Over recent years, the realm of Javascript development has undergone a significant transformation. The fastest and most comfortable way to develop now is based in leveraging frameworks such as NextJS for streamlined development, deployment, and infrastructure management. This is further enhanced by the adoption of opinionated design frameworks like Material UI, Theme UI, Daisy UI, and Radix UI, which expedite the process of making your site accessible with minimal effort.

The interplay and diversity among these libraries offer a rich tapestry of options: some are inspired by others, some build upon others, while some are used as dependencies. While this is frowned upon by some developers that don’t see themselves suited to risk their high tier work on someone elses library, this is the standard for the rest of us mortal beings.

Exploring Shadcn UI

Shadcn UI finds its niche in the UI Components domain of the tech stack, crafted to bolster web application development with accessible and customizable components. Rooted in Radix UI and Tailwind CSS, the components are designed to be copied and pasted directly into developers' projects, simplifying the development journey.

Contrary to conventional libraries, Shadcn UI isn’t installed as a dependency nor distributed via npm. Instead, developers cherry-pick the components they require, integrate the code into their projects, and tweak it to fit their needs. This also serves as a blueprint for crafting their own component libraries. Shadcn UI marries the customizability of Tailwind with the ready-to-use components akin to Radix UI, striving to deliver a blend of flexibility and convenience to developers.

Unpacking Chakra UI

Chakra UI is a sleek, modular, and accessible component library fine-tuned for sculpting React applications. It furnishes developers with essential building blocks to architect the front-end of web applications, simplifying the development trajectory. Renowned for its adherence to accessibility standards, particularly the WAI-ARIA guidelines, Chakra UI’s components are customizable and reusable, making modifications a breeze to align with project-specific design paradigms. Though primarily aligned with ReactJs, its compatibility extends to a few other libraries, broadening the horizon for various projects. The emphasis on accessibility, reusability, and effortless customization renders Chakra UI a cherished toolkit for developers aspiring to craft efficient and inclusive web applications.

Making the Choice

The flexibility that most of these libraries offer is often reflective of the libraries they are built upon.

Both Shadcn and Chakra UI empower developers with composition capabilities. The library you choose moving forward will strongly depend on the use case and the knowledge you have. In most cases, the learning curve is an important thing to take into account when speed matters, so bear this in mind when making the decision.

Shadcn-UI

👍 Rich component library

👍 Fewer dependencies

👎 Lacks layout components

👎 Requires TailwindCSS for coding beyond the library’s scope

Chakra UI

👍 User-friendly interface

👍 Centered around layout and accessibility

👎 Higher learning curve for extension

Conclusion

If you already have experience with tailwind, you can easily go ahead with either technology, but might prefer Shadcn-UI. However if you have no experience with neither, and have not worked with tailwind before, I would advise you use Chakra-UI to get started with some common patterns and standards that will make your life so much easier with a slight cost on flexibility.