Bootstrap vs Tailwind CSS: Popular CSS Frameworks Comparison

Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS are both popular tools that help developers build beautiful websites more quickly. Bootstrap provides ready-made components like buttons and navigation bars that you can copy and paste, while Tailwind gives you small building blocks to create your own unique designs. They represent two different approaches to styling websites: Bootstrap with its pre-built look versus Tailwind's customizable utility-first approach.

CSS Frameworksstylingresponsive-designUI componentsfrontenddesign-systems

	Stars	Issues	Version	UpdatedⓘLast publish date	CreatedⓘPackage creation date	SizeⓘMinified + Gzipped size
B bootstrap	173,845	582	5.3.8	a month ago	14 years ago	install size 16.0 KB
T tailwindcss	91,657	59	4.1.18	a month ago	8 years ago	install size 1.5 KB

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Who's Using These Packages

bootstrap

wener

Notes, Stories, Awesomes

mtgatracker

MTGATracker is a deck tracker for MTG Arena, offering an in-game overlay that shows real time info about your deck in MTGA. It can also record & analyze your past matches to show personal aggregated gameplay history information, like lifetime wins/losses by deck, by event, etc.

esfx

A suite of packages designed to provide low-level APIs for interoperable libraries.

rails-templates

Our optimized Rails templates used in our projects

earthcalc

This app calculates how much a distant object is obscured by the earth's curvature.

tailwindcss

bigfive-web

Website for taking personality tests

benefit

✨ Utility CSS-in-JS library that provides a set of low-level, configurable, ready-to-use styles

blog-2024

under construction

targetshooter

mgaudit-app

Similar Packages

WindiCSS

95%

A Tailwind CSS alternative with faster build times and extra features. Uses the same utility-first approach but adds some nice improvements.

Great Tailwind alternative that's faster and includes additional features like attribute-based utilities. Perfect for those who like Tailwind but want better performance.

Utility CSS Framework

Bulma

90%

A modern CSS framework based on Flexbox, with no JavaScript dependencies. It's known for being lightweight and easy to learn, using readable class names that make sense.

Perfect for developers who want Bootstrap-like features but with a simpler learning curve. It's pure CSS, which means you don't need to worry about JavaScript conflicts.

CSS Framework

Foundation

90%

A professional-grade CSS framework with built-in accessibility. It's highly customizable and works great for both websites and apps.

Great Bootstrap alternative that's especially good for building business websites. Includes similar components but with more flexibility in styling.

CSS Framework

UnoCSS

85%

An instant, on-demand atomic CSS engine. It's like Tailwind but much faster and more flexible, letting you create your own utility patterns.

Excellent for developers who want Tailwind's utility approach but need more speed and customization. Great for larger projects where build performance matters.

Utility CSS Framework

Chakra UI

80%

A simple and modern React component library with a focus on accessibility. Comes with beautiful pre-built components that can be easily customized.

Perfect alternative if you're using React and want something more modern than Bootstrap. Easier to customize than Tailwind while maintaining good design defaults.

Component Library

Dependencies Comparison

bootstrap

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

ip^2.0.1

zod^4.0.17

mime^4.0.7

sass1.78.0

astro^5.13.2

karma^6.4.4

eslint8.57.1

globby^14.1.0

jquery^3.7.1

remark^15.0.1

rollup^4.46.3

rtlcss^4.3.0

terser^5.43.1

jasmine^5.9.0

js-yaml^4.1.0

nodemon^3.1.10

postcss^8.5.6

shelljs^0.10.0

vnu-jar24.10.17

prettier^3.6.2

clipboard^2.0.11

cross-env^10.0.0

sass-true^9.0.0

stylelint^16.23.1

@babel/cli^7.28.3

image-size^2.0.2

@babel/core^7.28.3

@types/mime^4.0.0

bundlewatch^0.4.1

htmlparser2^10.0.0

postcss-cli^11.0.1

remark-html^16.0.1

@astrojs/mdx^4.3.4

autoprefixer^10.4.21

npm-run-all2^8.0.4

@docsearch/js^3.9.0

clean-css-cli^5.6.3

karma-jasmine^5.1.0

lockfile-lint^4.14.1

@astrojs/check^0.9.4

@astrojs/prism^3.3.0

@popperjs/core^2.11.8

@types/js-yaml^4.0.9

@types/prismjs^1.26.5

github-slugger^2.0.0

@stackblitz/sdk^1.11.0

@astrojs/sitemap^3.5.0

eslint-config-xo0.45.0

hammer-simulator0.0.1

unist-util-visit^5.0.0

@babel/preset-env^7.28.3

astro-auto-import^0.4.4

eslint-plugin-html^8.1.3

@rollup/plugin-babel^6.0.4

eslint-plugin-import^2.32.0

eslint-plugin-unicorn56.0.1

karma-chrome-launcher^3.2.0

karma-detect-browsers^2.3.3

prettier-plugin-astro^0.14.1

@rollup/plugin-replace^6.0.2

eslint-plugin-markdown^5.1.0

karma-firefox-launcher^2.1.3

rollup-plugin-istanbul^5.0.0

@rollup/plugin-commonjs^28.0.6

@astrojs/markdown-remark^6.3.6

rehype-autolink-headings^7.1.0

karma-rollup-preprocessor7.0.7

find-unused-sass-variables^6.1.0

@rollup/plugin-node-resolve^16.0.1

karma-browserstack-launcher1.4.0

karma-jasmine-html-reporter^2.1.0

stylelint-config-twbs-bootstrap^16.1.0

karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter^3.0.3

Peer Dependencies

@popperjs/core^2.11.8

tailwindcss

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

dedent1.7.0

@types/node^20.19.0

lightningcss1.30.2

magic-string^0.30.21

source-map-js^1.2.1

@tailwindcss/oxide^4.1.18

@jridgewell/remapping^2.3.4

Peer Dependencies

<p align="center"> <a href="https://getbootstrap.com/"> <img src="https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.3/assets/brand/bootstrap-logo-shadow.png" alt="Bootstrap logo" width="200" height="165"> </a> </p> <h3 align="center">Bootstrap</h3> <p align="center"> Sleek, intuitive, and powerful front-end framework for faster and easier web development. <br> <a href="https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.3/"><strong>Explore Bootstrap docs »</strong></a> <br> <br> <a href="https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/new?assignees=-&labels=bug&template=bug_report.yml">Report bug</a> · <a href="https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/new?assignees=&labels=feature&template=feature_request.yml">Request feature</a> · <a href="https://blog.getbootstrap.com/">Blog</a> </p>

Bootstrap 5

Our default branch is for development of our Bootstrap 5 release. Head to the v4-dev branch to view the readme, documentation, and source code for Bootstrap 4.

Quick start
Status
What’s included
Bugs and feature requests
Documentation
Contributing
Community
Versioning
Creators
Thanks
Copyright and license

Quick start

Several quick start options are available:

Download the latest release
Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap.git
Install with npm: npm install bootstrap@v5.3.8
Install with yarn: yarn add bootstrap@v5.3.8
Install with Bun: bun add bootstrap@v5.3.8
Install with Composer: composer require twbs/bootstrap:5.3.8
Install with NuGet: CSS: Install-Package bootstrap Sass: Install-Package bootstrap.sass

Read the Getting started page for information on the framework contents, templates, examples, and more.

Status

Open Source Security Foundation Scorecard

What’s included

Within the download you’ll find the following directories and files, logically grouping common assets and providing both compiled and minified variations.

<details> <summary>Download contents</summary>

bootstrap/
├── css/
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.css
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.rtl.css
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.rtl.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.rtl.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-grid.rtl.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.css
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.rtl.css
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.rtl.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.rtl.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-reboot.rtl.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.css
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.rtl.css
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.rtl.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.rtl.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap-utilities.rtl.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap.css
│   ├── bootstrap.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap.min.css
│   ├── bootstrap.min.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap.rtl.css
│   ├── bootstrap.rtl.css.map
│   ├── bootstrap.rtl.min.css
│   └── bootstrap.rtl.min.css.map
└── js/
    ├── bootstrap.bundle.js
    ├── bootstrap.bundle.js.map
    ├── bootstrap.bundle.min.js
    ├── bootstrap.bundle.min.js.map
    ├── bootstrap.esm.js
    ├── bootstrap.esm.js.map
    ├── bootstrap.esm.min.js
    ├── bootstrap.esm.min.js.map
    ├── bootstrap.js
    ├── bootstrap.js.map
    ├── bootstrap.min.js
    └── bootstrap.min.js.map

</details>

We provide compiled CSS and JS (bootstrap.*), as well as compiled and minified CSS and JS (bootstrap.min.*). Source maps (bootstrap.*.map) are available for use with certain browsers’ developer tools. Bundled JS files (bootstrap.bundle.js and minified bootstrap.bundle.min.js) include Popper.

Bugs and feature requests

Have a bug or a feature request? Please first read the issue guidelines and search for existing and closed issues. If your problem or idea is not addressed yet, please open a new issue.

Documentation

Bootstrap’s documentation, included in this repo in the root directory, is built with Astro and publicly hosted on GitHub Pages at https://getbootstrap.com/. The docs may also be run locally.

Documentation search is powered by Algolia's DocSearch.

Running documentation locally

Run npm install to install the Node.js dependencies, including Astro (the site builder).
Run npm run test (or a specific npm script) to rebuild distributed CSS and JavaScript files, as well as our docs assets.
From the root /bootstrap directory, run npm run docs-serve in the command line.
Open http://localhost:9001 in your browser, and voilà.

Learn more about using Astro by reading its documentation.

Documentation for previous releases

You can find all our previous releases docs on https://getbootstrap.com/docs/versions/.

Previous releases and their documentation are also available for download.

Contributing

Please read through our contributing guidelines. Included are directions for opening issues, coding standards, and notes on development.

Moreover, if your pull request contains JavaScript patches or features, you must include relevant unit tests. All HTML and CSS should conform to the Code Guide, maintained by Mark Otto.

Editor preferences are available in the editor config for easy use in common text editors. Read more and download plugins at https://editorconfig.org/.

Community

Get updates on Bootstrap’s development and chat with the project maintainers and community members.

Follow @getbootstrap on X.
Read and subscribe to The Official Bootstrap Blog.
Ask questions and explore our GitHub Discussions.
Discuss, ask questions, and more on the community Discord or Bootstrap subreddit.
Chat with fellow Bootstrappers in IRC. On the irc.libera.chat server, in the #bootstrap channel.
Implementation help may be found at Stack Overflow (tagged bootstrap-5).
Developers should use the keyword bootstrap on packages which modify or add to the functionality of Bootstrap when distributing through npm or similar delivery mechanisms for maximum discoverability.

Versioning

For transparency into our release cycle and in striving to maintain backward compatibility, Bootstrap is maintained under the Semantic Versioning guidelines. Sometimes we screw up, but we adhere to those rules whenever possible.

See the Releases section of our GitHub project for changelogs for each release version of Bootstrap. Release announcement posts on the official Bootstrap blog contain summaries of the most noteworthy changes made in each release.

Creators

Mark Otto

Jacob Thornton

Thanks

Thanks to BrowserStack for providing the infrastructure that allows us to test in real browsers!

Thanks to Netlify for providing us with Deploy Previews!

Backers

Thank you to all our backers! 🙏 [Become a backer]

Bootstrap vs Tailwind CSS: Popular CSS Frameworks Comparison

Who's Using These Packages

bootstrap

wener

mtgatracker

esfx

rails-templates

earthcalc

tailwindcss

bigfive-web

benefit

blog-2024

targetshooter

mgaudit-app

Similar Packages

WindiCSS

Bulma

Foundation

UnoCSS

Chakra UI

Dependencies Comparison

bootstrap

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

Peer Dependencies

tailwindcss

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

Peer Dependencies

Bootstrap 5

Table of contents

Quick start

Status

What’s included

Bugs and feature requests

Documentation

Running documentation locally

Documentation for previous releases

Contributing

Community

Versioning

Creators

Thanks

Sponsors

Backers

Copyright and license

Dependencies Comparison

bootstrap

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

Peer Dependencies

tailwindcss

Dependencies

Dev Dependencies

Peer Dependencies

Who's Using These Packages

bootstrap

wener

mtgatracker

esfx

rails-templates

earthcalc

tailwindcss

bigfive-web

benefit

blog-2024

targetshooter

mgaudit-app