Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NW.js VS EnactJS

Compare NW.js VS EnactJS and see what are their differences

NW.js logo NW.js

nwjs

EnactJS logo EnactJS

An app development framework built atop React that’s easy to use, performant and customizable.
  • NW.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-02
  • EnactJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-25

NW.js features and specs

  • Cross-Platform
    NW.js supports building applications that run on Windows, macOS, and Linux, enabling developers to write code once and deploy across multiple platforms.
  • Node.js Integration
    Provides deep integration with Node.js, allowing developers to leverage the vast Node.js ecosystem and modules within their applications.
  • Chromium Embedded
    Utilizes the Chromium engine to render the user interface, ensuring modern web standards compliance and high performance.
  • Full Access to Native APIs
    Offers access to all native system calls through Node.js, enabling developers to create rich desktop applications with full OS-level capabilities.
  • Single Process Model
    Allows developers to start with a simple single process model which is easy to debug and manage.

Possible disadvantages of NW.js

  • Large Application Size
    The bundling of Chromium with the application often results in larger file sizes compared to native applications.
  • Memory Consumption
    Applications may use more memory as they run instances of both Node.js and Chromium, potentially taxing system resources.
  • Performance Overhead
    There might be additional performance overhead compared to native applications due to the abstraction layers of Node.js and Chromium.
  • Limited Native UI Components
    Relies on web technologies for UI, which might not have the same look and feel as platform-native components.
  • Frequent Updates
    Keeping up with frequent updates from Chromium and Node.js can be challenging, requiring continuous maintenance to ensure compatibility and security.

EnactJS features and specs

  • Performance
    EnactJS is designed to optimize performance, providing efficient and smooth rendering for applications, particularly on limited resource devices.
  • Consistency
    It offers a consistent development experience and UI components across different platforms, ensuring uniform behavior and appearance.
  • Component Reusability
    EnactJS provides a robust set of reusable UI components that streamline development and improve maintainability.
  • Strong Community Support
    Being backed by LG, EnactJS has solid community support and resources available for developers, making problem-solving easier.
  • Accessibility
    The framework emphasizes accessibility, providing built-in support for making applications usable by people with disabilities.

Possible disadvantages of EnactJS

  • Learning Curve
    EnactJS may have a steep learning curve for developers who are new to it, as it introduces concepts and structures that might be unfamiliar.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to other frameworks like React or Angular, EnactJS has a smaller ecosystem, which might limit third-party libraries and integrations.
  • Niche Audience
    EnactJS is primarily used for developing applications for LG webOS TV, which might not be suitable for web apps targeting broader platforms.
  • Dependency
    Being a specialized framework, applications heavily relying on EnactJS may face challenges if switching to a different technology stack later.

NW.js videos

NW.js vs Electron. Что выбрать для работы NW или Electron? JavaScript Desktop

EnactJS videos

My Take on Fixed Blades: Spartan Blade Enyo Review

More videos:

  • Review - World's Lightest AR-15! | Master of Arms ENYO
  • Review - Raijintek Enyo - Brilliant idea! But not perfect

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NW.js and EnactJS)
Development Tools
72 72%
28% 28
Rapid Application Development
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Cross-Platform Development

User comments

Share your experience with using NW.js and EnactJS. 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 NW.js and EnactJS

NW.js Reviews

Electron Alternatives﹣5 Best JavaScript Frameworks for Desktop Apps
Although it’s the oldest Node.js-Chromium framework in the AppJS, Electron and NW.js trio, it’s not nearly as mature as its competition. Because it has lost its momentum, it may not be the best choice for new projects.
Source: brainhub.eu
Frameworks & Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps – Best of
Cons: Some hard work features that are available in Electron, such as auto-updater and crash-reporting, don’t comes built-in with NW.js. That said, building with NW.js requires more efforts and extra modules – unlike other solutions.

EnactJS Reviews

12 Best Frameworks and Toolkits to Build Desktop Applications
Enact is a suitable application development framework for developers with expertise in React JS. Using this framework, you can easily develop simple, feature-rich, and customizable desktop applications. Enact comes with a simple command-line tool, which makes installation simpler.
Source: geekflare.com
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.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NW.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 33 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.

NW.js mentions (33)

  • Linux 6.9 Set to Drop the Old NTFS File-System Driver
    > FUSE drivers are slow, but "wildly slow" is an overstatement. I can confirm this, I've played RPGMaker M{V,Z} games natively by swapping out the copy of NWJS¹ it shipped with and running it through a CIOPFS² mount. 1: https://nwjs.io/ 2: https://www.brain-dump.org/projects/ciopfs/ / https://github.com/martanne/ciopfs. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • How to play this on a Chromebook through Linux Itch.io
    Go to this page to download NW.js https://nwjs.io/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • What would be the current recommended way to publishing an html5 game on steam?
    In addition to the other options here you could look at nw.js. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Console Commands, Kill Count And Saving System
    I don't think you can access it by default, but crosscode runs on [nw.js](https://nwjs.io). I know there is a way to get the chromium devtools to open, but I haven't been able to. Source: about 2 years ago
  • DuckieTV not launching
    Or browse the NWJS home page at https://nwjs.io/. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

EnactJS mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of EnactJS yet. Tracking of EnactJS recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NW.js and EnactJS, you can also consider the following products

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

NeutralinoJS - Neutralino is a lightweight application development framework.

qooxdoo - qooxdoo is a universal JavaScript framework that enables you to create applications for a wide...

Proton Native - A React environment for cross platform native desktop app

Zepto.js - Zepto is a minimalist JavaScript library for modern browsers with a largely jQuery-compatible API.