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AdminLTE.IO Review

Depends

Should I use AdminLTE.IO?

AdminLTE is the most popular open-source Bootstrap admin dashboard template with 45,000+ GitHub stars and 8.5M+ downloads. Free and premium versions available. - adminlte.io

· 1 month ago

Use it if you're a developer building a custom admin dashboard on Bootstrap — it's free, MIT-licensed, and battle-tested. Skip it if you want a finished, supported product or a React/Vue-native stack.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources. Review snippets are truncated; no G2/Trustpilot ratings for the product itself. Evidence covers fit, pricing, and one critical CVE.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityCommunity and docs only; no SLA evidence
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

AdminLTE Core

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Premium templatesPaid, varies

Best for

  • Dev teams building custom admin dashboards
  • Bootstrap/PHP/Laravel web projects
  • Internal tools on a $0 budget
  • Projects needing responsive tables and charts fast

Not for

  • Non-technical buyers wanting a finished dashboard app
  • React or Vue teams needing native components
  • Anyone expecting vendor support or SLAs
  • Teams that won't patch frontend dependencies regularly

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Older versions ship known critical vulnerabilities — pin versions and patch promptly.

medium

It's only a UI template; you still build the entire backend yourself.

medium

v3 and v4 docs and layouts differ; upgrading between versions takes real work.

low

Premium templates are a separate purchase; budget for them if you want polish.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free, MIT-licensed core — no per-seat cost.
  • 45,000+ GitHub stars; the category's most popular template.
  • Highly customizable; responsive from mobile to large screens.
  • Ships ready-made pages: profile, settings, invoice, pricing, FAQ, errors.
  • Long-running project (since 2014) with maintained v4 docs.

Cons

  • Critical 9.8 CVE (remote file disclosure) in AdminLTE 3.1.0.
  • Users report the template code is messy to work through.
  • It's an HTML/Bootstrap skin, not a React or Vue framework.
  • Premium templates cost extra beyond the free core.

Sources & method

- 11 sources - Legitimate project (ScamAdviser: safe), but a critical 9.8 remote-file-disclosure CVE affected v3.1.0 — run a patched version before production.

official x4review x5security x2
  • CVE-2021-36471 — Remote File Disclosure, AdminLTE 3.1.0 remote file disclosure, CVSS 9.8 critical.
  • admin-lte 2.4 package flagged for known critical vulnerabilities, SonataAdminBundle raised concerns about critical CVEs in the bundled admin-lte JS package.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free MIT core; premium add-ons optional
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Easy to start; users call code messy
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Tables, charts, invoices, profile pages included
  • Support quality. Community and docs only; no SLA evidence
  • Security posture: 2/5. Critical 9.8 CVE hit v3.1.0
  • 45,000+ GitHub stars Most popular Bootstrap admin template
  • 8.5M+ Downloads All-time template downloads
  • Free Core price Open source, no seat limits
  • MIT License Built on Bootstrap 5.3

Pricing

AdminLTE Core

Free

  • MIT license
  • Full Bootstrap 5.3 template
  • Community support via GitHub

Premium templates

Paid, varies

  • Handpicked premium admin templates
  • Sold separately on adminlte.io

Security

Legitimate project (ScamAdviser: safe), but a critical 9.8 remote-file-disclosure CVE affected v3.1.0 — run a patched version before production.

  • CVE-2021-36471 — Remote File DisclosureAdminLTE 3.1.0 remote file disclosure, CVSS 9.8 critical.⁹
  • admin-lte 2.4 package flagged for known critical vulnerabilitiesSonataAdminBundle raised concerns about critical CVEs in the bundled admin-lte JS package.10

What users say

Developers widely know and reuse AdminLTE for Bootstrap dashboards, praising customization while criticizing messy template code.

“AdminLTE has been around for quite a while and is fairly well known. I've use”
Reddit, r/webdev
“Perhaps it's my lack of design skills, but working through these”
Reddit, r/web_design
“Highly customizable and easy to use. Fits many screen resolutions from small mobile devices to large”
SourceForge review

Companies that use it

  • VEELS (Kerala Government portal)
  • Sonata Project (SonataAdminBundle)10
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources. Review snippets are truncated; no G2/Trustpilot ratings for the product itself. Evidence covers fit, pricing, and one critical CVE.

Free, proven Bootstrap admin template devs trust; useless if you want a finished tool, and old versions carry a 9.8 CVE.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources. Review snippets are truncated; no G2/Trustpilot ratings for the product itself. Evidence covers fit, pricing, and one critical CVE.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. AdminLTE — #1 Free Bootstrap Admin Dashboard Templateadminlte.io
    official
  2. AdminLTE GitHub repository (MIT license)github.com
    official
  3. AdminLTE 4 docs introductionadminlte.io
    official
  4. AdminLTE vs CoreUI vs Tabler comparisonadminlte.io
    official
  5. AdminLTE SourceForge reviews and downloadssourceforge.net
    review
  6. Admin LTE discussion — Reddit r/webdevreddit.com
    review
  7. Template code criticism — Reddit r/web_designreddit.com
    review
  8. AdminLTE vs Pure Bootstrap — Reddit r/webdevreddit.com
    review
  9. CVE-2021-36471 — Aqua Security vulnerability databaseavd.aquasec.com
    security
  10. SonataAdminBundle issue on admin-lte vulnerabilitiesgithub.com
    security
  11. ScamAdviser legitimacy check for adminlte.ioscamadviser.com
    review

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