Electron vs Sciter

Overview

Electron

Stacks11.6K

Followers10.0K

Votes148

Sciter

Stacks6

Followers31

Votes20

Electron vs Sciter: What are the differences?

Electron and Sciter are both frameworks used for building desktop applications, but they differ in several key aspects.

Cross-platform compatibility: Electron is renowned for its ability to create cross-platform applications as it is based on web technologies, namely HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the other hand, Sciter is also cross-platform compatible, but it relies on native technologies and doesn't require a specific runtime environment like Electron does. This difference enables Sciter-based applications to have a smaller file size and faster startup time.
Performance: Electron applications tend to have slower performance compared to Sciter applications because of the added layer of the Chromium browser engine. Although Electron allows access to native APIs, it requires more resources and can be sluggish in certain scenarios. In contrast, Sciter uses a lightweight rendering engine that results in faster performance and a smaller memory footprint.
Distribution and installation: Electron apps are packaged and distributed as standalone packages containing a full Chromium browser engine. This means users need to download and install a large package to run the application. On the other hand, Sciter applications are much smaller in size and can be distributed as a couple of files, making installation and distribution easier, especially for users with limited bandwidth.
Native look and feel: Electron applications, being web-based, often lack the native look and feel of different platforms. The interface may differ from the native system's UI elements, resulting in a less cohesive user experience. In contrast, Sciter applications are specifically designed to adapt to the native look and feel of the target platform, resulting in a more seamless and consistent user experience.
JavaScript runtime: Electron utilizes the V8 JavaScript engine, which is known for its speed and performance. Sciter, however, uses its own native implementation of JavaScript, which enables it to have better control and integration with the rendering engine. This can be advantageous for certain types of applications that rely heavily on JavaScript functionalities.
UI customization: Electron provides a greater level of UI customization via web technologies such as CSS and HTML, allowing developers to achieve more complex and visually appealing interfaces. Sciter, on the other hand, offers a simpler UI customization approach through its native API, which may be more suitable for applications with specific design requirements.

In summary, Electron offers cross-platform compatibility and extensive UI customization capabilities but sacrifices performance, distribution size, and native look and feel. Sciter, on the other hand, prioritizes performance, smaller distribution size, and native look and feel while offering a simpler UI customization approach.

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CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Detailed Comparison

Electron	Sciter
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.	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.
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	Cross platform; Embeddable; Flexible; Small footprint
Statistics
Stacks 11.6K	Stacks 6
Followers 10.0K	Followers 31
Votes 148	Votes 20
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 4 Small bundle size 4 Faster than ElectronJS 4 Cross platform apps 4 Good for commercial projects 4 Use C++ API Cons 2 Ultralight si lo es,aunque hay módulos comerciales 1 Close source project 1 No es open source 1 Less/bad documentation 1 Doesn't support Javascript
Integrations
No integrations available	Sentry Photon Jolteon DoneJS Hazel Nightmare.js

What are some alternatives to Electron, Sciter?

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.

Element

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

Related Comparisons

Electron vs Sciter: What are the differences?

Electron and Sciter are both frameworks used for building desktop applications, but they differ in several key aspects.

Cross-platform compatibility: Electron is renowned for its ability to create cross-platform applications as it is based on web technologies, namely HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the other hand, Sciter is also cross-platform compatible, but it relies on native technologies and doesn't require a specific runtime environment like Electron does. This difference enables Sciter-based applications to have a smaller file size and faster startup time.
Performance: Electron applications tend to have slower performance compared to Sciter applications because of the added layer of the Chromium browser engine. Although Electron allows access to native APIs, it requires more resources and can be sluggish in certain scenarios. In contrast, Sciter uses a lightweight rendering engine that results in faster performance and a smaller memory footprint.
Distribution and installation: Electron apps are packaged and distributed as standalone packages containing a full Chromium browser engine. This means users need to download and install a large package to run the application. On the other hand, Sciter applications are much smaller in size and can be distributed as a couple of files, making installation and distribution easier, especially for users with limited bandwidth.
Native look and feel: Electron applications, being web-based, often lack the native look and feel of different platforms. The interface may differ from the native system's UI elements, resulting in a less cohesive user experience. In contrast, Sciter applications are specifically designed to adapt to the native look and feel of the target platform, resulting in a more seamless and consistent user experience.
JavaScript runtime: Electron utilizes the V8 JavaScript engine, which is known for its speed and performance. Sciter, however, uses its own native implementation of JavaScript, which enables it to have better control and integration with the rendering engine. This can be advantageous for certain types of applications that rely heavily on JavaScript functionalities.
UI customization: Electron provides a greater level of UI customization via web technologies such as CSS and HTML, allowing developers to achieve more complex and visually appealing interfaces. Sciter, on the other hand, offers a simpler UI customization approach through its native API, which may be more suitable for applications with specific design requirements.

Electron vs Sciter

Overview