CSS Flexbox vs Grid — When to Use Each

Flexbox arranges items along a single axis (row or column) and excels at distributing space among items in that one dimension. CSS Grid arranges items in a full two-dimensional grid of rows and columns simultaneously.

Common causes

• One-dimensional problems (a navbar, a row of buttons, centering an item) and two-dimensional problems (a full page layout, a photo gallery) genuinely need different tools to avoid fighting the layout model

How to fix it

• Use Flexbox for components where content flows in one direction and should wrap or distribute space along that axis — nav bars, button groups, centering content
• Use Grid for overall page layout or any component that needs explicit control over both rows and columns at once — dashboards, image galleries, form layouts
• It's common and encouraged to nest them — a Grid for the page layout, with Flexbox used inside individual grid cells for their internal content

Example

/* Flexbox: one-dimensional row */
.nav { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; }

/* Grid: two-dimensional layout */
.page { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr; }

FAQ

Can Flexbox do a grid layout?

It can approximate one with wrapping and fixed widths, but it doesn't align items across rows and columns the way Grid does natively — Grid is the right tool once you need true two-dimensional alignment.