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

Electron vs Proton Native vs React Native Desktop

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Electron
Electron
Stacks11.6K
Followers10.0K
Votes148
React Native Desktop
React Native Desktop
Stacks15
Followers203
Votes11
Proton Native
Proton Native
Stacks23
Followers182
Votes10
GitHub Stars10.9K
Forks359

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

Introduction

In this markdown, we will compare the key differences between Electron, Proton Native, and React Native Desktop.

  1. Development Language: Electron: Electron is built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It uses Chromium and Node.js to create cross-platform desktop applications. Proton Native: Proton Native is also built using web technologies like React, but it uses Native UI components to render the app instead of using a web view like Electron. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop allows developers to use the same codebase they use for React Native mobile apps, but it provides a desktop-specific runtime on top of React Native.

  2. Platform Support: Electron: Electron supports building desktop applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Proton Native: Proton Native is primarily focused on providing a native-like experience on Linux, macOS, and Windows. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop focuses on building applications for macOS and Windows.

  3. Performance: Electron: Electron uses a separate instance of Chromium for each application, which can lead to higher memory usage and slower performance compared to native applications. Proton Native: Proton Native uses Native UI components, which results in faster performance compared to Electron. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop leverages React Native's performance optimizations for mobile devices, which can result in a faster experience on desktop platforms.

  4. Access to Native APIs: Electron: Electron provides direct access to a wide range of native APIs, allowing developers to build applications with deep system integration. Proton Native: Proton Native also allows access to native APIs, but the number of available APIs may be more limited compared to Electron. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop provides access to the same set of APIs as React Native for mobile applications, which may not cover every native desktop functionality.

  5. Code Reusability: Electron: With Electron, developers can reuse web development skills and code to create cross-platform desktop applications. Proton Native: Proton Native allows code reusability as it is based on React, providing similar code sharing capabilities with React Native. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop enables code reusability by utilizing the same codebase used for React Native mobile apps, allowing developers to share code between mobile and desktop applications.

  6. Tooling and Ecosystem: Electron: Electron has a mature and extensive ecosystem with various libraries, frameworks, and development tools available. Proton Native: Proton Native has a smaller ecosystem compared to Electron, but it provides access to the React ecosystem, which includes various libraries and tools. React Native Desktop: React Native Desktop leverages the existing React Native ecosystem, allowing developers to benefit from the wide range of libraries and tools already available.

In summary, Electron allows developers to build cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies, while Proton Native focuses on providing a native-like experience using React and Native UI components. React Native Desktop enables developers to utilize their React Native codebase for creating desktop applications on macOS and Windows.

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Advice on Electron, React Native Desktop, Proton Native

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
React Native Desktop
React Native Desktop
Proton Native
Proton Native

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.

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

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
-
Same syntax as React Native; Works with existing React libraries such as Redux; Cross platform; Native components (no more Electron)
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
10.9K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
359
Stacks
11.6K
Stacks
15
Stacks
23
Followers
10.0K
Followers
203
Followers
182
Votes
148
Votes
11
Votes
10
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
  • 3
    Pretty awesome
  • 2
    Is native app
  • 2
    Does not include any browser
  • 2
    Memory usage reduced
  • 1
    Open source
Cons
  • 0
    Memory usage reduced
Pros
  • 3
    Full cross plataform
  • 3
    Very fast
  • 2
    Lightweight
  • 1
    React style
  • 1
    Is native
Cons
  • 1
    Low community for the moment
Integrations
No integrations available
React Native
React Native
React
React

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

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.

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.

MacGap

MacGap

MacGap provides HTML/JS/CSS developers an Xcode project for developing native OS X App. These Apps run in OS X's WebView and take advantage of WebKit technologies. MacGap exposes a JavaScript API for OS X integration, such as displaying native notifications or writing data to a file. MacGap is extremely lightweight and nimble; a blank application weighs less than 1MB.

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