Material UI
Ranked 14 of 14 UI component libraries by recommenders
Full React component library with sane defaults, good for quick layouts. Critics say major upgrades bring breaking API changes and a look that is hard to escape.
Full React component library with sane defaults, good for quick layouts. Critics say major upgrades bring breaking API changes and a look that is hard to escape.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 13
- approval share
- 32%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Complete component library with sane defaults
“Start from an existing template or a component library with sane defaults (Material UI, shadcn, Tailwind UI - pick one and commit)”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 on Hacker News “a full blown component lib like Material UI would be superior to shadcn”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Why don't more developers “use the platform”?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Breaking API changes in major upgrades
“each major version update was a tedious process because they completely upended many APIs.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Shadcn/UI now defaults to Base UI instead of Radix” “a problem with Material UI being undisciplined with API compatibility”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Shadcn/UI now defaults to Base UI instead of Radix” “it was an upgrade full of breaking changes”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Shadcn/UI now defaults to Base UI instead of Radix” Locks layout and style to the API
“Something like MUI locks you into a layout and style that's coupled with the API”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Why don't more developers “use the platform”?” “since MUI doesn't cater to our needs anymore”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Performative-UI – a react component library of design tropes” Design language disliked by critics
“it's gotta be the worst design language to interface with”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Bring Back Idiomatic Design” “the abomination known as materialui”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman”
Other UI component libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other UI component libraries, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| shadcn/ui | 82 | 54 | 60% | 12 | 1 yr3 owners | — |
| Jelly UI | 41 | 38 | 52% | 1 | — | — |
| Tailwind UI | 38 | 28 | 58% | 3 | — | — |
| Performative-UI | 38 | 8 | 83% | 2 | — | — |
| Material UIThis page | 6 | 13 | 32% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Like the browserify Node polyfills, babel-polyfill and runtime with core-js, React -> fbjs, Material UI -> JSS and plugins, styled-components.”
“Something like MUI locks you into a layout and style that's coupled with the API”
“a full blown component lib like Material UI would be superior to shadcn”
“Start from an existing template or a component library with sane defaults (Material UI, shadcn, Tailwind UI - pick one and commit)”
“it was an upgrade full of breaking changes”
“MUI release codemods for their major version bumps to ease the migration”
“a problem with Material UI being undisciplined with API compatibility”
“each major version update was a tedious process because they completely upended many APIs.”
“We now have tailwind / material UI”
“since MUI doesn't cater to our needs anymore”
“I shudder at the thought, personally.”
“the abomination known as materialui”
“it's gotta be the worst design language to interface with”
“Slowly but surely "standardization" eroded this via bootstrap and material UI and interfaces lost that spark of creativity.”
“React, MaterialUI uaing Grid + Card and you're almost done.”
“driven only by quantitative analytics making every choice for how it should be”
“React and Angular both have very good Material UI libraries”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.