Gentelella — Free Bootstrap Admin Dashboard Template

Introduction

Gentelella is a free admin dashboard template built on Bootstrap. It provides dozens of pre-built page layouts, widgets, and plugin integrations that developers can use as a starting point for internal tools, admin panels, and back-office applications without designing from scratch.

What Gentelella Does

• Provides a complete admin dashboard layout with sidebar navigation, header, and content areas
• Includes over 20 page templates covering tables, forms, charts, calendars, and user profiles
• Integrates popular jQuery plugins for data tables, date pickers, and rich text editors out of the box
• Ships with multiple charting options including Chart.js, Flot, and Morris.js pre-configured
• Offers a responsive design that adapts to desktop, tablet, and mobile screens

Architecture Overview

Gentelella is a static HTML/CSS/JS template built on Bootstrap 3 with jQuery. The project structure separates vendor libraries, custom CSS, and page-specific JavaScript into organized directories. Each page template is a standalone HTML file that imports shared layout partials. The build output in the production folder contains minified assets ready for deployment. Developers typically copy the template and integrate it with their server-side framework.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Clone the repository and serve the production directory with any static file server
• Modify css/custom.css to override colors, fonts, and spacing without touching vendor files
• Swap the sidebar menu items by editing the HTML navigation structure in each page
• Replace placeholder chart data with real API calls by updating the JavaScript initialization blocks
• Integrate with backend frameworks (Django, Rails, Laravel, Express) by converting HTML pages into server-rendered templates

Key Features

• Pre-built page layouts for common admin patterns: CRUD tables, form wizards, login/register, dashboards
• Multiple charting libraries included and configured for quick data visualization
• Sidebar navigation with collapsible menu groups and active state highlighting
• Data table integration with sorting, pagination, and search via DataTables plugin
• Completely free and open source under the MIT license with no attribution required

Comparison with Similar Tools

• AdminLTE — another popular Bootstrap admin template with more frequent updates and Bootstrap 4/5 support; Gentelella has a cleaner default aesthetic
• CoreUI — offers both free and commercial tiers with React, Vue, and Angular versions; Gentelella is HTML-only but simpler to start with
• Tabler — modern admin template built on Bootstrap 5 with a more contemporary design; Gentelella uses Bootstrap 3
• SB Admin 2 — simpler Bootstrap admin starter; Gentelella includes more page templates and plugin integrations

FAQ

Q: Is Gentelella based on Bootstrap 5? A: No, the original Gentelella uses Bootstrap 3. Community forks exist with Bootstrap 4 and 5 updates, but the main repository remains on Bootstrap 3.

Q: Can I use Gentelella in a commercial project? A: Yes. Gentelella is released under the MIT license, which permits commercial use without attribution requirements.

Q: How do I integrate Gentelella with React or Vue? A: Gentelella is a static HTML template. To use it with a frontend framework, extract the CSS and layout structure and rebuild the components in your framework. Alternatively, use a purpose-built admin template like CoreUI or Vuexy that ships native framework components.

Q: Are the included plugins up to date? A: The bundled plugin versions reflect the state of the last major release. You may need to update individual vendor libraries (jQuery, DataTables, Chart.js) to their latest versions when starting a new project.

Sources

• https://github.com/ColorlibHQ/gentelella
• https://colorlib.com/polygon/gentelella/