Stop reinventing the wheel. These are the libraries and tools that ship products — battle-tested, community-loved, and ready to drop into your next project.
The Essentials
These are the foundational libraries every React developer should know.
- shadcn/ui — The gold standard. Copy-paste components you own. Built on Radix + Tailwind.
- Radix UI — Unstyled, accessible primitives that power shadcn.
- Tailwind CSS — Utility-first CSS. If you're not using it in 2025, you're working too hard.
- Lucide Icons — 1000+ beautiful, consistent icons. Fork of Feather.
Animation Libraries
Make your UI feel alive.
- Motion (Framer Motion) — The React animation library. Simple, declarative, production-ready.
- Motion Primitives — Copy-paste animations built with Framer Motion.
- Animate UI — Pre-built animated icons and components.
shadcn Ecosystem
The shadcn universe is massive. Here's the best of it.
- Magic UI — 50+ free animated components. React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion.
- Aceternity UI — Stunning animated components. Hero sections and card effects are chef's kiss.
- shadcn Examples — Real-world examples, templates, and inspiration.
- 21st.dev (shadcn.io) — Extended shadcn component library.
- shadcn Templates — Premium templates built with shadcn.
- shadcn Studio — Visual builder for shadcn components.
- Shadway — More shadcn variants and templates.
- shadcn UI Kit — Pre-built component compositions.
Premium-Quality Free Libraries
These punch way above their weight class.
- HeroUI — Beautiful, fast, modern. Check out Scroll Shadow.
- Base UI — Unstyled components from the MUI team.
- Headless UI — Unstyled, accessible components from Tailwind Labs.
- Chakra UI — Modular and accessible. Great defaults.
- Ant Design — Enterprise-grade. Massive component library.
- DaisyUI — Tailwind component library. Add classes, get components.
- Preline — Open-source Tailwind components. Clean, modern.
Specialty & Niche Libraries
Specific use cases, exceptional execution.
- Vercel AI SDK Elements — Components for AI interfaces. Chat UIs, streaming responses.
- COBE — 5kb WebGL globe. That spinning globe you've seen everywhere.
- Three.js — The 3D library for the web.
- Shaders by Paper — Beautiful WebGL shaders.
- Eldora UI — Terminal components for React.
- Vyoma UI — AI-focused components. Chat inputs, response bubbles.
Component Collections & Blocks
Pre-built sections and layouts.
- Animata — Animated hero sections and page blocks.
- Blocks.so — Navigation components and sidebars.
- ReUI Blocks — Dashboard cards and data viz blocks.
- Pace UI — Landing page blocks and hero sections.
- Kokonut UI — File upload, drag-and-drop, forms.
Emerging Libraries
New kids on the block worth watching.
- Cult UI — Texture overlays and visual effects.
- Neobrutalism.dev — Bold, chunky, unapologetic design.
- 8bitcn — Retro 8-bit style components.
- Solace UI — Calm, minimal components.
- Fancy Components — Unique, creative components.
- Hexa UI — Video players, radio groups, media.
- Smooth UI — Image metadata preview and file handling.
- Dice UI — Masonry layouts and grids.
- Scroll X UI — Scroll-based animations.
- Bundui — Animated borders and gradients.
- Lightswind — Carousels and sliders.
- Simply UI — Shimmer buttons and loading states.
- Kibo UI — Dropzone and file upload.
- Sera UI — SVG icons.
- Align UI — Clean, aligned components.
- Coss UI — Dialog and modal components.
- Square by LN — Minimal, square-based design.
Design Tools
Not components, but essential for building UIs.
- Gradienty — Beautiful CSS gradients. Copy-paste ready.
- Border Radius Playground — Visualize complex border-radius.
- Red Ketchup Icon Converter — Convert to favicons and app icons.
- Lordicon — Animated icons in Lottie, GIF, JSON.
- Nucleo App — Icon manager and organizer.
Enterprise & Dashboard
When you're building serious applications.
- Ionic Framework — Cross-platform mobile and web.
- Keen Themes — Admin dashboard templates.
Getting Started
- Start with shadcn/ui — it's the foundation
- Add Magic UI or Aceternity — for animations
- Use Motion — for custom animations
- Pick specialty libraries — as needed
The React component ecosystem has never been better. Stop building from scratch. Ship faster.