This article was last updated on July 23, 2024, to add sections for use cases section.
Introduction
Admin dashboards play a crucial role in the success of B2B businesses. These dashboards are designed to provide a personalized overview of key performance indicators, data accuracy, and administrative actions, all of which have a significant impact on the decision-making process of a business administration, either positively or negatively.
Due to the crucial role played by admin dashboards in the success of any serious business, developers are often tasked with integrating these tools into websites. However, creating effective React admin dashboards is no small feat, as it requires extensive use of advanced data management, data visualization, and routing systems to ensure proper functionality. For those with limited time on their hands, using a library to quickly bootstrap a dashboard application may be the preferred option.
This leads us to the next challenge: selecting the appropriate React admin dashboard library for your application. Choosing a React admin dashboard library involves many considerations, and while visualization is important, it is not the only critical factor. A quality dashboard library should not only be visually attractive, but also integrate seamlessly with various backend technologies, be responsive, and possess other essential features.
In this article, we've curated a compilation of the 5 best React admin dashboard libraries that encompass all the essential features needed to create modern and feature-rich dashboards with minimal effort.
Refine
At the top of the list is Refine, a comprehensive, open-source library for developing data-driven React admin dashboards with features you wouldn’t typically find in other dashboard libraries.
You can build production-read enterprise grade internal tools, admin panels, dashboards & B2B apps rapidly with Refine.
Similar to several React-based admin dashboard libraries, Refine is built on the React framework. However, it is not a self-contained meta-framework, allowing it to function in any environment capable of running React, including CRA, Next.js, Remix, Vite, and others.
This lets Refine leverage the wide range of features these frameworks has to offer, including support for SSR as well as various advanced state management, data management, and routing technologies within the React ecosystem - such as React Query, React Router or the Next.js routing system, and React Hook Form. This enables Refine to construct perceptive analytic react admin panels and dashboard applications with intuitive and visually appealing interfaces, equipped with the ability to perform CRUD operations amongst many other functionalities.
One unique feature distinguishing Refine from other admin libraries is its headless design. This attribute allows it to seamlessly integrate with custom design or user interface (UI) libraries, such as Material UI, Mantine, Ant Design, and Chakra. Consequently, you can fully personalize the appearance of your application according to your preferences and business model.
Additionally, Refine provides an array of helper hooks, components, and data providers that provide complete control over your application's user interface and can easily adapt to different backend architectures like GraphQL, REST, and SOAP, and for seamless authentication and access control flow.
Features
- Open-source
- UI-agnostic
- SSR support
- First-class Typescript support
- Backend-agnostic
- Authentication
- Access Control (Authorization)
- Easy learning curve
- Internationalization ( I18n )
- Accessibility
- CRUD operations
- Devtools
Quick start
npm create refine-app@latest
Stats
- GitHub stars: +27K
- License: MIT
- Links: Demo | Documentation | Template
Ant Design pro
Ant design pro is an open-source UI library for building production-ready enterprise-level web applications and React admin dashboards.
The library is based on the Ant Design principles and includes a higher level variety of pre-built components, layouts, and design kits. This makes it extremely adaptable, extensively documented, and easy to learn.
Since Ant Design is owned and managed by the Alibaba Group, the library undergoes constant updates and maintenance to ensure it is up-to-date. This means that you can be confident in the library's security and focus your efforts on building top-notch applications.
Features
- Internationalization ( I18n )
- Theming
- Preset style
- Responsiveness
- Typescript support
- Open-source
- Easy learning curve
Quick start
npm i @ant-design/pro-cli -g
pro create my-app
Stats
- Github stars: 33.8k
- License: MIT
- Links: Demo | Documentation | Github
Tremor
Tremor is an open-source library for quickly building insightful React admin dashboards. It provides modular components that can be combined to build highly customized dashboards or analytic interfaces.
Tremor is an opinionated and low-level UI library that provides a variety of components, including layouts, charts, texts, and cards. These components can be quickly combined and arranged by prototyping and organizing them in the appropriate sequence, with minimal requirement for exact calibration.
As one of the first dashboard libraries to adopt Tailwind as its primary theming system, Tremor's components come with stunning built-in styles. Yet, the library also permits the utilization of native CSS as supplementary add-ons for managing minor layout aspects.
Features
- Fast workflow
- Responsiveness
- Easy learning curve
- Open source
Quick start
npm install @tremor/react
//install tailwind and it’s peer dependencies
npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init -p
Stats
Github stars: 7.3K License: MIT Links: Demo | Documentation | GitHub
Material Dashboard React
Material Dashboard React is an open-source admin dashboard template built using React and the material design framework.
The library provides a set of UI components and pre-built pages to help developers create professional-looking admin panels and dashboards quickly.
The template includes various UI components, such as tables, charts, forms, and cards, which can easily be used to build complex interfaces. It also offers multiple color schemes and customization options, allowing developers to tailor the dashboard to their project's needs.
Features
- Responsiveness
- Authentication
- Theming
- Easy learning curve
Quick start
npm i material-dashboard-react
Stats
Github stars: 2.4k License: MIT Links: Demo | Documentation | GitHub
Volt React
Volt is an open-source admin dashboard template built with Bootstrap 5 and designed with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind.
It provides a clean and modern UI with over 100 elements, which includes widgets, charts, and data visualization tools to help developers build powerful and responsive admin panels. Volt’s structural design simplifies the visualization of data acquired from backend technologies. Through an array of objects, the library efficiently transfers data between pre-built components, including form elements and other UI elements. This enables easy integration and customization of data display within the React admin dashboard.
Features
- WCAG Accessibility
- Responsiveness
- Creative asset rights
- Mapbox integration
- W3C validated pages
Quick start
//clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/themesberg/volt-react-dashboard.git
//then
Yarn start
Or
npm run start
Stats
- Github stars: 728
- License: MIT
- Links: Demo | Documentation | GitHub
Use Cases
I would like to point out a few use cases and real-world implementations where React admin dashboard libraries really shine. These are selected examples showing the application of these libraries in building powerful, effective, and user-friendly applications across industries.
E-Commerce Management
- Inventory Management: Track and manage inventory levels, set reorder points, and monitor stock movements.
- Order Processing: View, update and manage the orders, returns, and shipping information of customers.
- Sales Analytics: Visualize the sales data, identify the trends, and prepare reports to guide the business in those decisions.
Healthcare Administration
- Patient Records: Securely manage patient information, appointment schedules, and medical history.
- Billing Systems: Manage the billing process, insurance claims, and payment tracking.
- Resource Allocation: Monitor resource availability and the use of health resources: human, equipment, and facilities.
Education Management
- Student Information Systems: For the maintenance of the record of students, enrollment, attendance, grades, and progress reports.
- Course Management: Creation, updating, and organizing course materials, schedules, and assignments.
- Performance Analytics: Analyze data about student performance for improving their weaknesses and bettering methods of teaching.
Financial Services
- Portfolio Management: Manage investment portfolios; monitor the performance of assets; develop financial reports.
- Risk Assessment: Monitoring and Assessment of financial risks, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
- Transaction Tracking: Tracks and maintains records of financial transactions, account balances, and client information.
Logistics and Supply Chain
- Fleet Management: Monitor the locations of vehicles, manage routes and track the status of deliveries at any point.
- Warehouse Management: Optimizes warehouse operation, inventory levels, and shipment management.
- Supplier Coordination: Contact suppliers, track ordered goods, and ensure that the goods are delivered on time.
Conclusion
You may have noticed that some of the libraries mentioned in this article are free versions of paid templates. While these open-source libraries can be enhanced by adding required features, they may not meet your needs. Therefore, if you are searching for a library that can assist you in creating advanced React admin dashboards with all necessary features for free, I would recommend considering Refine or Tremor. However, If you are looking to create something minimal quickly, the rest of the libraries mentioned would suffice. Ultimately, it depends on your specific project requirements and complexity.