Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NW.js VS Xamarin.Forms

Compare NW.js VS Xamarin.Forms and see what are their differences

NW.js logo NW.js

nwjs

Xamarin.Forms logo Xamarin.Forms

Xamarin.Forms is an open source cross-platform framework for building native UIs for iOS, Android, and Windows from a single, shared C# codebase.
  • NW.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-02
  • Xamarin.Forms Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

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.

Xamarin.Forms features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

NW.js videos

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

Xamarin.Forms videos

6 IMPORTANT THINGS DIFFERENT ABOUT XAMARIN.FORMS VS XAMARIN NATIVE

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NW.js and Xamarin.Forms)
Development Tools
89 89%
11% 11
Cross-Platform Development
Rapid Application Development
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare NW.js and Xamarin.Forms

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.

Xamarin.Forms Reviews

12 Best Frameworks and Toolkits to Build Desktop Applications
Xamarin.Forms is an open-source framework for developing applications for different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, etc.
Source: geekflare.com

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: almost 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

Xamarin.Forms mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Xamarin.Forms yet. Tracking of Xamarin.Forms recommendations started around Apr 2023.

What are some alternatives?

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

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

OS.js - OS.js is an open-source JavaScript web desktop platform with a window manager, application APIs, GUI toolkit, filesystem abstractions and much more.

NeutralinoJS - Neutralino is a lightweight application development framework.

EnactJS - An app development framework built atop React that’s easy to use, performant and customizable.

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

Xojo - Real Software and Real Studio are now Xojo.