Chromium Embedded Framework
Shares rank 8 of 9 browser engines by recommenders
People pick it as the most mature embedded Chromium option, with the most docs, for old Windows or macOS support. Critics say it uses much RAM and mishandles Wayland scaling.
People pick it as the most mature embedded Chromium option, with the most docs, for old Windows or macOS support. Critics say it uses much RAM and mishandles Wayland scaling.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 45%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Heavy RAM use, like Electron
“In terms of RAM it uses just as much as electron or CEF.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Steam Client is now faster than Epic's new vibe coded launcher” “resource creep driven overwhelmingly by heavy web apps and Electron/CEF”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “Native all the way, until you need text” “you don't need to budle a bloated CEF”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Electron vs. Tauri” Shares Electron's common complaints
“Besides the usual complaints about electron and CEF applications”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client” “The enemies are React and Electron/CEF.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Modern Motherfucking Website”
Other browser engines people recommend
The four most recommended other browser engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Servo browser engine | 81 | 32 | 72% | 12 | — | Approved |
| WebKit | 33 | 33 | 50% | 12 | — | — |
| Blitz | 14 | 5 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| One Agent One Browser | 12 | 4 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Chromium Embedded FrameworkThis page | 5 | 6 | 45% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“In terms of RAM it uses just as much as electron or CEF.”
“The enemies are React and Electron/CEF.”
“none of the options fill me with enthusiasm”
“it's the most mature with the largest amount of docs + stack overflow questions, so it's a "safe" choice.”
“The results haven't been nice, but I'm not aware if this was a problem with the CEF technology itself”
“if you want to support very old versions of Windows or macOS, you might choose to use CEF”
“I'm happy they're not dogmatic about using the system webview and let you ship your own CEF”
“resource creep driven overwhelmingly by heavy web apps and Electron/CEF”
“Running CEF (Chromium) in Wayland mode does NOT respect the system scale factor.”
“Besides the usual complaints about electron and CEF applications”
“you don't need to budle a bloated CEF”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.