Photino vs. Electron

This documentation compares the architecture, distribution, and capabilities of Electron and Photino. Photino is a lightweight alternative to Electron for building cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies.

Electron Documentation | Photino Documentation

Browser Control Used in Native Window

Electron calls this the Renderer process and uses Chromium in a native window. A full version of Chromium is bundled and downloaded with each application, ensuring consistent rendering across platforms but increasing file size.

Photino uses the “OS-Native” web control already present on the user's machine, significantly reducing the installer size:

Host Application

Electron calls this the Main process and uses Node.js which is bundled with each app. All backend logic is written in JavaScript/TypeScript.

Photino.Native is a C++ wrapper that can be utilized by various backends (C++, Rust, Go, etc.).

Photino.NET uses .NET 5, 6, 7, or 8+. This allows developers to use C# and the full power of the .NET ecosystem for the backend.

Host Application / Browser Control Communication

Electron uses custom inter-process communication (IPC). The ipcMain and ipcRenderer modules use “channels” (strings) to send messages. Because both sides are JavaScript, objects can be serialized and marshalled between processes relatively easily.

Photino.NET uses high-performance memory streams to communicate with the Photino.Native process. It uses a message-passing interface where JSON payloads are sent between the .NET backend and the frontend.

In addition, it's common for Photino.NET projects to host local REST services or WebSockets within the .NET process, which can be called from the browser control using standard fetch or XMLHttpRequest calls.

Distribution

Tools

Electron uses electron-forge, electron-builder, or electron-packager to bundle the Chromium runtime, Node.js, and app code into an executable.

Photino uses standard .NET distribution methods. Applications can be published as “Self-Contained” (includes the .NET runtime) or "Framework-Dependent." Because it doesn't bundle a browser, a Photino executable is typically < 1MB, whereas Electron apps start at ~80MB+.

OS Integration

Notifications

Electron supports a JavaScript notification API for the Renderer process and a Notification module for the Main process for native OS toasts. Photino can trigger native notifications using standard .NET libraries or OS-specific APIs accessible via C#.

Recent Documents (Windows, Mac)

Electron supports the recent document functionality built into Windows and Mac via the app.addRecentDocument API.

Taskbar Progress (Windows, Mac, Unity)

Electron supports taskbar/dock icon progress indicators. Photino allows for taskbar customization through the underlying .NET implementation of Windows Forms or via native interop (P/Invoke).

Project Templates

Electron supports BoilerPlate-CLI and various community-driven starters (React, Vue, etc.). Photino.NET supports official project templates available in Visual Studio, as well as the dotnet new CLI (e.g., dotnet new photinoapp).

Native Node Modules (native to OS)

Electron modules must be built specifically for the Electron version's internal V8 header files. Photino uses standard NuGet packages. Any C# library or native DLL can be used without special compilation for Photino.

Performance

Electron has a higher memory overhead because it runs a dedicated instance of Chromium for every window and a Node.js runtime.

Photino is significantly more lightweight in terms of RAM and Disk Space. By sharing the OS's existing web engine, the memory footprint is often 70-90% smaller than a comparable Electron app.

Debugging

Electron provides built-in access to Chromium DevTools for the renderer and Node.js inspectors for the main process.

Photino allows developers to right-click in the window to open the native platform's DevTools (Edge DevTools on Windows, Safari Inspector on Mac). .NET code is debugged using Visual Studio, VS Code, or JetBrains Rider.

Shell Access

Electron supports the shell module to open files or URLs in default external applications. Photino.NET supports anything you can do in .NET, including System.Diagnostics.Process for shelling out to the operating system or opening files.

Custom Window Title Bar

Both Electron and Photino support “frameless” windows, allowing developers to hide the native title bar and create a custom UI in HTML/CSS to handle window dragging, minimizing, and closing.

Previous
Next