GreedUI vs shadcn/ui
Both are copy-in React component libraries on Base UI, installed with the same CLI. The difference is taste: how it moves, how it looks, and how it talks to people.
I love shadcn/ui. I've used it for a long time. My first web app is where I learned how to build UI at all, and I learned it with shadcn. I still vouch for it at work and to my friends. It's top class, and nothing here says otherwise.
GreedUI exists because I wanted a different taste, not because anything is wrong with shadcn. Same idea, different flavor.
The short version
shadcn/ui is the default way to start a React app's UI, and for good reason. Since July 2026 its new projects use Base UI by default, with Radix still fully supported. GreedUI is built on Base UI too, so the foundation is the same. What changes is everything on top: motion that's already done, a look of its own, and actions that tell you what they'll do before you click.
Using both
They install with the same CLI, so they can live in one project. They use different token names (GreedUI's bg-canvas and text-ink vs shadcn's bg-background and text-foreground), so each keeps its own look unless you map one set onto the other. Start with Installation.
| GreedUI | shadcn/ui | |
|---|---|---|
| Primitives | Base UI | Base UI by default since July 2026, Radix still supported |
| How you get it | Copy-in source with the shadcn CLI, or by hand | Copy-in source with the shadcn CLI |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4, tokens as CSS variables | Tailwind CSS v4, tokens as CSS variables |
| Motion | Built in: rolling text, resizing boxes, gliding highlights, dotted popups, all CSS-first | Simple, tasteful transitions; you add more yourself |
| Look | Its own: warm neutrals, hairlines instead of cards, pixel and halftone details | Neutral and clean, made to be restyled |
| Interaction | Actions preview their consequence and confirm what happened | Standard, well-behaved components |
| For AI agents | Three-line header in every file, llms.txt, Markdown pages, version stamps, an Agent Skill | llms.txt, official agent skills, and a huge presence in AI training data |
| Theming | Theme studio; motion, effects, squircles and pixel details are switchable parts | shadcn/create, themes and a big community of theme tools |
| Ecosystem | Young and focused, one author | Enormous: blocks, templates, tutorials and libraries built on it |
| License | Installed components are MIT | MIT |
Pick GreedUI if
- You want polished motion out of the box instead of wiring it up yourself.
- You want your app to not look like every other app.
- You want an interface that explains itself: hints, inline confirms, undo.
- You build with AI agents and want them to install things right the first time.
Pick shadcn/ui if
- You want the biggest ecosystem of blocks, templates and tutorials.
- You want a neutral base you'll restyle from scratch.
- Your team already knows it, or needs Radix.
- You want the safest, most battle-tested default.
Full component index: llms.txt