Head to head
Magic UI vs React Bits
Magic UI and React Bits 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: Components drag in real peer deps: gsap, motion, three, @react-three/fiber, ogl, lenis. Install per-component and read the dep list on each page. Commons Clause bars selling the components themselves.
Quick read
- Editor's pick: Magic UI.
- No logged gotchas: Magic UI.
| Field | Magic UImagicui.design Not yet swept | React Bitsreactbits.dev 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. | 215 components — 33 text animations, 52 effects, 58 UI components, 72 backgrounds — each shipped in four variants (JS/TS × CSS/Tailwind). Installs via the shadcn registry. 45k stars. Has an llms.txt listing every component and its exact install command. |
| Category | UI component libraries | UI component libraries |
| Cost tier | free | free |
| Pricing | Free · MIT · Pro ~$199 once | Free · MIT + Commons Clause |
| 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. | The text-animation set is the relevant half: SplitText and GlitchText for feature headlines and pull quotes. The WebGL backgrounds (Galaxy, LiquidEther, Plasma) look spectacular and cost hundreds of KB — use at most one, on a landing page. |
| Watch out for | not logged | Components drag in real peer deps: gsap, motion, three, @react-three/fiber, ogl, lenis. Install per-component and read the dep list on each page. Commons Clause bars selling the components themselves. |
| How to wire it up | pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add @magicui/globe | npx shadcn@latest add https://reactbits.dev/r/SplitText-TS-TW |
| Editor's pick | Yes | No |
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