Open-source frameworks for desktop apps in 2026
3 open-source projects, ranked by GitHub stars and how recently each was worked on. Electron leads with 124k stars, ahead of Tauri. 3 had code pushed in the last three months. Most common licenses: MIT (2) and Apache-2.0 (1).
Open-source frameworks for desktop apps
Frameworks and platforms to build on 3
-
1
Electron electron
:electron: Build cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
Framework or platform Production-ready You want one web codebase to ship desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux.
★ 124k MIT C++ Active, pushed today
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2
Tauri tauri-apps
Build smaller, faster, and more secure desktop and mobile applications with a web frontend.
Framework or platform Production-ready You want Electron-style apps with much smaller binaries and lower memory use.
★ 113k Apache-2.0 Rust Active, pushed today
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3
Wails wailsapp
Create beautiful applications using Go
Framework or platform Usable Your team writes Go and wants small desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux without shipping a full Chromium like Electron.
★ 37k MIT Go Active, pushed yesterday
Open-source licenses
- Permissive: 3. Use it anywhere, including in closed products. You keep the copyright notice; Apache-2.0 also grants patent rights.
Languages
C++ 1, Rust 1 and Go 1.
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