This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Marxon
BootstrapVue was once the go-to choice for combining Bootstrap with Vue.
But times changed: Vue 3 became the standard, Bootstrap 5 took over, and BootstrapVue itself stopped evolving.
So what now? Enter BootstrapVue Next – a community-driven project that tries to fill the gap.
But the real question is: is it mature enough to replace the original?
Why BootstrapVue feels outdated
- Supports Vue 2 only – incompatible with modern Vue 3 projects.
- No Bootstrap 5 support – stuck with Bootstrap 4.
- Development has stalled – no bugfixes, no new features for years.
- Increasing security & compatibility risks.
And yet… BootstrapVue still shows ~176,000 weekly downloads on npm. Why?
- Many legacy projects are still running on Vue 2 and won’t migrate anytime soon.
- Some companies prefer the stability of “old but proven” libraries.
BootstrapVue may be outdated, but it’s not dead in practice.
Why BootstrapVue Next matters
The community created BootstrapVue Next to bring Bootstrap + Vue into the modern world:
- Vue 3 compatible (Composition API, Teleport, Suspense).
- Bootstrap 5 support – including the new grid, forms, offcanvas.
- Active development on GitHub.
- Familiar API for easier migration from BootstrapVue.
From a developer’s perspective, this is important: it ensures continuity for teams who already rely heavily on Bootstrap.
The downsides of BootstrapVue Next
But let’s be honest: it’s not all perfect.
- Still in 0.x versions → API may change, not guaranteed stable.
- Not feature-complete compared to the old BootstrapVue – some components are still missing.
- Documentation gaps – less polished than bigger frameworks.
- Smaller ecosystem – fewer blog posts, tutorials, StackOverflow answers.
- Lower adoption – still far behind BootstrapVue’s 176k weekly downloads.
In short: promising, but not risk-free.
Download trends: growth before v1.0
bootstrap-vue-next hasn’t even reached version 1.0 yet – but adoption is growing fast:
For comparison:
- bootstrap-vue → ~176,000 weekly downloads
Even before 1.0, BootstrapVue Next already attracts tens of thousands of developers.
That shows demand for a modern solution.
Personal note
I’ve contributed to BootstrapVue Next myself.
From inside the repo, I can confirm:
- The project is active and alive.
- The maintainers welcome contributions.
- The future looks bright, but not finished.
Thanks for reading,
Marxon
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Marxon