I asked Gemini to compare the best cross-platform Desktop App frameworks, and here are the results

Ilyas Serter — Fri, 01 May 2026 15:48:38 +0000

Of course, the best choices depend on circumstances, but if we were to pick one as a general go-to-solution, which one would it be in 2026?

I have been developing desktop apps with Electron -just because it was easy to start with since I'm familiar with Javascript/Typescript.

With the effectiveness of the latest agentic coding tools, I've reached the point where I considered jumping into a new paradigm if the benefits outweighs the learning challenges.

So, I had Gemini do deep research on the subject and write some reports.

Looking at the reports, I decided to stick with Electron for a bit further because my top criteria is which framework has the least amount of red flags until I catch up in the Flutter world.

Let me explain.
I can live with the bloated binary size, slower launch, and a bit more memory consumption.

As Gemini pointed out:

Successful enterprise applications—VS Code, Postman, Slack—are cited as evidence that if an app provides enough value, users will tolerate its resource footprint.

On the other hand, seeing "Fragile" for Tauri and Wails was an instant deal breaker for me.

Limited UI eliminates Go Fyne for many scenarios although I may consider it for small use cases.

That leaves me with Flutter. It was already on my roadmap for mobile development and now I have another reason.

Here's the comparison matrix I had Gemini generate after deep research:

Feature / Metric	Electron	Tauri (v2.11+)	Wails (v3 Alpha)	Flutter (v3.41+)	Go Fyne (v2.7+)
Backend Language	Node.js (V8)	Rust	Go	Dart	Go
Frontend Renderer	Bundled Chromium	System WebView	System WebView	Custom Canvas	Native OpenGL
Binary Size (Base)	~80 MB	~3 MB	~10 MB	~20 MB	~6 MB
RAM Usage (Idle)	200–400 MB	30–50 MB	40–80 MB	100–200 MB	~52 MB
Startup Speed	Slow (2–5s)	Instant (<0.2s)	Fast (0.5s)	Moderate (1s)	Instant (0.3s)
Security Model	Hardened Node	Capability System	Bound Bridge	Platform Channels	Process-level
Mobile Support	No	Yes	Experimental	Excellent	Yes
Linux Performance	Excellent	Fragile (WebKit)	Fragile (WebKit)	Good	Good
Code Signing/CI	Very Mature	Mature	Developing	Mature	Simple
Ecosystem Stars	121k	106k	34k	176k	28k
Primary Advantage	Consistency	Efficiency	Go DX	UI Aesthetics	Simplicity
Primary Drawback	Bloat	Rust Curve	Maturity	Dart Logic	Limited UI Flex

What do you think?

DEV Community: Ilyas Serter

I asked Gemini to compare the best cross-platform Desktop App frameworks, and here are the results