Head-to-Head: Material Components for the web vs styled-components Analysis

material-components-web

v14.0.0(over 2 years ago)

This package was last published over a year ago. It may not be actively maintained.Types definitions are bundled with the npm packageNumber of direct dependencies: 49Monthly npm downloads

Material Components for the Web is a collection of modular and customizable UI components based on Google's Material Design guidelines. It provides a set of ready-to-use components like buttons, cards, dialogs, and more, with consistent styling and behavior across different platforms and devices. Material Components for the Web offers a modern and visually appealing design language, making it easy to create responsive and user-friendly web interfaces.

Alternatives:
@mui/material+
ant-design+
chakra-ui+
semantic-ui-react+
blueprintjs+
evergreen-ui+
grommet+
react-bootstrap+
primereact+
vuetify+

Tags: ui-componentsmaterial-designmodularresponsivegoogle

styled-components

v6.1.13(4 months ago)

This package is actively maintained.Types definitions are bundled with the npm packageNumber of direct dependencies: 9Monthly npm downloads

Styled-components is a popular CSS-in-JS library for styling React components with scoped and dynamic CSS. It allows developers to write actual CSS code within their JavaScript files using template literals, providing a seamless integration of styles and components. Styled-components offers features like theming, props-based styling, and automatic vendor prefixing, making it easy to create reusable and maintainable styles for React applications.

Alternatives:
emotion+
stitches+
linaria+
twin.macro+
goober+
fela+
jss+
styletron+
aphrodite+
glamor+

Tags: reactcss-in-jsstylingcomponentsdynamic-styles

Fight!

Styling Approach

Material Components Web is a library that provides pre-built components following the Material Design guidelines. It focuses on consistent styling and theming based on Google's Material Design. On the other hand, Styled Components is a CSS-in-JS library that allows you to write actual CSS code within your JavaScript components, providing more flexibility in styling.

Component Customization

Material Components Web offers a set of predefined components with limited customization options to maintain consistency with Material Design principles. Styled Components, on the other hand, allows for extensive customization of styles within each component, giving developers more control over the appearance of their components.

Performance

Material Components Web is optimized for performance and follows the Material Design guidelines to ensure smooth interactions and animations. Styled Components, being a CSS-in-JS solution, may introduce some overhead due to the dynamic nature of generating styles at runtime. However, this overhead is often negligible in modern applications.

Developer Experience

Material Components Web provides a consistent set of components that are easy to use and integrate into projects following the Material Design principles. Styled Components offer a convenient way to manage styles directly within components, making it easier to maintain and refactor styles alongside the component logic.

Community and Ecosystem

Material Components Web is maintained by the Material Design team at Google and has a strong community backing due to its association with Material Design. Styled Components also has a large community and is widely adopted in the React ecosystem, with many developers leveraging its features for styling React applications.