SoybeanAdmin vs Vue Admin Better
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 Vue 3 admin dashboard template with TypeScript, Vite, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS.
Open source · MIT
A Vue 2 admin dashboard template with Element UI, built to skip heavy abstraction and long build waits.
The short answer
Choose SoybeanAdmin if you need…
- Developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with Vue 3
- Teams that want TypeScript, linting and a monorepo structure already configured
- Developers who want to learn a modern Vue stack through a working example
- Projects that need both static and backend-driven permission routing
Choose Vue Admin Better if you need…
- Front-end developers with about a year of experience who want an admin panel starting point
- Teams already using Vue 2 and Element UI
- Developers who want to read and customize the template source
- Projects that need role-based permissions and multiple layouts or themes
Side-by-side
| SoybeanAdmin | Vue Admin Better | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | App |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 15.2k | 18.9k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Clone and build from source |
| Main language | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last code update | 16 days ago | 17 days ago |
What each one is
SoybeanAdmin
SoybeanAdmin is a starter template for building back-office admin panels, the kind of web app used to manage users, data and settings. It is built on Vue 3, Vite, TypeScript, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS, and includes layouts, themes, internationalization, automatic file-based routing, and sample pages such as 403, 404 and 500. Developers use it as a ready-made starting point so they do not have to set up these pieces themselves.
Vue Admin Better
Vue Admin Better is a starter template for building back-office admin panels (dashboards with menus, pages and permissions) using Vue 2 and Element UI. The README says it avoids over-wrapping the code so projects stay simple to read and change. It is MIT licensed and includes features such as RBAC with JWT permission control and dynamic backend-driven routes.
Best for
SoybeanAdmin
- Developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with Vue 3
- Teams that want TypeScript, linting and a monorepo structure already configured
- Developers who want to learn a modern Vue stack through a working example
- Projects that need both static and backend-driven permission routing
Vue Admin Better
- Front-end developers with about a year of experience who want an admin panel starting point
- Teams already using Vue 2 and Element UI
- Developers who want to read and customize the template source
- Projects that need role-based permissions and multiple layouts or themes
Strengths
SoybeanAdmin
- Uses a current, widely used front-end stack with TypeScript support
- Includes many ready-made pages, layouts and tooling such as linting and a command-line helper
- Has a large community, with about 15,000 GitHub stars and a MIT license
Vue Admin Better
- Includes RBAC with JWT, dynamic routes, and multiple permission modes according to the README
- MIT license, and the README states the open-source version is free for commercial use
- Ships with many example pages and a large set of configuration options (README claims 40+ pages and 50+ settings)
Not ideal for
SoybeanAdmin
- Non-developers looking for a finished tool to install and use without coding; it is a template to build from
- Teams on Vue 2 or React, since this is a Vue 3 project (a React version exists separately)
- Projects that need the 2.x line long-term, since the README says 2.3 is the last maintained major version and new features are going into 3.0
Vue Admin Better
- People who need Vue 3 specifically: the README points to separate repositories for Vue 3 with Element Plus or Arco Design
- Beginners new to Vue, since the README lists Vue.js experience as a prerequisite
- Anyone who needs a non-Vue admin framework
Trade-offs
SoybeanAdmin
- The README says the 2.x line is ending maintenance and 3.0 is still in development, so the project's future direction is changing
- Requires pnpm for installs; npm and yarn are discouraged by the README
- Documentation is primarily in Chinese; the English README is a separate file and was not reviewed here
Vue Admin Better
- The README is in Chinese and the top-level description is mostly promotional; some sections point to paid versions and community links
- Targets Vue 2 and Element UI in this repository; Vue 3 is maintained in separate repositories
- The README's install command uses a specific third-party npm mirror URL that you may need to change
Getting started
SoybeanAdmin
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/soybeanjs/soybean-admin.gitInstall dependencies
pnpm iVue Admin Better
Clone the project
git clone -b master https://github.com/zxwk1998/vue-admin-better.gitInstall dependencies
pnpm i --registry=http://mirrors.cloud.tencent.com/npm/Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SoybeanAdmin and Vue Admin Better?
SoybeanAdmin: A Vue 3 admin dashboard template with TypeScript, Vite, Pinia, Naive UI and UnoCSS. Vue Admin Better: A Vue 2 admin dashboard template with Element UI, built to skip heavy abstraction and long build waits. SoybeanAdmin suits developers starting a new internal admin or back-office web app with vue 3, while Vue Admin Better suits front-end developers with about a year of experience who want an admin panel starting point.
Are SoybeanAdmin and Vue Admin Better free?
SoybeanAdmin: Free and open source. Vue Admin Better: Free and open source.
Is SoybeanAdmin or Vue Admin Better more popular?
Vue Admin Better has more GitHub stars (18.9k) than SoybeanAdmin (15.2k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to SoybeanAdmin and Vue Admin Better?
Other options people compare them with include Vben Admin, vue-admin-template, VueUse, Formily, AdminLTE.
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.