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

Electron vs Hazel vs React Native Desktop

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Electron
Electron
Stacks11.6K
Followers10.0K
Votes148
React Native Desktop
React Native Desktop
Stacks15
Followers203
Votes11
Hazel
Hazel
Stacks18
Followers23
Votes0

Electron vs Hazel vs React Native Desktop: What are the differences?

Introduction

Here we will discuss the key differences between Electron, Hazel, and React Native Desktop.

  1. Platform Compatibility: Electron is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, making it versatile for desktop applications. Hazel is focused on macOS only, providing a seamless experience for Apple users. React Native Desktop, on the other hand, can target multiple platforms like Electron but is primarily designed for mobile applications.

  2. Performance: Electron applications can be considered heavier in terms of resource consumption compared to Hazel, which is known for its lightweight nature and fast performance on macOS devices. React Native Desktop, being based on React Native, offers good performance optimization for mobile platforms but may have limitations on desktop devices.

  3. Development Environment: Electron provides a rich development environment with a wide range of tools and libraries for building desktop applications. Hazel, on the other hand, offers a more streamlined development process tailored specifically for macOS applications. React Native Desktop leverages the existing React Native ecosystem, making it easier for developers familiar with React to transition to desktop development.

  4. User Interface Components: Electron offers a wide selection of UI components and libraries for creating interactive desktop applications. Hazel focuses on providing native macOS UI components and design patterns for a seamless user experience on Apple devices. React Native Desktop utilizes React Native components, which can be customized for desktop applications but may not offer the same level of native UI integration as Hazel.

  5. Community Support: Electron has a large and active community of developers contributing to the framework and offering support for building desktop applications across different platforms. Hazel, being more niche and focused on macOS, has a smaller community but dedicated support for Apple developers. React Native Desktop benefits from the extensive React Native community, providing a wealth of resources and expertise for developing cross-platform applications.

  6. Deployment Options: Electron offers robust deployment options with built-in packaging tools for distributing applications on various platforms. Hazel simplifies the deployment process for macOS users, with easy distribution through the Mac App Store. React Native Desktop, being based on React Native, inherits similar deployment mechanisms for mobile apps, but may require additional steps for desktop deployment.

In Summary, each framework - Electron, Hazel, and React Native Desktop - offers unique strengths and focuses on different aspects of desktop and mobile application development, catering to specific requirements and preferences of developers and users.

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Detailed Comparison

Electron
Electron
React Native Desktop
React Native Desktop
Hazel
Hazel

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.

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native.

This project lets you deploy an update server for Electron apps with ease: You only need to run a single command and fill out two text fields.

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
Stacks
11.6K
Stacks
15
Stacks
18
Followers
10.0K
Followers
203
Followers
23
Votes
148
Votes
11
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
    Does not native
  • 4
    No proper documentation
  • 1
    Wrong reference for dom inspection
Pros
  • 3
    Pretty awesome
  • 2
    Memory usage reduced
  • 2
    Does not include any browser
  • 2
    Is native app
  • 1
    Open source
Cons
  • 0
    Memory usage reduced
No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available
React Native
React Native
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Electron, React Native Desktop, Hazel?

Sciter

Sciter

It brings a stack of web technologies to desktop UI development. Web designers, and developers, can reuse their experience and expertise in creating modern looking desktop applications.

wxWidgets

wxWidgets

It is a C++ library that lets developers create applications for Windows, macOS, Linux and other platforms with a single code base. It has popular language bindings for Python, Perl, Ruby and many other languages, and unlike other cross-platform toolkits, it gives applications a truly native look and feel because it uses the platform's native API rather than emulating the GUI. It's also extensive, free, open-source and mature.

Qt5

Qt5

It is a full development framework with tools designed to streamline the creation of applications and user interfaces for desktop, embedded, and mobile platforms.

JavaFX

JavaFX

It is a set of graphics and media packages that enables developers to design, create, test, debug, and deploy rich client applications that operate consistently across diverse platforms.

JUCE

JUCE

It is a C++ framework for low-latency applications, with cross-platform GUI libraries to get your apps running on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

Proton Native

Proton Native

Create native desktop applications through a React syntax, on all platforms.

NodeGUI

NodeGUI

It is an open source library for building cross-platform native desktop applications with JavaScript and CSS like styling. It is based on Qt5 and NOT chromium, hence it is memory and cpu efficient.

pygame

pygame

It is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.

SDL

SDL

It is a cross-platform development library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware via OpenGL and Direct3D.

Element

Element

Element is a Vue 2.0 based component library for developers, designers and product managers, with a set of design resources.

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