Electron Pricing in May 2026

Electron is genuinely free as open-source software under MIT license. There are no paid tiers. Real-world Electron costs are $0 for the framework; you pay your distribution costs.

The Free & Open Source offer covers everything. The strategic decision: Electron is the dominant cross-platform desktop app framework — build apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS that run on Windows, macOS, and Linux from a single codebase. For broader cross-platform desktop alternatives, Tauri is the modern challenger with Rust backend and significantly smaller bundle sizes — increasingly chosen for new desktop apps. The Electron vs Tauri decision: Electron for ecosystem maturity and broad library support; Tauri for performance and bundle size. NW.js is the older similar framework still used in legacy projects. For specifically native cross-platform without web tech, Flutter Desktop targets this with Dart-based UI; Qt targets C++ native; .NET MAUI targets Microsoft ecosystem. For specifically PWA (web-app-as-desktop-app via browser installation), modern PWA capabilities handle this for simpler apps without dedicated framework — increasingly competitive with Electron for simple apps. For specifically Mac-only native development, Swift + SwiftUI handles macOS native. For Windows-only, WPF, WinUI, and .NET MAUI handle Windows native. For Linux-only, GTK and Qt target Linux native. For specifically game development on desktop, Unity, Unreal, and Godot handle this differently than Electron. For specifically Capacitor on desktop, Capacitor recently added desktop support — competing with Electron for web-tech mobile + desktop combined apps. Electron's dominance has produced consistent complaints about bloat (apps often consume 200-500MB) and battery usage; many new app launches in 2024-2026 have chosen Tauri for performance reasons.