Material Components Web vs Material-UI: What are the differences?

Introduction

Material Components Web and Material-UI are popular libraries that allow developers to incorporate Material Design into their web applications. While both libraries provide similar functionality, there are key differences between the two that developers should be aware of.

1. Accessibility Support: Material Components Web places a strong emphasis on accessibility and provides comprehensive support for building accessible web applications. It offers a wide range of pre-built accessibility features and guidelines, ensuring that the user interface is usable for all users, including those with disabilities. On the other hand, Material-UI also provides accessibility support but may require additional configuration and customization to achieve the same level of accessibility as Material Components Web.

2. Styling Customization: Material Components Web allows for deep customization of the visual style of components. Developers can easily modify colors, typography, and other design aspects to match their brand or application requirements. Material Components Web also provides various theming options to enable consistent styling across different components. In contrast, Material-UI uses a more opinionated styling approach with its own set of predefined themes and styles. While it provides some customization options, the level of flexibility may be limited compared to Material Components Web.

3. Component Library Size: Material Components Web offers a modular approach, allowing developers to selectively import only the components they need, resulting in a smaller bundle size. This is particularly beneficial for applications where code size and performance are important considerations. In contrast, Material-UI has a larger component library with a wider range of pre-built components and features. While this can provide more options and convenience, it may result in a larger bundle size and potentially impact performance.

4. Integration with Frameworks: Material Components Web is designed to be framework-agnostic and can be easily integrated with different front-end frameworks, such as React, Angular, and Vue. It provides clear documentation and examples for integrating with various frameworks, making it suitable for a wide range of projects. On the other hand, Material-UI is mainly focused on React and provides extensive React components and utilities out of the box. While it can be used in other frameworks, the level of integration may vary, and some features may not be as well-supported.

5. Community and Support: Material Components Web is supported and maintained by Google and has a large and active community of developers contributing to its development and providing support. This ensures a steady stream of updates, bug fixes, and community-driven resources. Material-UI, while also well-supported, has a slightly smaller community compared to Material Components Web, but still provides regular updates and has a dedicated team of maintainers.

6. Maturity and Adoption: Material Components Web has been around for a longer time and has gained significant adoption in the web development community. It is a mature library with a stable API and extensive documentation. Material-UI, although relatively newer, has rapidly gained popularity and has a growing user base. Both libraries are well-regarded and have proven track records, making them reliable choices for incorporating Material Design into web applications.

In summary, Material Components Web offers comprehensive accessibility support, deep styling customization, and a modular component library, while Material-UI provides a more opinionated styling approach, extensive React component integration, and a larger user base.