What Bootstrap does

Bootstrap is an open-source frontend toolkit originally created at Twitter in 2011 by Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton, and now maintained as a community project under the MIT license. It provides HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components for building responsive, mobile-first websites, including a 12-column responsive grid system, a modular Sass-based architecture for component-level customization, CSS variables for real-time theming, a Utility API for generating custom utility classes, and HTML-first JavaScript plugins for modals, dropdowns, tooltips, and popovers (built on Popper.js without a jQuery dependency as of v5). The core framework is complemented by Bootstrap Icons, a separate open-source SVG icon library with over 2,000 glyphs distributed as SVGs, sprites, or web fonts.

The project serves web developers, frontend engineers, UI/UX designers, and non-technical users building responsive websites, with primary use cases spanning responsive site development, prototyping, and pre-built UI component integration. Bootstrap distributes exclusively through self-service digital channels — npm, RubyGems, Composer, Meteor package managers, the jsDelivr CDN, and direct GitHub downloads — with no sales motion. The framework is 100% free under the MIT license (with documentation under CC BY 3.0), generating no direct product revenue and supporting itself via GitHub Sponsors and Open Collective contributions from individuals and corporate sponsors. Primary distribution is global, with no geographic restrictions.

The project is sustained by a small core team (1-10 employees reported) and a large volunteer contributor base. Active maintenance continues with regular patch releases (v5.3.8 shipped in August 2025), and the project has explicitly begun consolidating its surface area — announcing plans to sunset the Bootstrap Themes site while continuing framework and Icons development.

Name

Bootstrap

Legal name

Bootstrap

Website

https://getbootstrap.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Bootstrap is a free, open-source HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frontend framework used by web developers and designers to build responsive, mobile-first websites. It is community-maintained under the MIT license with no direct revenue model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Open Source / No Direct Revenue: Bootstrap is a free, open-source project maintained by volunteers and a small core team. It does not generate direct revenue. The project is supported by GitHub sponsors and Open Collective contributions from the community and corporate sponsors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Bootstrap is a free, open-source frontend toolkit that provides pre-built HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components for building responsive, mobile-first websites and web applications. It features a Sass-based modular architecture, a responsive grid system, CSS variables for real-time theming, a Utility API for generating custom utility classes, and jQuery-free JavaScript plugins for interactive UI behaviors. It is complemented by the separate Bootstrap Icons open-source SVG icon library with over 2,000 icons, distributed under the MIT license via self-service digital channels.

Product overview

Bootstrap is an open-source frontend framework providing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components for responsive web development. The core Bootstrap product offers Sass-based customization, a responsive grid system, reusable UI components, and JavaScript plugins. It is complemented by Bootstrap Icons, an SVG icon library with over 2,000 glyphs. Additional offerings include starter templates and examples for various frameworks (React, Vue, Webpack, Parcel, Vite) and pre-built page templates (Dashboards, Blogs, Pricing pages). The ecosystem is entirely open source under MIT license.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bootstrap (core framework) Open-source frontend toolkit providing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components for building responsive, mobile-first websites and applications. Includes a Sass-based modular architecture, a responsive grid system, CSS variables for real-time theming, a Utility API for custom utility classes, and jQuery-free JavaScript plugins (modals, dropdowns, tooltips, popovers, offcanvas). Distributed under the MIT license via npm, jsDelivr CDN, GitHub, and other package managers for web developers worldwide.
• Bootstrap Icons Official open-source SVG icon library with over 2,000 icons available as SVGs, sprite sheets, or web fonts. Usable with or without the Bootstrap framework in any web project and integrated into the Figma Community design workflow.
• Bootstrap Examples Collection of official starter templates and pre-built component/layout examples for jumpstarting Bootstrap projects across multiple build tools and JavaScript frameworks.
• Bootstrap Snippets Pre-built UI patterns such as headers, heroes, features, sidebars, footers, and dropdowns that developers can copy and adapt using Bootstrap components, utilities, and custom CSS.
• Bootstrap Custom Components (Page Templates) Pre-built full-page templates (Album, Pricing, Checkout, Product, Cover, Carousel, Blog, Dashboard, Sign-in, Sticky Footer) for assembling complete responsive websites quickly with Bootstrap.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supportive.

• jsDelivrcoreTechnology or IntegrationjsDelivr provides the primary CDN (Content Delivery Network) for Bootstrap's compiled CSS and JavaScript files, enabling fast global delivery without requiring users to host files themselves.
• Popper.jscoreTechnology or IntegrationPopper.js is integrated as Bootstrap's positioning engine for tooltips and popovers, handling smart positioning logic.
• GitHubcoreTechnology or IntegrationGitHub hosts the Bootstrap repositories, issue tracking, discussions, and serves as the primary platform for community contributions and releases.
• Dart SasscoreTechnology or IntegrationDart Sass (replacing deprecated Libsass) is the official Sass compiler for Bootstrap's source files, used for compiling customizable CSS.
• Webpack / Parcel / VitesupportiveTechnology or IntegrationOfficial integration guides and starter templates for Webpack, Parcel, and Vite build tools enable modern JavaScript workflow integration.
• FigmasupportiveTechnology or IntegrationBootstrap Icons Figma file is published to the Figma Community for designers to use icons directly in their design workflow.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pure.css (Yahoo): Set of small, responsive CSS modules from Yahoo covering similar layout, form, and button needs as Bootstrap, aimed at minimal footprint projects.
• Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS framework widely adopted in modern web stacks; directly competes with Bootstrap for frontend styling mindshare and is the most prominent contemporary alternative.
• Bulma: Modern CSS framework based on Flexbox with a similar component-driven, class-based architecture as Bootstrap; positions itself as a lightweight alternative.
• Primer CSS (GitHub): GitHub's open-source design system and CSS framework; comparable open-source frontend toolkit targeting large-scale web application UIs.
• UIkit: Lightweight modular front-end framework offering UI components and CSS/JS modules in direct competition with Bootstrap for responsive web development.
• Foundation (by ZURB): Enterprise-grade responsive front-end framework offering a similar component-and-grid system to Bootstrap, targeting professional web and email development.
• Materialize CSS: CSS framework implementing Google's Material Design specification; comparable to Bootstrap in offering prebuilt responsive components for web developers.
• Semantic UI: Component-based UI framework using human-friendly HTML classnames; offers comparable component libraries and theming capabilities to Bootstrap.

Emerging players

• Font Awesome: The dominant icon font/SVG library used alongside CSS frameworks; directly comparable to Bootstrap Icons and often bundled or paired with Bootstrap.
• Open Props: Modern CSS custom properties library positioned between utility frameworks like Tailwind and component frameworks like Bootstrap; partial overlap on design-system primitives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/getbootstrap
• GitHubgithub.com/twbs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/getbootstrap

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bootstrap