tailwindcss vs styled-components vs @mui/system vs emotion vs @stitches/react | CSS-in-JS and Utility-First CSS Libraries Comparison

Package	Downloads	Stars	Size	Issues	Publish	License

tailwindcss	19,332,705	88,148	678 kB	74	4 days ago	MIT
styled-components	6,452,624	40,807	1.77 MB	323	24 days ago	MIT
@mui/system	5,756,041	95,770	631 kB	1,749	a month ago	MIT
emotion	690,559	-	-	-	5 years ago	MIT
@stitches/react	277,234	7,805	521 kB	120	-	MIT

Package

Downloads

Stars

Size

Issues

Publish

License

tailwindcss

19,332,705

88,148

678 kB

4 days ago

MIT

styled-components

6,452,624

40,807

1.77 MB

323

24 days ago

MIT

@mui/system

5,756,041

95,770

631 kB

1,749

a month ago

MIT

emotion

690,559

5 years ago

MIT

@stitches/react

277,234

7,805

521 kB

120

MIT

Styling Approach

tailwindcss:
tailwindcss takes a completely different approach by providing a utility-first CSS framework. Instead of writing custom styles, you apply pre-defined utility classes directly in your HTML or JSX, which encourages a more consistent and efficient styling process.
styled-components:
styled-components is a classic CSS-in-JS library that enables you to write CSS directly within your JavaScript files. It scopes styles to components, preventing conflicts and promoting reusability.
@mui/system:
@mui/system uses a CSS-in-JS approach, allowing you to define styles directly within your components using JavaScript. It supports theme-based styling, making it easy to create consistent designs across your application.
emotion:
emotion provides a flexible CSS-in-JS solution that supports both styled components and traditional class-based styling. It allows for dynamic styling based on props, making it easy to create responsive and interactive designs.
@stitches/react:
@stitches/react also follows the CSS-in-JS paradigm but focuses on atomic CSS generation. It creates small, reusable CSS classes that are applied conditionally, resulting in highly optimized styles with minimal bloat.

Theming Support

tailwindcss:
tailwindcss supports theming to some extent, especially with the introduction of JIT mode and custom properties. However, it is primarily designed around a fixed set of utility classes, so theming may require more manual setup compared to CSS-in-JS solutions.
styled-components:
styled-components provides excellent theming support with its ThemeProvider component. You can define a theme object and access its values in your styled components, promoting consistency and reusability across your application.
@mui/system:
@mui/system has built-in theming support, allowing you to define a theme object and access theme values directly within your styles. This makes it easy to create a cohesive design system with consistent colors, spacing, and typography.
emotion:
emotion offers robust theming support through its ThemeProvider component, which allows you to define a theme and access it within your styled components. It also supports dynamic theming, making it easy to switch between light and dark modes.
@stitches/react:
@stitches/react also supports theming, enabling you to create theme tokens and apply them throughout your components. Its theming capabilities are flexible and can be easily extended to accommodate complex design requirements.

Performance

tailwindcss:
tailwindcss is very performant, especially when using PurgeCSS to remove unused styles. Since it generates a single CSS file with utility classes, there is minimal runtime overhead, making it a great choice for performance-sensitive applications.
styled-components:
styled-components has made significant improvements in performance over the years, but it can still introduce some overhead due to its dynamic nature. Using static styles and optimizing your components can help mitigate any performance issues.
@mui/system:
@mui/system is optimized for performance, especially when used with a theme provider. It generates styles at runtime, but the impact is minimal due to its efficient handling of CSS-in-JS.
emotion:
emotion is designed for performance, with features like style caching and server-side rendering support. It strikes a good balance between flexibility and efficiency, making it suitable for large-scale applications.
@stitches/react:
@stitches/react is highly performant, thanks to its atomic CSS generation. It creates only the styles that are needed for each component, reducing the overall CSS footprint and improving load times.

Example Code

tailwindcss:

Theming with tailwindcss

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        primary: '#0070f3',
        secondary: '#1db954',
      },
      spacing: {
        sm: '8px',
        md: '16px',
        lg: '24px',
      },
    },
  },
};

// In your component
const Button = () => (
  <button className="bg-primary text-white p-md rounded hover:bg-secondary">
    Click Me
  </button>
);

export default Button;

styled-components:

Theming with styled-components

import styled, { ThemeProvider } from 'styled-components';

const theme = {
  colors: {
    primary: '#0070f3',
    secondary: '#1db954',
  },
  spacing: (factor) => `${factor * 8}px`,
};

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${(props) => props.theme.colors.primary};
  color: white;
  padding: ${(props) => props.theme.spacing(2)};
  border: none;
  border-radius: 4px;
  &:hover {
    background-color: ${(props) => props.theme.colors.secondary};
  }
`;

const App = () => (
  <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
    <Button>Click Me</Button>
  </ThemeProvider>
);

export default App;

@mui/system:

Theming with @mui/system

import { styled, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/system';

const theme = {
  colors: {
    primary: '#0070f3',
    secondary: '#1db954',
  },
  spacing: (factor) => `${factor * 8}px`,
};

const Button = styled('button')(({ theme }) => ({
  backgroundColor: theme.colors.primary,
  color: 'white',
  padding: theme.spacing(2),
  border: 'none',
  borderRadius: '4px',
  '&:hover': {
    backgroundColor: theme.colors.secondary,
  },
}));

const App = () => (
  <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
    <Button>Click Me</Button>
  </ThemeProvider>
);

export default App;

emotion:

Theming with emotion

/** @jsxImportSource @emotion/react */
import { css, ThemeProvider } from '@emotion/react';

const theme = {
  colors: {
    primary: '#0070f3',
    secondary: '#1db954',
  },
  spacing: (factor) => `${factor * 8}px`,
};

const buttonStyle = (theme) => css({
  backgroundColor: theme.colors.primary,
  color: 'white',
  padding: theme.spacing(2),
  border: 'none',
  borderRadius: '4px',
  '&:hover': {
    backgroundColor: theme.colors.secondary,
  },
});

const Button = ({ children }) => <button css={buttonStyle}>{children}</button>;

const App = () => (
  <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
    <Button>Click Me</Button>
  </ThemeProvider>
);

export default App;

@stitches/react:

Theming with @stitches/react

import { createStitches } from '@stitches/react';

const { styled, ThemeProvider, createTheme } = createStitches({
  theme: {
    colors: {
      primary: '#0070f3',
      secondary: '#1db954',
    },
    space: {
      sm: '8px',
      md: '16px',
      lg: '24px',
    },
  },
});

const Button = styled('button', {
  backgroundColor: '$primary',
  color: 'white',
  padding: '$md',
  border: 'none',
  borderRadius: '4px',
  '&:hover': {
    backgroundColor: '$secondary',
  },
});

const App = () => (
  <ThemeProvider>
    <Button>Click Me</Button>
  </ThemeProvider>
);

export default App;

Styling Approach

Theming Support

Performance

Example Code

Documentation

Community

Contributing