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Radix UI vs shadcn/ui

Trust Score comparison · March 2026

Radix UI
33
Trust
Caution
View profile
VS
Trust Score Δ
51
🏆 shadcn/ui wins
shadcn/ui
84
Trust
Good
View profile

Signal Comparison

4M / wknpm downloads3.1M / wk
100 commitsCommits (90d)94 commits
15k ★GitHub stars75k ★
3k q'sStack Overflow1.8k q's
LargeCommunityVery High
Radix UIshadcn/ui

Key Differences

FactorRadix UIshadcn/ui
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
HostedSelf-hostedSelf-hosted
Free tier✓ Yes
Open Source✓ Yes
TypeScript

Pick Radix UI if…

  • Building a custom design system on top of accessible primitives
  • You need WCAG-compliant components without fighting existing styles
  • Implementing complex UI patterns (modals, popovers, tooltips)

Pick shadcn/ui if…

  • You want accessible, well-designed components you can fully customize
  • You're using React/Next.js with Tailwind CSS
  • You don't want to be locked into a library's design system

Side-by-side Quick Start

Radix UI
import * as Dialog from '@radix-ui/react-dialog';

export function Modal({ trigger, children }) {
  return (
    <Dialog.Root>
      <Dialog.Trigger asChild>{trigger}</Dialog.Trigger>
      <Dialog.Portal>
        <Dialog.Overlay className="fixed inset-0 bg-black/50" />
        <Dialog.Content className="fixed top-1/2 left-1/2 -translate-x-1/2 -translate-y-1/2 bg-white rounded-xl p-6">
          {children}
        </Dialog.Content>
      </Dialog.Portal>
    </Dialog.Root>
  );
}
shadcn/ui
# Initialize
npx shadcn@latest init

# Add the components you need
npx shadcn@latest add button dialog form

# Components live in /components/ui — you own them
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"
import { Dialog, DialogContent } from "@/components/ui/dialog"

export function MyModal({ open, onClose }) {
  return (
    <Dialog open={open} onOpenChange={onClose}>
      <DialogContent>
        <Button onClick={onClose}>Close</Button>
      </DialogContent>
    </Dialog>
  );
}

Community Verdict

Based on upvoted notes
🏆
shadcn/ui wins this comparison
Trust Score 84 vs 33 · 51-point difference

shadcn/ui leads on Trust Score with stronger signal data across downloads and community health. That said, the other tool is worth considering if your use case matches its specific strengths above.