Verdict: Wails is the right pick when your backend is Go and installer size and RAM matter: the independent web-to-desktop benchmark measures its empty app at roughly 11 MB on Windows against roughly 384 MB for Electron, and 53 MB against 77 MB of RAM on Linux in release builds. Electron is the right pick when your team is 100% JavaScript, you need pixel-identical rendering on every OS, or you depend on the vast npm ecosystem — it bundles its own Chromium 152 (Electron 44.6.0, released 2026-10-06), so rendering never varies with the host webview. Wails is also the younger bet: its v3 is still in beta (v3.0.0-beta.28, published 2026-10-05), while Electron has shipped stable majors on a fixed 8-week cadence for years.
Last verified: 2026-10-07 · Best for Go teams / small apps: Wails v2.13 (v3 beta for multi-window) · Best for JS-only teams / maximum ecosystem: Electron 44.6 · Pricing: both MIT-licensed, free, no paid tiers · Sizes and RAM figures change per release — last checked October 2026.
TL;DR
- The Issue: two MIT-licensed ways to ship a web UI as a desktop app — one reuses the OS webview (Wails), one ships a full Chromium inside the installer (Electron).
- The Insight: the size gap is not cosmetic: ~11 MB vs ~384 MB on the same empty-app benchmark is a 35x difference that compounds across every install.
- The Solution: pick by your binding constraint. Go backend or size-critical distribution: Wails. JS-only team, npm dependency, or cross-OS pixel parity: Electron.
The 10-row honest table
| Row | Wails | Electron |
|---|---|---|
| Backend language | Go 1.25+ | Node.js (bundled) |
| Rendering engine | OS webview (WebView2 / WKWebView / WebKitGTK) | Bundled Chromium 152 |
| Empty-app installer, Windows x64 | ≈11 MB | ≈384 MB |
| RAM, empty app (Linux x64, release) | ≈53 MB | ≈77 MB |
| Cold start, empty app (Linux x64, release) | ≈264 ms | ≈208 ms |
| GitHub stars | 36,472 | 123,410 |
| Stable version today | v2.13 (v3 in beta) | 44.6.0, 2026-10-06 |
| Mobile targets | Experimental iOS/Android in v3 beta | none |
| Multi-window | First-class in v3 | First-class since 1.0 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
Sources: sizes/RAM/start from the web-to-desktop-framework-comparison benchmark (GitHub CI, empty app, treat as same-machine relative comparisons); stars from the GitHub API on 2026-10-07.
Where Wails loses
Wails is the smaller project by every ecosystem measure: 36.472 GitHub stars against Electron's 123,410, no integrated auto-updater (the comparison repo lists it as planned), and — the honest asterisk — its current stable v2 is single-window only; first-class multi-window, system tray and services arrive with v3, which is still in beta (first public beta 2026-08-25, v3.0.0-beta.28 published 2026-10-05). The beta's desktop API is stated stable and teams run it in production, but the project itself asks you to test thoroughly before deploying. On the native-webview path, rendering depends on the OS webview (WebView2 on Windows, WebKit on macOS/Linux), so your app inherits that engine's quirks rather than shipping one fixed engine. And v3 is a real port, not a version bump — migration from v2 means rewriting the app lifecycle and regenerating bindings.
Where Electron loses
Electron's cost is the bundle itself: the same benchmark that gives Wails ~11 MB gives Electron ~384 MB on Windows x64 — a ~35x difference driven by the bundled Chromium+Node runtime. RAM on the empty app is 93 MB (release) on Windows against Wails' 199 MB in debug / comparable release figures; on Linux x64 release it's 77 MB vs 53 MB for Wails. Electron has no mobile story at all (no Android/iOS target), and the security surface is famously broader: every app ships a full browser, so Chromium CVEs apply to your app until you upgrade. On the same benchmark, cold start on Windows x64 is ~177 ms vs Wails' ~554 ms — Electron wins its one benchmark here, the first window is up sooner.
Honest takeaway
Both frameworks are excellent at what they do, and the differences are about constraints, not quality. Electron is the industry default for a reason: 123k stars, every npm package one install away, and a decade of documented pitfalls. Wails is the specialist: if your team writes Go and your app must be small, fast to install, and light on RAM, ~11 MB against ~384 MB is the whole argument, and v3's beta finally covers the multi-window gap. Our call: default to Electron for JS-only teams and anything with heavy npm dependencies; pick Wails for Go shops shipping size-critical internal tools or consumer utilities. If you need a third option, our Wails vs Tauri vs Electron three-way comparison adds Rust to the mix.
FAQ
Q: Is Wails smaller than Electron?
A: Yes, by a lot. The independent empty-app benchmark measures ~11 MB vs ~384 MB on Windows x64, because Wails reuses the OS webview while Electron bundles Chromium.
Q: Does Wails support multi-window apps?
A: In v3, yes — first-class multi-window is a headline v3 feature. The current stable v2.13 is single-window only.
Q: Can Wails or Electron build mobile apps?
A: Wails v3 beta ships experimental iOS and Android targets; Electron has no mobile target at all.
Q: Which is easier to learn?
A: Depends on your backend. Wails is low-friction if you know Go; Electron is low-friction if you know Node.js. Both take any HTML/CSS/JS frontend.
Q: Do both support auto-updates?
A: Electron has an official auto-updater; Wails' integrated updater is planned, not shipped — you wire your own (e.g. a GitHub-releases check) meanwhile.
Q: Is the Wails v3 beta production-ready?
A: The project says the desktop API is stable and teams already run it in production, but asks you to test thoroughly before deploying; v2 remains the supported stable release.
Related reading
- The full three-way with Tauri: Wails vs Tauri vs Electron in 2026.
- Pairing a desktop app with a local model runtime: Ollama vs LM Studio.
- Giving your desktop agent a local brain: Run your own AI coding agent (Ornith local setup).
- If the frontend is the easy part: ChatGPT computer-use agents guide.
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