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PyQt VS Electron Toolkit

Compare PyQt VS Electron Toolkit and see what are their differences

PyQt logo PyQt

Riverbank | Software | PyQt | What is PyQt?

Electron Toolkit logo Electron Toolkit

Toolkit to build and launch Electron apps
  • PyQt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-18
  • Electron Toolkit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

PyQt features and specs

  • Comprehensive UI library
    PyQt provides a wide range of UI components, from basic widgets to advanced tools. This allows for the creation of highly sophisticated interfaces.
  • Cross-platform
    Applications built with PyQt can run on different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux without requiring significant changes in the code.
  • Integration with Qt Designer
    Developers can use Qt Designer to design and implement their UIs visually, which can then be seamlessly integrated with Python code in PyQt.
  • Powerful event handling
    PyQt includes a highly efficient event handling system that makes it easy to manage user interactions and system events.
  • Good documentation and community support
    PyQt is well-documented, and there's a large community of developers who can provide support and share resources.
  • Python-specific advantages
    Leveraging Python's simplicity and readability, PyQt allows for rapid development and easy maintenance of applications.

Possible disadvantages of PyQt

  • License considerations
    PyQt is available under the GPL and a commercial license. If you want to create proprietary software without open-sourcing your code, you need to purchase a commercial license.
  • Steep learning curve
    While PyQt is powerful, it can have a steep learning curve for newcomers, particularly those who are not familiar with Qt and its paradigms.
  • Performance overhead
    Being a binding for Qt, some operations may have extra overhead compared to native Qt applications written in C++.
  • Dependency on external libraries
    PyQt relies on the Qt library, which means that you have to manage and distribute these dependencies along with your application.
  • Large binary sizes
    Applications created with PyQt can result in relatively large binary sizes because of the included Qt binaries.
  • Fragmentation of tools
    There can be fragmentation concerns, as PyQt must stay in sync with Qt, and different versions of Qt may introduce changes that are not immediately reflected in PyQt.

Electron Toolkit features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Electron Toolkit allows developers to build applications that work on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a single codebase, increasing efficiency and reducing development time.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Being built on Electron, it takes advantage of a vast ecosystem of plugins and resources that enable developers to incorporate various features and functionalities effortlessly.
  • Familiar Technologies
    Developers can use web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to build desktop applications, allowing web developers to easily transition to desktop app development.
  • Active Community
    Electron's popularity has fostered an active community, providing numerous tutorials, forums, and documentation that can be valuable support resources for developers using Electron Toolkit.

Possible disadvantages of Electron Toolkit

  • High Resource Usage
    Applications built with Electron tend to consume more memory and CPU power compared to natively built applications, which may lead to performance issues on less powerful hardware.
  • Large Application Size
    Electron apps typically have a larger file size due to the inclusion of bundled Chromium and Node.js, which can be a downside for users with limited storage space.
  • Security Concerns
    Using web technologies opens up potential security vulnerabilities, requiring developers to be vigilant about implementing best practices to protect their applications.
  • Version Compatibility
    With frequent updates to Chromium and Node.js, maintaining compatibility with the latest versions can be challenging, sometimes necessitating code changes to utilize new features or maintain compatibility.

PyQt videos

Python Top 3 GUI Frameworks In 2019 (PyQt5, wxPython, TKinter)

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Electron Toolkit videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PyQt and Electron Toolkit)
Development Tools
79 79%
21% 21
Rapid Application Development
Developer Tools
68 68%
32% 32
Productivity
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 PyQt and Electron Toolkit

PyQt Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
PyQt is one of the most popular sets of Python bindings for the Qt cross-platform application framework. This framework perfectly combines the simplicity of Python as a general-purpose language and the powerful Qt application framework built in C++.
Source: kinsta.com
Which Python GUI library should you use? Comparing the Python GUI libraries available in 2023
Before the Qt Company (under Nokia) released the officially supported PySide library in 2009, Riverbank Computing had released PyQt in 1998. The main difference between these two libraries is in licensing. The free-to-use version of PyQt is licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL) v3 but PySide is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). This means...
10 Best Python Libraries for GUI
Developed by Riverbank Computing, PyQt5 is one of the most popular Python frameworks for GUI. The PyQt package is built around the Qt framework, which is a cross-platform framework used for creating various applications on different platforms.
Source: www.unite.ai
Top 10 Python GUI Frameworks for Developers
When it comes to creating GUIs, the PyQt5 arsenal offers the impressive QtGui and the QtDesigner module, which provide numerous visual elements that the developer can implement with a simple drag and drop. Of course, the option of creating these elements by code also exists, allowing you to create both small-scale as well as large-scale applications with ease. Python’s...

Electron Toolkit Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PyQt seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 4 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.

PyQt mentions (4)

  • Python vs. JavaScript: Is It a Fair Comparison?
    JavaScript is a clear winner in the category of mobile development. There are some niche frameworks to do mobile development with Python—like Kivy and PyQT—but pretty much nobody uses them. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • what would be the best looking GUI framework to develop a desktop python application? (other than Tkinter)
    If none of those are to your liking, you can use PyQT (or Pyside) but the learning curve is much steeper. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Is there a "Windows Forms" GUI designer for Python?
    Also, there is the PyQt module which is a comprehensive set of Python bindings for the Qt GUI. It has Qt Designer. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Best way to install qutebrowser?
    As for PyQt, that's developed entirely independently from Qt (by Riverbank Computing). The major/minor versions usually line up with the respective Qt releases (since the Qt release introduces new APIs, so a new PyQt release is needed to expose those to Python). However, it's versioned independently, and a new patch release of PyQt might be needed before/without Qt releasing a new patch release. For more details,... Source: about 4 years ago

Electron Toolkit mentions (0)

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

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PyQt and Electron Toolkit, 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.

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

Tkinter - Tkinter is a Python wrapper for Tcl/Tk that offers classes to create various graphical user interfaces.

Electron.NET - Build cross platform desktop apps with .NET Core

PySimpleGUI - A simple to use GUI that can create custom GUIs

Web2Desk for Business - Convert your web app to desktop app in one click