Avalonia UI
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Avalonia vs MAUI

Avalonia apps gain performance, reach and design consistency beyond MAUI's abstraction layer

Fundamentally different

.NET MAUI isn't a UI framework. It's a wrapper around platform-specific toolkits, creating a lowest-common-denominator API that abstracts away native controls. When platform APIs change or break, MAUI breaks with them.

Avalonia is a complete UI toolkit like Qt or Flutter. We own the entire stack from XAML to pixels.

This isn't philosophical, it's architectural, with profound performance and reliability implications. MAUI wraps unstable platform UIs, inheriting their bugs and limitations.

Avalonia renders directly to native graphics APIs, delivering consistent, high-performance experiences across desktop, mobile, and embedded platforms with complete visual control.

Avalonia iOS
Avalonia HMI app

Truly cross-platform

Avalonia runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, embedded devices, and the browser via WebAssembly.

MAUI barely scrapes by with mobile and makes poor bets on desktop, depending on Mac Catalyst (a sandboxed iOS port) and WinUI (underfunded, with an uncertain future).

If you care about reach and stability, there's only one real choice.

Performance that actually performs

Avalonia is up to 3–6x faster on real-world workloads.

With optimised rendering paths, Avalonia reached over 1.8 million LOLs/sec on macOS, blowing MAUI out of the water, which managed just 212.

On Windows, Avalonia uses half the memory and better throughput. MAUI slows under the weight of its abstractions and indirection.

0.0200.0400.0600.0800.01000.0LOLs per SecondAvalonia.NET MAUI

Our drive for performance

.NET Android's slow startup times have frustrated developers for years. Cold app launches often take 3-5 seconds, creating poor user experiences that hurt adoption and retention.

We built a proof-of-concept that eliminates this problem entirely.

This isn't theoretical, we have working approach that solves a fundamental .NET mobile limitation. We're currently evaluating Microsoft's commitment to .NET Android performance improvements. If they don't prioritise this critical issue, we're prepared to ship our solution for the Avalonia ecosystem.

.NET developers shouldn't have to accept subpar mobile performance because of platform limitations.

3D GPU

Platform stability as a feature

Why invest in Microsoft's UI when they're focused on Cloud & AI? Microsoft has repeatedly abandoned developers while chasing new revenue streams.

  • WinForms → WPF → UWP → WinUI on desktop.
  • Xamarin.Forms → MAUI on mobile.

Each transition forced complete rewrites, leaving hundreds of thousands of teams stranded with legacy codebases and impossible migration decisions.

Enterprise applications need decade-long stability. Avalonia provides longevity with commercial backing. We recognise platform stability as a core feature, not an afterthought.

Bring your MAUI components

Already invested in MAUI development?

Don't throw away your work. Avalonia.MAUI Hybrid lets you seamlessly integrate existing MAUI components directly into Avalonia applications on iOS and Android platforms.

This hybrid approach bridges the gap between your current MAUI investments and Avalonia's superior platform. Drop MAUI-compatible packages into Avalonia views and they behave as if they were built natively for Avalonia.

No rewriting, no performance penalties.

Explore Avalonia.MAUI Hybrid
3D GPU
AvaloniaGet started
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Features

Rendering
Skia or DirectX
Native Widgets
UI Consistency
Styling Control
Full
Limited
WPF Migration Friendly

Tooling

Visual Studio Support
VSCode Support
Rider Support

Misc

First Release
2013
2022
Paid support
License
MIT
MIT

FAQ

Still have unanswered questions and need to get in touch?

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Yes. Avalonia runs natively on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and WebAssembly from a single codebase. Unlike MAUI, which relies on platform-specific renderers and wrappers, Avalonia owns the entire rendering pipeline, delivering pixel-perfect consistency everywhere.

Avalonia draws every pixel itself using Skia or Direct3D, bypassing native widget toolkits entirely. This eliminates the abstraction overhead that MAUI inherits from platform-specific controls. The result is up to 3-6x faster rendering, lower memory usage, and identical visual output on every platform.

Microsoft has a pattern of deprecating UI frameworks (WinForms → WPF → UWP → WinUI, Xamarin.Forms → MAUI). Avalonia provides decade-long stability with commercial backing, dedicated support SLAs, and a commitment to the framework that doesn't shift with Microsoft's strategic priorities.

Absolutely. Avalonia uses XAML, C#, and the .NET ecosystem you already know. If you have WPF or MAUI experience, the learning curve is minimal. Data binding, styles, templates, and MVVM patterns all work as expected.

Avalonia has a growing ecosystem of third-party component vendors including Actipro, Eremex, and others. Additionally, Avalonia.MAUI Hybrid lets you embed existing MAUI-compatible controls directly into Avalonia applications on iOS and Android.

Not anymore. Avalonia has first-class mobile support for iOS and Android, with drawn controls that deliver smooth, native-feeling experiences. Our rendering approach means mobile apps launch faster and scroll smoother than MAUI equivalents, and we're actively investing in mobile performance improvements.

MAUI's fundamental architecture wraps native widgets with abstraction layers. Even with improvements, this wrapper approach has inherent performance ceilings and consistency limitations. Avalonia's drawn-control model (like Flutter) doesn't have these constraints. We welcome Microsoft improving .NET - it benefits the entire ecosystem including Avalonia.

Avalonia integrates with platform accessibility APIs on each target platform, supporting screen readers, keyboard navigation, and high-contrast modes. Our accessibility implementation follows platform conventions while maintaining cross-platform consistency.