Head to head
Magic UI vs Aceternity UI
Magic UI and Aceternity UI solve the same job (UI component libraries), so this is a pick-one decision. Magic UI is our default here: Best stack fit of the animated libraries. Animated beams for a table-of-contents, number tickers for circulation stats, shimmer on a subscribe CTA, marquee for a sponsor row — polish without changing anything structural or blowing the image budget. Watch out: The free components have no clearly published open-source licence — the licence page covers Pro terms only. For commercial project work that ambiguity is a real risk. Also: several components pull in Three.js, and the $199 tier is an annual subscription, not a one-time buy.
Quick read
- Free with no card: Magic UI.
- Editor's pick: Magic UI.
- No logged gotchas: Magic UI.
| Field | Magic UImagicui.design Not yet swept | Aceternity UIui.aceternity.com Not yet swept |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | 150+ animated components built with React, TypeScript, Tailwind and Motion, explicitly designed as the companion to shadcn/ui. Installs with the exact same CLI you already use. No Three.js dependency; components stay under ~5 kB tree-shaken. | 200+ copy-paste animated components built with Tailwind and Motion — 3D cards, parallax scroll, spotlight glows, animated text reveals, particle backgrounds. Premium adds hero blocks, feature sections and full templates. |
| Category | UI component libraries | UI component libraries |
| Cost tier | free | mixed |
| Pricing | Free · MIT · Pro ~$199 once | Free tier · $199/yr · $299 lifetime |
| Why builders pick it | Best stack fit of the animated libraries. Animated beams for a table-of-contents, number tickers for circulation stats, shimmer on a subscribe CTA, marquee for a sponsor row — polish without changing anything structural or blowing the image budget. | Genuinely hard-to-reproduce visual effects for a cover story or a launch page. Dark-mode-first aesthetic, so expect editing to match a lighter editorial palette. |
| Watch out for | not logged | The free components have no clearly published open-source licence — the licence page covers Pro terms only. For commercial project work that ambiguity is a real risk. Also: several components pull in Three.js, and the $199 tier is an annual subscription, not a one-time buy. |
| How to wire it up | pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add @magicui/globe | not logged |
| Editor's pick | Yes | No |
Other matchups worth running
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