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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Frameworks
  4. Cross Platform Desktop Development
  5. Avalonia vs Electron

Avalonia vs Electron

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Electron
Electron
Stacks11.6K
Followers10.0K
Votes148
Avalonia
Avalonia
Stacks27
Followers113
Votes0
GitHub Stars29.1K
Forks2.5K

Avalonia vs Electron: What are the differences?

Introduction

Avalonia and Electron are two popular frameworks used for building cross-platform desktop applications. While both frameworks serve a similar purpose, there are key differences that set them apart. In this article, we will explore the main differences between Avalonia and Electron in terms of their architecture, performance, supported technologies, development environment, platform compatibility, and community support.

  1. Architecture: Avalonia is a fully native, XAML-based framework written in C#, making it suitable for development in languages like C# and F#. It focuses on rendering the user interface using DirectX, OpenGL, or Skia graphics libraries. On the other hand, Electron is based on web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), utilizing Chromium as its rendering engine. This allows Electron developers to leverage existing web development skills and frameworks.

  2. Performance: Avalonia, being a fully native framework, has the advantage of offering better performance by utilizing the native hardware acceleration provided by the underlying graphics libraries. Electron, on the other hand, introduces an additional layer of abstraction, which can impact performance. However, Electron applications benefit from the ability to quickly iterate and update the user interface through web technologies.

  3. Supported Technologies: Avalonia provides support for a wide range of technologies and UI controls, including XAML, databinding, styling, MVVM pattern, and rich media capabilities. In contrast, Electron primarily leverages web technologies, making it highly suitable for web-based applications and leveraging the vast number of existing JavaScript libraries and frameworks available.

  4. Development Environment: Avalonia provides a rich set of Visual Studio extensions and design-time support, enabling developers to build, test, and debug Avalonia applications seamlessly within the popular integrated development environment (IDE). On the other hand, Electron developers can choose from a range of IDEs, such as Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, or Atom, utilizing their preferred tools and workflows.

  5. Platform Compatibility: Avalonia supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a unified API. It also offers mobile and embedded platform support through Xamarin and Uno. Electron, on the other hand, is primarily targeted towards desktop platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, while also offering experimental support for mobile platforms using frameworks like Capacitor or Cordova.

  6. Community Support: Avalonia has a growing community of developers, backed by an active open-source community, which contributes to its development, maintenance, and documentation. Electron, being one of the most popular frameworks for building cross-platform desktop applications, boasts a massive community and strong ecosystem, with extensive documentation, community forums, and numerous third-party libraries and plugins available.

In Summary, Avalonia is a fully native XAML-based framework, offering performance benefits and a rich set of technologies. On the other hand, Electron leverages web technologies, provides a vast ecosystem, and enables rapid UI iteration.

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Advice on Electron, Avalonia

Semih
Semih

Software Engineering Manager

Oct 1, 2020

Needs adviceonJavaScriptJavaScriptHTML5HTML5.NET.NET

Hi,

We are planning to develop a brand new UX for an already existing desktop software. The previous version is developed on C#.NET with Winforms & WPF. Our plan is to use JavaScript/HTML5 based frontend technologies for the new software. For some components, we are highly dependent on .NET/ .NET Core because the JS-based versions are not mature enough.

What would you choose for a desktop-based Engineering Software that supports multi-OS and has rich UI capabilities considering the .NET dependencies?

Thanks in advance,

Semih

57.9k views57.9k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Electron
Electron
Avalonia
Avalonia

With Electron, creating a desktop application for your company or idea is easy. Initially developed for GitHub's Atom editor, Electron has since been used to create applications by companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Slack, and Docker. The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on io.js and Chromium and is used in the Atom editor.

Avalonia is a multi-platform windowing toolkit - somewhat like WPF - that is intended to be multi- platform. It supports XAML, lookless controls and a flexible styling system, and runs on Windows using Direct2D and other operating systems using Gtk & Cairo.

Use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with Chromium and Node.js to build your app.;Electron is open source; maintained by GitHub and an active community.;Electron apps build and run on Mac, Windows, and Linux.;Automatic updates;Crash reporting;Windows installers;Debugging & profiling;Native menus & notifications
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
29.1K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
2.5K
Stacks
11.6K
Stacks
27
Followers
10.0K
Followers
113
Votes
148
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 69
    Easy to make rich cross platform desktop applications
  • 53
    Open source
  • 14
    Great looking apps such as Slack and Visual Studio Code
  • 8
    Because it's cross platform
  • 4
    Use Node.js in the Main Process
Cons
  • 19
    Uses a lot of memory
  • 8
    User experience never as good as a native app
  • 4
    No proper documentation
  • 4
    Does not native
  • 1
    Wrong reference for dom inspection
No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available
.NET
.NET

What are some alternatives to Electron, Avalonia?

Bootstrap

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation is the most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world. You can quickly prototype and build sites or apps that work on any kind of device with Foundation, which includes layout constructs (like a fully responsive grid), elements and best practices.

Semantic UI

Semantic UI

Semantic empowers designers and developers by creating a shared vocabulary for UI.

Materialize

Materialize

A CSS Framework based on material design.

Material Design for Angular

Material Design for Angular

Material Design is a specification for a unified system of visual, motion, and interaction design that adapts across different devices. Our goal is to deliver a lean, lightweight set of AngularJS-native UI elements that implement the material design system for use in Angular SPAs.

Material-UI

Material-UI

Material UI is a library of React UI components that implements Google's Material Design.

Blazor

Blazor

Blazor is a .NET web framework that runs in any browser. You author Blazor apps using C#/Razor and HTML.

Quasar Framework

Quasar Framework

Build responsive Single Page Apps, SSR Apps, PWAs, Hybrid Mobile Apps and Electron Apps, all using the same codebase!, powered with Vue.

Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js presets all the configuration needed to make your development of a Vue.js application enjoyable. You can use Nuxt.js for SSR, SPA, Static Generated, PWA and more.

UIkIt

UIkIt

UIkit gives you a comprehensive collection of HTML, CSS, and JS components which is simple to use, easy to customize and extendable.

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