Use Flexbox when items need to flow and share space along one axis—a row or a column. Use CSS Grid when rows and columns need to be coordinated together. For example, a toolbar often fits Flexbox, while a dashboard with aligned regions often fits Grid. They work well together: Grid can shape the overall layout, with Flexbox arranging controls inside one of its areas.
How Grid and Flexbox differ
The key distinction is the layout problem each model is designed to solve. Flexbox lays out items along one axis at a time; Grid coordinates rows and columns together. MDN describes this as the basic difference between the two methods: Grid and other layout methods.
This is a difference in emphasis, not a hard boundary. Both methods can express some of the same layouts. Choose the model whose sizing, alignment, and placement behavior most naturally matches the design.
Flexbox: items flow along one axis
With Flexbox, the main direction is a row or a column. Items can grow, shrink, and share available space according to their content and the rules you set. Flex items may wrap onto additional lines, but each line distributes its own items independently; items on separate lines do not automatically line up in shared columns.
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Grid: items use coordinated tracks
Grid lets you define row and column tracks and place items within them. It is useful when the positions or widths of items in one row should relate to those in another, or when an item needs to span tracks. Grid often starts from the track definitions, but tracks can respond to content too, so it is not limited to rigid, fixed-size layouts.
Choose the layout model that fits the design
| Question | Flexbox fits naturally when… | Grid fits naturally when… |
|---|---|---|
| How many axes need coordination? | The primary constraint is a row or a column. | Rows and columns need coordinated control. |
| Who should determine sizing? | Content should influence how items grow, shrink, and share space. | The container should define tracks for items to occupy. |
| How should wrapping work? | Each wrapped line may size and distribute its items independently. | Items on separate rows need consistent column alignment. |
| How much placement control is needed? | Items should follow the container’s direction and flow. | You need explicit placement, named areas, spanning, or deliberate overlap. |
| What is the layout? | A navigation row, toolbar, button group, or component’s internal row or column. | A page structure, dashboard, gallery, or card collection aligned across rows and columns. |
| What should respond as space changes? | Items should flex or wrap as available inline space changes. | Track count, track sizing, and placement should adapt as a unit. |
Apply the choice to common layouts
Navigation, toolbars, and button groups
Start with Flexbox when links or controls belong in a row, should share available space, or should wrap according to their own sizes. Use a column direction when the same component is better stacked vertically. If the design needs the positions of items across multiple rows to align in common columns, consider Grid instead.
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Responsive card collections
Choose Flexbox when cards can wrap and each line can distribute its cards independently. Choose Grid when cards should form shared columns across rows. A repeated set of width adjustments in wrapped Flexbox items—added just to line one row up with another—is a sign that Grid may be the more direct model.
Dashboards and page shells
Grid is often a natural fit for a page with coordinated header, sidebar, main-content, and footer tracks. Within one of those regions, Flexbox can arrange a row of controls. This combination follows the needs of each part rather than forcing one layout method across the entire page.
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Use Grid and Flexbox together
There is no general rule that Grid belongs to large layouts and Flexbox to small components. The useful question is whether a particular part needs one-axis flow or coordinated rows and columns. A page can use Grid for its overall tracks, then use Flexbox within an area to align buttons or navigation items. The W3C’s CSS Grid Layout Module Level 2 likewise notes that the methods have different specialties even though many layouts can be expressed with either.
Make either layout responsive
Both systems can respond to available space, but they provide different controls. Flexbox can grow, shrink, and wrap items; Grid can adapt track definitions and placement. Set breakpoints when the content or layout becomes strained rather than targeting every device size. Check the result at the widths and with the content your page actually needs to support.
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Check browser support for the feature you use
Can I Use’s live tables, accessed October 3, 2026, displayed estimated global usage support of 96.89% for CSS Grid Layout Level 1 and 97.26% for CSS Flexible Box Layout. These are live aggregate estimates, not guarantees for every audience or subfeature. The tables show older browsers, including Internet Explorer, with missing or partial support; the Flexbox entry also distinguishes support for the gap subfeature. Check the specific feature and required browser versions for your project rather than treating either percentage as universal compatibility. See Grid support and Flexbox support.
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