Alternatives/ Magic UI
Facade UI vs Magic UI
A Magic UI alternative for local business and real estate sites, or a companion to it. Facts about Magic UI were read on their site on October 31, 2026.
What Magic UI is
Magic UI offers "150+ free and open-source animated components and effects" built with React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS and Motion, and calls itself a "Perfect companion for shadcn/ui". The repository is MIT licensed with about 23k stars. Magic UI Pro sells an individual lifetime license for $199, one-time, with 50+ sections and 9+ templates.
What it is good at
Visual effects. Beams, globes, shimmer buttons, animated lists, number tickers and backgrounds that make a SaaS landing page feel alive. Large free set, active community, installs through the shadcn CLI.
Side by side.
| Facade UI | Magic UI | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Animated blocks for local business, real estate and agency sites | Animated components and effects for SaaS and startup pages |
| Free items | 33 components and blocks | 150+ components |
| Price | Free; Pro $149 one-time; Team $399 one-time for 10 developers | Free; Magic UI Pro $199 one-time, individual license |
| License | MIT for free items; commercial license for Pro | MIT for the free set; Pro license per their terms |
| Animated | Yes, Motion | Yes, Motion |
| MCP server | Yes, list, get, install and suggest_page tools | Not stated on the pages checked |
| shadcn CLI | Yes, shadcn registry | Yes, shadcn CLI |
Magic UI facts from magicui.design and its public repository, checked October 31, 2026. Prices change; confirm on their site before you buy.
Who should use which.
Use Magic UI when
Use Magic UI when the product is software and the page needs to feel like a product launch: animated beams between integrations, a globe of users, a shimmer on the primary button. Its free set is large and MIT licensed, and the Pro templates are built for SaaS, developer tools and startups.
Use Facade when
Use Facade when the client is a plumber, a dental practice, a salon, a brokerage or a developer selling units. The pieces that matter there are stateful business components: opening hours in the right time zone, a slot picker, a service menu with prices, a mortgage calculator, a unit availability table. Facade ships those as animated blocks; effects are not the point.
Use both
They install side by side. A real estate agent site can take Facade's listing grid and valuation funnel and Magic UI's number ticker for a stats line. Both use shadcn tokens, both read your brand color, and neither needs a provider wrapper.
Blocks that show the difference
- Opening hoursFreeWeekly hours list with today highlighted, live open status, split shifts and closed days.
- Booking slotsProAppointment picker with a 14 day date strip, grouped time slots, summary and confirm callback.
- Service menuProTabbed price list for salons, barbers and spas with durations, Popular tags and animated transitions.
- Mortgage calculatorProMonthly payment calculator with down payment slider, loan term toggle and an animated donut breakdown.
- Availability tableProSortable, filterable unit availability table for new developments that turns into cards on mobile.
- Service areaProZone map with numbered service areas, city and ZIP lists, and a ZIP code checker with arrival windows.
See how a whole page comes together: salon website components and property developer website components.
Common questions
Is Facade UI cheaper than Magic UI Pro?
Facade Pro is $149 one-time for one developer and Team is $399 for up to 10 developers. Magic UI Pro showed $199 one-time for an individual lifetime license on 31 Oct 2026. Compare what each includes; they target different kinds of sites.
Does Facade have animated backgrounds like Magic UI?
Facade has an aurora background and animated heroes, but far fewer effects. If effects are the main need, Magic UI has more of them.
Can an AI agent install Facade blocks?
Yes. Facade runs an MCP server with list, get, install and suggest_page tools so Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can pick blocks for a business type and install them.
Try the free blocks first.
53 components and blocks, 33 of them free and MIT licensed. Pro is $149 once, for every client project.