Recently, I wrote 5 best CSS frameworks for Web Designers 2015 and quickly started looking for bootstrap alternative. Bootstrap is one of the leading front-end framework currently used. But, it is not perfect and that’s why there are many bootstrap alternative in the market that can help you build amazing web designs. Bootstrap is a modular approach and lacks low-level control over the design elements. The lack of pre-processor support, granular control, and other factors don’t qualify it as best option to do the project on.
Also, there are some projects that are using bootstrap alternative and you have no option but to look for something more powerful and yet lightweight.
The Bootstrap framework can slow down an application because of its size and there are light-weight options that you should try out. Below is the list of Best Bootstrap alternative for Front-End Engineers.
12 Best Bootstrap Alternative For Front-End Engineers
1. Foundation
With great documentation and swift online community, Foundation is the best bootstrap alternative for front-end engineers. It is small in size and can also be ported into Sass and Rails. With a high emphasis on modularity and responsive design, this can be your best bet for designing the next project.
2. Pure
Pure by Yahoo is one of the best bootstrap alternatives out there. It is lightweight and can be used to create desktop and mobile applications. The most important aspect of the Pure framework is the performance factor and it can deliver the performance requirement over the Bootstrap framework easily. It has small size and can easily be used on top of Normalize.css.
3. GroundWork
GroundWork is a solid front-end framework that comes with the support of grid system. It is fluid, lightweight and can easily be ported with any project.
4. Concise CSS
A great framework for web designers. It supports basic vanilla CSS, SASS and LESS and Stylus. Even though, LESS is now unsupported, but you can use it in your project.
The frameworks can be used for building responsive design and is high expandable with the help of add-ons.
5. 960 Grid System
960 Grid System is all about cramping your development space of 960-px and then slicing it up more to bring you at the center of everything. The slices available can be 12 columns, 16 or 24 columns. Building great design is possible with 960 Grid System.
6. Material UI
Material Design is really picking up the pace with the release of Android Lollipop. Material UI is a material design framework that is built on top of react.js.
7. Skeleton
Are you looking for a dead simple, responsive boilerplate? Then, Skeleton is for you. With an emphasis on responsive and mobile first philosophy, more and more designers are adopting the Skeleton framework.
It offers 12 column grid and is a good alternative to Bootstrap.
8. BaseCSS
BaseCSS is all about providing the building blocks of a web design. With the utilities, layout, element styles and color styles, you can easily control the different aspect of the project.
You can easily control the typography, spacing, and other important UI elements.
9. UIKit
A collection of UI elements in HTML, CSS, and JS that is lightweight and easy to use. UIKit is highly customizable and comes with the support for LESS.
The framework is mobile-first and can be used to create a design for different platforms.
10. Simple Grid
Simple Grid is one of the lightest frameworks out there. With a pure grid support and 12 column layout, you can easily customize your project with Simple Grid.
11. Materialize
Inspired by the Google Material Design, the Materialize Frameworks comes with all the different UI components that are based on the card based design with the right mix of material touch.
The framework is a great choice for developers who are looking to build web design based on the material design.
12. TukTuk
With an impressive name backing up the framework, TukTuk is a lightweight framework with high emphasis on the grid system, typography tables, and modal approach.
Wrap Up
Today, we went through the 12 best bootstrap alternative frameworks for front-end engineers. Bootstrap has the highest number of users and is currently riding the top position for best CSS frameworks(based on GitHub Stars). But, it is not perfect. Advanced Web Designers would love more control on different aspects of their design and there comes the role of Bootstrap alternatives that we discussed today.
Bootstrap is mainly used for rapid prototyping and is great for creating generic designs. With complex design elements, bootstrap might not be the best choice.
Do you use Bootstrap? Which alternative to bootstrap is your favorite? Comment below and let us know.
Also, do you think, I missed an amazing bootstrap alternative? Let us know and we will incorporate it in the list.