I’m using JUCE C++ which is very popular for audio software. But it can be used for more general purpose applications. The latest version has some kind of HTML based UI system but I’ve not migrated yet.
Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
11–20 of 136 posts
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#12For Windows only (because that's the most common platform in the world): C# and .Net. The UI is mostly either WPF or WindowsForms.
For Mac only: new apps use Swift, legacy ones use Objective-C, both with AppKit.
Linux only: these are quite rare and there is a broad mix of them: C++, Java, etc.
Cross-platform: C++ with Qt seems to be the standard. Go and Rust seem to be rising. Rising UI libraries are Tauri, Slint and Iced. There are other alternatives like cross-platform .Net, Java or Flutter. But they don't look very solid and widely adopted.
Then there are other UI frameworks for some specific use cases (games, scientific applications, etc).
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#13C++ and Qt.
Rust as a statically linked library where it makes sense.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#14Flutter is a super compelling framework (https://flutter.dev/multi-platform/desktop), but I’d live in fear of it randomly being sent to the Google graveyard.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#15Rust + egui, but it's a far cry from the convenience or iteration speed of the web. Wherever possible, I build webapps instead, just because it's so much faster to get results (especially with LLMs!)
With that being said, I'd like to try the modern .NET stack sometime. Shame that the UI side of things is still largely Windows-only, and even Microsoft themselves don't know which UI framework they're using this week.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#16For both iOS and Android app:
- Xcode
- SwiftUI
- Supabase
- Claude CLI
- Skip.tools (converts SwiftUI to native Katlin code)
Been developing mobile apps for over 15 years. This is by far the best stack for developing mobile apps. Speed, total control, native UI's. Love it.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#17I have been recently playing with Dioxus and I kinda like it. I too am dismayed that we are using browser to target desktop but here we are I guess.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#18As someone who loved Turbo Pascal, for the past 3 years I use Lua and LÖVE.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#19Qt with QML for a somewhat embedded use case. I think it hits a really nice intersection of native speed, GPU acceleration, interfacing with C++, and ease of development. I wouldn't really recommend a career out of it.
> I wouldn't really recommend a career out of it.
Care to say why? I ask because that's what I use at work: C++ and Qt
Yes, I'd prefer Rust and Slint/Tauri.
But like a prostitute I don't do what I love, I do what pays the bills.
Re: Ask HN: What toolchains are people using for desktop app development in 2025?
#20Qt with QML for a somewhat embedded use case. I think it hits a really nice intersection of native speed, GPU acceleration, interfacing with C++, and ease of development. I wouldn't really recommend a career out of it.
> I wouldn't really recommend a career out of it. Care to say why? I ask because that's what I use at work: C++ and Qt Yes, I'd prefer Rust and Slint/Tauri. But like a prostitute I don't do what I love, I do what pays the bills.
I think it's a little too niche, and as embedded processors get more and more powerful, we'll just see the same trend of doing all UI in a browser instead
I do like working in it, though!