Comparison - Electron vs React Native Windows vs Tauri

Are you looking for a cross platform app to deploy on desktops and built it using web technologies? Then, please read this research to take a better decision.

Introduction

Our goal here is to develop cross platform desktop application using React and modern web technologies.

Here is a brief comparison of available tools for using React to create desktop applications which can be deployed to Windows machines. But, first let me summarize the key takeaways of that comparison.

Key takeaways

• Electron embeds chromium and node-js as part of the desktop application. It is like running our app inside a browser like environment. Hence, Electron app is large in size and slower in performance compared to purely native windows applications.
• React Native Desktop and Tauri compiles our React app into native windows app. This conversion is not that smooth and might limit us in terms of features that can be used.
• Electron is popular and used by many products in production. While React Native Desktop and Tauri are still in early stages and lacking maturity.
• React Native is a very good choice if we are targeting only Android and iOS. But, if Windows is also our target platform, then React Native is lacking documentation and ecosystem for it.

	Electron-js	React Native	Tauri
Platforms	Windows, Mac	Windows 10, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac
Mature Ecosystem	Yes	Good for Android, iOS, but not for Windows	Limited
App Size	Larger	Small	Small
Performance	Normal	Fast	Fast
Ease of Use	Normal	Challenging	Challenging

Thanks for reading along. Let me know your feedback/suggestions in the comments.

- Ayush 🙂