Picking a Laravel admin panel in 2026 is harder than it looks. Every option has a slick demo. The differences only show up months later, when a client asks for an odd access rule or your editors want a blog.
This guide compares the six names that come up most often: Filament, Laravel Nova, Backpack, MoonShine, Orchid, and LaraDashboard. We also cover Voyager, because many older tutorials still recommend it and that advice is now out of date.
A quick disclosure first. We build LaraDashboard. We still recommend other tools when they fit better, and this guide says so plainly. Facts and prices come from each project's own docs and package pages as of November 2026. Check the linked pages before you commit, because these projects ship often.
The short answer
- Building staff screens for your own Laravel app? Start with Filament.
- Want a first-party, paid product from the Laravel team? Pick Nova.
- Want fast CRUD screens with paid support behind you? Look at Backpack.
- Want a light, MIT-licensed panel without Livewire? Try MoonShine.
- Want a mature screen-and-layout approach for business apps? Orchid is still active.
- Need a CMS, roles screens, modules, and AI tooling on day one? That is what LaraDashboard is for.
- Thinking about Voyager? Don't start a new project on it. It is abandoned.
What to check before you pick any panel
A pretty dashboard means little if it slows you down six months in. These are the questions that decide most projects.
- Admin kit or finished product? Some tools help you build admin screens for your models. Others give you a working app with users, content, and settings already in place.
- Roles and permissions. Can you create a role that sees orders but not customer emails, without writing a custom screen? Code-only policies are fine for engineers. Clients usually want a role editor.
- Content and editors. If anyone outside engineering will publish posts or pages, you need a content model, a media library, and an editor flow. Most admin kits leave that to you.
- Extending it. At some point you will need a custom field or a whole new feature. Check whether you extend with plain Laravel or fight the framework.
- Licence and real cost. Free, one-time, or yearly? Per project or unlimited? We list real numbers below.
- Maintenance. When was the last release? Does it support the Laravel version you run today?
- AI and agents. New for 2026. Some tools help AI agents write admin code. A few let agents operate the site itself.
Laravel admin panel comparison table
| Tool | Price | Licence | What it is | Roles UI | Built-in CMS | Status (Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filament | Free | MIT | Admin and UI framework on Livewire | Via plugins (e.g. Shield) | No | Active, v5 |
| Laravel Nova | $99 per project, or $299 unlimited | Commercial | First-party admin panel on Inertia and Vue | Policies, no role editor | No | Active, v5 |
| Backpack | Free core; paid bundles from €89 | Free core, paid add-ons | CRUD admin package | Free PermissionManager add-on | No | Active, v7 |
| MoonShine | Free | MIT | Admin panel on Blade, Alpine, Tailwind | Basic, plus plugins | No | Active, v4 |
| Orchid | Free | Open source | Screen-based admin platform | Built in | No | Active, v14 |
| LaraDashboard | Free core; paid marketplace modules | MIT | Laravel CMS and admin you install as the app | Built in | Yes | Active |
| Voyager | Free | MIT | BREAD admin package | Basic | Partial | Abandoned since 2024 |
Read the table as two kinds of tool. Filament, Nova, Backpack, MoonShine, and Orchid are admin builders you add to an app. LaraDashboard is a base product you build on. We wrote a full post on that split: Laravel admin panel vs admin template.
Filament
Filament is the default choice for many Laravel teams, and for good reason. You describe forms, tables, actions, and widgets as PHP classes. Filament renders them with Livewire, Alpine.js, and Tailwind CSS. One
make:filament-resource command gives you list, create, and edit screens for a model.Filament v5 shipped in January 2026. It exists mainly to adopt Livewire 4, and its upgrade guide lists PHP 8.2+ and Laravel 11.28+. The team says new features will keep landing in both v4 and v5. Filament also sells Blueprint, a premium planning tool for AI coding agents.
Strong at: custom staff screens over your own models, multiple panels in one app, panel multi-tenancy, and the biggest plugin ecosystem in the Laravel admin world.
Watch out for: it is not a CMS. There is no blog, page builder, or role editor out of the box. You add those with plugins or build them. Every community plugin is code you now maintain.
For a deeper look, read LaraDashboard vs Filament.
Laravel Nova
Nova is the admin panel from the Laravel team. It is built on Inertia and Vue, and it supports Laravel 10 through 13 in its current v5 line, according to the installation docs.
Pricing is per project. A single licence is $99 and an unlimited licence is $299. Each includes one year of updates, with discounted renewals of $79 and $249, per the Nova FAQ. A project covers local, staging, and one production environment.
Strong at: polished resource screens, metrics, lenses, and actions, with first-party support and a long track record.
Watch out for: it is closed source, so you can't fork it or read the code before you buy. Access control runs through Laravel policies, with no role editor screen. Customising the UI means writing Vue components. Like Filament, it is not a CMS.
Backpack for Laravel
Backpack has been around for years and focuses on CRUD. The free core covers the basics. More advanced fields, columns, filters, and operations sit in the paid PRO features.
According to its pricing page, the Silver bundle is €89 per project per year and Gold is €199. The PRO add-on alone is €449, one-time, for unlimited projects. When updates expire, you keep the versions you bought. The current docs cover v7.
Strong at: fast, conventional CRUD screens, clear docs, and paid support if your team wants a vendor to call.
Watch out for: real projects tend to need PRO, so budget for it. Like the others above, it gives you an admin, not a content system.
MoonShine
MoonShine is an MIT-licensed admin panel that has grown fast. It uses Blade, Alpine.js, and Tailwind CSS. Livewire is optional, which some teams prefer. Version 4 is the current line, documented on the MoonShine docs site.
Strong at: a light stack, quick resource screens, and a free licence.
Watch out for: a smaller English-language community than Filament, so expect fewer tutorials and plugins. Check that the plugins you need support v4.
Orchid
Orchid takes a screen-and-layout approach. You build admin screens from reusable layouts instead of model resources. It has built-in roles and permissions and an active release history. Release 14.53.0 in March 2026 added Laravel 13 support, per its GitHub releases.
Strong at: business-app back offices where screens don't map one-to-one to models.
Watch out for: its own way of doing things takes time to learn, and the ecosystem is smaller than Filament's.
LaraDashboard
LaraDashboard takes a different starting point. It is a Laravel CMS and admin dashboard you install as the app itself. It is MIT-licensed and runs on Laravel 13, Livewire 4, and PHP 8.3+. Editors can log in and publish on day one, and developers add product features as modules.
Here is what ships in the box:
Content. Posts, pages, categories, tags, and a media library.
Page builder. A visual builder with more than 35 block types, also used for email templates.
Roles and permissions screens. Built on spatie/laravel-permission. Modules register their own permissions. See our RBAC guide.
Modules and a marketplace. Self-contained modules built on nwidart/laravel-modules, installable from a ZIP, with free and paid modules in the marketplace. See building modular Laravel apps.
CRUD generator.
module:make-crud creates a model, controller, service, form request, datatable, and views inside a module. Compare approaches in our CRUD generators guide.AI content tools. Content and SEO generation with OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or a local Ollama model.
A built-in MCP server. AI agents like Claude and Cursor can manage posts, media, tickets, and CRM records through your existing permissions. Read LaraDashboard MCP for Cursor and Claude.
That last point is the biggest difference in 2026. Filament's AI tools help agents write admin code. LaraDashboard's MCP lets agents run the site after it ships, with a human approving what goes live. This post was drafted that way.
Strong at: SaaS products, client portals, and company sites where content and product live in one Laravel codebase. It is also a good fit for teams leaving WordPress.
Watch out for: if you only need staff screens inside an existing app, LaraDashboard adds a CMS you won't use, so pick Filament. It also expects a recent stack (Laravel 13, PHP 8.3+). Its ecosystem is younger than Filament's.
What happened to Voyager?
Voyager was a popular free admin a few years ago, and many "best admin panel" lists still include it. Its Packagist page now marks it as abandoned. The last release, 1.8.0, came out in September 2024 and targets Laravel 11. The project's README points people to other tools, including Filament.
If you run Voyager today, plan a migration. Your models, migrations, and data are plain Laravel, so they move. You rebuild the admin screens in whichever tool you choose.
Which Laravel admin panel should you choose?
Answer these with your team. Most groups have a clear answer by the fourth question.
- Is the admin for an app you are building, or is the admin part of the product?
- Will anyone outside engineering publish content?
- Do clients need a role editor screen, or are code policies enough?
- Can you pay for a licence, and do you need the source code?
- Which Laravel and PHP versions will you run for the next two years?
- Do you want AI agents to write code, run the site, or both?
Mostly "app admin, engineers only, code policies" points to Filament, Nova, Backpack, MoonShine, or Orchid. Choose by stack and budget. Mostly "product with content, editors, role screens" points to LaraDashboard.
Mistakes to avoid
- Judging by the demo. A demo shows the first hour. Ask how the tenth custom screen will feel.
- Forgetting the editors. Engineers pick the tool, then marketing asks for a blog. Ask them first.
- Trusting old lists. Several 2023-era roundups still recommend Voyager. Check the last release date of every option.
- Stacking plugins without review. Each plugin is code you maintain. Check who maintains it and when it last shipped.
- Skipping access tests. Whatever you pick, write tests for who can see and change what.
Final verdict
There is no single best Laravel admin panel in 2026. There is a best fit for your project. Filament is the strongest admin kit for your own models. Nova suits teams that want a paid first-party product. Backpack, MoonShine, and Orchid are solid choices depending on your stack and budget. If your project needs a CMS, role screens, modules, and AI agents from day one, try LaraDashboard and see how much of your admin already exists.
FAQ
What is the best free Laravel admin panel in 2026?
For an admin over your own models, Filament is the most popular free option. MoonShine and Orchid are free alternatives. If you also need a CMS, LaraDashboard is free and MIT-licensed, with optional paid modules.
Is Laravel Nova worth paying for?
It can be if you want a first-party product and are happy with policy-based access and Vue customisation. Remember the price is per project, and each licence includes one year of updates.
Is Voyager still maintained?
No. Packagist marks it as abandoned, and its last release was in September 2024. Don't start new projects on it.
Which Laravel admin panel has a built-in CMS?
Of the tools here, LaraDashboard is the one that ships posts, pages, media, and a page builder out of the box. The admin kits leave the content model to you.
Which Laravel admin panels support AI agents?
Filament offers tools that help coding agents write Filament code. LaraDashboard ships an MCP server, so agents like Claude and Cursor can operate content, tickets, and CRM records through your permissions.
Can I switch admin panels later?
Yes. Your models, migrations, and data are plain Laravel in every option here. You rebuild the admin screens, not the app.
