Refine is an open-source, headless React meta-framework purpose-built for admin panels, dashboards, internal tools and B2B CRUD apps — and as of 2026 it ships with a paid AI agent that scaffolds working apps from a prompt. We rate it 82/100 — the most flexible enterprise-grade React framework in this category, but only if you're comfortable wiring more of the UI yourself than you would with a more opinionated rival like React-Admin.

What is Refine?

Refine is an MIT-licensed React framework first released by founder Necati Ozmen and team in January 2021, and accepted into Y Combinator's S23 batch. It targets the unsexy but enormous niche of internal tools — the dashboards, CRMs, CMSs, HRIS panels and admin consoles that every B2B company eventually has to build. Instead of dictating a UI library, Refine is "headless by design": it gives you a set of React hooks for data fetching, auth, access control, forms, tables, routing and i18n, and lets you bolt on whichever component library you already use.

As of April 26, 2026, the refinedev/refine repo has 34,557 stars and 3,008 forks, and the latest stable release is @refinedev/core v5.0.12 shipped on April 2, 2026. Refine v5 brings React 19 support, TanStack Query v5 integration and meaningful performance improvements over the v4 line.

Refine — open-source React framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards and B2B apps — Refine: the open-source React meta-framework purpose-built for CRUD-heavy enterprise apps.

Key Features of Refine

Headless core, swappable UI: Refine ships ready-made integrations for Ant Design, Material UI, Mantine and Chakra UI, or you can stay headless and use Tailwind / shadcn-style primitives.
15+ data providers out of the box: REST, GraphQL, NestJS CRUD, Supabase, Hasura, Strapi v4, Airtable, Appwrite, Sanity, Directus, Firebase and Nestjs-Query — drop in your backend without writing fetch boilerplate.
Enterprise features as open source: Role-based access control, real-time subscriptions, audit logging and SSR — all in the free MIT package, where competitors like React-Admin charge for them in an Enterprise tier.
Refine AI (paid): Refine analyses your backend schema, builds a blueprint, and lets you "vibe code" production-ready React apps via a web IDE with live preview, conversation rollbacks and one-click export. Output is 100% pure React code — no proprietary lock-in.
refine.new browser scaffolder: Step-by-step wizard that creates a new Refine app in roughly 15 seconds, no install required.
Devtools: A dedicated @refinedev/devtools package shows query state, mutations and hook usage live during development.
SSR-ready: Works with both Next.js (App Router) and React Router 7 / Remix-style setups.

Refine app built with Material UI showing a CRUD list view with table, filters and actions — A Refine + Material UI starter: list, edit and create views generated from your data provider.

What Users Say About Refine

Sentiment in the React ecosystem is genuinely positive but not uncritical. On GitHub Discussion #1917 ("Compare to React-Admin?") and the parallel Hacker News thread item 37065475, developers consistently praise Refine for being headless-by-default, for its breadth of data providers, and for shipping RBAC and real-time as MIT code rather than as a paid Enterprise add-on. Product Hunt reviewers single out the smart context-aware AI agent and the "3x faster" build claim as broadly accurate for prototypes.

The recurring complaints are equally consistent and worth taking seriously. Marmelab's React-Admin team — admittedly competitors — pointed out three real issues: Refine's default theme has oversized desktop margins forcing constant scrolling; the default edit form puts "Delete" uncomfortably close to "Save", which has caused accidental deletions for testers; and there is no built-in undo. The bigger structural critique is that "headless" cuts both ways — you ship more code to reach the same UX as a more opinionated framework, and the learning curve is real for teams without strong React fundamentals.

Refine AI web IDE showing prompt-driven generation of a React admin app with live preview — Refine AI: vibe-code a CRUD app, watch it render in the live preview, then export pure React.

Refine Pricing

Refine CORE — the framework itself — is free and MIT-licensed forever. Refine AI (the optional agent) is the paid product, billed by "Refine tokens" consumed during generation:

Plan	Price	Tokens / month	Key Limits
Starter (Free)	$0/month	300	Core features, preview only, no credit card
Starter Paid	$0.99/month	300	Same as free, paid tier for billing setup
Pro	$20/month	1,500	Interactive code editor, one-click export, Netlify hosting, file uploads
Pro 3K	$40/month	3,000	Same Pro features, more tokens
Pro 6K	$80/month	6,000	For heavy use
Pro 40K	$533/month	40,000	Studio / agency tier
Enterprise	Contact	Custom	Self-hosted Refine, SLA, dedicated support

Critically: nothing about the open-source framework is gated by Refine AI. If you only want the React framework, you never have to pay or sign up.

Who Should Use Refine?

Best for: Mid-to-senior React teams building B2B SaaS dashboards, internal admin panels, CRMs or data-heavy CRUD apps where they want enterprise features (RBAC, audit log, real-time) without paying for a commercial framework, and where they need to plug into an existing backend (Supabase, Hasura, REST, GraphQL).

Not ideal for: Solo non-developers wanting drag-and-drop visual building (use Budibase or Retool); teams that want a fully opinionated, batteries-included admin UI out of the box (use React-Admin); or anyone who needs a no-code internal tools builder with a UI canvas.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

MIT-licensed and genuinely free — features that competitors paywall (RBAC, audit log, real-time) ship in the OSS package.
Headless architecture means you keep full design freedom; pair it with Tailwind, shadcn/ui, or any of the four supported component libraries.
Massive data-provider catalog (15+) covers virtually every backend a startup uses.
v5 release brings React 19 + TanStack Query v5 — the framework is keeping pace with the React ecosystem.
YC-backed, well-funded, active maintainers — repo updated daily, latest commit pushed April 15, 2026.

Cons:

Headless = more code than React-Admin to reach the same baseline UX.
Default theme has known UX paper-cuts on desktop (large margins, dangerous Delete/Save proximity, no undo).
Refine AI's token pricing is steep above the $20 Pro tier — heavy use jumps to $80–$533/month.
Steeper learning curve than no-code competitors; your team needs solid React + hooks knowledge.

Alternatives to Refine

React-Admin is the most direct competitor — more opinionated, ships a polished default UI, but charges for RBAC/audit-log in its Enterprise tier. Retool is a closed-source low-code drag-and-drop builder, faster for non-developers but lock-in heavy. ToolJet and Budibase are open-source low-code visual alternatives — pick those if you want a UI canvas, not a code framework.

Verdict: Is Refine Worth It?

For a React team that needs to ship a production B2B internal tool with auth, RBAC, real-time and a real backend integration in weeks rather than months, Refine is the strongest free option in 2026. The 34K-star community, MIT license, breadth of data providers and active v5 release line all justify the 82/100 rating. Take a point off if you want a polished default UI without writing component code — React-Admin is friendlier there. Take three points off if you were hoping Refine AI would be cheap; the token model gets expensive past the Pro tier. The free open-source framework, however, remains a clear recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Refine free?: Yes. The Refine framework (refinedev/refine) is MIT-licensed and free forever, including features like RBAC, real-time and audit logging. Only the optional Refine AI agent has paid tiers, starting at $0.99/month and going up to $533/month for the 40K-token plan.
Is Refine open source?: Yes. Refine CORE is MIT-licensed on GitHub at refinedev/refine, with 34,557 stars and active maintenance. Refine AI (the agent product) is closed source.
How does Refine compare to React-Admin?: Refine is headless and more flexible; React-Admin is opinionated and ships a polished default UI. React-Admin gets you to a working CRUD screen faster with less code; Refine gives you more control and ships features like RBAC and real-time as free OSS that React-Admin charges for in its Enterprise tier.
What backends does Refine support?: 15+ data providers out of the box: REST, GraphQL, NestJS CRUD, Supabase, Hasura, Strapi v4, Airtable, Appwrite, Sanity, Directus, Firebase, Nestjs-Query, plus the ability to write a custom provider in roughly 50 lines of TypeScript.
What is "Refine AI"?: A paid web IDE that uses LLM agents to scaffold a Refine app from a natural-language prompt, with live preview, conversation rollbacks and one-click Netlify export. It outputs 100% pure React code so there is no lock-in if you cancel.

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