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[docs] Clarify MUI Base != Base UI (2/2) #46979

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[docs] Clarify MUI Base != Base UI (2/2) #46979

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22 changes: 12 additions & 10 deletions docs/pages/blog/base-ui-2024-plans.md
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---
title: An exciting year ahead for Base UI
title: An exciting year ahead for MUI Base: Base UI
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this article is about Base UI, though?

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We rewrote the history, we said that what we were working on since 2021 was MUI Base, and we rebranded to Base UI late 2024.

So at the time this was written, early 2024, it was still MUI Base.

description: The unstyled component library will get a stable release, lots of new components, and even better DX in 2024.
date: 2024-02-13T00:00:00.000Z
authors: ['danilo-leal', 'michaldudak', 'colmtuite', 'oliviertassinari']
tags: ['Base UI', 'Product']
manualCard: true
---

The [story of Base UI](/blog/introducing-base-ui/) began several years ago—long before headless React component libraries skyrocketed in popularity—when we started to imagine a world in which Material UI could exist without Material Design.
The [story of MUI Base](/blog/introducing-base-ui/) began several years ago—long before headless React component libraries skyrocketed in popularity—when we started to imagine a world in which Material UI could exist without Material Design.

We're super excited to share that this dream is becoming a reality!
This year will see a lot of investment in Base UI as we expand the team and focus hard on a stable release (tentatively planned for late 2024), which will come full of new components, features, and improvements.
This year will see a lot of investment in MUI Base as we expand the team and focus hard on a new version (tentatively planned for late 2024), which will come full of new components, features, and improvements.

Let's walk through some of the things we're cooking up.

## A larger set of components

Base UI today offers a modest set of components and hooks, including some slightly more complex ones such as [Autocomplete](https://v6.mui.com/base-ui/react-autocomplete/) and [Number Input](https://v6.mui.com/base-ui/react-number-input/).
MUI Base today offers a modest set of components and hooks, including some slightly more complex ones such as [Autocomplete](https://v6.mui.com/base-ui/react-autocomplete/) and [Number Input](https://v6.mui.com/base-ui/react-number-input/).
However, we're aware that the package is still missing many primitive components that developers would need in order to adopt it for real-world applications.
Fear not, because we're working hard to ship more components with the stable release, including:

Expand All @@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ We'd love for you to chime in and help us prioritize, so keep an eye on [the ope

## Improved customization API

Currently, Base UI components can be customized to your heart's content using the `slots` and `slotProps` props.
Currently, MUI Base components can be customized to your heart's content using the `slots` and `slotProps` props.
(Read more about them in the "[Overriding component structure](https://v6.mui.com/base-ui/guides/overriding-component-structure/)" guide.)

```tsx
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -75,15 +75,17 @@ They're currently available for use with the Popup, Menu, and Select, and the pl

## Getting many issues out of the way

The core of what Base UI strives to deliver out of the box is first-class accessibility and an intuitive API for extensive customization.
The core of what MUI Base strives to deliver out of the box is first-class accessibility and an intuitive API for extensive customization.
We've earmarked several issues we want to tackle before the stable release in areas such as keyboard navigation, better ARIA support, focus styles, and more.

## A more independent product
## A more independent product: Base UI

So far, all Base UI-related development has happened within the [Material UI GitHub repository](https://github.com/mui/material-ui).
That made a lot of sense in the beginning because we didn't intend for Base UI to be a standalone product at the time.
So far, all MUI Base-related development has happened within the [Material UI GitHub repository](https://github.com/mui/material-ui).
That made a lot of sense in the beginning because we didn't intend for MUI Base to be a standalone product at the time.
As a result of this early decision, we've seen that some developers are hesitant to try it out because of the apparent association with Material Design.
Rest assured that Base UI _is_ a standalone library, and it doesn't come packaged with _any_ default styles or themes.
Rest assured that MUI Base _is_ a standalone library, and it doesn't come packaged with _any_ default styles or themes.
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This text is extremely confusing. Very few readers will be able to make sense of Base UI vs MUI Base in this context, and I can't imagine many people are reading this blog in late 2025 anyway. I don't think it's worthwhile to bother with edits like this. If you think the blog post is going to confuse people, I think it should just be removed.

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I can't imagine many people are reading this blog in late 2025 anyway.

The problem is that this blog post shows up when searching on Google for Base UI vs MUI Base.

This text is extremely confusing.

What is confusing?

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A few thoughts:

  • Many users still don't understand that MUI != Material UI. Even as someone who has firsthand knowledge of the history of Base UI, I had a hard time making sense of this text. The names are so similar, it's hard to keep track of which is which, and it's not clear as a reader why it matters.
  • A blog post with the slug /base-ui-2025-plans would quickly and easily outrank this post in a google search and it would be much simpler for users to comprehend - plans have changed, here's the latest news
    • then we could add a note at the top of the 2024 blog post to let users know there have been significant updates that they can read about in the newer post
  • In the absence of a new blog post, it would still make more sense to just add a callout to the top of this post to note that it's outdated and plans have changed
  • In general I'm not a fan of "rewriting history" in this way - at best it's confusing for users, and it leaves us with the burden of dozens of outdated timely posts to consider revising every few months
    • this is why publishers differentiate between "timely" content and "evergreen" content - the timely stuff isn't worth your time to constantly update when things change, and if it's confusing or misleading then it's best to just delete
    • if we want evergreen content on this topic, we should create a post called something like /mui-base-vs-base-ui-comparison to address it directly


But to make it clear, and to reflect all the breaking changes coming in 2024, the new version of MUI Base will be called **Base UI**.

<img alt="Material UI vs. Base UI: independent but related products." src="/static/blog/base-ui-2024-plans/material-vs-base.png" width="2400" height="900" loading="lazy" />

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