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Electron vs React Desktop: What are the differences?

Introduction

Electron and React Desktop are both popular frameworks for building desktop applications. While both frameworks are used for building cross-platform desktop applications, there are several key differences between them.

  1. Architecture: Electron is a framework that combines Chromium and Node.js, allowing developers to build desktop applications with web technologies. It provides a runtime environment that runs a separate instance of Chromium and Node.js for each application window. React Desktop, on the other hand, is a UI toolkit built on top of React, providing a set of components specifically designed for desktop applications. It follows a component-based architecture.

  2. Language: Electron primarily uses JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for building applications. It provides a familiar web development environment for developers. React Desktop, as the name suggests, is built on top of React and primarily uses JavaScript and JSX for building applications. It leverages the power of React to build highly interactive and reusable UI components.

  3. Performance: Electron applications can be resource-intensive due to the separate instances of Chromium and Node.js running for each application window. This can affect the overall performance of the application, especially when running multiple windows simultaneously. React Desktop, being a UI toolkit built on top of React, benefits from React's virtual DOM and efficient rendering mechanism, resulting in better performance and optimized resource usage.

  4. Development Workflow: Electron provides a powerful set of tools and a mature ecosystem for developing desktop applications. It allows developers to build, package, and distribute applications with ease. React Desktop, on the other hand, leverages the existing React development workflow and ecosystem. It provides a seamless integration with tools like webpack, Babel, and npm, making it easier for developers already familiar with React to start building desktop applications.

  5. Platform Support: Electron supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It provides a consistent development experience across different operating systems. React Desktop, being a UI toolkit built on top of React, can potentially be used on any platform supported by React. However, the level of platform support may depend on the specific UI components and libraries used in the application.

  6. Application Size: Electron applications tend to have larger file sizes compared to native desktop applications. This is because Electron packages the entire Chromium runtime along with the application code. React Desktop, being a UI toolkit built on top of React, allows developers to build smaller and more lightweight applications by selectively using only the necessary React components.

In summary, Electron is a framework that combines Chromium and Node.js to build desktop applications with web technologies, while React Desktop is a UI toolkit built on top of React for building desktop applications with a component-based architecture. Electron has a slightly higher performance overhead and larger file sizes compared to React Desktop, but it provides a mature development workflow and extensive platform support. React Desktop, on the other hand, benefits from React's efficient rendering mechanism and provides a lightweight and familiar development experience.

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Pros of Electron
Pros of React Desktop
  • 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
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    Cons of Electron
    Cons of React Desktop
    • 18
      Uses a lot of memory
    • 8
      User experience never as good as a native app
    • 4
      No proper documentation
    • 4
      Does not native
    • 1
      Each app needs to install a new chromium + nodejs
    • 1
      Wrong reference for dom inspection
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      - No public GitHub repository available -

      What is Electron?

      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.

      What is React Desktop?

      react-desktop is a JavaScript library built ontop of Facebook's React library, which aims to bring a native desktop experience to the web, featuring many OS X El Capitan and Windows 10 components. react-desktop works perfectly with node-webkit and Electron.js, but can be used in any JavaScript powered project!

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      What companies use React Desktop?
      See which teams inside your own company are using Electron or React Desktop.
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      Blog Posts

      What are some alternatives to Electron and React Desktop?
      Photon
      The fastest way to build beautiful Electron apps using simple HTML and CSS. Underneath it all is Electron. Originally built for GitHub's Atom text editor, Electron is the easiest way to build cross-platform desktop applications.
      React Native Desktop
      Build OS X desktop apps using React Native.
      React Native
      React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.
      React
      Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
      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.
      See all alternatives