Electron vs Flutter
How does Electron compare to Flutter?
See the pros and cons of each framework, target platforms and more.
Electron
Flutter
About
Maintainer
OpenJS FoundationInitial Release
15 July 2013
Maintainer
GoogleInitial Release
May 12, 2017
Community
Languages
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- HTML
- CSS
- Dart
Target Platforms
- Android
- Android Auto
- Android TV
- iOS
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ macOS
- tvOS
- watchOS
- Wear Os
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Android
- Android Auto
- Android TV
- ✓ iOS
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ macOS
- tvOS
- watchOS
- Wear Os
- ✓ Windows
✅Strengths
- Cross-platform
Electron allows developers to write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms. This saves development time and effort.
- Web Technologies
Developers can use web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build desktop apps with Electron, which they may already be familiar with. This can make development faster and more comfortable.
- Native APIs
Electron provides a bridge between the web technologies and the native APIs of the operating systems. This means that developers can access native functionality like the menu bar, tray and much more.
- Large Community
Electron has a large and active developer community, which means there is plenty of documentation, tutorials, and examples available to help developers build desktop apps.
- Cross-platform
Flutter allows developers to build apps for a wide range of platforms using a single codebase, reducing development time and costs.
- Performance
Apps built with Flutter are fairly performant as Flutter's engine and framework are optimized to take advantage of each platform's hardware.
- User Interface
Flutter has built-in UI elements for both iOS and Android, allowing developers to create a consistent interface that follows the Apple and Android design guidelines.
- Native APIs
Flutter provides a bridge between to native APIs. This means that developers can access native functionality like the camera, accelerometer and much more.
- Large Community
Flutter has a large and active developer community, which means there is plenty of documentation, tutorials, and examples available to help developers build desktop apps.
🛑Weaknesses
- Performance
Apps built with Electron may not perform as well as those built natively due to the overhead introduced by the webview.
- App Size
Electron apps have Chromium and Node.js bundled with them which can make the resulting binary quite large.
- Limited Platforms
Electron can only target desktop environments like Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Learning Curve
Dart is not a very popular language, so developers will have to learn a new language to build apps with Flutter.
- App Size
Flutter apps tend to be larger than native apps due to Flutter engine being bundled with them.
