Tauri vs Electron: Building Desktop Apps With Web Technology
Electron and Tauri both turn a web app into a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Electron bundles Chromium and Node.js; Tauri uses the system's web view and a Rust back end. How they compare on app size, memory, consistency, security, mobile support and learning curve.
You've built a web app — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, maybe React — and you want it as a desktop app people install on Windows, macOS and Linux. The two main tools are Electron and Tauri.
How each works
Electron
Electron packages your app with its own copy of Chromium (the engine behind Chrome) and Node.js. Your UI runs in that Chromium; Node.js gives you file system and OS access.
VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma's desktop app, Notion and the Claude desktop app are built with Electron.
Tauri
Tauri uses the web view already built into the operating system — WebView2 (Edge) on Windows, WebKit on macOS, WebKitGTK on Linux — and a Rust back end for system access. No bundled browser.
Tauri 2 also supports building iOS and Android apps from the same project.
Side by side
| Electron | Tauri | |
|---|---|---|
| Rendering engine | Bundled Chromium | The OS's web view |
| Back-end language | JavaScript (Node.js) | Rust (plus JS for the front end) |
| Installer size | Large (often 80–150 MB+) | Small (often a few MB) |
| Memory use | Higher | Usually lower |
| Looks identical on every OS | Yes | Mostly — small engine differences |
| Security model | Powerful by default; you lock it down | Locked down by default; you grant permissions |
| Mobile | No | Yes (Tauri 2) |
| Ecosystem / maturity | Very mature | Mature and growing |
| Learning curve for JS devs | Low | Low for UI; Rust for custom native code |
Where Electron wins
- Consistency — the same Chromium everywhere, so what you test is what everyone gets.
- All JavaScript — no new language; any npm package works.
- Maturity — auto-updates, crash reporting, code signing, and answers to almost every problem online.
- Rich APIs — deep integration options proven by huge apps.
Where Tauri wins
- Size — downloads and installs are dramatically smaller.
- Resource use — less memory, which users notice when they run many apps.
- Security by default — the front end can only call the OS capabilities you explicitly allow.
- Mobile from the same codebase.
The catches
Electron: every app ships a whole browser, so size and memory are the classic complaints. You must keep Electron updated, because it bundles Chromium's security fixes. Settings like contextIsolation and avoiding nodeIntegration in renderers matter for security.
Tauri: different OS web views can render or behave slightly differently, so test on each platform — especially Linux and older Windows. Anything native beyond Tauri's plugins means writing some Rust (AI coding tools help here).
Which should you choose?
- Your team is all JavaScript and you need maximum consistency: Electron.
- App size, memory and security matter, or you also want mobile: Tauri.
- A simple utility or tool: Tauri's small footprint is very appealing.
- A heavy, complex app with deep OS integration and a big team: Electron's maturity is a safe bet.
Do you need a desktop app at all?
Many web apps don't. A PWA can be installed from the browser and run in its own window. Consider a desktop app when you need offline-first behaviour, file system access, system tray, global shortcuts or deep OS integration. (What is a PWA?, Web app vs mobile app)
EasySpawn runs the server side your desktop app relies on — sync API, accounts, Postgres and update downloads — on one server with HTTPS and daily backups. See how it works or join the waitlist.
Related: Flutter vs React Native · What Is a PWA? · What Is a Framework? · Web App vs Mobile App
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