Chakra UI vs React Spectrum: What are the differences?

Introduction

Chakra UI and React Spectrum are both popular UI component libraries for building user interfaces in React. While they share similarities in terms of being built on top of React, there are several key differences between the two.

1. Design Philosophy: Chakra UI follows a more utility-focused approach, providing a set of well-designed and composable utility components that can be easily customized. On the other hand, React Spectrum follows a more design-system-oriented approach, providing a comprehensive set of reusable components with a strong emphasis on accessibility and Adobe's design guidelines.

2. Component Styles: Chakra UI primarily uses inline styles and CSS-in-JS solutions like Emotion to style its components, which allows for dynamic theming and style customization. In contrast, React Spectrum uses CSS Variables and CSS Modules for its styling, providing a more traditional CSS approach with baked-in support for theming and customization.

3. Component Library Size: Chakra UI has a smaller bundle size compared to React Spectrum due to its modular and tree-shaking friendly nature. This can be beneficial for performance-sensitive applications or environments with limited resources.

4. Component Set: Chakra UI offers a wide range of ready-to-use components, including form elements, navigation components, and layout utilities. React Spectrum, on the other hand, provides a more extensive set of components specifically tailored for building complex user interfaces, including advanced components like DataGrid and ColorPicker.

5. Community Support and Documentation: Chakra UI has gained significant popularity among the React community and has an active and supportive community. It also boasts extensive documentation with clear examples and guidelines for usage. React Spectrum, being backed by Adobe, benefits from the company's resources and expertise, including detailed documentation and dedicated support.

6. Integration with Other Systems: React Spectrum is designed to work seamlessly with Adobe's product ecosystem, making it an ideal choice for projects involving Adobe Creative Cloud applications or leveraging Adobe's ecosystem. Chakra UI, on the other hand, is more platform-agnostic and can be easily integrated with any React-based project without any specific dependencies or affiliations.

In summary, Chakra UI is a utility-focused UI component library with a smaller bundle size and a wide range of components, while React Spectrum follows a design-system-oriented approach, offering an extensive set of components tailored for building complex user interfaces and strong integration with Adobe's ecosystem.