Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Qt VS Leaflet

Compare Qt VS Leaflet and see what are their differences

Qt logo 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.

Leaflet logo Leaflet

Leaflet is a modern, lightweight open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps.
  • Qt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22
  • Leaflet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13

Qt features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    Qt allows developers to write applications that can run on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, without the need for significant code changes.
  • Rich Documentation
    Qt provides extensive and well-maintained documentation, making it easier for developers to learn and troubleshoot the framework.
  • Mature and Stable
    Being a mature framework, Qt has a long history of stability and a strong track record in producing robust applications.
  • Comprehensive UI Components
    Qt offers a wide range of built-in UI components, which can significantly speed up the development process and provide a native look and feel on different platforms.
  • Strong Community Support
    Qt has an active and helpful community, which can be beneficial for developers seeking support or looking to collaborate on projects.
  • Performance
    Applications built with Qt tend to be efficient and performant, due to close-to-the-metal coding options and optimizations available in the framework.
  • Tooling
    Qt Creator, the official IDE for Qt, offers powerful tools for designing, coding, testing, and debugging applications, enhancing productivity.

Possible disadvantages of Qt

  • Licensing Costs
    Though Qt offers an open-source option, commercial licenses can be expensive, which can be a significant constraint for smaller businesses or independent developers.
  • Learning Curve
    The framework can have a steep learning curve for beginners, especially for those unfamiliar with C++ or the specific paradigms Qt employs.
  • Large Executable Size
    Applications built with Qt can have larger executable sizes compared to those built with more lightweight frameworks, which might be a concern for some applications.
  • Dependency on C++
    While Qt has bindings for other languages like Python (PyQt, PySide), its core is based on C++, which might not be ideal for developers looking for a more modern or different programming language.
  • Complexity in Customization
    While Qt offers many features out-of-the-box, deep customization, especially for non-standard requirements, can become complex and time-consuming.
  • Build Times
    Due to its comprehensive nature, applications using Qt can have longer build times, which can slow down the development cycle.

Leaflet features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Leaflet is designed to be easy on resources, making it fast to load and suitable for performance-critical applications.
  • Ease of Use
    The API is straightforward and well-documented, which makes it accessible for developers of all experience levels.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source means it is free to use and has a collaborative community contributing to its improvement.
  • Extensible
    Leaflet supports a wide range of plugins for additional functionality, allowing for customization and extension based on specific requirements.
  • Support for Mobile
    Leaflet is optimized for mobile browsers and touch devices, including multi-touch support.
  • Customizable
    It allows for extensive customization with a variety of map projections, tile layers, and interactive overlays.

Possible disadvantages of Leaflet

  • Limited Built-in Features
    Compared to some other mapping libraries, Leaflet has fewer built-in features out of the box.
  • Performance with Large Data Sets
    Rendering large data sets (such as many markers or complex geometries) can impact performance.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Customization
    While basic use is straightforward, more advanced customizations can be challenging and may require deeper knowledge of JavaScript and Leaflet's architecture.
  • Limited 3D Support
    Leaflet is primarily designed for 2D maps, and doesn't natively support 3D visualizations, which may be a limitation for some applications.
  • Dependence on Third-party Services
    For certain functionalities like tile layers, geocoding, and routing, you may need to rely on third-party services, which can involve additional costs and dependencies.

Analysis of Leaflet

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Leaflet is a solid choice for creating interactive maps on the web, especially when performance and simplicity are priorities.

Why this product is good

  • Leaflet is considered a good JavaScript library for interactive maps due to its simplicity, performance, and ease of use. It provides an intuitive API, is lightweight, and works across various devices and browsers. Developers appreciate its extensibility through plugins and its active community that continuously supports and improves the library.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking for an easy-to-use mapping solution.
  • Projects requiring lightweight and fast interactive maps.
  • Applications where mobile responsiveness is important.
  • Developers who want to extend functionality using a wide range of plugins.

Qt videos

Review of Qt 5.4

More videos:

  • Review - QT.HAIR Wet & Wavy/ Dream Straight Review |Which is Better?
  • Review - QT HAIR REVIEW| Affordable Brazilian Bundles

Leaflet videos

leaflet review

More videos:

  • Review - Labour Party Leaflet Review
  • Demo - Liberal Democrats Party Leaflet Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Qt and Leaflet)
Development Tools
60 60%
40% 40
Maps
0 0%
100% 100
Rapid Application Development
Web Mapping
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 Qt and Leaflet

Qt Reviews

Top 5 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform Development
Qt is a versatile C++ framework known for its efficiency and flexibility. With Qt, developers can create cross-platform applications with native-like performance.
Source: www.miquido.com
Exploring 15 Powerful Flutter Alternatives
Qt is a mature, cross-platform native framework for building apps and devices using C++. Qt sees extensive use in embedded systems requiring slick UIs on low-power devices with limited memory. It compiles nearly identically to straight C++ while adding conveniences like signals and slots that feel akin to JavaScript event handling. But apps targeting desktops, servers, and...
Best GUI frameworks for Go
Qt is a cross-platform application development framework widely used for developing desktop, mobile, and embedded systems. Qt provides a powerful, easy-to-use, and flexible C++ class library for building GUIs and other types of applications. Qt has a wide range of built-in widgets, including buttons, labels, list boxes, and more.
10 Best Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps 
Written in C++, this cross-platform framework is used for native embedded, desktop, and mobile applications using GUI widgets and quick modules using QML language. C++ is a backend and QML (QtQuick 2) is a frontend side. Its meta-object compiler runs before the build. Qt can be used in several programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and others due to language...
Top Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks
Qt is a pretty mature GUI and cross-platform app development framework that dates back to 1995. Developers can use Qt for crafting applications for mobiles, embedded platforms, or desktops. As Qt is based on C++, any developer with a decent C++ experience (pretty easily found) can help you craft a cross-platform app using Qt with a single codebase.
Source: www.pangea.ai

Leaflet Reviews

Top 15 Price Monitoring Tools For E-Commerce In 2022
Leaflet.js is the most popular open-source JavaScript library for providing mobile-friendly interactive maps. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it is the perfect solution for all of your data management needs. It operates well right out of the box on all major platforms and devices. The platform offers the following services:
Source: adscale.com
Top 5 Open-Source Google Maps Alternatives in 2022
The Leaflet is another open source interactive maps software that comes with self-hosting capabilities. This map application is lightweight and easy to use. Above all, it is available for all desktop and mobile platforms such as Android, IOS, and web. Further, this offline maps app is highly extensible and offers a well-documented API for third-party integrations. This open...
The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
Leaflet leverages OpenStreetMap data and adds HTML5/CSS3 visualizations and interactivity on top to ensure everything is responsive and mobile ready. Its extensive plugin repository lets you add heatmaps , masks and animated markers. Leaflet is open source JavaScript library designed for creating interactive mobile-friendly maps and ships at only 33kb. This Javascript...
Source: improvado.io
Farewell, Google Maps
On a positive note we were impressed by the quality of open source code for operating maps (Leaflet). Some advanced functions which we had implement ourselves on Google side were readily available in Leaflet.
Survey of the Best Online Mapping Tools for Web Developers: The Roadmap to Roadmaps
It is safe to say that Leaflet was born as a reaction to OpenLayers’ bloat, clutter and complexity. Vladimir Agafonkin was asked to build a wrapper around OpenLayers, but he instead created a simple and lightweight OpenLayers alternative, and in May 2011 Leaflet was born. Vladimir focused on simplicity, performance and usability for this online map tool. The core library...
Source: www.toptal.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Leaflet seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 137 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.

Qt mentions (0)

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

Leaflet mentions (137)

  • Step-by-Step: Leaflet Custom Marker with Geoapify Icons
    Leaflet is a lightweight and powerful JavaScript library for building interactive maps. By default, Leaflet comes with simple map markers, but in many applications—especially those involving points of interest, events, or branding—you’ll want to customize how those markers look. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Creating a Custom Map From Images in Leaflet
    In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to create a custom map using a large image in Leaflet, a lightweight JavaScript library for building interactive maps in web applications. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Interactive Map
    The map is based on the Leaflet module, which is entirely open-source and free. It can pull imagery from any source, so I chose OpenStreetMap, since it is also free. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • Building a Location-Based App with Appwrite
    React Leaflet because we’re using React and Leaflet is an open source mobile friendly maps library with lots of plugins. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Understanding Mapbox API Integration: A Deep Dive
    Leaflet with OpenStreetMap: Cost-effective open-source solution with no vendor lock-in, lightweight JavaScript library perfect for basic mapping needs, though lacking some advanced features found in commercial options. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Qt and Leaflet, you can also consider the following products

wxWidgets - wxWidgets: Cross-Platform GUI Library

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

GTK - GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.