Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Qt VS PortAudio

Compare Qt VS PortAudio 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.

PortAudio logo PortAudio

PortAudio is a cross platform, open-source, audio I/O library.
  • Qt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22
  • PortAudio Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-06-15

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.

PortAudio features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    PortAudio supports multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it a versatile choice for developers looking to create audio applications that run on different platforms.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source library, PortAudio is free to use and can be modified to fit specific needs. This allows developers to customize the library as necessary without licensing costs.
  • Low Latency
    PortAudio is designed to provide low-latency audio performance, which is essential for real-time audio processing applications such as live performances and interactive audio software.
  • Rich API
    PortAudio offers a comprehensive API that supports a wide range of audio functions, providing developers with the tools they need to create complex audio applications.
  • Community Support
    Being open source, PortAudio has a community of users and developers who contribute to its development, provide support, and help troubleshoot issues.

Possible disadvantages of PortAudio

  • Limited Documentation
    The documentation for PortAudio can be limited or outdated, which can make it difficult for new users to understand and implement the library effectively.
  • Complexity for Beginners
    PortAudio's extensive features can be overwhelming for beginners, making it challenging for those new to audio programming to get started quickly.
  • API Instability
    As with many open-source projects, updates and changes to the API can cause instability or deprecated features, potentially leading to maintenance challenges in long-term projects.
  • Platform-Specific Issues
    While PortAudio is cross-platform, certain features might not work consistently across all operating systems, requiring extra testing and platform-specific adjustments.

Qt videos

Review of Qt 5.4

More videos:

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  • Review - QT HAIR REVIEW| Affordable Brazilian Bundles

PortAudio videos

No PortAudio videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Qt and PortAudio)
Development Tools
87 87%
13% 13
Game Engine
0 0%
100% 100
Rapid Application Development
Cross-Platform Development

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 PortAudio

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

PortAudio Reviews

We have no reviews of PortAudio yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PortAudio seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time 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.

PortAudio mentions (1)

  • Python speech recognition for pulseaudio
    FYI PyAudio built on this software: http://portaudio.com/ which interfaces directly with Alsa/OSS (refer to the sounds system page, I'm not saying Open-Source Software here) which PulseAudio also does. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

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

wxWidgets - wxWidgets: Cross-Platform GUI Library

JUCE - JUCE is a wide-ranging C++ class library for building rich cross-platform applications and plugins...

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

Wwise - Game audio engine, designed to give artists more control and save programmers' time.

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

OpenAL Soft - OpenAL Soft is an LGPL-licensed, cross-platform, software implementation of the OpenAL 3D audio API.