Blazor vs Xamarin

Overview

Xamarin

Stacks1.3K

Followers1.5K

Votes785

Blazor

Stacks549

Followers724

Votes445

Blazor vs Xamarin: What are the differences?

Blazor and Xamarin are both popular frameworks for building cross-platform applications. However, there are some key differences between the two that developers need to consider when choosing the right framework for their project.

Language and platform: One of the main differences between Blazor and Xamarin is the language and platform they are built on. Blazor is based on WebAssembly and uses C# as its primary programming language, allowing developers to build web applications using C# instead of JavaScript. On the other hand, Xamarin is based on the .NET framework and uses C# as well, but it is primarily used for building native mobile applications for iOS and Android.
UI components: Another difference between Blazor and Xamarin is the way they handle user interface components. Blazor uses Razor syntax and HTML to define the UI components, similar to how web applications are built using ASP.NET. Xamarin, on the other hand, uses XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language) for defining the UI components, which provides a more declarative and XAML-based approach.
Code reusability: When it comes to code reusability, Blazor has an advantage over Xamarin. Since Blazor allows developers to build web applications using C# and Razor syntax, the same code can be reused for both client-side and server-side development. In contrast, Xamarin requires developers to write separate code for each platform (iOS and Android), although it provides mechanisms for code sharing between platforms.
Deployment: In terms of deployment, there are differences between Blazor and Xamarin. Blazor applications can be deployed as static files to a web server, making it easier to host and distribute. Xamarin applications, on the other hand, need to be compiled into native binaries for each platform before they can be deployed, which adds complexity to the deployment process.
Integration with existing projects: Blazor and Xamarin have different levels of integration with existing projects. Blazor can easily integrate with existing ASP.NET projects, allowing developers to leverage their existing codebase and infrastructure. Xamarin, on the other hand, requires more effort to integrate with existing projects, especially if they are not built on the .NET framework.
Community and ecosystem: Another important difference between Blazor and Xamarin is the community and ecosystem around them. Xamarin has been around for a longer time and has a larger community and ecosystem, with a wide range of tools, libraries, and resources available. Blazor, being a newer technology, is still growing its community and ecosystem, although it has gained significant traction in recent years.

In Summary, Blazor and Xamarin have key differences in terms of the language and platform they are built on, the UI components they use, code reusability, deployment process, integration with existing projects, and community and ecosystem support.

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Detailed Comparison

Xamarin	Blazor
Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.	Blazor is a .NET web framework that runs in any browser. You author Blazor apps using C#/Razor and HTML.
Cross-platform development- Thinking about supporting iOS, Android, Mac and Windows? Xamarin allows you to write it all in C#.;Reuse existing code- Use your favorite .NET libraries in Xamarin apps. Easily use third-party native libraries and frameworks.; Discover as you type- Explore APIs as you type with code autocompletion.;Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio- Create, build, debug, and deploy apps in Visual Studio. Or use Xamarin Studio, a fully-featured IDE that is built for mobile app development.;Native UI, Native Performance- Xamarin delivers high performance compiled code with full access to all the native APIs so you can create native apps with device-specific experiences.; Point and Click UI Design- Xamarin provides a world class Android UI designer. Use Apple Xcode UI designer to create interfaces and Storyboards that automatically sync with your Xamarin.iOS project.	Uses only the latest web standards; No plugins or transpilation needed; A component model for building composable UI; Routing; Layouts; Forms and validation; Dependency injection; JavaScript interop; Live reloading in the browser during development; Server-side rendering; Full .NET debugging both in browsers and in the IDE; Rich IntelliSense and tooling; Ability to run on older (non-WebAssembly) browsers via asm.js; Publishing and app size trimming
Statistics
Stacks 1.3K	Stacks 549
Followers 1.5K	Followers 724
Votes 785	Votes 445
Pros & Cons
Pros 121 Power of c# on mobile devices 81 Native performance 79 Native apps with native ui controls 73 No javascript - truely compiled code 67 Sharing more than 90% of code over all platforms Cons 9 Build times 5 Visual Studio 4 Price 3 Scalability 3 Complexity	Pros 63 Uses C# 49 No need to learn separate language or technology 42 Supports making a single page application 40 Tight integration with .NET project 38 Uses .NET standard library Cons 4 Initial load time 2 Hard to inject javascript
Integrations
No integrations available	.NET C# WebAssembly

What are some alternatives to Xamarin, Blazor?

Bootstrap

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Ionic

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Flutter

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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.

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

Materialize

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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.

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Material-UI

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

Related Comparisons

Blazor vs Xamarin: What are the differences?

Language and platform: One of the main differences between Blazor and Xamarin is the language and platform they are built on. Blazor is based on WebAssembly and uses C# as its primary programming language, allowing developers to build web applications using C# instead of JavaScript. On the other hand, Xamarin is based on the .NET framework and uses C# as well, but it is primarily used for building native mobile applications for iOS and Android.
UI components: Another difference between Blazor and Xamarin is the way they handle user interface components. Blazor uses Razor syntax and HTML to define the UI components, similar to how web applications are built using ASP.NET. Xamarin, on the other hand, uses XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language) for defining the UI components, which provides a more declarative and XAML-based approach.
Code reusability: When it comes to code reusability, Blazor has an advantage over Xamarin. Since Blazor allows developers to build web applications using C# and Razor syntax, the same code can be reused for both client-side and server-side development. In contrast, Xamarin requires developers to write separate code for each platform (iOS and Android), although it provides mechanisms for code sharing between platforms.
Deployment: In terms of deployment, there are differences between Blazor and Xamarin. Blazor applications can be deployed as static files to a web server, making it easier to host and distribute. Xamarin applications, on the other hand, need to be compiled into native binaries for each platform before they can be deployed, which adds complexity to the deployment process.
Integration with existing projects: Blazor and Xamarin have different levels of integration with existing projects. Blazor can easily integrate with existing ASP.NET projects, allowing developers to leverage their existing codebase and infrastructure. Xamarin, on the other hand, requires more effort to integrate with existing projects, especially if they are not built on the .NET framework.
Community and ecosystem: Another important difference between Blazor and Xamarin is the community and ecosystem around them. Xamarin has been around for a longer time and has a larger community and ecosystem, with a wide range of tools, libraries, and resources available. Blazor, being a newer technology, is still growing its community and ecosystem, although it has gained significant traction in recent years.

Blazor vs Xamarin

Overview