Best JavaScript Date Pickers in 2026: 5 Vanilla JS Libraries Compared

Short answer. Choose flatpickr if you want the broadest free feature set (ranges, multiple dates, date and time, months side by side, a native input on phones) and can live with a library that has not shipped a release since April 2022. Choose Air Datepicker if you want a free, dependency-free picker that is still released (3.6.0, May 2025) and you do not need users to type dates. Choose Vanilla JS Datepicker if you need ready Bootstrap 5 styles and multiple dates for free, without time selection. Choose Web Awesome Pro if you already pay for Web Awesome and want a segmented date field. Choose CoreUI PRO if your app runs on Bootstrap and you want range presets, week to year selection and validation states that match the rest of your forms.

How we compared

We compared five JavaScript date picker libraries that work without a framework, in October 2026, using each vendor’s documentation, its published source code and its npm package: flatpickr 4.6.13, vanillajs-datepicker 1.3.4, air-datepicker 3.6.0, Web Awesome 3.14.0 (the date components are in Web Awesome Pro) and @coreui/coreui-pro 5.29.2. Bootstrap 5.3 itself has no date picker component, so every Bootstrap project picks one of these or the browser’s native date input.

Every cell below has a source URL and a verification date in our research base. A ❌ means the gap is confirmed: the vendor’s documentation says so, or we reproduced it in the official public demo on October 28, 2026. When the documentation is silent, or the gap only shows up in source code, we write — (no data) instead of ❌. CoreUI publishes this page; CoreUI’s own gaps are marked ❌ from its complete option reference.

The comparison at a glance

Legend: ✅ built in · Partial = plugin, separate component, or only some of the options · ❌ confirmed missing · — no data

The libraries, one by one

flatpickr

flatpickr 4.6.13 (MIT, no dependencies) is still the most capable free picker on paper. One instance covers single dates, mode: "range", mode: "multiple" and enableTime with seconds and a 24-hour option. showMonths puts several months side by side, weekNumbers adds a week column, onDayCreate gives you full control of each day cell, and dozens of locale files ship in the package. On phones it switches to the browser’s native date and time input unless you set disableMobile. Week and month selection come from the bundled weekSelect and monthSelectPlugin plugins; there is no quarter or year mode. Typing a date works once you set allowInput, which is off by default.

The catch is maintenance: the last npm release is 4.6.13 from April 14, 2022, the last push to the repository was in August 2024, and the tracker had 860 open issues on October 28, 2026.

Choose it if you need ranges, multiple dates and time for free and you are comfortable owning fixes yourself.

Vanilla JS Datepicker

Vanilla JS Datepicker 1.3.4 (MIT) is a vanilla JavaScript remake of the jQuery bootstrap-datepicker and the only free library here that ships ready CSS for Bootstrap 5. It offers an inline picker, a multidate mode (maxNumberOfDates), month and year selection through pickLevel, Today and Clear buttons, five week numbering schemes, beforeShowDay for custom cells and documented text direction support. Ranges use a separate DateRangePicker class wired to two inputs. Typed dates are parsed on blur, which worked in our demo test. There is no time selection.

The last release is 1.3.4 from August 8, 2023, and the repository has not been pushed to since March 2024.

Choose it if your project is on Bootstrap 5, you need dates only, and a library without recent releases is acceptable.

Air Datepicker

Air Datepicker 3.6.0 (MIT, May 18, 2025) is the most recently released free option. Version 3 dropped jQuery and has no dependencies. It covers ranges (with dynamicRange to drag the ends), multiple dates with an optional limit, a time picker with sliders or a time-only mode, month or year selection through minView, Today and Clear buttons plus your own buttons, and onRenderCell for custom cell content. isMobile turns the calendar into an enlarged centered window on phones. Styling is done through --adp-* CSS variables; there is no Bootstrap theme.

What we did not find: parsing of typed dates, more than one month per popup, and week numbers.

Choose it if you want a free, maintained picker with time selection and a mobile mode, and users pick dates by clicking.

Web Awesome Pro Date Input and Date Picker

Web Awesome is the successor of Shoelace (the Shoelace repository is archived and its last release, 2.20.1, has no date picker). The wa-date-input and wa-date-picker web components arrived in version 3.8 and are part of the paid Web Awesome Pro plan, not the free MIT core. The date input uses segments for month, day and year in the order of the user’s locale, which worked in our demo test. Ranges use mode="range" with min-range and max-range, months="2" shows two months, week numbers and custom day content are built in, and the field takes part in native form validation with required, min and max. Time is a separate wa-time-input. We could not read the Pro price from the vendor’s pricing page, so check it there.

Choose it if you already build with Web Awesome and want a segmented date field more than Bootstrap styling.

CoreUI Date Picker and Date Range Picker

Our own entry. The CoreUI Date Picker and Date Range Picker (@coreui/coreui-pro 5.29.2) are CoreUI PRO components: $127 per developer, perpetual, 12 months of updates, renewal at the same price. The free @coreui/coreui package has no date picker. flatpickr, Vanilla JS Datepicker and Air Datepicker are free, so here is what the license buys.

selectionType turns both pickers into day, week, month, quarter or year pickers, the only library here with all four periods. The range picker has a ranges option for presets such as “Last 7 days” and a calendars option for months side by side. timepicker adds hours, minutes and seconds in the same popup. There are Today, Clear, Confirm and Cancel buttons, valid and invalid states that follow Bootstrap’s .was-validated forms, week numbers, firstDayOfWeek, an Intl-based locale, documented RTL with Hebrew and Persian examples, and render functions for day, month, quarter and year cells. Typing a date worked in our demo test. For a calendar embedded in the page without a field, the separate Calendar component (also PRO) offers the same day to year selection and ranges.

Where CoreUI loses: there is no multiple-date mode (all three free libraries have one), no segmented field, no time zone option (values are native Date objects in the browser’s zone), no documented mobile mode, and the Date Picker itself has no inline mode.

Choose it if your app is built on Bootstrap or CoreUI and you want date, range and period pickers that look and validate like the rest of your forms. Team prices are on the pricing page.

Release activity in 2026: what to check before you pick

Two of the three free libraries have not released in years: flatpickr’s last version is from April 2022 and Vanilla JS Datepicker’s from August 2023. Both still work in current browsers and are widely used, but bug fixes and new browser behavior will be on you. Air Datepicker’s last release is from May 2025. Web Awesome 3.14.0 shipped in September 2026 and CoreUI PRO 5.29.2 in October 2026. Check the npm registry for newer versions on the day you decide, because this table reflects October 28, 2026.

FAQ

What is the best free JavaScript date picker?

For features, flatpickr: ranges, multiple dates, time, months side by side and week numbers under MIT. Its last release is from April 2022, so if release activity matters more, Air Datepicker (MIT, May 2025) covers ranges, multiple dates and time but does not parse typed dates.

Which JavaScript date picker works best with Bootstrap 5?

Among free libraries, Vanilla JS Datepicker is the only one that ships Bootstrap 5 CSS. CoreUI’s Date Picker and Date Range Picker are built on Bootstrap 5 classes and validation, and are part of CoreUI PRO. flatpickr and Air Datepicker come with their own themes, and Web Awesome uses its own theme system.

Which date picker can select a week, month, quarter or year?

CoreUI PRO supports all four through selectionType. flatpickr covers week and month with bundled plugins, while Vanilla JS Datepicker and Air Datepicker cover month and year.

Do these date pickers support time zones?

We did not find a documented time zone option in any of the five. CoreUI and the three free libraries work with native Date objects in the browser’s time zone, so convert values on the server or with a date library.

Is flatpickr still maintained?

Its last npm release is 4.6.13 from April 14, 2022, and the repository was last pushed to in August 2024, with 860 open issues on October 28, 2026. It remains popular and functional, but plan for fixing issues yourself.