shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Carbon Design System?

IBM's open source design system for products and digital experiences, built on the IBM Design Language. - carbondesignsystem.com

Depends. A strong free choice for large enterprise product teams ready to adopt a full design system — and IBM's visual identity. Overkill for startups, MVPs, and small teams that just need decent components fast.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources including Reddit threads, IBM docs, NVD, and Medium write-ups; user quotes limited to thread titles since snippets were truncated.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Open source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Large enterprise product orgs
  • B2B dashboards and data-heavy apps
  • Accessibility-first teams
  • React teams needing strict consistency

Not for

  • Startups building an MVP
  • Small teams wanting quick styling
  • Marketing sites and landing pages
  • Teams wanting a neutral, brand-agnostic look

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

CVE-2024-47117: XSS in Carbon Charts (CVSS 5.4). Keep chart packages current.

medium

v10 docs still circulate; starting there means end-of-life migration later.

medium

Adoption needs design-plus-engineering governance; expect months, not days.

low

Support is community GitHub/Slack — no paid SLA if things break.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open source — no license fees
  • Complete package: working code, Figma kit, guidelines, patterns
  • Proven at scale — IBM runs 130 teams on it
  • Detailed per-component accessibility guidance
  • Multi-framework: React, web components, even Salesforce LWC

Cons

  • Overkill for MVPs and small teams
  • Strong IBM visual identity — your product looks like IBM
  • v10 reached end of life; version migrations add work
  • Demands real governance — not a drop-in component library

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 12 sources - One medium-severity XSS CVE in Carbon Charts (Dec 2024, fixed); no other vulnerabilities in sources reviewed.

official x3review x4security x2news x3
  • CVE-2024-47117 — Carbon Charts XSS, Cross-site scripting via improper input neutralization, CVSS 5.4; addressed in patched Carbon Charts releases.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free and open source
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Rigorous; steep for small teams
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Components, patterns, Figma kit, multi-framework
  • Support quality: 3/5. Community GitHub/Slack only, no SLA
  • Security posture: 4/5. One medium CVE, patched promptly
  • $0 Price Open source
  • Yes Free tier Entire system is free
  • IBM Maintained by Dedicated design system team
  • 130 teams Internal adoption IBM teams running on Carbon

Pricing

Open source

$0

  • Full component library and patterns
  • Figma design kit
  • Community support only

Security

One medium-severity XSS CVE in Carbon Charts (Dec 2024, fixed); no other vulnerabilities in sources reviewed.

  • CVE-2024-47117 — Carbon Charts XSSCross-site scripting via improper input neutralization, CVSS 5.4; addressed in patched Carbon Charts releases.⁶

What users say

Developer threads show buyers debating fit — respected for enterprise depth, questioned for small projects and licensing clarity.

“Selecting IBM Carbon Design System for new Project”
Reddit, r/reactjs
“Is IBM's Carbon Design system actually free?”
Reddit, r/reactjs
“I hate design systems and I'm not sorry 🙃”
Reddit, r/UXDesign

Companies that use it

Companies that could

  • Google Uses Google Material Design instead
  • Atlassian Uses Atlassian Design System instead
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources including Reddit threads, IBM docs, NVD, and Medium write-ups; user quotes limited to thread titles since snippets were truncated.

Free, enterprise-grade IBM design system: powerful at scale, heavy for MVPs and small teams.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources including Reddit threads, IBM docs, NVD, and Medium write-ups; user quotes limited to thread titles since snippets were truncated.

Sources

  1. Carbon Design System — official sitecarbondesignsystem.com
    official
  2. carbon-design-system/carbon on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Selecting IBM Carbon Design System for new Project — Redditreddit.com
    review
  4. The Flexibility Trap: Why Carbon might not fit your MVP — Mediumtomoharutsutsumi.medium.com
    review
  5. Creating and maintaining a design system for 130 teams — Slideshareslideshare.net
    news
  6. CVE-2024-47117 — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  7. IBM security bulletin: Carbon Charts XSSibm.com
    security
  8. Is IBM's Carbon Design system actually free? — Redditreddit.com
    review
  9. Carbon v10 end of lifev10.carbondesignsystem.com
    official
  10. Carbon Design System vs Material UI — Redditreddit.com
    review
  11. Design system governance at scale, IBMamultani.com
    news
  12. Websites using IBM Carbon Design System — Wappalyzerwappalyzer.com
    news

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