# shadcn/ui 82 Hacker News commenters recommended shadcn/ui and 54 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (3 owners). **Verdict:** Free, MIT-licensed React components copied into your own project, so you can edit them freely and move faster with less design work. Caveat: unmodified defaults make many sites look alike. ## Why people recommend it - You own the code and can edit it (6 comments): "Shadcn gives you more freedom to fix stuff like this and rewrite how you want the component to work and look" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46689194)) "You own the code, not the library, hence you can fix whatever you need instead of relying on them to fix it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48801691)) "because the code is yours its expected that you change the internal logic/styling/structure of the component" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48927247)) - Faster UI with less design work (5 comments): "It is much faster to just use some kind of component library, like shadcn, and let the developer figure it out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46434869)) "I used to use material UI for every project I made, but then I saw ShadCN/ui and immediately switched." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48700094)) "pairing an LLM with shadcn/ui gets me to a decent, responsive UI much faster than I would on my own" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47741215)) - Free and MIT-licensed (4 comments): "Radix/Shadcn (which uses tailwind for styling of course) that killed the need to buy Tailwind's UI kits" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46546926)) "I can simply pull free components (or components from another kit) directly via shadcn." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46551424)) "The design is shadcn – which is an MIT license - very very popular design system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48686387)) - Works well with LLM coding (2 comments): "LLMs tend to do better with component libraries like shadcn or daisy than writing raw CSS in my experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47821303)) "The DX of SCNUI is already very good and LLMs are all too familiar with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48700109)) ## What people warn about - Sites look generic with defaults (4 comments): "PWA dudes that all want to use some variant of shadcn or whatever same but different flavor of what is effectively the same design language" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47744812)) "a project using shadcn/ui is nearly immediately identifiable as such because most do not deviate from the defaults" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47985939)) "Obviously if your base is just unmodified shadcn, then it will look like any other toy site out there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50203480)) - Radix dependency makes it complex (2 comments): "I have used and mostly like Shadcn, and yet their Radix-based radio button was a bit much" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48791662)) "the fact that it just wraps another dependency (Radix) kind of defeats the purpose for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686590)) - Seen as a fad or scam signal (2 comments): "Shadcn just reeks of a fad, and even after doing copy paste and trying it, I didn't see what the big deal was." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48793766)) "I've seen so many shadcn based scam sites that my brain starts associating shadcn with scams." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845272)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Jelly UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jelly-ui.md): 41 recommend - [Tailwind UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tailwind-ui.md): 38 recommend - [Performative-UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/performative-ui.md): 38 recommend - [Radix UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/radix.md): 20 recommend - [Base UI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/base-ui.md): 14 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "shadcn/ui", https://hackerapproved.com/p/shadcn-ui/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).