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.NET VS React Native Desktop

Compare .NET VS React Native Desktop and see what are their differences

.NET logo .NET

.NET is a free, cross-platform, open source developer platform for building many different types of applications.

React Native Desktop logo React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native
  • .NET Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19
  • React Native Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

.NET features and specs

  • Cross-Platform
    The .NET platform supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, which allows for the development and deployment of applications across different operating systems.
  • Performance
    ASP.NET Core, a part of the .NET ecosystem, has high-performance benchmarks and is suitable for developing scalable and high-performance systems.
  • Large Ecosystem
    .NET has a vast library of pre-built components, frameworks, and APIs that speed up development and reduce the need for writing code from scratch.
  • Strong Community Support
    There is a large and active community of developers, providing resources such as forums, documentation, and third-party tools.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    Visual Studio, the primary IDE for .NET, offers robust features like IntelliSense, debugging, and testing tools, making development easier and more efficient.
  • Security
    .NET provides a range of security features, including code access security, role-based security, and encryption, making it a reliable choice for secure applications.
  • Compatible with Modern Development
    .NET supports modern development practices like containerization with Docker and cloud-native applications, particularly with Azure.
  • Language Support
    .NET supports multiple programming languages like C#, F#, and VB.NET, allowing developers to choose the right one for their needs.

Possible disadvantages of .NET

  • Learning Curve
    Given its vast ecosystem and feature set, .NET can have a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Memory Usage
    .NET applications can be more memory-intensive compared to applications built with some other frameworks, which can be a concern for resource-constrained environments.
  • Platform-Specific Issues
    While .NET is cross-platform, certain platform-specific issues can arise, requiring additional work to ensure compatibility.
  • Cost of Microsoft Tools
    Although .NET is open-source, some associated tools like Visual Studio Enterprise come with significant licensing costs.
  • Smaller Talent Pool
    Compared to more universally taught languages like Python or JavaScript, finding highly skilled .NET developers can be more challenging.

React Native Desktop features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Code Sharing
    React Native Desktop allows for code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, reducing development time and effort. This promotes a unified codebase across iOS, Android, and macOS platforms.
  • React Ecosystem
    Developers can leverage the extensive ecosystem of React and React Native, including libraries, tools, and community support, thus simplifying development and benefiting from existing solutions.
  • Hot Reloading
    React Native Desktop supports hot reloading, which allows developers to see changes immediately without rebuilding the whole application. This greatly enhances development speed and productivity.
  • Native Performance
    React Native Desktop aims to deliver a performance close to native applications on macOS, allowing for smooth user experience and efficient utilization of the system's resources.

Possible disadvantages of React Native Desktop

  • Immature Project
    React Native Desktop is still a relatively young project compared to its mobile counterpart. It may lack some stability, advanced features, and support that are available in more mature frameworks.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers familiar with only web development might find it challenging to adapt to React Native's paradigms and native coding patterns required for desktop applications.
  • Limited macOS-Specific Components
    There might be fewer out-of-the-box components and libraries tailored for macOS when compared to those available for mobile, requiring more custom implementation work.
  • No Official Support
    As an open-source project, React Native Desktop doesn't have official support from Facebook or a large organization, which might lead to slower updates and a greater reliance on community contributions.

Analysis of .NET

Overall verdict

  • Yes, .NET is considered a good and reliable choice for developers due to its robust features, cross-platform capabilities, and strong community support.

Why this product is good

  • Microsoft's .NET is a versatile and powerful open-source developer platform that supports building a wide range of applications, including web, mobile, desktop, gaming, cloud, and IoT applications. It offers strong language support for languages like C#, F#, and VB.NET and provides a rich ecosystem of libraries, tools, and frameworks such as ASP.NET for web development and Xamarin for mobile development. The platform is known for its performance, security, and the ability to work seamlessly across different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Recommended for

  • Enterprise applications
  • Cross-platform development
  • Web developers using ASP.NET
  • Mobile app developers using Xamarin
  • Game developers utilizing Unity

Analysis of React Native Desktop

Overall verdict

  • React Native Desktop can be a good choice if you are already invested in the React Native ecosystem and are looking for a way to expand your application's reach to desktop platforms without starting from scratch. It benefits from the familiar JavaScript and React syntax, as well as a large community of developers who contribute to its growth. However, depending on the project's specific needs and the level of maturity expected, it might lack some features or optimizations available in native desktop application frameworks.

Why this product is good

  • React Native Desktop is designed to allow developers to use React Native for creating desktop applications. It leverages the existing React Native ecosystem, which means that developers familiar with React Native can transition to desktop app development more easily. By allowing code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, it can significantly reduce the development time and effort required to maintain consistency across platforms.

Recommended for

    This framework is recommended for JavaScript developers who are already comfortable with React Native and want to leverage their existing skills to develop cross-platform applications that include desktop environments. It is suitable for projects that require rapid prototyping and consistent user experiences across mobile and desktop devices.

.NET videos

.NET Design Review: DataFrame

More videos:

  • Review - Truetrader.net | Loophole EXPOSED
  • Review - .NET Design Review: .NET Core 3.1

React Native Desktop videos

No React Native Desktop videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to .NET and React Native Desktop)
Ad Servers
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
28 28%
72% 72
Development Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Ad Serving
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, .NET seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 50 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.

.NET mentions (50)

  • How to Build a .NET PDF Editor (Developer Tutorial)
    Editing PDF files programmatically is a common requirement in enterprise applications — whether you're modifying invoices, generating reports, or enabling users to fill and save forms. The .NET ecosystem lacks native support for advanced PDF editing, which makes third-party libraries crucial. - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • dotnet cross-platform interop with C via Environment.ProcessId system call
    Dotnet (.NET 9 is used for this article) and C# decompiler. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Why Does Everyone Forget Java and C# for Backend Development? Why Don’t Full-Stack Developers Learn Java and C#?
    C# was developed by Microsoft in the early 2000s as part of its .NET initiative, led by Anders Hejlsberg. Originally designed as an alternative to Java, C# evolved into a powerful language for Windows applications, backend services, game development (via Unity), and cloud computing. The introduction of .NET Core made C# fully cross-platform, allowing it to run on Windows, Linux, and macOS. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Implementing Social Authentication in .NET Web API
    This blog post details how to implement social authentication and provide users with several social login options and how we can handle the users' data obtained as a result of these logins in our application. In this blog post, we’ll look at how we can integrate Google and Facebook login authentications. We will see how this can be implemented from the server side of an application using .NET 6; Microsoft's own... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Unit (Visual Programming System) [video]
    We never quite lost it, just the startup SV culture lost sight of them, https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/ https://www.outsystems.com/ Or in the game industry, https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.2/en-US/blueprints-visual-scripting-in-unreal-engine/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
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React Native Desktop mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of React Native Desktop yet. Tracking of React Native Desktop recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing .NET and React Native Desktop, you can also consider the following products

WPMU DEV - WPMU offers WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, WordPress Multisite and BuddyPress Plugins and Themes.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

MAMP - MAMP is the abbreviation for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It is a reliable application with its four components that allows you to access the local PHP server as well as the database server (SQL).

Deco IDE - Best IDE for building React Native apps

Firefox Developer Edition - Built for those who build the Web. The only browser made for developers.

React Boilerplate - Offline-first, highly scalable foundation for your next app