Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Electron VS JavaFX

Compare Electron VS JavaFX and see what are their differences

Electron logo Electron

Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

JavaFX logo JavaFX

JavaFX is the next step in the evolution of Java as a rich client platform.
  • Electron Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-01
  • JavaFX Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-18

Electron features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Electron allows developers to create applications that run on Windows, macOS, and Linux using a single codebase, making it easier to reach a broader audience.
  • Web Technologies
    Developers can utilize HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (including popular frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue) to build Electron apps, enabling a more accessible development process for web developers.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Electron benefits from the vast ecosystem of Node.js, granting access to a multitude of packages and modules, and simplifying the inclusion of various functionalities in applications.
  • Auto-Update Mechanism
    Electron has built-in support for auto-updating applications, which saves developers time and effort in managing updates and improves the user experience by keeping the application up-to-date seamlessly.
  • Active Community
    An active community and extensive documentation provide a wealth of resources for developers, from tutorials to plugins, making it easier to find support and improve productivity.

Possible disadvantages of Electron

  • Large File Size
    Because Electron packages both the application code and a version of Chromium, applications tend to be significantly larger in file size compared to native counterparts.
  • High Memory Consumption
    Electron apps can consume more memory because each window runs its instance of Chromium, which can lead to inefficient resource usage, especially on systems with limited memory.
  • Performance
    Due to its reliance on web technologies and Chromium, Electron applications may not perform as well as optimally coded native apps, particularly in resource-intensive scenarios.
  • Security Concerns
    Electron's use of web technologies and features like Node.js integration increases the attack surface, requiring careful handling of security practices to prevent vulnerabilities such as injection attacks.
  • Complexity in Debugging
    Debugging Electron applications can be more complex due to the blend of backend (Node.js) and frontend (browser-like) code, requiring developers to be proficient in multiple debugging tools and techniques.

JavaFX features and specs

  • Rich UI Controls
    JavaFX provides a wide range of built-in UI controls, such as buttons, tables, and charts, which makes it easy to create complex user interfaces.
  • FXML Support
    JavaFX allows developers to use FXML, a scripting interface that enables them to design user interfaces with XML, separating the logic from design, enhancing maintainability.
  • CSS Styling
    The framework supports CSS for styling UI components, offering flexibility in design and the ability to create visually appealing applications.
  • Scene Graph
    JavaFX's scene graph provides a hierarchical structure for managing the layout, simplifying the development of complex UIs with animations and transformations.
  • Cross-Platform
    JavaFX applications are cross-platform, allowing developers to run the same application on different operating systems without modifications.
  • Integration with Java
    As a part of the Java ecosystem, JavaFX integrates seamlessly with existing Java libraries and tools, benefiting from Java's robust environment.

Possible disadvantages of JavaFX

  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Despite its powerful features, JavaFX can be challenging to learn for beginners, especially those not familiar with Java.
  • Limited Third-Party Libraries
    Compared to other UI frameworks like Swing or frameworks outside of Java, JavaFX has a relatively smaller ecosystem of third-party libraries and tools.
  • Performance Issues
    JavaFX might face performance challenges, particularly when dealing with resource-intensive applications or those requiring very high responsiveness.
  • Mobile Support Limitations
    JavaFX's support for mobile platforms is not as strong as other frameworks, requiring additional tools or platforms like Gluon for mobile development.
  • Market Adoption
    The adoption of JavaFX in the industry is not as widespread as other technologies like React or Angular, which might influence community support and development resources.

Electron videos

💻 Why You Should Build Desktop Software With Electron

More videos:

  • Review - What is Electron: The Hard Parts Made Easy
  • Review - Electron Matrix Review Video

JavaFX videos

JavaFX Project Car Review #6 Homepage GUI and Controller

More videos:

  • Review - JavaFX will be removed from JDK 11
  • Review - JavaFX Projects Car Review #2 Login and GUI Controllers

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Electron and JavaFX)
Development Tools
76 76%
24% 24
Rapid Application Development
Cross-Platform Development
Developer Tools
81 81%
19% 19

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Electron and JavaFX

Electron Reviews

Electron.js Alternatives For Cross-Platform Development
All of this changed when Electron.js came into the picture. The framework allowed developers to create a unique cross-platform desktop application without any hurdles. However, it uses up quite a bit of resource making it harder for developers to create lightweight applications. With this blog, we will look into suitable alternatives for Electron.js.
Source: www.atatus.com
12 Best Frameworks and Toolkits to Build Desktop Applications
If you are looking for an alternative to the Electronjs desktop application development framework, Neutralinojs is a viable option. A few applications may become bulky with Electron, but Neutralinojs can help avoid such problems.
Source: geekflare.com
10 Best Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps 
Electron.js is compatible with a variety of frameworks, libraries, access to hardware-level APIs and chromium engine, and Node.js support. Electron Fiddle feature is great for experimentation as it allows developers to play around with concepts and templates. Simplification is at the center of Electron because developers don’t have to spend unnecessary time on the packaging,...
Electron Alternatives﹣5 Best JavaScript Frameworks for Desktop Apps
If you’re a JavaScript developer, you’re going to need to learn a few relatively simple things on how Electron works and it’s API. You will most probably be able to set up your first Electron desktop application in just a few days.
Source: brainhub.eu
Frameworks & Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps – Best of
Enyo is an open-source JavaScript framework, like Electron, that allows developers to create native-quality apps for desktop, mobile, and TV. Enyo can run across all the relatively modern and standard web-based environments. It’s battle-tested and comes with a beautiful cross-platform UI toolkit for creating rich user interfaces.

JavaFX Reviews

We have no reviews of JavaFX yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, JavaFX should be more popular than Electron. It has been mentiond 37 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Electron mentions (14)

  • Design Systems with Web Components
    So we talked a lot about the Atomic Design Principle, but you could just use that in any system and start creating. You could have Angular components, React Components, and Vue Components. But if you notice these don't easily work Everwhere. So the solution is to use Web Components because the modern browser can already understand these, and any Front-End framework can then utilize these components. You can use... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Building Apps with Tauri and Elixir
    For the longest time, building desktop apps was a daunting task to web developers. That is, until technologies like Electron made creating these apps more approachable to a wider audience. Today, we’ve got a wide array of native applications built with solutions like Electron, Tauri, Capacitor, and many more. While these are great solutions, sometimes configuration can be tricky and the applications we create can... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • SvelteKit + Electron: Create your desktop web app
    I make a new Adapter for SvelteKit apps that prerenders your entire site as a collection of static files for use with Electron. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Electron: Build Desktop Applications Using Plain Javascript
    Electron is a cross-platform shell — a user interface for accessing operating system services both via command line (CLI) and graphical user interface (GUI). - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Circuit To Turn On Desktop PC
    Electron (https://electronjs.org/) is a framework for developing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. This is the technology behind many popular apps like Slack, Discord and Visual Studio Code. Join for discussions around Electron! Source: over 2 years ago
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JavaFX mentions (37)

  • JBang, the missing scripting tool of the Java ecosystem
    JavaFX is a desktop and UI framework. Its official website is openjfx.io and is also supported by Gluon which provides additional UI components and brings mobile app support to JavaFX. JBang supports this frameowrk and can be used to create signle file JavaFX applications. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Home to Anything JavaFX Related
    It has a very active community, nothing is dead when there are active users. It has been living as independent package for a long time https://openjfx.io. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Book review - Frontend Development with JavaFX and Kotlin
    Other topics handled in this chapter are Kotlin utilities for JavaFX and direct downloads of JavaFX releases from openjfx.io. The author also explains why FXML is not used in the book. I agree with his view that the XML files are not as dynamic as code and bring a mix of technologies into your project. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Setting up Continuous Integration
    One, I don't understand Java environments really well. All I have done so far is create some GUI applications using JavaFX. Wish I could share my code, but unfortunately, its part of my assignments and can't be open-sourced. Second, the instructions I found in the Contributing docs were bare-minimum, and kinda hard to follow for a beginner. An experienced Java developer would get them really quickly, no doubt... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to use the JavaFX library Medusa to display weather data
    JavaFX (an open source, next generation client application platform for desktop, mobile and embedded systems) has many useful out the box UI controls to build modern interactive desktop apps. These include buttons, checkboxes, list views, labels etc, that can be configured and styled in countless ways. I’ve using them for many years at work building mapping apps! - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Electron and JavaFX, you can also consider the following products

Qt - Powerful, flexible and easy to use, Qt will help you not only meet your tight deadline, but also reduce the maintainable code by an astonishing percentage.

Flutter - Build beautiful native apps in record time 🚀

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Avalonia - A multi-platform .NET UI framework

Xamarin - Create iOS, Android and Mac apps in C#

wxWidgets - wxWidgets: Cross-Platform GUI Library