shadcn/ui vs Aceternity UI
shadcn/ui and Aceternity UI are not really competitors. shadcn/ui gives you accessible building blocks like buttons, dialogs, forms, and menus. Aceternity UI gives you animated visual effects for landing pages. Most projects that use Aceternity also use shadcn/ui underneath.
Side by side
| shadcn/ui | Aceternity UI | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | App building blocks | Animated marketing effects |
| Price | Free, MIT | Free components plus paid Pro |
| License | MIT | Custom Pro license, free component terms on its site |
| Install | shadcn CLI and registries | Copy-paste |
| Animation | Minimal | Core focus, uses Motion |
| Primitives | Base UI by default, Radix or React Aria optional | Not a primitives library |
When to use which
- Building an app or dashboard: use shadcn/ui.
- Building a flashy landing page: add Aceternity effects on top.
- Want both styles under one MIT license: Watermelon UI has shadcn-compatible components plus 130+ animations.