Radix UI vs shadcn/ui(2026)
Radix UI is better for teams that need best accessibility in the market. shadcn/ui is the stronger choice if you own the code. Radix UI is open-source (from $0) and shadcn/ui is open-source (from $0).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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Radix UI
Radix UI provides unstyled, WAI-ARIA compliant React primitives for building design systems — handling accessibility, keyboard navigation, and focus management so you only write styles.
Starting at $0
Visit Radix UIshadcn/ui
shadcn/ui is a collection of beautifully designed, accessible React components built on Radix UI and Tailwind CSS — you copy the source code directly into your project, owning it fully.
Starting at $0
Visit shadcn/uiHow Do Radix UI and shadcn/ui Compare on Features?
| Feature | Radix UI | shadcn/ui |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | open-source |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| Unstyled primitives | ✓ | — |
| WAI-ARIA compliant | ✓ | — |
| Full keyboard navigation | ✓ | — |
| Focus management | ✓ | — |
| Composition API | ✓ | — |
| TypeScript | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSS agnostic | ✓ | — |
| Copy-paste components | — | ✓ |
| Radix UI primitives | — | ✓ |
| Tailwind CSS styling | — | ✓ |
| Dark mode | — | ✓ |
| Themes (CSS variables) | — | ✓ |
| CLI for adding components | — | ✓ |
Radix UI Pros and Cons vs shadcn/ui
Radix UI
shadcn/ui
Should You Use Radix UI or shadcn/ui?
Choose Radix UI if…
- •Best accessibility in the market
- •Fully customizable styling
- •Composable patterns
Choose shadcn/ui if…
- •You own the code
- •Beautiful default design
- •Accessible (Radix)