Finding the top universal React and React Native component libraries is not as straightforward as it seems. Over the course of more than 60 hours, I installed, configured, and actually built with the most talked-about component libraries in the React universe, testing both for web and mobile. My aim was simple: uncover which libraries make cross-platform UI as seamless and reliable as possible for modern developers.
Note: This article utilizes AI-generated content and may reference businesses I'm connected to.
With four years of hands-on React and React Native experience, I have wrestled with dozens of libraries in production. Documentation issues, unclear bugs, and lock-in nightmares are all too familiar. That’s why I wanted to give an honest side-by-side comparison-so you can invest your time (and your team's) into something that works not just on day one but for the long haul.
If you've had experiences with a cross-platform UI library that I missed, or want to share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out!
How I Compared These Libraries
For this guide, I applied the same test criteria to every universal React and React Native component library:
- Setup and Onboarding: How fast can you get components working in a real app? This included both web and React Native projects, accounting for necessary steps and configuration.
- Core Features: I rebuilt the same UI screens-think buttons, lists, cards, forms, and modals-with each library. I looked for both variety and true cross-platform consistency.
- Developer Experience: From API design to customization and theming, is it easy to make the components feel like your own? Too much boilerplate or magic is a red flag.
- Performance and Stability: I checked loading times and responsiveness on both web and mobile, and noted any crashes or glitches.
- Documentation and Support: Is official documentation actually helpful? Are examples clear? Is there an active community or responsive maintainers?
- Pricing: I looked for hidden fees and what’s available for free, especially for commercial use.
- Overall Impressions: Would I want to use this library for my next cross-platform project? Does it look likely to survive and grow?
🏆 Top Pick: gluestack
Current, lightweight, and a pleasure to use.
Right away, gluestack set itself apart for me. The setup was quick, the UI was straightforward, and within minutes I was actually building screens-without feeling lost or bogged down. While lots of libraries overpromise, gluestack keeps things both powerful and simple.
Explore it here: gluestack
Things that stood out
- Truly customizable components that are ready to use and don't force extra bloat
- Great for UI consistency and reusing code across React, Next.js, and React Native
- Native Tailwind CSS and NativeWind integration, which speeds up styling
- High performance and accessibility are built right in
- Open-source, with regular activity in the community and contributions
- Easy to start, thanks to sample apps and automated tooling
Room for improvement
- No default, opinionated themes pre-installed
- Some advanced features like date pickers are not yet included (but on the way)
Price and licensing
gluestack is completely free and open-source. No hidden charges, no license tricks, and nothing that blocks you from commercial use. You can grab the source on GitHub whenever you want.
🥈 Evergreen - Powerful but a Bit Overwhelming
Enterprise-grade, but best if you stick to web.
Evergreen by Segment is a polished set of React components with a proud enterprise flavor. If you’re building at scale-especially for the web-Evergreen gives you sophisticated architecture and UI consistency. But the setup can feel heavy, especially for smaller projects or those new to the tool.
Check it out: Evergreen
What made an impression
- Broad set of production-ready React components
- Lets you piece together highly customized UIs, particularly good for complex needs
- Useful patterns and Figma resources help design and engineering stay in sync
Issues I noticed
- Onboarding feels a little rough if you’re not already experienced
- The system sometimes feels like overkill for light apps or small teams
- Community is smaller than the oldest or broader libraries, which may limit support
- Only supports React on the web, so you’re out of luck for mobile
Cost considerations
Evergreen is open-source, and the code is free to use, but if you want custom enterprise agreements or support, you’ll need to inquire. There are no public tiers or pricing posted.
🥉 NativeBase - Tried and True, But Showing Its Age
It’s familiar and packed with features, but not moving forward.
NativeBase remains one of the more recognizable cross-platform UI libraries. With a big roster of customizable components and solid accessibility, it’s easy to see why it’s stuck around. However, a pause in maintenance and increasing compatibility annoyances mean it's no longer the obvious solution.
Take a look: NativeBase
High points
- Large library of screens and components ready to use
- Accessibility is handled out of the box, with theming and light/dark support
- Can run across web and mobile together
- Documentation covers basics well and the community, while quieter, still exists
Drawbacks to watch out for
- Not being actively maintained-most development focus has shifted to Gluestack-UI
- Running into dependency issues, especially with newer React versions
- Components may be sluggish, increasing app bloat and slowdowns
- Breaking changes and occasional bugs (especially iOS, newer React Native releases)
- Access to templates requires a non-refundable $199 payment, no full-featured free demo
Pricing details
A one-time fee of $199 unlocks the complete Startup+ Bundle with over 100 templates. There’s only a limited demo available before you buy.
Onsen UI - Great Flexibility, Steep Learning
Ideal for mobile-first needs as long as you don't mind digging into documentation.
Onsen UI is a versatile, mobile-focused library that supports not just React but also Angular, Vue, and even vanilla JavaScript. It adapts component styles automatically for iOS and Android, which is clever. However, setup is not straightforward and the learning curve is real.
Try out Onsen: Onsen UI
What I appreciated
- Strong selection of mobile-specific components that look native
- Components change appearance to fit the target platform by default
- Works with multiple JS frameworks and is open source under Apache 2.0
Places for improvement
- Setup can be lengthy and sometimes confusing
- Documentation assumes you know mobile interface patterns already
- Noted some performance lags on Android devices
- Support and fixes can take a while, especially for free users
- Enterprise pricing isn’t clear, and customer support seems reserved for paid plans
Price info
The core version is typically free, but enterprise support or enhanced features probably require contacting them directly.
Framework7 - Lots of Features, but Not Beginner-Friendly
An ambitious cross-platform library with a learning curve attached.
Framework7 delivers a long list of UI widgets for mobile and web, particularly strong if you’re building native-feeling iOS or Android apps using React, Vue, or Svelte. There’s a lot to work with, but navigating the documentation and getting everything branded how you want takes a good chunk of time.
Try Framework7: Framework7
What worked well
- Covers just about every UI building block you could want
- Keeps platform designs consistent across web, Android, and iOS
- Gives you real freedom for native-style app development, yet works for the web
- Open source and backed by a dedicated community
Challenges I encountered
- Initial learning is steep, not especially gentle for newcomers
- Docs are thorough, but can get overwhelming
- Some widget quirks and UI bugs crop up (sliders, modals, and inconsistent event handling)
- Setup feels less intuitive than other universal libraries
- Styling and customization often take more effort
Pricing overview
All features are free and open source. There's no upsell or commercial tier to worry about.
React Native Paper - Pure Material Design for Mobile
Dependable for mobile Material UIs, but can trip you up at times.
React Native Paper is a go-to package for anyone who wants Material Design across iOS and Android using React Native. With an active community and lots of production use, it’s stable-but gaps in documentation and hiccups with newer React Native releases can interrupt your stride.
Give it a go: React Native Paper
What I liked using
- Solid set of Material Design components, ready for production
- Modern theming support, including Material You
- Reliable cross-platform consistency for mobile apps
- Well-established and regularly maintained repo
What I struggled with
- Sometimes components don’t keep up with the latest React Native changes
- Theming can break unexpectedly, leading to mismatched UI
- Bugs and crashes show up, especially for Android
- Documentation is uneven, making the first project tougher than it should be
- Some features force you to write native code or add other third-party dependencies
Cost
The library is free and open source under the MIT license.
React Native Elements - Simple Foundation, but Development Slowing
A long-time favorite starting to feel dated.
React Native Elements offers a straightforward suite of mobile UI components, and is easy to bring into Expo or TypeScript projects. But updates have slowed, and it might not keep up with your needs in more complex or web-heavy apps.
Check it here: React Native Elements
Positives in my experience
- Good set of essential mobile UI components
- Centralized theming keeps styles consistent and manageable
- Works smoothly with Expo and all in TypeScript
- Community-led and fully open source
Cons I found
- Little recent development or new feature work-things seem to have stalled out
- Web support is minimal
- The components are fairly basic, so you might outgrow the features
- Documentation can run out when dealing with advanced customization
Pricing
No cost; the project is entirely free and open source. No paid options, but that also means minimal support.
UI Kitten - Beautiful Theming, Steep Learning
Fantastic style options, but expect some overhead and a learning curve.
UI Kitten sets itself apart with powerful theming-light/dark mode is seamless and the Eva Design System looks great out of the box. Their documentation covers the basics and component variety is solid, but working with Kitten at scale means more setup and some impact on app size or performance.
Try UI Kitten: UI Kitten
Strengths I noticed
- Over 20 polished, ready-to-use components
- Theming is flexible and runtime theme switching just works
- Strong, modern visual language via Eva Design System
- Example code is straightforward and current
- Updates come fairly regularly
Downsides I ran into
- The Eva system has a learning curve, especially if you haven't used it before
- The whole library can add significant size, affecting performance, especially in larger apps
- Customizing past the basics sometimes involves lots of tinkering
- The community is quieter compared to the top-tier libraries
What it costs
The library is free and open source, with no upsell or premium version. For official support or extra themes, you may need a separate agreement.
react-native-ui-lib - Very Flexible, Less Intuitive
Comprehensive options, but more work to get going.
react-native-ui-lib is a feature-heavy library, with a wide array of components and customization built in. On paper, it covers plenty. In practice, installation can be bumpy, debugging takes time, and documentation can leave you searching for answers.
View the project: react-native-ui-lib
What’s good
- Strong variety of UI components for cross-platform builds
- Theming options for stronger brand consistency
- Frequent community updates
- Handles complicated UI-like modals and carousels-well
What’s challenging
- Installation and dependency mismatches are issues you’ll face early on
- Some components, like KeyboardTrackingView, have persistent bugs
- Interface design and docs feel outdated and assume you know plenty already
- Sorting out platform-specific bugs often takes real effort
Cost and licensing
No published pricing, but it’s open source and free to use. That said, time spent on setup and troubleshooting is a real factor.
Ant Design Mobile - Packed with Features but Not Flexible Enough
Enterprise tools galore, but less ideal for fast-changing or heavily customized projects.
Ant Design Mobile offers a huge lineup of mobile-focused React components. For enterprise web and mobile needs, it can serve you well with built-in tables, forms, and tools for big, multi-lingual teams. Still, styling feels locked down, newer design trends are missing, and documentation can be a wall for new users.
See the components: Ant Design Mobile
What impressed me
- Over 60 mobile UI components, including advanced options like tables and forms
- Excellent localization, with support for many languages built-in
- Built-in functionality for sorting, filtering, and paginating large data sets
- Efficient on bundle size due to decent tree-shaking
- Theming uses familiar (Less) CSS, which is handy for many front-end teams
- Admin dashboard templates help enterprise workflows launch faster
Difficulties I found
- Design language is hard to personalize for your own branding
- Some components feel out-of-date visually and in UX
- Upgrading between major versions can break things and migration can be tricky
- Advanced features (like custom forms) take extra learning time
- Components aren’t as deeply customizable as some modern alternatives
- Large lists of components sometimes felt slow to render
- Docs can overwhelm, especially if you’re new to the system
Price
No public pricing, and enterprise support will cost extra. There is no meaningful free trial: several advanced features are only available to paying users.
Other Tools I Checked (At a Glance)
- MUI: Great for React on web, but no React Native support.
- Ant Design: Tailored for enterprise, but not mobile-focused.
- Chakra UI: Fantastic DX for React web, no React Native.
- Tailwind UI: Only supplies styles, not full UI components.
- Semantic UI React: Web only and seeing less frequent updates.
- Blueprint: High polish, strictly for web.
- React Bootstrap: Basic port, not much flexibility.
- Grommet: Web-focused and no React Native.
- Flutter: Not part of React/JavaScript.
- React Native: Framework, not a component set.
- Xamarin: Not JavaScript-based.
- Ionic Framework: Relies on webviews, not true React Native.
- NativeScript: Not focused on the React ecosystem.
- Qt Group: Targets C++/Python, not React.
- JUCE: Audio UI, not broad React use.
- Avalonia: Built for .NET desktop apps.
- Kotlin: Just a language, not a component library.
- Mono: Older tech and not suitable for React.
- AppGyver: No-code, not for direct library use.
- Kendo UI: Enterprise, web technologies only.
- Quasar Framework: Vue-focused, not React.
- Nachos UI: Archived and inactive.
- react-native-gifted-chat: Only for chat UIs.
- Bootstrap: General framework, not React-centered.
- Tailwind CSS: Utility CSS without UI components.
- Vue.js: Not compatible with React.
- Angular: For Angular, not React.
- Svelte: Different ecosystem.
- Ember.js: Old framework, not for React.
- jQuery: Outdated for React users.
- Foundation: CSS only, not tight with React.
My Closing Thoughts
Digging into the top universal React and React Native component libraries, I noticed three main patterns:
- Some are complex or opinionated: These take time and may lock you down to their way of doing things.
- Others are too simple or basic: Easy to start, but you’ll hit their limits when building real apps.
- There are also many that lack active support: Either half-built or simply abandoned by their maintainers.
What stands out about gluestack is it threads the needle. It stays flexible for different needs, avoids bloat, and leaves control in your hands. Components work out of the box for React, Next.js, and React Native, and it’s open-source, so there’s no worrying about getting cornered. You work only with what you need and style it your way, and modern DX tools like Tailwind and NativeWind slot right in.
In an ecosystem crowded by rigid systems and abandoned side projects, gluestack gives you a truly universal toolkit that focuses on maintainable, high-performance, and consistent UI. For anyone looking to support both web and native, it's a smart foundation.
That wraps up my honest experience with the top universal React and React Native component libraries. Try them out, see what fits for your real use-cases, and let your own experience guide you.
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