PixilUI and Chatbot UI
An open-source AI chat app by Mckay Wrigley: a Next.js app you clone and run with Supabase, under MIT, with about 33,000 GitHub stars. It is an app template, not a component library.
In short
Chatbot UI is an app, not a component library: you clone a whole Next.js chat app, run Supabase and add your keys. Choose it to self-host a chat for any model quickly. Choose PixilUI when you are building your own product and need its agent moments as components: approval card, run timeline, tool call row, thinking state and streaming text. Chatbot UI's last code push was on 3 August 2024.
Checked against Chatbot UI's own docs on .
Side by side
| Question | Chatbot UI | PixilUI |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A complete chat app to clone and run | Components you install into your own app |
| How you use it | Clone the repo, run Supabase locally with Docker, fill in environment variables, npm run chat | Install one item at a time with the shadcn CLI |
| Stack | Next.js 14, React 18, Supabase | React 19, Tailwind v4 |
| Agent moments | Not listed in its README | Approval card, run timeline, tool call row, thinking state, streaming text; agent inbox and eval table in Pro |
| Activity | Last push 3 August 2024; chatbotui.com, linked as its hosted version, returned 404 on 4 November 2026 | Active; every release is on the changelog |
| License and price | Free, MIT | Free items under MIT. Pro $199 once (the first 100 at $99 when Pro opens), Pro yearly $129, Team $599 once for 10 people |
What Chatbot UI is good at
- A whole chat app in one clone, backed by Supabase, ready to host for a team.
- Self-hosting with local models through Ollama.
- MIT, with about 33,000 GitHub stars.
What PixilUI adds
- Components for your own product rather than an app to adopt.
- Agent moments with their states listed: approvals, runs, tool calls, thinking and streaming text.
- Active releases on React 19 and Tailwind v4.
Install
Chatbot UI
git clone https://github.com/mckaywrigley/chatbot-ui.gitnpm installPixilUI, after adding the registry to components.json (installation)
npx shadcn@latest add @pixilui/approval-cardpnpm dlx shadcn@latest add @pixilui/approval-cardyarn dlx shadcn@latest add @pixilui/approval-cardbunx --bun shadcn@latest add @pixilui/approval-cardUsing both
They answer different needs: Chatbot UI is an app to run, PixilUI is parts to build with. Pick Chatbot UI to host a chat, PixilUI to build agent features into your own app.
Questions
Is Chatbot UI a component library?
No. It is a whole chat app: you clone the repository and run it with Supabase. To build your own product's UI from parts, use a component library such as PixilUI, assistant-ui or AI Elements.
Can I use PixilUI inside Chatbot UI?
PixilUI needs React 19 and Tailwind v4, and Chatbot UI's package.json lists React 18 and Next.js 14, so upgrade those first or move to a newer chat shell.
More comparisons
- PixilUI and shadcn/ui
- PixilUI and AI Elements
- PixilUI and assistant-ui
- PixilUI and CopilotKit
- PixilUI and prompt-kit
- PixilUI and Arc
- PixilUI and affectUI
- PixilUI and beUI
- PixilUI and React Bits
- PixilUI and AI SDK Agents
- PixilUI and BoardUI
- PixilUI and ReUI
- PixilUI and Magic UI
- PixilUI and Aceternity UI
- PixilUI and Kibo UI
- PixilUI and Tool UI
- PixilUI and LlamaIndex chat-ui
- PixilUI and Shadcnblocks
- PixilUI and shadcn.io
- PixilUI and Agents Kit
Sources
Read on . If something here no longer matches Chatbot UI's site, write to hello@pixilui.com and we will fix it.