Compare
Basiiik and the libraries you might choose instead
shadcn/ui, MUI, Chakra UI, Untitled UI and Kobra all give coding agents a way in now, through an MCP server. Here is how they differ, taken from their own pages on 25 October 2026, and when each one is the better choice.
Prices and features change. Each product’s sources are linked below; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Price and licence
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | Free, MIT (packages on npm). A paid Pro add-on (a code checker and prompts) is planned, with no price yet. |
| shadcn/ui | Free, MIT. |
| MUI (Material UI) | Core free, MIT. Advanced MUI X components have paid plans. |
| Chakra UI | Free, MIT. Paid Pro templates. |
| Untitled UI | Open-source components free, MIT. PRO from $349 once for one person (listed price on 25 October 2026). |
| Kobra | 10 components free for personal use. $199 once for one person (launch price), $599 for a team. |
Styling
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | CSS Modules on token CSS variables. No Tailwind, no runtime dependencies. |
| shadcn/ui | Tailwind CSS. |
| MUI (Material UI) | Its own theme and style props. |
| Chakra UI | Its own style props and theme. |
| Untitled UI | Tailwind CSS on React Aria. |
| Kobra | Tailwind CSS on Base UI, with a shadcn-style API. |
MCP server
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | Free. Runs locally over stdio from npm; no key, no network. |
| shadcn/ui | Free, part of the shadcn CLI. Connects to the configured registries to browse, search and install items. |
| MUI (Material UI) | Free, MIT (@mui/mcp). Runs locally over stdio. |
| Chakra UI | Free, MIT (@chakra-ui/react-mcp). Runs locally over stdio. The Pro template tools need a Pro licence key. |
| Untitled UI | A remote (HTTP) server. Free components need no login; PRO components need a login or an API key. |
| Kobra | Included in the paid plans only. The free tier gets one agent-readable file. |
What the agent gets
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | A spec per component with rules and anti-patterns, valid props and values, snippets checked against the real props (and type-checked in our tests), tokens and icons. |
| shadcn/ui | Registry items (components, blocks, templates) installed into your project. |
| MUI (Material UI) | The official docs and code examples, from MUI’s published registries. |
| Chakra UI | Component list, props and examples, the theme, and v2 to v3 migration review. |
| Untitled UI | Component source for your project, set up with its CLI. |
| Kobra | Agent-readable Markdown for every component (setup, rules, house style), and the paid MCP server. |
Official Figma kit
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | Free. Every component, bound to the same tokens as the code. |
| shadcn/ui | None official. Its docs list community kits, four free and eight paid. |
| MUI (Material UI) | A free community version (no variables, four customised components) and a full kit sold separately ($79 for one seat). |
| Chakra UI | Free official v3 kit on Figma Community. |
| Untitled UI | Yes; the React library is built to match it, and PRO adds Figma sync. |
| Kobra | Free on Figma Community, on the same tokens as the code. |
Catalogue
| Library | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Basiiik | Small: the components product screens need. No page templates or marketing blocks. |
| shadcn/ui | Large, with a wide ecosystem of third-party registries and blocks. |
| MUI (Material UI) | Large, including data grid, date and chart components in MUI X. |
| Chakra UI | Large, with a big community. |
| Untitled UI | Very large: “5,000+” components and sections and 250+ page examples in PRO. |
| Kobra | “100+” components, including agent interfaces (reasoning steps, streaming text, plan card), effects and interface sound. |
When to choose something else
shadcn/ui
Components you copy into your project and own, installed with its CLI from registries.
- You use Tailwind and want to own and edit every component’s source.
- You want the largest ecosystem: blocks, templates and registries from many authors.
Sources: shadcn/ui MCP server, shadcn/ui Figma
MUI (Material UI)
A large, mature React library that implements Material Design, with paid advanced components (MUI X).
- You want Material Design, or a library with a long track record and a large community.
- You need an advanced data grid, date pickers or charts (MUI X).
Sources: MUI MCP, Material UI for Figma
Chakra UI
An open-source React library with style props and a theme, plus paid Pro templates.
- You like style props and want a free official Figma kit next to a well-known open-source library.
- You are migrating from Chakra v2: its MCP server reviews code for v3.
Sources: Chakra UI MCP server, Chakra UI Figma kit
Untitled UI
A very large Figma kit and React library (Tailwind and React Aria) with page examples.
- You want a very large catalogue of polished components and full page examples, and you are on Tailwind.
- You already design with the Untitled UI Figma kit.
Sources: Untitled UI React, Untitled UI MCP
Kobra
A paid component library for the shadcn ecosystem, with components for agent interfaces.
- You are building an agent or chat interface and want ready components for it.
- You need right-to-left support, motion effects or interface sound, on shadcn and Tailwind.
Sources: Kobra pricing
When Basiiik is the better fit
- You want one system for designers and developers: the Figma kit, the React components and the tokens are built together, and the Figma kit is free.
- You want your coding agent told which component to use and which props are valid, by a free MCP server that runs on your machine with no key.
- You do not use Tailwind, or you want components with no runtime dependencies that read plain CSS variables.
- You want to change the brand colour once and have every component, light and dark, follow it, with contrast checked (the free Brand Mapper does this).
What Basiiik does not have
- A small catalogue: the components product screens need, with no page templates, marketing blocks or charts.
- Fewer agent-interface components than Kobra: a chat thread, message, composer, reasoning, tool call, plan card, task list, question card, suggestions and sources so far (not on npm until the next release), with no file diff, code block or streaming-image components yet.
- A young project: a smaller community and fewer third-party examples than any library above.
- The code repository is private; the packages on npm are MIT.
- Right-to-left layouts are not tested.
See every component on its own page in the component gallery, how the agent runs were measured on the evidence page, or try the MCP server’s search in the live demo.