Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NeutralinoJS VS React Native Desktop

Compare NeutralinoJS VS React Native Desktop and see what are their differences

NeutralinoJS logo NeutralinoJS

Neutralino is a lightweight application development framework.

React Native Desktop logo React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native
  • NeutralinoJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-25
  • React Native Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

NeutralinoJS features and specs

  • Lightweight
    NeutralinoJS is lightweight compared to other desktop development frameworks like Electron. It consumes fewer resources, which leads to better performance.
  • Cross-Platform
    It is designed to work on multiple operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing developers to create cross-platform applications with a single codebase.
  • No Dependencies Required
    NeutralinoJS does not require Node.js to be installed on the end user's device, simplifying the deployment process and reducing the setup complexity.
  • Native Feel
    Applications built with NeutralinoJS can integrate well with native operating system features, providing a more seamless user experience.
  • Web Technology Stack
    Developers can use familiar web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which accelerates the development process and makes it more accessible to web developers.

Possible disadvantages of NeutralinoJS

  • Limited Features Compared to Electron
    NeutralinoJS may not have all the advanced features and functionalities that Electron offers, potentially limiting its use for more complex applications.
  • Smaller Community
    NeutralinoJS has a smaller community and ecosystem compared to more established frameworks like Electron, which may result in fewer resources and third-party plugins.
  • Less Documented
    The documentation might not be as extensive or comprehensive as other popular frameworks, making it harder for developers to troubleshoot or learn advanced topics.
  • Newer Technology
    Being a relatively newer framework, it might still be undergoing significant changes and improvements, which could affect the stability of projects.

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 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.

NeutralinoJS videos

neutralinojs building cross platform

More videos:

  • Review - Building your first app with Neutralinojs 1.0.8

React Native Desktop videos

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

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NeutralinoJS and React Native Desktop)
Development Tools
52 52%
48% 48
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Rapid Application Development
Cross-Platform Development

User comments

Share your experience with using NeutralinoJS and React Native Desktop. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare NeutralinoJS and React Native Desktop

NeutralinoJS Reviews

  1. A very lightweight alternative to electronJS or NWJS

    I have previously created small desktop apps in electron and NW. These were functionally strong, but extremely large and had long load times. With neutralino JS I was able to create the same tools with less effort (both in creation and compilation). I was able to reduce the size of the tools from >300 MB to under 3 MB. Neutralino JS is clearly the better choice for me.

    ๐Ÿ Competitors: Electron, NW.js
    ๐Ÿ‘ Pros:    Very lightweight|Easy to use
    ๐Ÿ‘Ž Cons:    Documentation could be stronger|Limited functionality, at the moment

Electron.js Alternatives For Cross-Platform Development
Neutralino.js is yet another superior alternative to Electron.js. It uses a similar thought line as Tauri to help developers create lightweight and unique digital solutions. However, its installation is pretty easy and it uses JS as its core language which makes it more accessible to the target users.
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

React Native Desktop Reviews

We have no reviews of React Native Desktop yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NeutralinoJS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 21 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.

NeutralinoJS mentions (21)

  • Electrobun: Cross-platform desktop applications written in TypeScript
    So is it a yet another webview-based framework like NeutralinoJS (https://neutralino.js.org), Electrino (https://github.com/pojala/electrino)? What's their advantage apart from using Bun instead of Node? For relly lightweight cross-platform desktop apps better use a non-webview-based native framework like Qt, GTK, wxWidgets or even recently released FLTK 1.4. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Writing GUI apps for Windows is painful
    I've been eyeing https://neutralino.js.org/ since if I'm going to make the app render right on browsers then relying on the same code via webviews likely isn't (much) more portability effort. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Pywebview 5
    We tried using pywebview for a cross-platform desktop app when it was version 3.x and some of the features were limited, especially when it came to systray interactions. Will have to try it out again. In the end, for that specific project, we ended up settling on NeutralinoJS. Wails was another big contender but due to limited GoLang resources in-house, we decided not to use it. Reference: https://neutralino.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • This year in Servo: over 1000 pull requests and beyond
    There's always https://neutralino.js.org/ which uses native WebView components to keep itself rather smaller than Electron. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Suggestions for a framework to build a personal desktop or browser app
    I've been drawn to NeutralinoJS as it looks like it will do what I want, but I'm willing to hear some other recommendations and maybe tutorials on how to do the objectively simple things I've outlined above. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

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 NeutralinoJS and React Native Desktop, you can also consider the following products

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

NW.js - nwjs

Deco IDE - Best IDE for building React Native apps

DeskGap - Framework for building cross-platform desktop apps with web technologies (JavaScript, HTML and CSS).

NativeBase - Experience the awesomeness of React Native without the pain