head to head · open source
layui vs vant
layui has 30,573 GitHub stars, 7,354 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 19 days ago. vant has 24,383 stars, 9,381 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. layui leads on adoption by 25% (30,573 vs 24,383 stars). layui is written in JavaScript under MIT; vant is written in TypeScript under MIT. layui has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, vant 38%. vant was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ui-kit, ui-library), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| layui | vant | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 24K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-01 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 9.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick layui if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vant if
- You want the vant feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vant fits your workflow better
About layui
Layui is a free, open source Web UI component library built on plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript that follows the browser's native development model, aimed at developers who need to assemble complex page interfaces without adopting a front end framework toolchain.
read the full layui overview →
About vant
Vant is a lightweight, customizable Vue UI library for mobile web apps, built for front end developers and teams that ship mobile first interfaces with Vue 2 or Vue 3.
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Frequently asked questions
Is layui or vant more popular?
layui has 30,573 GitHub stars and vant has 24,383. layui has the larger community by that measure.
Are layui and vant free?
Both are open source. layui is licensed under MIT and vant under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between layui and vant?
layui is written in JavaScript and vant in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, layui or vant?
Choose layui if you want the larger community (30,573 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vant if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.