Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NeutralinoJS

Neutralino is a lightweight application development framework.

NeutralinoJS

NeutralinoJS Reviews and Details

This page is designed to help you find out whether NeutralinoJS is good and if it is the right choice for you.

Screenshots and images

  • NeutralinoJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-25

Features & Specs

  1. Lightweight

    NeutralinoJS is lightweight compared to other desktop development frameworks like Electron. It consumes fewer resources, which leads to better performance.

  2. Cross-Platform

    It is designed to work on multiple operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing developers to create cross-platform applications with a single codebase.

  3. No Dependencies Required

    NeutralinoJS does not require Node.js to be installed on the end user's device, simplifying the deployment process and reducing the setup complexity.

  4. Native Feel

    Applications built with NeutralinoJS can integrate well with native operating system features, providing a more seamless user experience.

  5. Web Technology Stack

    Developers can use familiar web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which accelerates the development process and makes it more accessible to web developers.

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Videos

neutralinojs building cross platform

Building your first app with Neutralinojs 1.0.8

Reviews

  1.  
    A very lightweight alternative to electronJS or NWJS

    I have previously created small desktop apps in electron and NW. These were functionally strong, but extremely large and had long load times. With neutralino JS I was able to create the same tools with less effort (both in creation and compilation). I was able to reduce the size of the tools from >300 MB to under 3 MB. Neutralino JS is clearly the better choice for me.

    ๐Ÿ Competitors: Electron, NW.js
    ๐Ÿ‘ Pros:    Very lightweight|Easy to use
    ๐Ÿ‘Ž Cons:    Documentation could be stronger|Limited functionality, at the moment

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Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about NeutralinoJS and what they use it for.
  • Claude is an Electron App because we've lost native
    Https://neutralino.js.org/ But I think even there itโ€™s possible to encounter platform-dependent bugs - starting from view issues (you know, different OS can use different browser engines) and up to those related to system APIs. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Electrobun: Cross-platform desktop applications written in TypeScript
    So is it a yet another webview-based framework like NeutralinoJS (https://neutralino.js.org), Electrino (https://github.com/pojala/electrino)? What's their advantage apart from using Bun instead of Node? For relly lightweight cross-platform desktop apps better use a non-webview-based native framework like Qt, GTK, wxWidgets or even recently released FLTK 1.4. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Writing GUI apps for Windows is painful
    I've been eyeing https://neutralino.js.org/ since if I'm going to make the app render right on browsers then relying on the same code via webviews likely isn't (much) more portability effort. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Show HN: Pywebview 5
    We tried using pywebview for a cross-platform desktop app when it was version 3.x and some of the features were limited, especially when it came to systray interactions. Will have to try it out again. In the end, for that specific project, we ended up settling on NeutralinoJS. Wails was another big contender but due to limited GoLang resources in-house, we decided not to use it. Reference: https://neutralino.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • This year in Servo: over 1000 pull requests and beyond
    There's always https://neutralino.js.org/ which uses native WebView components to keep itself rather smaller than Electron. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Suggestions for a framework to build a personal desktop or browser app
    I've been drawn to NeutralinoJS as it looks like it will do what I want, but I'm willing to hear some other recommendations and maybe tutorials on how to do the objectively simple things I've outlined above. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Desktop UI with F# web frameworks?
    Doing some research about Photino, I also found Tauri and Neutralinojs. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Is it possible to create a twine game that does not use a browser?
    Yes. You need a wrapper for the game though. Something like https://neutralino.js.org/ should be enough. Source: over 3 years ago
  • BuildZri-package (neutralinojs): No rule to make target 'install'. Stop.
    I'm trying to package NeutralinoJS with the following derivation:. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Tauri vs. Electron โ€“ Real world application
    And https://neutralino.js.org/ Their exciting part is > You can extend Neutralinojs with any programming language (via extensions IPC) and use Neutralinojs as a part of any source file (via child processes IPC). still: > Neutralinojs doesn't bundle Chromium and uses the existing web browser library in the operating system (Eg: gtk-webkit2 on Linux). Neutralinojs implements a WebSocket connection for native... - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
  • p8modem - General-purpose WebSocket "modem" for PICO-8
    This is very nice!, Now I'm wondering if there is enough here to communicate with https://neutralino.js.org/ which can do more heavy lifting. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • I built my own Front-end Library/Language, you should too..
    You can glean from it, and create your own version like I did, for example I created petal to use with neutralino js - alternative to electron and very light, a webview lib to build desktop apps with JS, because of the way I handle mounting and the like , I did not implement the diffing algorithm yet, but will for maximum performance, for now it works well, because you can create a VDOM in a promise in petal, as... - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
  • Creating completely offline web app
    Electron is 'heavy', but this is basically exactly what it was designed for. Electron has alternatives like Neutralinojs, and NWjs. Alternatively, there is Flutter - it's not exactly what you're asking for, but it is very web like, and would be a very strong candidate for this use case. Pick your poison really. Source: about 4 years ago
  • Tauri 1.0 โ€“ Electron Alternative Powered by Rust
    The other lightweight alternative to Electron is Neutralino.js: https://neutralino.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago
  • Is this normal?
    Electron bundles both Chromium and Node.js in with it which causes massively unnecessary bundle sizes and adds hundreds of dependencies. This is unnecessary when plenty of alternatives such as Neutralino seem to manage to get past this problem. Not to mention the difference in performance. Source: about 4 years ago
  • Neutralinojs - Alternativa para o Electron
    Site oficial Comparativos Neutralino vs Electron Setup and build the framework. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
  • Which language to use along with Python ?
    You might wanna look into either Neutralinojs or tauri, both platform agnostic web-based gui frameworks. I use Tauri right now because I can integrate it with rust easily but I used neutralino in the past, it's slightly easier to get started with imo. Both are very light-weight fast options though, and both are really easily extensible with a static web server (if you wanna do it through python, fastapi would be... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Tauri โ€“ Electron alternative written in Rust
    Sure, but Neutralino[1] already does this, it's just not Written in Rustโ„ข [1] https://neutralino.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 4 years ago
  • Professional software engineer (not in game dev), looking for a more lightweight framework/engine
    Javascript games are fine and, for all intents and purposes, are the most cross platform you can get. I do suspect that you'd have an easier time using something like Cocos or Phaser instead of React Native. I would also recommend you to try packing it with either Neutralino or Tauri instead of React Native, doesn't make much sense to bundle the whole browser with the game, imo. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Which tools to learn for interactive HTML files?
    There are some things like this - https://neutralino.js.org/ - that run in a native web view, so you could create interactive documents, but my experience of them is that they are not as simple as they should be. So you will probably get stuck. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Presenting a new overlay: Electaco!
    Oh yes. Every ten minutes I had been finding myself wanting to switch entirely to Electron and be done in a fraction of the time with superior results. The awful size of any Electron app is one of the reasons I resisted the call, but I just found out that there are lighter alternatives, for instance https://neutralino.js.org/. Time to rethink it all. Thank you for the shake up! Source: over 4 years ago

Summary of the public mentions of NeutralinoJS

NeutralinoJS, a cross-platform application development tool, has been garnering attention as a viable alternative to Electron.js, particularly within the developer community. As a lightweight framework, it leverages the innate capability of native WebView components, allowing it to avoid the inclusion of the entire Chromium engine, which is a core part of Electron but often criticized for contributing to large application sizes and high memory usage. Instead, NeutralinoJS makes effective use of existing web browser libraries, making it more resource-efficient and ideal for developers looking to create streamlined applications without the burden of hefty framework overhead.

Key Advantages

  1. Lightweight Nature: One of the most lauded features of NeutralinoJS is its ability to maintain a smaller footprint compared to Electron.js. By not bundling Chromium and instead utilizing native system web views, it significantly reduces both the size and memory consumption of applications, aspects that are repeatedly mentioned as superior to Electron across various technical discussions.

  2. Ease of Use: Its straightforward setup and JS-centric development model make it particularly attractive for developers who prefer a quick, accessible start to building applications. This is evident in contexts where speed and simplicity are prioritized over comprehensive feature sets, especially in rapid application development scenarios.

  3. Versatility and Extensibility: NeutralinoJS allows developers to extend its capabilities using various programming languages via inter-process communication (IPC). This flexibility is emphasized in community discussions, highlighting NeutralinoJSโ€™s adaptability to different development environments and projects.

  4. Focus on Web Technologies: The frameworkโ€™s reliance on web technologies makes it appealing to developers who are already familiar with building web applications and are seeking to transition their skills into desktop application development. This familiarity decreases the learning curve and encourages a more seamless development process.

Challenges and Criticisms

Despite its advantages, NeutralinoJS does face some criticism. The reliance on native WebViews is occasionally mentioned as a limitation, as it can result in slight discrepancies in rendering behavior across different operating systems. Additionally, while it offers basic functionality needed for desktop applications, some developers argue that its feature set might not fully match the rich capabilities of Electron, which is particularly problematic for more complex application requirements.

Moreover, the discussion within development circles shows a degree of uncertainty about its position among other similar tools, such as Tauri and NW.js. Some developers opt for even more native solutions like Qt or GTK for certain applications, suggesting that while NeutralinoJS holds a notable position as a lightweight alternative, it might not be universally applicable depending on specific project needs.

Conclusion

NeutralinoJS stands out as a commendable choice for developers seeking a lightweight, quick-to-set-up alternative to heavier frameworks like Electron. Its focus on minimizing resource use, coupled with its ease of adoption for those familiar with JS, provides a compelling package for specific use cases. As with any tool, careful consideration of the specific requirements and constraints of a project is essential when evaluating its suitability. For developers seeking to navigate the trade-offs between weight and capability in cross-platform desktop application development, NeutralinoJS offers a noteworthy balance in the modern development landscape.

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Is NeutralinoJS good? This is an informative page that will help you find out. Moreover, you can review and discuss NeutralinoJS here. The primary details have not been verified within the last quarter, and they might be outdated. If you think we are missing something, please use the means on this page to comment or suggest changes. All reviews and comments are highly encouranged and appreciated as they help everyone in the community to make an informed choice. Please always be kind and objective when evaluating a product and sharing your opinion.