Starting Desktop Application Development: An Introduction To Tauri

Debajyoti sarkar — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 17:30:53 +0000

I'm writing this cause I couldn't find a dev post that circles around the power of writing desktop native applications. Whenever I think about desktop native apps, which are somewhat good-looking and functional, only word that pops into my mind is "Electron". But sadly, I'm not a node developer (I can write node but simply don't want to).
On the other hand, I love rust. Shuffling through internet pages, I found Tauri.
For starters, if you've never heard of tauri, welcome to the club. Tauri is a framework for writing cross-platform applications where the backend will be in Rust, and you can choose from a plethora of js frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte for the frontend.
Now, if you're an annoying and techy person like me, you'll ask why Tauri, why choose a new framework when you have something like Electron with a huge developer base and community support? To that, I have a few pointers below:

Versertality

The beauty of a framework like tauri with a Rust backend is that it enables you to leverage the low-level features of Rust and still lets you get away with not having to take all the hassle of writing an installer and operating system shenanigans.
Being honest, will it be truly cross-platform if you play around with the dependencies and small things? Probably not, but it's still worth using all the reliability and low-level features Rust has to offer.
Now, tauri provides you with a bunch of inbuilt little modules, utilizing which you can do almost anything a normal application can handle. On top of that, you can use any Rust crates of your choosing.

Performance

Everything I'm gonna say in this section will be stolen from a random internet blog linked here
Now for some stolen metrics to impress you:

📦 Bundle

Tauri: ~2.5MB 🏆
Electron: ~85MB 🐘
✅ Winner: Tauri

⚡ Startup

Tauri: ~2s 🚀
Electron: ~4s 🐢
✅ Winner: Tauri

💻 Performance (Idle, Win)

Tauri: 1% CPU, ~80MB RAM
Electron: 1% CPU, ~120MB RAM
✅ Winner: Tauri (esp. on Linux 🐧)

🛠️ Backend

Tauri: Rust 🦀
Electron: JS (Node.js) 🧑‍💻
✅ Winner: Electron (easier)

🖼️ Rendering

Tauri: System WebView (buggy on Safari 🐛)
Electron: Chromium (consistent 🔒)
✅ Winner: Electron

🔐 Security

Tauri: Secure by default 🚫
Electron: Full Node access 🔓
✅ Winner: Tauri

🔄 Auto Update

Tauri: Manual or JSON config 📄
Electron: GitHub Releases ✅
🤝 Tie

👨‍💻 Dev Experience

Tauri: All-in-one CLI 🧰
Electron: Manual setup 🧱
✅ Winner: Tauri

🏁 Final Verdict

Tauri: 🔥 Fast, secure, modern
Electron: 💪 Mature, consistent, dev-friendly
Tauri is the future 🌟 — just needs time

Comment if you want a getting-started blog for Tauri.
Thank you

DEV Community: Debajyoti sarkar