tailwindcss vs bootstrap vs foundation-sites vs materialize-css: Which is Better CSS Frameworks?

Package	Downloads	Stars	Size	Issues	Publish	License

tailwindcss	8,515,801	80,452	5.62 MB	47	a month ago	MIT
bootstrap	4,090,966	168,070	9.67 MB	579	5 months ago	MIT
foundation-sites	95,476	29,645	24.7 MB	85	a year ago	MIT
materialize-css	21,219	38,876	-	796	6 years ago	MIT

Design Principles

tailwindcss: Tailwind CSS promotes utility-first design, enabling developers to quickly style elements using utility classes. It emphasizes simplicity, consistency, and efficiency in design, allowing for rapid prototyping and customization.
bootstrap: Bootstrap follows a mobile-first approach and emphasizes consistency, accessibility, and responsiveness in design. It provides a clean and modern aesthetic with a focus on usability and user experience.
foundation-sites: Foundation Sites focuses on modularity, flexibility, and customization in design. It allows developers to create unique and visually appealing interfaces by combining and styling modular components.
materialize-css: Materialize CSS adheres to Google's Material Design principles, offering a clean and intuitive visual language. It emphasizes depth, motion, and material surfaces to create a cohesive and engaging user experience.

Consistency

tailwindcss: Tailwind CSS enables consistency through its utility-first approach, allowing developers to apply consistent styles using predefined utility classes. It ensures uniformity in design by providing a consistent set of styling options.
bootstrap: Bootstrap provides a consistent set of styles, components, and utilities that ensure a cohesive design across different sections of a website. It helps maintain visual consistency and brand identity throughout the project.
foundation-sites: Foundation Sites allows for consistent design by providing a modular system of components that can be easily customized and reused. Developers can create a unified look and feel by applying consistent styles across the site.
materialize-css: Materialize CSS promotes consistency through its adherence to Google's Material Design guidelines. It offers a standardized set of components and styles that create a cohesive and familiar user experience.

Extensibility

tailwindcss: Tailwind CSS is highly extensible with a utility-first approach that allows for easy customization and extension. Developers can create custom utility classes, themes, and configurations to tailor Tailwind CSS to their specific needs.
bootstrap: Bootstrap is highly extensible with a wide range of plugins, themes, and customizations available from the community. Developers can extend Bootstrap's functionality by integrating additional components and styles.
foundation-sites: Foundation Sites offers extensibility through its modular architecture and customizable components. Developers can extend Foundation Sites by creating their own modules, styles, and plugins.
materialize-css: Materialize CSS supports extensibility through its theming capabilities and customization options. Developers can create custom themes, components, and styles to extend the functionality of Materialize CSS.

Maintenance

tailwindcss: Tailwind CSS is actively maintained with frequent updates and improvements based on community feedback and industry trends. The Tailwind team ensures compatibility with modern web technologies and provides long-term support for the framework.
bootstrap: Bootstrap is well-maintained with regular updates, bug fixes, and improvements provided by the core team and the community. It has a stable release cycle and long-term support for older versions.
foundation-sites: Foundation Sites is actively maintained with updates, bug fixes, and new features released periodically. The Foundation team ensures compatibility with the latest web technologies and browsers.
materialize-css: Materialize CSS is maintained by a dedicated team that releases updates, bug fixes, and enhancements to improve the framework's performance and usability. It stays up-to-date with the latest design trends and web standards.

Learning Curve

tailwindcss: Tailwind CSS has a relatively low learning curve for developers with experience in CSS and utility classes. It offers a straightforward approach to styling elements using predefined classes, making it easy to learn and implement.
bootstrap: Bootstrap has a moderate learning curve due to its extensive documentation, tutorials, and community resources. It provides a structured approach to building websites, making it easier for beginners to get started.
foundation-sites: Foundation Sites has a moderate learning curve for developers familiar with CSS and front-end development. It offers comprehensive documentation and guides to help users understand the framework's architecture and features.
materialize-css: Materialize CSS has a moderate learning curve for developers new to the framework but familiar with front-end development. It provides clear documentation, examples, and support to assist users in learning and using the framework effectively.

tailwindcss: Choose Tailwind CSS if you prefer a utility-first CSS framework that allows for rapid prototyping and customization. Tailwind CSS provides a set of utility classes for styling elements, enabling developers to quickly build unique designs without writing custom CSS.

bootstrap: Choose Bootstrap if you need a comprehensive CSS framework with a large community, extensive documentation, and ready-to-use components for building responsive websites quickly. Bootstrap follows a mobile-first approach and offers a grid system, responsive utilities, and customizable themes.

foundation-sites: Choose Foundation Sites if you prefer a modular CSS framework that focuses on flexibility and customization. Foundation Sites provides a responsive grid, UI components, and a Sass-based architecture for easy styling and theming.

materialize-css: Choose Materialize CSS if you want a CSS framework that follows Google's Material Design principles, offering a modern and clean visual language. Materialize CSS includes components like cards, buttons, and modals, along with animations and responsive design.