# flutter_staggered_grid_view: five Flutter grid layouts with one hard performance boundary > A Dart package that adds staggered, masonry, quilted, woven and staired grids to Flutter. The README is explicit about where it works and where it does not. **letsar/flutter_staggered_grid_view** — GitHub describes it as A Flutter staggered grid view. The repository metadata lists Dart as its primary language. The metadata lists the MIT license. This article stays within the project description and details documented in the GitHub repository README. - Repository: https://github.com/letsar/flutter_staggered_grid_view - Stars: 3,215 · Forks: 510 - Language: Dart - License: MIT - Published: 2026-08-13 · Updated: 2026-08-18 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/letsar-flutter-staggered-grid-view ## What this package actually gives you flutter_staggered_grid_view is a Flutter package that provides five distinct grid layouts: Staggered, Masonry, Quilted, Woven, and Staired. Each layout has a different visual rhythm and a different placement rule. The README describes the target use for each: Staggered is for a small number of items, Masonry is for uncropped peer content like photo feeds, Quilted emphasizes certain items with varied container sizes, Woven creates a rhythmic layout with varying ratios, and Staired uses alternating sizes with a 'z' sequence. The package is for Flutter developers who need a non-uniform grid that the standard GridView does not offer out of the box. It is MIT licensed, so you can use it in commercial projects without a copyleft obligation. ## How the layouts differ under the hood The package splits its layouts into two categories. The plain Staggered layout is not a GridView and has no SliverStaggeredGrid, as the README states. It is not scrollable and is intended for a small number of items. The Masonry layout is also a complete separate grid, not a SliverGridDelegate, for performance reasons. The README explains that SliverGrid needs a layout that does not depend on child sizes, otherwise you must compute the size of all children before the end of the cache, which is slow for masonry. The other three layouts, Quilted, Woven, and Staired, are delegates for the built-in GridView or SliverGrid. That means they work with lazy loading and scrolling, because the delegate can compute tile sizes without knowing every child's dimensions in advance. This is the key architectural split in the package. ## Placement algorithms and tile constraints Each layout has a specific placement rule. Staggered, Masonry, and Quilted all use a top-most then left-most algorithm. Woven and Staired use a 'z' sequence. The tile constraints are strict. In Staggered, a tile must occupy 1 to n columns, where n is the cross axis count. In Masonry, a tile must occupy exactly 1 column. In Quilted, a tile must occupy 1 to n columns and 1 or more entire rows. Woven tiles define their height with an aspectRatio and width with a crossAxisRatio between 0 (exclusive) and 1 (inclusive). Staired tiles use the same ratios but with a shift margin. These constraints matter: if you feed a tile that violates them, the layout will not render as intended, and the README does not describe error handling for such cases. ## Getting it running: dependency and example code To use the package, add flutter_staggered_grid_view: to the dependencies section of your pubspec.yaml, then import 'package:flutter_staggered_grid_view/flutter_staggered_grid_view.dart'. The README gives concrete examples for each layout. For Staggered, you write StaggeredGrid.count with a crossAxisCount and children that are StaggeredGridTile.count, each with crossAxisCellCount and mainAxisCellCount. For Masonry, you use MasonryGridView.count with an itemBuilder. For Quilted, you use GridView.custom with a SliverQuiltedGridDelegate that takes a pattern of QuiltedGridTile objects and a repeatPattern like QuiltedGridRepeatPattern.inverted. Woven uses SliverWovenGridDelegate.count with WovenGridTile entries that include an aspectRatio and optional crossAxisRatio and alignment. Staired uses SliverStairedGridDelegate with StairedGridTile entries. The examples are short and copyable, which is a strength of the documentation. ## The performance limitation you cannot ignore The README is honest about a major constraint: the Staggered and Masonry layouts are not performant for large item counts. For Staggered, the author says they did not find a performant algorithm that works in a Sliver context, so there is no SliverStaggeredGrid. For Masonry, the README explains that a SliverGrid delegate would require computing the size of all children before the end of the cache, which is really not performant. This means if you have a long list of items, say hundreds or thousands, these two layouts will cause jank or memory issues because they build the entire grid at once. The Quilted, Woven, and Staired layouts, being delegates for GridView, do not have this problem. So the package is not one-size-fits-all. Choose the layout based on your data size, not just on the visual effect. ## Maintenance status and upgrade risk The repository's last push was January 1, 2022, with version 0.6.0 released on the same day. The previous release was 0.2.7 from January 2019, and 0.2.3 from October 2018. That gap suggests the project is maintained sporadically. The version number is still below 1.0, which means the API can change without a major version bump. The README does not mention any migration guides or changelog. If you adopt this package, you should pin the exact version in pubspec.yaml and test after any Flutter SDK upgrade, because the package may lag behind Flutter's own API changes. The MIT license is permissive, so you can fork and patch it if needed, but that adds your own maintenance burden. ## Alternatives and when to choose them The built-in Flutter GridView with a custom SliverGridDelegate is the direct alternative for Quilted, Woven, and Staired layouts, because those are already delegates for GridView. For Masonry, you could use a third-party package like flutter_masonry_grid_view, but the README does not mention it, so I cannot compare features. The key difference in approach is that Sliver-based layouts are lazy and scrollable, while the Staggered and Masonry layouts in this package are not. If you only need a simple grid with uniform tile sizes, the standard GridView.count is simpler and has no extra dependency. For a masonry feed with many items, you would need a package that uses a Sliver, or you would accept the performance hit. The README's own explanation of why it avoids SliverGrid for masonry is the clearest statement of the trade-off. ## Conclusion Adopt this package if you need one of the five specific layouts and your item count is small, especially for the plain Staggered layout, which is not scrollable. Do not use it for long, lazy-loaded lists: the masonry and staggered layouts are not Sliver-based, so they compute all child sizes up front. Before you commit, verify the latest version on pub.dev, since the last push here is from January 2022, and confirm the API matches your Flutter SDK. If you only need a simple masonry grid and your items are uniform, the built-in SliverGrid with a custom delegate may be simpler and more performant. ## FAQ ### How can I create a staggered grid view in Flutter? Add flutter_staggered_grid_view to the dependencies in your pubspec.yaml, replacing the placeholder the file shows with a real version, and import package:flutter_staggered_grid_view/flutter_staggered_grid_view.dart. Build it with StaggeredGrid.count and give it a crossAxisCount, then add StaggeredGridTile.count children whose crossAxisCellCount and mainAxisCellCount say how many columns and rows each tile spans. This layout is a separate widget, not a GridView, and its grid properties list says not scrollable. ### Which layouts does flutter_staggered_grid_view provide? Five: Staggered, Masonry, Quilted, Woven and Staired. Quilted, Woven and Staired are delegates for the built-in GridView or SliverGrid, so their samples create the layout with a GridView. Staggered and Masonry are complete separate widgets instead, and their samples instantiate StaggeredGrid or MasonryGridView directly. ### Why is Masonry not built on SliverGrid? The file argues that SliverGrid needs a layout which does not depend on the size of its children, and that otherwise the size of all children has to be computed before the end of the cache, which it calls really not performant for a masonry layout. That is the stated reason masonry is a complete separate grid rather than a SliverGridDelegate, and item heights are supplied as an extent instead of measured. ### How do I size tiles in the Quilted, Woven and Staired layouts? Quilted takes a pattern of QuiltedGridTile values plus a repeat mode, and its row height equals the column width. Woven takes a pattern in a z sequence, sizes height with an aspectRatio and width with a crossAxisRatio measured against the column width, and allows per-tile alignment. Staired also uses a z sequence, measures crossAxisRatio against the available horizontal space, and shifts each tile from the previous one by a margin on both axes. ### Is the Staggered layout a GridView? No. The file states that no performant algorithm was found for a Sliver context, which is why Staggered is not a GridView and why there is no SliverStaggeredGrid. The same section also lists not scrollable among its grid properties, and describes the layout as intended for a small number of items. ### When was flutter_staggered_grid_view last changed? The default branch is master, the repository is not archived, and the last push is dated 2024-06-05. The three newest releases are v0.6.0 from 2022-01-01, v0.2.7 from 2019-01-10 and v0.2.3 from 2018-10-21, so no 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5 tag appears among them and the branch sits more than two years past the newest tag. ## Sources - [Official README](https://github.com/letsar/flutter_staggered_grid_view#readme) - [Project repository](https://github.com/letsar/flutter_staggered_grid_view) - [Release notes](https://github.com/letsar/flutter_staggered_grid_view/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/letsar-flutter-staggered-grid-view