Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Avalonia VS Uno Platform

Compare Avalonia VS Uno Platform and see what are their differences

Avalonia logo Avalonia

A multi-platform .NET UI framework

Uno Platform logo Uno Platform

Build Mobile, Desktop and WebAssembly apps with C# and XAML.
  • Avalonia Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-05-01
  • Uno Platform Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-01

Uno Platform

$ Details
free
Platforms
Android iOS MacOS Windows WebAssembly Linux
Startup details
Country
Canada

Avalonia features and specs

  • Cross-Platform
    Avalonia supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, enabling developers to write a single codebase that runs on multiple platforms.
  • MVVM Support
    Avalonia has strong support for the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern, which can help developers create maintainable and scalable applications.
  • Rich Styling System
    Avalonia provides a powerful styling system similar to CSS, giving developers the ability to easily customize the appearance of their applications.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, Avalonia allows developers to contribute to its development, inspect the codebase, and ensure long-term viability without vendor lock-in.
  • Community Support
    Avalonia has an active and growing community, which can be beneficial for troubleshooting issues, finding resources, and sharing knowledge.
  • ReactiveUI Integration
    It integrates seamlessly with ReactiveUI, a powerful reactive programming library, for building dynamic and responsive applications.

Possible disadvantages of Avalonia

  • Maturity
    Avalonia is relatively young compared to more established frameworks like WPF or WinForms, which might result in fewer features and stability issues.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    Given its younger age, Avalonia has a smaller ecosystem with fewer third-party libraries, tools, and components available for developers.
  • Performance
    Depending on the complexity of the application, performance may not be on par with native frameworks, especially on resource-intensive tasks.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers new to Avalonia may face a learning curve, especially if they are not familiar with its MVVM pattern and reactive programming paradigms.
  • Documentation
    Although improving, the documentation for Avalonia might not be as comprehensive or as polished as that of more mature frameworks.
  • Platform-Specific Issues
    Cross-platform development can bring platform-specific issues and inconsistencies that developers need to handle, which can increase complexity.

Uno Platform features and specs

  • .NET IDEs
    Seamlessly integrate Uno Platform with Visual Studio, VS Code, and JetBrains Rider for a unified, cross-platform .NET development experience
  • Cross-Platform Development
    Uno Platform allows developers to build applications for multiple platforms (Windows, iOS, Android, WebAssembly, and macOS) using a single codebase, which can significantly reduce development time and effort.
  • Hot Reload
    Instantly see code changes across web, desktop, and mobile apps with Uno Platform's powerful Hot Reload feature
  • Native Performance
    Uno Platform applications leverage native controls and performances of each targeted platform, ensuring that apps run efficiently and provide a smooth user experience.
  • Integration with Visual Studio
    Uno Platform seamlessly integrates with Visual Studio, offering a familiar and powerful development environment for .NET developers with extensive debugging and design tools.
  • Support for XAML
    Uno Platform supports XAML for designing UI, making it easier for developers familiar with Microsoft's WPF, UWP, and Xamarin.Forms to transition their skills and projects to different platforms.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source framework, Uno Platform benefits from community contributions and transparency, allowing developers to examine the code, contribute, or customize the framework to suit their needs.
  • Frequent Updates
    The platform has a robust and active development team, which ensures regular updates, improvements, and new feature additions.

Avalonia videos

A Cross Platform .NET UI Framework - Hello World in Avalonia UI

More videos:

  • Review - Nikita Tsukanov - AvaloniaUI - cross-platform XAML-oriented .NET UI framework
  • Review - Avalonia XAML debugging. Where is your WPF/UWP/Xamarin.Forms now?

Uno Platform videos

Uno Platform Part 1

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Avalonia and Uno Platform)
Development Tools
58 58%
42% 42
Rapid Application Development
Cross-Platform Development
.Net
28 28%
72% 72

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Avalonia should be more popular than Uno Platform. It has been mentiond 133 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Avalonia mentions (133)

  • Uno Platform Studio: GUI Designer for Cross-Platform .NET Applications
    C# and Uno, C# and Avalonia (https://avaloniaui.net/), Dart and Flutter (https://flutter.dev/) are all interesting options for WebAssembly application development. It's nice to be able to do cross platform desktop applications that can also be compiled for web delivery. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Visual Basic 6 IDE recreated in C#
    Slightly off topic, but this was built using Avalonia, which I have never heard of. Has anyone used it? The promise sounds impressive (beautiful, cross-platform applications from a single .NET codebase), just wondering whether it actually delivers? https://avaloniaui.net/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Visual Basic 6 rebuilt in C# – complete with form designer and IDE in browser
    It's written in Avalonia so you could easily compile a desktop version if you wanted, although the author doesn't package one explicitly https://avaloniaui.net/ https://github.com/BAndysc/AvaloniaVisualBasic6. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • A comparison of Rust's borrow checker to the one in C#
    You should checkout AvalonuiaUI[0] or unoPlatform[1] if wanting to target web/mobile/window/linux/macOS if building for the web online, asp.net core runs on Linux servers as well as windows and there's MAUI [2] ( not a fan of this), you are better-off with with the others. In summary c# and .NET is cross-platform, third party developers build better frameworks and tools for other platform while Microsoft prefers... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Should JavaScript be split into two languages? Google proposal divides opinion
    > And even if it were accomplished in a central open source library like Flutter, that adds a considerable amount to the package size of any application. The download really isn't much different to a typical website. That Flutter demo in wasm is 2 megabytes. Avalonia UI's WebAssembly uses canvas in C#: https://avaloniaui.net/ Uno Platform's WebAssembly implementation uses the DOM rather than drawing to... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
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Uno Platform mentions (70)

  • Should JavaScript be split into two languages? Google proposal divides opinion
    > And even if it were accomplished in a central open source library like Flutter, that adds a considerable amount to the package size of any application. The download really isn't much different to a typical website. That Flutter demo in wasm is 2 megabytes. Avalonia UI's WebAssembly uses canvas in C#: https://avaloniaui.net/ Uno Platform's WebAssembly implementation uses the DOM rather than drawing to... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Should JavaScript be split into two languages? Google proposal divides opinion
    > I'd rather we just move to native cross platform applications and stop using a document browser to build interactive applications Here you go. Do both native and wasm: https://avaloniaui.net/ https://platform.uno/ https://flutter.dev/. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Why I'm skeptical of rewriting JavaScript tools in "faster" languages
    Ah, so what you want is Uno. It uses WebAssembly and the DOM: https://platform.uno/ > Why did I even bother replying to you, sigh. I think it's because you're overwrought. Don't fear WebAssembly. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: Why is .NET never talked about as an option for solo/small team dev?
    > There is no competition for modern .net + Avalonia UI for fast and sleek native cross-platform desktop applications. Here's a competitor: https://platform.uno/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • 3 productivity tips for .NET developers
    To uncover these tips and tricks, we reached out to some of our seasoned Uno Platform developers. They've generously shared practical advice that has boosted their productivity—and can do the same for you. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Avalonia and Uno Platform, you can also consider the following products

Qt - Powerful, flexible and easy to use, Qt will help you not only meet your tight deadline, but also reduce the maintainable code by an astonishing percentage.

wxWidgets - wxWidgets: Cross-Platform GUI Library

GTK - GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces.

Flutter - Build beautiful native apps in record time 🚀

Electron - Build cross platform desktop apps with web technologies

JavaFX - JavaFX is the next step in the evolution of Java as a rich client platform.