shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Onsen UI?

Make beautiful hybrid mobile apps using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. Works with or without any framework including Angular, Meteor, React and Vue. iOS and Android. - onsen.io

Depends. Solid free pick if you're already committed to Cordova/Monaca hybrid apps and want a polished mobile UI kit. Skip it for new products where ecosystem momentum and hiring matter — Ionic or React Native are safer bets.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, and no numeric G2 rating was available.

Ratings

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

Pricing

$0

Onsen UI (open source)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Cordova/Monaca hybrid apps
  • Teams wanting a free iOS+Android UI kit
  • Angular/React/Vue projects shipping mobile
  • Prototype and MVP budgets

Not for

  • Apps needing native performance (games, heavy animation)
  • New products betting on long-term framework momentum
  • Teams needing vendor support SLAs
  • Enterprises needing security docs and compliance evidence

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Guess: tied to the Cordova/Monaca approach; migrating to native later means a rewrite.

medium

Framework is free, but the workflow steers you toward Monaca's paid cloud build tools.

medium

Small community: 12 G2 reviews means fewer answers, plugins, and hireable developers than Ionic.

medium

No public security page or vulnerability disclosures found in sources reviewed.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free and open source
  • Reviewers consistently praise ease of use
  • Wide array of ready-made iOS and Android UI components
  • Works with Angular, React, Vue, Meteor or plain JS
  • Well-optimized in third-party framework comparisons

Cons

  • Adoption far behind Ionic, which claims 5,212 customers
  • Reviewers said rival Framework7 meets needs better
  • Navigation and page-stack API confuses developers
  • Developers openly question its relevance versus React Native

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 10 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x3review x5security x1news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free and open source
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Reviewers consistently cite easy learning curve
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Wide UI component range for both platforms
  • Support quality: 2/5. Community-only; small forum footprint
  • Security posture: 2/5. No public security page found
  • $0 Price Open source
  • 12 G2 reviews Very small review base
  • 276,164+ Websites using it Per Tomba, 2026
  • 4 Framework bindings Angular, React, Vue, Meteor

Pricing

Onsen UI (open source)

$0

  • Full UI component library
  • Bindings for Angular, React, Vue
  • Monaca cloud tooling sold separately

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Users praise Onsen UI's ease of use and learning curve, but the community is small and some developers doubt its momentum versus React Native and Ionic.

“Onsen UI is easy to learn while being”
SourceForge, Ionic vs Onsen UI comparison
“Users consistently praise the ease of”
G2 reviews
“Is Onsen UI still an alternative to React Nati”
Reddit, r/react

Alternatives

Compare Onsen UI with each alternative.

Companies that use it

  • Zé Delivery
  • QRPoint
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, and no numeric G2 rating was available.

Free, easy-to-learn mobile UI kit, but tiny community and unclear momentum — fine for Cordova hybrids, risky as a bet.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; several review snippets were truncated, and no numeric G2 rating was available.

Sources

  1. Onsen UI official siteonsen.io
    official
  2. Onsen UI GitHub repositorygithub.com
    official
  3. Onsen UI G2 reviewsg2.com
    review
  4. Ionic vs Onsen UI comparison (6Sense)6sense.com
    review
  5. Framework 7 vs Onsen UI (G2)g2.com
    review
  6. Websites using Onsen UI (Tomba)tomba.io
    news
  7. Hybrid app frameworks comparison (Anyforsoft)anyforsoft.com
    review
  8. Onsen UI security page scanonsen.io
    security
  9. Monaca integration guideonsen.io
    official
  10. Cordova + Onsen UI discussion (Reddit)reddit.com
    review

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