Component libraries enable developers to save time by reusing components that have been previously developed and thoroughly tested by big companies in the Angular framework ecosystem.
When we start a new Angular project in our angular development company for our clients, we always like to not reinvent the wheel, and propose a component library that would work best for their use-case. Of course, there are cases when a custom component library would make sense due to the particularity of the project, but this does not typically happen very often.
In the content below we will present our top 5 Angular component libraries that we use to develop projects, share our experience with them, pros and cons, and the typical use-cases for each one.
We couldn’t start our top without the official UI component library provided by the Angular team that integrates seamlessly with Angular. The library is well tested, contains a lot of components, and offers the tools to build your own.
It follows the Material Design specifications created by Google that support the best practices of user interface design.
Use case: The use case for Angular Material is pretty wide as it offers a lot of common components, you can use it from personal projects to enterprise applications, where there is no need for complex data visualization as the library does not provide chart components or powerful table/data grids.
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The Kendo UI library is being developed by Telerik and contains versions for Web ( Angular, React, Vue, jQuery ), Desktop and Mobile. In addition, it has Unite UX which is a collaborative design-to-development UI component styles builder. The Kendo UI product line is large, you might wanna check it on their website, in this article we’re going to refer only to Kendo UI for Angular.
Kendo UI Angular offer over 100+ components, available in 3 themes ( Kendo, Material and bootstrap ), also offering the option to create custom themes using the Theme Builder.
Use case: The primary use case for Kendo UI is building professional and enterprise applications, as it has a lot of complex components suitable for enterprise features such as: Grids, Charts, Scheduler, etc. all of them being rigorously tested for usability, scalability, and reliability.
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The Nebular library is developed by Akveo and it contains over 40+ UI components based on its own Eva Design system, available in 4 themes: Default, Dark, Cosmic and Corporate, as well as the option to create your own theme. Besides the components, it also offers Authentication and Security modules that will speed up the registration/login process in your application.
Akveo also provides ( for free ) the most popular admin dashboard called ngx-admin.
Use case: Most of the Nebular components are directed to building administration panels, this being its primary use case, so you can use it in both personal and professional projects
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The Clarity Design System is developed and maintained by VMware and it contains a suite of tools that will help you get from prototype to product faster and better: Figma libraries, UX guidelines, HTML/CSS framework, and of course a set of Angular components.
Use case: The use-case for Clarity is pretty wide, it’s similar to Angular Material in a sense that it offers the most common components, with the focus being on the UX and the tools it provides, as a primary use-case we see professional applications such as customer portals, marketplaces and different types of platforms.
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Our top couldn’t have been completed without the good old Bootstrap library, wrapped into an Angular library by the people at ng-bootstrap. It contains all the goodies that the Bootstrap library has to offer.
Use case: The use case for NG Bootstrap is very wide as it offers a lot of common components that can be used from personal to professional projects.
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Choosing a UI framework is an important decision in the development of your Angular project as it determines if it will save huge development time or will introduce overhead along the way.
The Angular UI libraries above are the ones that we use most of the time in our Angular projects, but if you don’t find them satisfactory to your use case, there are plenty of others you can find online.
When choosing an Angular UI library you should consider the following: