Looking for the best open-source React Native UI libraries for your next app? I’ve spent over 60 hours testing and researching leading options. After years of building cross-platform apps, I know what separates a great UI library from just another pile of components. Here’s a hands-on roundup of the most useful, robust, and developer-friendly tools out there.
Disclaimer: This content was crafted with AI writing assistance and may mention projects I'm associated with.
Got a library you love that’s not on this list, or want to share your experiences? Let me know.
How I Compared These UI Libraries
To keep things fair, I evaluated each open-source React Native UI library along the same lines:
- Getting Started: Installed each one in a clean React Native project. Followed the docs from scratch. Tracked how fast I could get a component on screen and how beginner-friendly the instructions were.
- Component Coverage: Used a standard example with buttons, cards, lists, and forms to see what each library included and how advanced the features felt.
- Ease of Use: Was the API clear? Could I tweak components easily without wading through documentation? Did the props feel logical?
- Performance & Bugs: Ran the UI on both Android and iOS (simulators and real devices), checking for crashes, slowdowns, or weird visual artifacts.
- Docs & Support: Looked at docs, community forums, GitHub, and how fast questions are answered.
- Open-Source Health: Checked GitHub activity. Is the project maintained, or looking a bit dusty? Can you contribute or get help?
- Overall Vibe: Did I enjoy using the library? Was it frustrating or fun to build a simple app and would I reach for it in the future?
🏆 Top Pick: gluestack
Fast, modern, and actually enjoyable to use.
gluestack instantly caught my attention. Setup was a breeze, the code was clean, and everything felt tailored for real-world projects. No overload of bloated features, no frustration, just a reliable and developer-focused experience.
gluestack makes it easy to build performant, customizable UIs across web and mobile. You get a universal set of components that are easy to copy, paste, and tweak-no vendor lock-in and maximum code consistency.
Highlights I Noticed
- Components are easily customizable, and you avoid excessive dependencies
- You can copy exactly what you need-no baggage, no extras
- Uniform UI and code reuse for React, Next.js, and React Native
- Performs well and is accessible by default
- Effortless styling with Tailwind CSS or NativeWind, for both web and mobile
- 100% open source, with an active and transparent community
- Tools like MCP Server let you skip repetitive work when building components
Where It’s Still Growing
- The catalog doesn’t have every possible component yet; you mostly add and style only what you need
- A few larger UI elements, like a native date-time picker, are still in development
How It’s Priced
gluestack is free and open source. There are no paid tiers or locked features-just open code.
NativeBase - Tons of Features, but Feeling Outdated
Full of components, but you have to deal with some old habits.
NativeBase offers a hefty set of pre-built UI pieces and handy templates. It checks the boxes for accessibility and supports both React and React Native. However, as I dug deeper, I ran into a few rough edges-some features felt behind the times, performance lagged compared to others, and compatibility problems popped up with newer React Native updates.
What I Appreciated
- Impressive variety of components for cross-platform use
- Accessibility is built in with ARIA support
- Quick-start screen templates are nice for getting set up fast
- Familiar name in the React Native world
Frustrations I Had
- Steep learning curve if you haven’t used it before
- Slower performance-apps could feel heavy
- The design and some patterns look dated now
- Ran into version conflicts with recent React Native and Expo SDKs
- You’ll notice extra app bloat in many builds
- Fewer updates and community help since focus shifted toward gluestack-ui
Pricing and Access
There’s a one-time cost of $199 for the Startup+ Bundle, with over 100 screen templates. You don’t get a free trial-just a small demo, and many major features require purchase.
React Native Paper - Material Design With Some Hiccups
Great for Material Design, sometimes tricky in real apps.
If you love Material Design, React Native Paper is the obvious choice. Light and dark themes work out of the box, and the range of components feels modern. Updates come regularly thanks to a good open-source community. But in practice, advanced features sometimes need native code tweaks, and occasional React Native compatibility issues can slow you down.
Upsides
- Lots of production-ready Material components
- Supports Material You, keeping designs up-to-date
- Runs on iOS, Android, and even web
- Strong open-source momentum with many contributors
- Wide range of UI pieces
Areas It Struggles
- Some components need additional native setup, especially advanced features
- Version skirmishes with React Native are common
- Documentation is sometimes inconsistent, with varying quality
- Theming can break or behave unpredictably
- Not as easy to truly customize as some newer libraries
Cost
Free and open source under the MIT license.
React Native Elements - Trusted, but Maintenance Is Lagging
A solid classic, but it’s starting to look a bit old.
React Native Elements earned its stripes as a straightforward way to build React Native apps. Over 30 core components, simple theming, and TypeScript support make it familiar and approachable. But it hasn’t seen much recent development, documentation is dated, and new features arrive slowly.
Get more info on React Native Elements.
Good Points
- Broad selection of basic, composable components
- Theming is easy to manage for consistent design
- It’s simple to install, and works well with Expo
- Fast prototyping for those who already know the ropes
Drawbacks I Found
- Community and maintainers aren’t very active anymore
- Getting started can be hard for beginners-documentation is limited
- The UI now looks a bit outdated
- Less flexibility for custom workflows than in modern libraries
Access & Pricing
Available free and open source, no paid features.
UI Kitten - All About Custom Themes, with a Longer Setup
Full theming power, but setup takes patience.
UI Kitten is built around the Eva Design System and gives you deep theming and consistent design. Over 20 reusable components come with excellent documentation, and switching between light and dark modes feels effortless. However, it requires more time for configuration, increases bundle size if you go heavy on components, and the smaller community can slow down troubleshooting.
Where It Shines
- Theme system handles light and dark modes smoothly
- Good documentation with plenty of real examples
- Visual style is clean and consistent thanks to Eva Design System
- Library sees updates and active maintenance
Pain Points
- More setup steps and configuration than plug-and-play kits
- The bundle size can jump up quickly
- Not every use case is intuitive; advanced custom styling needs more work
- Fewer third-party extensions, support is slower due to a smaller community
- Some components feel buggy (icons, autocomplete in particular)
Price
Free and open source (MIT license).
react-native-ui-lib - Rich Features, but Not the Easiest Fit
Great coverage, but can be complex to set up and use.
react-native-ui-lib, from Wix, brings a vast collection of customizable components and plenty of control over styling and theming. Power users and larger teams will like how flexible it is, but setup can be a hassle. Some components are finicky, docs can be dense, and frequent updates mean you may encounter breaking changes.
Learn more about react-native-ui-lib.
Strengths I Noticed
- Wide component selection, from carousels to pickers and calendars
- Precise control over themes and styles
- Developed and maintained by Wix with regular updates
- Integrates with most design systems smoothly
Issues That Popped Up
- Steep learning curve-setup and installation aren’t always smooth
- Some parts of the user experience feel outdated
- Certain features (like KeyboardTrackingView) are buggy, especially on new iOS releases
- Documentation can be overwhelming and assumes some familiarity
- You might hit platform-specific errors, especially during upgrades
Pricing
Fully free and open source.
Ant Design Mobile - Heavyweight Set, But Hard to Customize
Lots of features, but the design can feel rigid and dated at times.
Ant Design Mobile delivers a huge list of ready-to-go components and excels with internationalization. It is especially useful for larger teams that already use Ant Design on the web. However, the theming is less flexible, visuals feel old school compared to newer kits, and making deeper custom tweaks can be tricky.
Explore Ant Design Mobile here.
Good Features
- Over 60 components, including advanced features like tables and notifications
- Reliable form validation and field dependency solutions
- Internationalization is built in
- Comparatively lighter bundle size due to tree-shakable modules
- Decent docs and Figma design resources
- Useful for quickly scaffolding enterprise dashboards
Cons I Saw
- Design language and appearance are beginning to show their age
- Less-based theming is limiting compared to CSS-in-JS approaches
- Deep customization is hard-sticking to AntD defaults is easiest
- Advanced table/grid features need a lot of extra work
- TypeScript support is there, but not as deep as some others
- Upgrading to new versions can break your workflow
- More complex validation or advanced patterns take time to master
- Minor performance issues in apps with lots of components
Price and Access
No official pricing is public, but it reportedly starts at $20/month per user for enterprise use. There’s no free tier, and only a limited demo is available.
Nachos UI - Simple and Lightweight, but Not for Big Apps
Easy to get started, but you’ll quickly hit limits on larger projects.
Nachos UI offers a lightweight set of UI components with simple styling and decent documentation. For straightforward interfaces or proofs of concept, it’s fine. For anything more complex, the small community, mediocre performance, and limited platform support can cause roadblocks.
What Works
- Good core set of styled components for basics
- Installation is simple and the API is clear
- Only add what you need thanks to modular design
- Docs are clear for most standard cases
What To Watch Out For
- Performance drops off on ambitious projects
- Support community is small-fewer answers and examples
- Works best for iOS, cross-platform support is lacking
Price
Completely free and open source.
Additional Libraries I Looked At
Here are some of the other tools I checked. Most aren’t suitable for React Native, or focus on a different platform, so they aren’t covered in detail:
- MUI - Built for web, no React Native support.
- Ant Design - Great for web apps, but not mobile.
- Chakra UI - Web-focused only.
- Tailwind UI - Web-first; Tailwind Native still underbuilt.
- Semantic UI React - Not compatible with React Native.
- Blueprint - Targets desktop, not mobile UIs.
- React Bootstrap - Web only.
- Grommet - No React Native adapter.
- Evergreen - Focused on web UIs.
- Flutter - Different framework entirely.
- React Native - Core library, not a UI toolkit.
- Xamarin - .NET-based, not for React Native.
- Ionic Framework - Not built with React Native.
- NativeScript - Uses JavaScript, but not within the React Native ecosystem.
- Qt Group - Built with C++.
- JUCE - For audio, not UI.
- Avalonia - Not React Native.
- Kotlin - A language, not a components library.
- Mono - Not applicable for JS or React Native.
- AppGyver - Doesn’t target React Native directly.
- Kendo UI - No React Native support.
- Onsen UI - Focuses on hybrid/web, not React Native.
- Framework7 - For hybrid/web apps.
- Quasar Framework - Built for Vue, not React Native.
- react-native-gifted-chat - Niche: chat only.
- Bootstrap - No React Native option.
- Tailwind CSS - Lacking mature React Native implementation.
- Vue.js - Different framework entirely.
- Angular - Not aimed at React Native.
- Svelte - Not a fit for React Native stack.
- Ember.js - Outdated and web-focused.
- jQuery - Not for modern React Native work.
- Foundation - Built for web apps.
Closing Thoughts
Nearly every open-source React Native UI library stumbles in one of three ways: some are full of complexity with little return, some are too simple to scale, and some are either in flux or abandoned. A good UI library should stay flexible, be pleasant to use, and support you as your app grows.
If you want a customizable, fast, and reliable library for React Native UI that works across both web and mobile, gluestack stands out. Its component model gives you full control to bring in just what you need, lets you style everything with familiar tools like Tailwind, and keeps vendor lock-in at bay. With an active open-source community and focus on accessibility and code consistency, gluestack makes it easier to build apps that are both beautiful and maintainable.
Choose what fits your style-but know that flexibility, solid docs, and active support can make all the difference on long projects.
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