over high-contrast themes
Choose Dracula if you need…
- Developers who want a consistent color scheme across several editors and terminals
- People looking for a well-known dark theme with a published color palette
- Designers or developers who want to reuse the published hex colors in other tools
- Contributors who want to build a theme for an app that is not yet supported
Side-by-side
| Catppuccin | Dracula | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Other | Other |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 19.9k | 23.6k |
| Setup difficulty | Beginner | Beginner |
| How you get it | See the README | See the README |
| Main language | TypeScript | — |
| Last code update | 3 months ago | 5 days ago |
What each one is
Catppuccin
Catppuccin is a community-driven pastel color palette with four named flavors, each containing 26 colors. It is meant to sit between low-contrast and high-contrast themes, and the README describes it as useful for coding and design. This repository holds the palette definition, its documentation, and shared assets, while the README points to separate projects for framework and tool integrations.
Dracula
Dracula is a color theme, meaning a set of colors that changes how an app looks, especially code editors and terminals. This repository is the main home for the project and its shared color palette, which includes dark (Dracula) and light (Alucard) variants. Each supported application has its own theme, usually maintained in a separate repository within the Dracula GitHub organization.
Best for
Catppuccin
- Developers who want a readable, colorful dark or light theme for their editor or terminal
- Designers who want a consistent pastel palette across projects
- Maintainers looking to add Catppuccin colors to their own tools, using the style guide
- People who prefer a warm, soft color scheme over high-contrast themes
Dracula
- Developers who want a consistent color scheme across several editors and terminals
- People looking for a well-known dark theme with a published color palette
- Designers or developers who want to reuse the published hex colors in other tools
- Contributors who want to build a theme for an app that is not yet supported
Strengths
Catppuccin
- Four flavors with 26 colors each give a consistent set of options across light and dark styles
- Includes a documented style guide and palette values in multiple formats (hex, RGB, HSL)
- MIT licensed, so the palette can be used in other projects under those terms
Dracula
- Covers a large number of applications, with the README listing over 400 supported apps
- Published color palette with hex, RGB, and HSL values for both dark and light variants
- Released under the MIT license and states that its colors meet WCAG 2.1 AA contrast for foreground and background
Not ideal for
Catppuccin
- Anyone who needs a ready-to-install app: this repository is the palette source, and the README does not describe a standalone program
- Users who need high-contrast colors for accessibility requirements, since the README describes it as a middle ground rather than a high-contrast option
- Teams needing official ports for a specific tool: the README points to separate ports, which this repository does not itself provide
Dracula
- People who need a theme for an app that is not on the supported list, unless they build it themselves, since the README says support depends on community contributions
- Users who want a single install that works everywhere, because each app needs its own installation steps from draculatheme.com
- Anyone expecting a software program with features; this is a visual theme and palette
Trade-offs
Catppuccin
- This repository is a palette and documentation source, not a finished app, so you need a separate port or integration to use it in a tool
- The README is truncated in the provided text, so details on individual ports and integrations are not fully visible here
- The latest release, v0.2.0, has no binaries, so there is nothing to download directly from the releases page
Dracula
- The README does not say how every individual theme is maintained; each theme lists its own maintainer in its own repository
- Installation details for each app are not in this README and must be found on draculatheme.com
- The README is truncated here, so some details may be missing from this analysis
Getting started
Catppuccin
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/catppuccin/catppuccinDracula
Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/dracula/dracula-theme.gitFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Catppuccin and Dracula?
Catppuccin: A set of soothing pastel color palettes for coding, design, and other tools. Dracula: A dark and light color scheme that gets applied to code editors, terminals, and other apps. Catppuccin suits developers who want a readable, colorful dark or light theme for their editor or terminal, while Dracula suits developers who want a consistent color scheme across several editors and terminals.
Are Catppuccin and Dracula free?
Catppuccin: Free and open source. Dracula: Free and open source.
Is Catppuccin or Dracula more popular?
Dracula has more GitHub stars (23.6k) than Catppuccin (19.9k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Catppuccin and Dracula?
Other options people compare them with include Solarized.
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.