MDB UI Kit Bootstrap 5: Material Design Components
/mdb-ui-kit
MDB UI Kit takes Bootstrap 5 and restyles it as Material Design, then adds components Bootstrap doesn't ship at all, like Chat, Timeline, and a bundled Perfect Scrollbar. The free kit works as a starting point for a dashboard or marketing site if you don't mind MDBGO hosting and premium-template upsells sitting alongside it. It's not a from-scratch design system; it's Bootstrap with better defaults and more widgets.
What is MDB UI Kit?
MDB UI Kit is a Bootstrap 5 component library that restyles Bootstrap's grid and utility classes with Material Design surfaces, shadows, and ripple effects. It ships as SCSS plus plain JavaScript, so components like modals and tabs work without jQuery, though jQuery is also supported. The project bundles Perfect Scrollbar as a standalone dependency and includes documentation pages for individual components like Avatar, Chat, and Timeline.
Key features of MDB UI Kit
- ✓700+ components, per the README, covering everything from Carousel and Modal to more niche pieces like Chat, Timeline, and a Comparison Table
- ✓Plain JavaScript component behavior with no jQuery dependency required, though the README says it still works with jQuery projects
- ✓Perfect Scrollbar bundled in as a standalone scrollbar replacement, not just linked to as an external plugin
- ✓SCSS source files, so you can override Bootstrap and Material Design variables before compiling rather than fighting compiled CSS
- ✓Ready-made page templates (Ecommerce, Portfolio, Landing Page, Admin, and more) built entirely with the kit's own components
- ✓Extended per-component doc pages (Avatar, Timeline, Comparison Table, Hamburger Menu) beyond the core Bootstrap docs
When to use MDB UI Kit
- •Spinning up an internal admin dashboard fast using MDB's Admin template as a starting layout
- •Restyling a plain Bootstrap 5 site into Material Design without hand-rolling shadows, ripples, and elevation classes
- •Adding a component Bootstrap 5 doesn't include out of the box, like a Chat widget or a Timeline, without pulling in a separate library
- •Prototyping a marketing page quickly with one of the free templates (Landing Page, Pricing, Checkout) as a base
Installing MDB UI Kit
MDB UI Kit's README lists three install paths: downloading a .zip, installing via npm, or pulling it from cdnjs, and describes the npm/zip route as usable in about a minute. It doesn't spell out the actual npm install command or package name in what's given here, so check MDB's own installation docs for the exact syntax. A separate Webpack-based install path targets developers who want bundling, unit testing, linting, and SCSS support baked into the setup, rather than just dropping in compiled CSS and JS files.
Using MDB UI Kit components
Using MDB UI Kit components isn't demonstrated with actual markup or JavaScript snippets in what's available here. That's a real gap. The README describes each component (Modal, Tabs, ScrollSpy, Validation, and so on) in a sentence rather than showing the HTML classes or JS initialization calls. ScrollSpy, for example, is described as automatically updating navigation based on scroll position, and Validation as wrapping HTML5 form validation with custom styling, but the exact markup isn't given. For real usage patterns, MDB's own docs and the YouTube tutorial channel referenced in the README are the actual reference, not this summary.
Pros of MDB UI Kit
- ✓700+ components means most common UI needs (cards, forms, modals, footers) are covered without reaching for a second library
- ✓Plain JavaScript components avoid a hard jQuery dependency, useful if your stack has already dropped jQuery
- ✓Free templates give you a full page layout to start from instead of assembling one from individual components
- ✓MIT license, per the README, so it's usable in commercial projects without a separate paid tier just to ship
Limitations of MDB UI Kit
- △The install instructions in the README point to MDB's own site for the actual steps rather than showing them inline, so first-time setup means leaving the repo to find the npm command
- △MDBGO hosting, WordPress integration, and e-commerce shop setup are pitched right alongside the free kit, and it takes some digging to tell which parts of the ecosystem are free versus paid add-ons
- △No code usage examples in the README itself; you need MDB's docs site or YouTube tutorials to see actual markup, not just component descriptions
- △SCSS-based, so if your build doesn't already compile Sass you're adding that step just to use the kit
MDB UI Kit alternatives
Frequently asked questions
MDB UI Kit is free for commercial use — the README states it ships under the MIT license, free for personal and commercial projects. Paid MDB products like MDBGO hosting and premium templates exist separately, but the core UI kit itself carries no commercial-use fee.
MDB UI Kit's README lists npm as one of three install options, alongside a .zip download and a cdnjs link, describing the process as roughly a one-minute setup. The exact npm command and package name aren't spelled out in the README summary, so check MDB's official installation docs for the precise syntax.
MDB UI Kit takes Bootstrap 5 and restyles it with Material Design — shadows, ripple effects, Material-style surfaces — then adds components Bootstrap 5 doesn't include on its own, like a Chat widget, Timeline, and Notes. Regular Bootstrap 5 has the grid and utilities but not that Material look or those extras.
MDB UI Kit works with jQuery, per the README, even though its components are built with plain JavaScript by default. That plain-JS-first design means jQuery isn't required, but projects that still depend on it aren't locked out either.
MDB UI Kit includes 700+ components, according to the README's own count, spanning everything from basic Buttons and Cards to more specialized pieces like Chat, Timeline, and ScrollSpy.
MDB UI Kit uses the MIT license, per its README, which states it's free for personal and commercial use. That covers the core UI kit; separate MDB products like MDBGO hosting are commercial offerings outside that license.
The problem it solves
Bootstrap 5 ships flat, boxy defaults and leaves Material Design entirely to hand-rolled CSS if you want shadows, ripples, and elevation. MDB UI Kit solves that specific gap: instead of writing your own Material overrides on top of Bootstrap, or switching to a separate Material framework and losing Bootstrap's grid and utilities entirely, you get both combined already, plus components like Chat and Timeline that neither stock Bootstrap nor a bare Material framework ships.
Who should try it — and who should skip
Try MDB UI Kit if you're already building on Bootstrap 5 and want a Material Design look plus some components Bootstrap doesn't include, and you don't mind SCSS as your styling layer. Skip it if you want a from-scratch design system, need a framework-specific component library (React, Vue) rather than markup-based classes, or would rather avoid navigating MDB's paid templates and MDBGO hosting upsells alongside the free kit.
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Is mdb-ui-kit worth your time?
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