Download Electron 22.0.0 / 23.0.0 Alpha 2 (Mac) Free

Although some people may not know what electronic That said, almost everyone has used at least one Electron-based application on macOS and other platforms. Some of the most popular cross-platform services offer desktop clients that rely on this framework, including Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, VS Code, Twitch, and many more.

Electron is sometimes maligned for its inherent inefficiency across all desktop platforms, but it provides an easy way for developers to make their services accessible on the web, Windows, Mac, and Linux primarily using web technologies. This simplifies the process as little knowledge of the native programming language is required.

Of course, there are downsides to creating applications in Electron. Even simple programs can take up a lot of disk space due to the fact that it essentially requires the Chromium engine to be embedded in every application bundle in order to function. Likewise, software made with Electron will never run as fast as an app written in native code, and it will use more resources in the process.

Regular users have every right to dislike Electron-based applications, but the framework makes it easier for small developers to break into the industry. If you know how to create a website, you can make apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux that would otherwise require an entire development team. However, for larger companies, the decision not to build native apps for their customers becomes harder to defend.