THthunderbong·Sep 21, 2023Submission
Web to Desktop Framework Comparison
2 points · Open discussionElanis
web-to-desktop-framework-comparison
JavaScript2022–2026
Elanis / web-to-desktop-framework-comparison
web-to-desktop-framework-comparison
An objective comparison of multiple frameworks that allow us to "transform" our web apps to desktop applications.
11Distinct people
13Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
2KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
An objective comparison of multiple frameworks that allow us to "transform" our web apps to desktop applications.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
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Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 3:30:57 AM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year13 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2022-02-07 10:46:53 UTC to 2026-02-22 09:34:32 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
5 sourcesWhy is this better than just using Dart/Flutter?
The introduction docs also claim "In Electron and NWjs, you have to install Node.js and hundreds of dependency libraries. Embedded Chromium and Node make simple apps bloaty. Neutralinojs offers a lightweight and portable SDK which is an alternative for Electron and NW.js."
Yet the installation here starts with NPM and depends on Node.
Sorry, but I don't see a significant difference between this and Electron
just from the comparison chart linked in the docs.
https://github.com/Elanis/web-to-desktop-framework-compariso...
Save for the fact that Neutralinojs is not listed as having any support for automated testing where Electron does.
The data there shows smaller and faster builds on empty apps but that doesn't count for much since no one ships empty apps.
Needs a fair comparison against its
Read the rest
claimed competitors using app examples that at least mimic real world apps.
For example, if building the typical kind of application people would build in Electron still results in a smaller deliverable and much faster build, that would start to make a case for a better developer experience.
Though I would guess that most developers would not switch and learn a new framework just to get slightly faster builds before considering test time. Integration test run times tend to take up most of the time in any build process.
not for nothing... but from their comparison chart, it looks like .Net Maui is the better option:
https://github.com/Elanis/web-to-desktop-framework-compariso...
In Neutralinojs – Build lightweight cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScriptI looked into some alternatives a while back [1] and thought Neutralino looked promising except that it doesn't support node modules. I.e. you cannot use the existing ecosystem of node-stuff.
Still, glad there are many options for using web UI to create desktop apps these days.
[1]: Neutralino themselves link to this nice comparison table: https://github.com/Elanis/web-to-desktop-framework-compariso...
In Neutralinojs – Build lightweight cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScriptThey link a comparison: https://github.com/Elanis/web-to-desktop-framework-compariso...
By those numbers it compares remarkably will against Tauri.
In Neutralinojs – Build lightweight cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScript