Electron vs Nativefier

Overview

Electron

Stacks11.6K

Followers10.0K

Votes148

Nativefier

Stacks29

Followers95

Votes2

Electron vs Nativefier: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown code, we will present the key differences between Electron and Nativefier. Both Electron and Nativefier are popular tools used for building desktop applications using web technologies. However, there are several distinct differences between the two.

Framework Integration: Electron is a framework that allows you to build cross-platform desktop applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It provides a full-featured development environment that includes a bundled Chromium browser, Node.js runtime, and other necessary components. On the other hand, Nativefier is a command-line tool that creates a native wrapper for web applications without the full-fledged development environment. It uses Electron under the hood to generate platform-specific builds.
User Interface: Electron applications can have a fully customizable user interface as they are built using web technologies. You have complete control over the appearance and behavior of the application. Nativefier, on the other hand, creates a native wrapper around the web application, which means the user interface is determined by the web application itself. You cannot customize the user interface beyond what is provided by the web application.
Development Workflow: Electron provides a comprehensive development workflow with built-in tooling and extensive documentation. It offers features like hot reloading, debugging, and packaging tools to streamline the development process. Nativefier, being a command-line tool, has a simpler development workflow. You just need to specify the URL of the web application and run the command to generate the native wrapper.
Application Size: Electron applications tend to have a larger file size compared to Nativefier applications. This is because Electron includes a bundled Chromium browser and Node.js runtime in the binary, which adds to the overall size of the application. Nativefier applications, on the other hand, only include the necessary files to create a native wrapper around the web application, resulting in a smaller file size.
Distribution and Updates: Electron applications can be distributed and updated like any other desktop application. You can create installation packages for different platforms and use automatic update mechanisms to deliver updates to users. Nativefier applications, however, are distributed as standalone executables and do not have built-in update mechanisms. If you want to update the application, you need to generate a new build and distribute it manually.
Platform Support: Electron supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It provides APIs to access platform-specific features and functionalities. Nativefier, being built on top of Electron, inherits the platform support of Electron. However, Nativefier is primarily focused on creating native wrappers for web applications, which means it may not support all platform-specific features provided by Electron.

In summary, Electron and Nativefier differ in terms of framework integration, user interface customization, development workflow, application size, distribution and updates, as well as platform support.

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Advice on Electron, Nativefier

Semih

Software Engineering Manager

Oct 1, 2020

Needs adviceon

JavaScript

HTML5

.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	Nativefier
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.	Nativefier is a command line tool that allows you to easily create a desktop application for any web site with succinct and minimal configuration. Apps are wrapped by Electron in an OS executable (.app, .exe, etc.) for use on Windows, OSX and Linux.
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 29
Followers 10.0K	Followers 95
Votes 148	Votes 2
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	Pros 2 Has a better Javascript support, and is much faster

What are some alternatives to Electron, Nativefier?

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

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

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

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.

React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native.

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

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

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

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

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.

Related Comparisons

Electron vs Nativefier: What are the differences?

Introduction

Framework Integration: Electron is a framework that allows you to build cross-platform desktop applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It provides a full-featured development environment that includes a bundled Chromium browser, Node.js runtime, and other necessary components. On the other hand, Nativefier is a command-line tool that creates a native wrapper for web applications without the full-fledged development environment. It uses Electron under the hood to generate platform-specific builds.
User Interface: Electron applications can have a fully customizable user interface as they are built using web technologies. You have complete control over the appearance and behavior of the application. Nativefier, on the other hand, creates a native wrapper around the web application, which means the user interface is determined by the web application itself. You cannot customize the user interface beyond what is provided by the web application.
Development Workflow: Electron provides a comprehensive development workflow with built-in tooling and extensive documentation. It offers features like hot reloading, debugging, and packaging tools to streamline the development process. Nativefier, being a command-line tool, has a simpler development workflow. You just need to specify the URL of the web application and run the command to generate the native wrapper.
Application Size: Electron applications tend to have a larger file size compared to Nativefier applications. This is because Electron includes a bundled Chromium browser and Node.js runtime in the binary, which adds to the overall size of the application. Nativefier applications, on the other hand, only include the necessary files to create a native wrapper around the web application, resulting in a smaller file size.
Distribution and Updates: Electron applications can be distributed and updated like any other desktop application. You can create installation packages for different platforms and use automatic update mechanisms to deliver updates to users. Nativefier applications, however, are distributed as standalone executables and do not have built-in update mechanisms. If you want to update the application, you need to generate a new build and distribute it manually.
Platform Support: Electron supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It provides APIs to access platform-specific features and functionalities. Nativefier, being built on top of Electron, inherits the platform support of Electron. However, Nativefier is primarily focused on creating native wrappers for web applications, which means it may not support all platform-specific features provided by Electron.

Electron vs Nativefier

Overview

Electron vs Nativefier: What are the differences?