UI libraries
Aceternity UI vs Magic UI
Aceternity UI has 120 components under a custom attribution licence; Magic UI has 189 with none declared in the catalogue. Both suit landing pages, not forms.
Key points
- Aceternity UI: 120 components, 10 categories and a custom licence that requires attribution and bans resale.
- Magic UI: 189 components and 11 categories, but the catalogue profile declares no licence.
- Both are copy-paste over Tailwind and Motion: fine for a landing page, wrong for accessible forms and dashboards.
Aceternity UI and Magic UI solve the same problem: they give you a dramatic section to copy into a React project with Tailwind. Aceternity offers 120 under a custom licence, Magic UI 189 with no licence declared in the catalogue.
They are not application component libraries. You will not find a sortable table, a validated form or a date picker. You find animated backgrounds, composed text, 3D cards and marquees: material for landing pages.
The numbers in both catalogues
| Item | Aceternity UI | Magic UI |
|---|---|---|
| Components | 120 | 189 |
| Categories | 10 | 11 |
| Declared licence | Custom: attribution, no resale | Not declared in the profile |
| Average quality | 8.0 on an internal scale | 7.9 on the same scale |
What you actually get
Both distribute code through shadcn registries: the command downloads .tsx files into your project instead of installing a package. The code becomes yours, but updates do not follow: if the component changes upstream, you reapply it by hand.
Try it in ten minutes
# Magic UI: one component from the public registry
npx shadcn@latest add "https://magicui.design/r/rainbow-button.json"
# Aceternity UI: same flow, different registry host
npx shadcn@latest add "https://ui.aceternity.com/registry/3d-card.json"Open both generated files and count the dependencies. If a component imports an animation library you do not use, the cost is not the file but the runtime it carries.
Where Aceternity wins
- Recognisable effects: 3D cards, lamps, timelines and animated backgrounds share one visual direction.
- Explicit licence: the profile states attribution and a resale ban, so you know what is required.
- Complete examples: each record is a whole section, not an isolated button.
Where Magic UI wins
- More components: 189 records and 11 categories, with animated text and background patterns.
- Public registry: the install command answers without authentication.
- Lighter styling: many effects stay cheap and do not require WebGL.
The limit to write down
The Magic UI profile declares no licence: before commercial use, open the repository and read the terms. Aceternity declares a custom licence, not MIT, and bans resale. In both cases a component is not a design system: error states, focus and keyboard tests are missing.
Licences and provenance
Aceternity UI: custom licence with attribution, no resale. Magic UI: no licence declared in the catalogue, to verify at the source. The generated code depends on Tailwind CSS (MIT) and an animation library, so the final licence is the sum of its dependencies.
In the catalogue: Aceternity UI, Magic UI and a verified Aceternity record. The guides: the best Magic UI components and how to choose a UI library; the comparison: measured alternatives to MUI.
Frequently asked questions
Are Aceternity UI and Magic UI free?
They are free to use, but under different conditions. Aceternity requires attribution and bans resale; Magic UI declares no licence in the catalogue, so check the source.
Can I use these components in a commercial product?
With Aceternity yes, while respecting attribution and the resale ban. With Magic UI it depends on the repository terms: with no declared licence you cannot assume permission.
Which one has more components?
Magic UI, with 189 records against 120 for Aceternity on 1 November 2026. The number says nothing about quality or accessibility.
Do they work without Tailwind?
No, the code uses Tailwind classes. You can rewrite them, but you lose the copy-paste advantage and must maintain every variant yourself.
Aceternity or Magic UI for a dashboard?
Neither. A dashboard needs tables, forms and error states; these catalogues cover the shop window, not the daily work.