GOV.UK Design System vs Singapore Government Design System
GOV.UK Design System
design-system.service.gov.ukSingapore Government Design System
designsystem.tech.gov.sgSide by side
| Figure | GOV.UK Design System | Singapore Government Design System |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · UI Kit Libraries | 7.9 (#9) | 8.0 (#7) |
| Accessibility | The team describes accessibility work as continuous and iterative, and says using the system alone does not make a service accessible. | SGDS says its components are designed to meet government accessibility standards by default. |
| Components | It provides reusable interface components with usage guidance and coded examples. | SGDS provides reusable interface components for common interaction needs. |
| Maker | The GOV.UK Design System at the Government Digital Service maintains the system. | The SGDS website is owned and operated by the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech). |
| Purpose | The system helps teams make government services consistent with GOV.UK and learn from research and experience across service teams. | SGDS provides a shared foundation of colour, typography, and components to help teams create consistent, accessible, and reliable government services. |
| Support | The team focuses support on central UK government digital services and says it cannot reliably provide guidance for different contexts. | The component documentation directs feedback to the SGDS Slack channel and bug reports to GitHub issues. |
| Templates | Production components can be used as HTML or as Nunjucks macros when GOV.UK Frontend is installed with npm and the application uses Node.js. | SGDS templates combine foundations, components, and utilities into reusable page layouts for common product needs. |
Plans
Singapore Government Design System
- Singapore Government Design SystemFree
In their own words
GOV.UK Design System
The GOV.UK Design System helps government teams build services with shared styles, reusable components and patterns for user-focused tasks. Its guidance covers page structure, typography, colour and images; components include coded examples, and patterns address particular tasks and page types. Published guidance includes details about user-research testing. Teams can add GOV.UK Frontend through npm or include compiled files. In production projects, components can be used as HTML or as Nunjucks macros when Frontend is installed with npm and the application uses Node.js. Prototyping requires GOV.UK Prototype Kit version 7 or later. The code is public under the MIT License, and the listed plan is free. The system aims for WCAG level AA compliance, but its use alone does not make a service accessible; component accessibility checks combine tools, automated deployment tests and manual testing. The Government Digital Service maintains the system, with a focus on central UK government digital services. Support may be limited for other contexts. Compiled files include all Frontend CSS and JavaScript, without selective component assets or a customizable build.
Singapore Government Design System
Singapore Government Design System (SGDS) is a shared toolkit for teams creating digital services for Singapore government. Its foundations cover colour, typography, spacing, and design tokens, alongside interface components such as buttons, tabs, forms, cards, and tables. Templates combine foundations, components, and utilities into reusable page layouts; blocks are reusable sections that teams can compose into templates and product experiences. SGDS v3 supports sub-brands and agency-specific requirements while retaining a shared government identity. Developers can install the web component package with npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun. The guide includes integration instructions for React, Vue, Angular, and Next.js, but utility classes require Tailwind CSS v4. GovTech Figma Enterprise users can enable SGDS v3 libraries, while agencies outside GovTech and partners can access the UI Kit through Figma Community. Components are designed to meet government accessibility standards by default. The system also provides guidance and agent skills for AI tools. All .gov.sg digital services must adopt the Official Government Banner and Global Footer. SGDS is free and open source.