vue-admin-template vs Vuex

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.

vue-admin-template

Open source · MIT

A minimal Vue admin dashboard starter with Element UI, axios, and lint setup.

Full review Website

Vuex

Open source · MIT

Centralized state store for Vue.js apps, now superseded by Pinia as the official default.

Full review Website

The short answer

Choose vue-admin-template if you need…

Developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in Vue
Teams already familiar with Vue and Element UI
People who want a small base project to extend with their own pages and logic

Choose Vuex if you need…

Teams maintaining an existing Vue app that already uses Vuex
Developers migrating an existing Vuex codebase gradually toward Pinia
Projects that need a centralized store with devtools time-travel debugging

Side-by-side

	vue-admin-template	Vuex
Type	Library	Library
Price	Free and open source	Free and open source
Licence	MIT	MIT
GitHub stars	20.4k	28.3k
Setup difficulty	Intermediate	Intermediate
How you get it	Clone and build from source	Install with a package manager
Main language	JavaScript	JavaScript
Last code update	3 years ago	2 years ago

What each one is

vue-admin-template

This is a starter template for building admin dashboards with Vue. It bundles Element UI components, axios for calling servers, icon fonts, and lint checks so you do not have to wire these up yourself. The README describes it as minimal, so it is meant to be a clean base rather than a finished product.

Vuex

Vuex is a state management library for Vue.js applications. It keeps shared application data in one central store that all components can read, and it enforces rules so changes to that data happen in a predictable way. It also integrates with Vue's devtools extension for features such as time-travel debugging and state snapshot export and import. The README notes that the official recommendation has changed: Pinia is now the default state management library for Vue, and Vuex 3 and 4 will still be maintained but are unlikely to get new features.

Best for

vue-admin-template

Developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in Vue
Teams already familiar with Vue and Element UI
People who want a small base project to extend with their own pages and logic

Vuex

Teams maintaining an existing Vue app that already uses Vuex
Developers migrating an existing Vuex codebase gradually toward Pinia
Projects that need a centralized store with devtools time-travel debugging

Strengths

vue-admin-template

Simple, small starting point with Element UI, axios, and lint already set up
Has a live demo and documentation linked from the README
MIT licensed, so it can be used in commercial work

Vuex

Official Vue state management library with a long history and a large star count
Integrates with Vue's official devtools for time-travel debugging and snapshots
Permissive MIT license

Not ideal for

vue-admin-template

Non-developers who need a ready-made dashboard with no coding (the README assumes you run npm commands and edit code)
Projects that need TypeScript out of the box (the README points to a separate TypeScript template instead)
Projects needing built-in role-based route permissions in this branch (the README says that lives in a separate permission-control branch)

Vuex

New Vue projects: the README says Pinia is the recommended choice for new projects
Developers who want the newest state management features, since Vuex 3 and 4 are unlikely to receive new functionality

Trade-offs

vue-admin-template

The README describes it as minimal, so you will add most features yourself
The README notes the current version uses vue-cli and an older branch is needed for the non-vue-cli version
Browser support is listed as IE10+ and recent browser versions, which may matter for modern tooling choices

Vuex

The README states Pinia is now the official default, so Vuex is no longer the recommended choice for new work
Vuex 3 and 4 are maintained but unlikely to gain new features
Setup details beyond the examples and documentation link are not covered in the README excerpt

Getting started

vue-admin-template

Clone the project

git clone https://github.com/PanJiaChen/vue-admin-template.git

Enter the project directory

cd vue-admin-template

Step-by-step guide: how to use vue-admin-template

Vuex

Install dependencies to run the bundled examples

npm install

Serve the examples locally

npm run dev

Step-by-step guide: how to use Vuex

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between vue-admin-template and Vuex?

vue-admin-template: A minimal Vue admin dashboard starter with Element UI, axios, and lint setup. Vuex: Centralized state store for Vue.js apps, now superseded by Pinia as the official default. vue-admin-template suits developers starting a new internal admin panel or back-office tool in vue, while Vuex suits teams maintaining an existing vue app that already uses vuex.

Are vue-admin-template and Vuex free?

vue-admin-template: Free and open source. Vuex: Free and open source.

Is vue-admin-template or Vuex more popular?

Vuex has more GitHub stars (28.3k) than vue-admin-template (20.4k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.

What are other alternatives to vue-admin-template and Vuex?

Other options people compare them with include vue-element-admin, SoybeanAdmin, Pinia, Element, Element Plus.

Keep comparing

Vuex alternatives vue-admin-template alternatives vue-admin-template vs vue-element-admin iView Admin vs vue-admin-template SoybeanAdmin vs vue-admin-template Redux vs Vuex Vuex vs Zustand Pinia vs Vuex

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.