go-admin vs refine
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 Gin and Vue starter kit for building admin back-office apps with login, roles, and user management.
Open source · MIT
A React framework for building admin panels, dashboards and internal business apps.
The short answer
Choose go-admin if you need…
- Go developers who want a ready-made admin backend with login and permissions
- Teams building an internal management tool who want a Vue front end with a UI library they already use
- Students or learners studying how a Gin + GORM + Vue admin system is structured
- Developers who want a code generator to scaffold basic create/read/update/delete pages from database tables
Choose refine if you need…
- Developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools in React
- Teams that want a headless approach and can pick their own UI component library
- Projects that connect to REST, GraphQL or similar backend APIs and need standard CRUD screens
- Developers already comfortable with React and TypeScript
Side-by-side
| go-admin | refine | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Framework | Framework |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 12.8k | 36k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Go | TypeScript |
| Last code update | 10 days ago | 57 days ago |
What each one is
go-admin
go-admin is a starter project for building admin systems, the back-office screens used to manage users, menus, roles and settings. The backend is written in Go using the Gin web framework, and the front end is Vue, with a choice of Element UI, Arco Design or Ant Design. It bundles features such as JWT login, role-based access control through Casbin, a code generator and a form builder so you don't start from scratch.
refine
Refine is a TypeScript framework built on React for making internal tools, admin panels, dashboards and B2B applications. The description says it aims for flexibility, and it is headless, meaning it supplies the logic and data handling while you choose the look of the interface. Developers use it to avoid rebuilding common pieces like data fetching, tables and forms for every new back-office app.
Best for
go-admin
- Go developers who want a ready-made admin backend with login and permissions
- Teams building an internal management tool who want a Vue front end with a UI library they already use
- Students or learners studying how a Gin + GORM + Vue admin system is structured
- Developers who want a code generator to scaffold basic create/read/update/delete pages from database tables
refine
- Developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools in React
- Teams that want a headless approach and can pick their own UI component library
- Projects that connect to REST, GraphQL or similar backend APIs and need standard CRUD screens
- Developers already comfortable with React and TypeScript
Strengths
go-admin
- Covers common admin needs out of the box, including RBAC, JWT authentication and operation logs
- Supports multiple database backends through GORM and offers a SQLite quick start with no separate database install
- Offers a choice of three front-end UI libraries and has a documentation site and video tutorials
refine
- Headless design lets you combine it with the UI library you already use
- Open source under the MIT license with a large community (about 36,000 stars at the time of metadata)
- Written in TypeScript, which helps catch errors while you build
Not ideal for
go-admin
- People who want a no-code tool; the project requires running a Go backend and a Node front end
- Projects that need proven test coverage, since the README lists unit tests as a TODO
- Non-technical users who only want a finished app to use without any setup
refine
- Non-developers who want a no-code app builder, since it requires writing React and TypeScript code
- Simple static websites or small single-page apps that do not need admin-style data screens
Trade-offs
go-admin
- The README lists unit tests as a TODO, so the code has limited automated test coverage as stated
- Setup involves two separate repositories (backend and UI), a Go toolchain, Node.js and pnpm, and the SQLite path needs a C compiler
- Documentation and tutorials are primarily in Chinese; the English README is brief
refine
- Requires React and TypeScript knowledge, so it is not suited to beginners without that background
- The README excerpt provided is truncated, so details on specific integrations and limits could not be fully verified here
Getting started
go-admin
Clone the backend repository
git clone https://github.com/go-admin-team/go-admin.gitClone the front-end repository
git clone https://github.com/go-admin-team/go-admin-ui.gitrefine
Create a new project with the Refine CLI
npm create refine-app@latestFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between go-admin and refine?
go-admin: A Gin and Vue starter kit for building admin back-office apps with login, roles, and user management. refine: A React framework for building admin panels, dashboards and internal business apps. go-admin suits go developers who want a ready-made admin backend with login and permissions, while refine suits developers building internal admin panels or back-office tools in react.
Are go-admin and refine free?
go-admin: Free and open source. refine: Free and open source.
Is go-admin or refine more popular?
refine has more GitHub stars (36k) than go-admin (12.8k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to go-admin and refine?
Other options people compare them with include go-zero, Ant Design Pro, Full Stack FastAPI Template, react-admin, Payload.
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.