A HeroUI Alternative with Copy-Paste Components
HeroUI, formerly NextUI, is a polished React component package built on React Aria and Tailwind CSS v4. Watermelon UI is an alternative for teams that would rather own the code: you copy components into your repository, edit them freely, and pull in free blocks and dashboards as you need them.
At a glance
| Watermelon UI | HeroUI | |
|---|---|---|
| Price and license | Free, MIT | Free, open source, plus paid HeroUI Pro |
| How you use it | Copy-paste, installs with the shadcn CLI | npm package (@heroui/react) |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4 | Tailwind CSS v4, requires React 19 |
| Page sections and dashboards | 180+ blocks, dashboards, templates | Pro components and templates |
Where HeroUI is stronger
- It is a maintained package with a consistent API, so updates come from upstream.
- It is built on React Aria, which gives it strong accessibility behavior.
- It offers React Native components through HeroUI Native.
Why pick Watermelon
- You can change markup and behavior directly without overriding a package.
- It has page blocks, dashboards, and animations for free.
- It follows shadcn conventions, which AI coding tools already know well.