head to head · open source
layui vs webgradients
layui has 30,576 GitHub stars, 7,355 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. webgradients has 2,478 stars, 140 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. layui leads on adoption by 1,134% (30,576 vs 2,478 stars). layui is written in JavaScript under MIT; webgradients is written in CSS under MIT. layui has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, webgradients 6%. layui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (css), 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 | webgradients | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | CSS |
| Last push | 2026-09-01 | 2026-08-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 140 |
| 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 webgradients if
- You want the webgradients feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches CSS
- You evaluated both and webgradients 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 webgradients
WebGradients is a curated, MIT licensed collection of 180 ready made gradients distributed as CSS3, Sketch, PSD and Figma assets alongside a machine readable JSON dataset, aimed at frontend developers, designers and AI agent builders who need polished background colour treatments without composing them from scratch.
read the full webgradients overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is layui or webgradients more popular?
layui has 30,576 GitHub stars and webgradients has 2,478. layui has the larger community by that measure.
Are layui and webgradients free?
Both are open source. layui is licensed under MIT and webgradients under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between layui and webgradients?
layui is written in JavaScript and webgradients in CSS. 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 webgradients?
Choose layui if you want the larger community (30,576 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose webgradients if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.