Alternatives/ shadcn/ui
Facade UI vs shadcn/ui
A shadcn/ui alternative for local business and real estate sites, or a companion to it. Facts about shadcn/ui were read on their site on October 31, 2026.
What shadcn/ui is
shadcn/ui describes itself as "a set of beautifully-designed, accessible components and a code distribution platform" and adds: "This is not a component library. It is how you build your component library." The code is MIT licensed and the repository shows about 127k GitHub stars.
What it is good at
The base layer. Buttons, inputs, dialogs, tables and the CLI and registry format that most React component collections, Facade included, build on. The docs sidebar also lists an MCP server for the registry.
Side by side.
| Facade UI | shadcn/ui | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Animated blocks for local business, real estate and agency sites | Accessible base components and a code distribution platform |
| Free items | 33 components and blocks | All components |
| Price | Free; Pro $149 one-time; Team $399 one-time for 10 developers | Free |
| License | MIT for free items; commercial license for Pro | MIT |
| Animated | Yes, Motion | Not stated as a focus |
| MCP server | Yes, list, get, install and suggest_page tools | Yes, documented in the registry docs |
| shadcn CLI | Yes, shadcn registry | Yes, it is the shadcn CLI |
shadcn/ui facts from ui.shadcn.com and its public repository, checked October 31, 2026. Prices change; confirm on their site before you buy.
Who should use which.
Use shadcn/ui when
Use shadcn/ui for every project. It gives you the form controls, dialogs, menus and tokens that a website needs underneath its marketing sections, and the CLI that installs them into your codebase as editable source. Facade assumes it is there: our components use the same semantic tokens and the same components.json.
Use Facade when
Add Facade when the site has to sell a local service or a property. shadcn/ui does not ship an opening hours list that knows the time zone, a booking slot picker, a mortgage calculator, a service area map with a ZIP checker or a home valuation funnel. Facade does, as page blocks with motion, installed through the same CLI.
Use both
The normal setup is both. Run npx shadcn init, add the Facade registry to components.json, then install base components from shadcn/ui and page blocks from Facade. Both land in your components folder, both read your CSS variables, and an AI agent with the Facade MCP server can pick blocks by business type.
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.
- Mortgage calculatorProMonthly payment calculator with down payment slider, loan term toggle and an animated donut breakdown.
- Service areaProZone map with numbered service areas, city and ZIP lists, and a ZIP code checker with arrival windows.
- Home valuation funnelProMulti-step "What's my home worth?" lead funnel with direction-aware steps and an animated estimate range.
- Hero, local businessFreeHome services hero with live rating, rotating service words and floating appointment, review and ETA cards.
See how a whole page comes together: plumber website components and real estate agent website components.
Common questions
Is Facade UI a replacement for shadcn/ui?
No. Facade is a shadcn registry. It installs through the shadcn CLI, uses shadcn tokens and expects a project with components.json. Think of it as a set of industry blocks on top of shadcn/ui.
Do Facade components conflict with shadcn/ui components?
No. Facade files land in components/facade and only depend on motion and lucide-react. They do not overwrite anything in components/ui.
Does Facade work with the shadcn MCP server?
Facade has its own MCP server that lists, explains and installs Facade items. You can run it next to the shadcn MCP server; they cover different registries.
Try the free blocks first.
53 components and blocks, 33 of them free and MIT licensed. Pro is $149 once, for every client project.