Ionic Framework
Shares rank 42 of 45 GUI frameworks by recommenders
Open source, actively maintained, and a happy middle ground for cross-platform apps. Its main caveat is a dated look, still on Material v2.
Open source, actively maintained, and a happy middle ground for cross-platform apps. Its main caveat is a dated look, still on Material v2.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: 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.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Open source and actively maintained
“Ionic Framework and Capacitor aren't affected and remain open source and are actively maintained by the team.”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Ionic partners with Capawesome as the migration path off Appflow” Least pain among cross-platform stacks
“I had the least pain from the ionic stack which I guess is a happy middle ground”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Valdi – A cross-platform UI framework that delivers native performance” Recommended as the way to go
“Ionic (or the Cupertino package in Flutter) is the way to go.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Valdi – A cross-platform UI framework that delivers native performance”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Dated, still on Material v2
“it’s a bit dated (still on Material v2)”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “What's New in Flutter 3.47” No ad blocking support
“Ionic doesn't support ad blocking abilities.”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Electrobun v1: Build fast, tiny, and cross-platform desktop apps with TypeScript” Seen as used when alternatives are poor
“It was a lot like Ionic: something you used when you had a captive user-base that literally couldn't pick a better product.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible”
Other GUI frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other GUI frameworks, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qt | 191 | 133 | 59% | 12 | 15 yrs7 owners | — |
| GTK | 85 | 118 | 42% | 12 | — | — |
| Windows Forms | 76 | 33 | 70% | 12 | 15 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| SwiftUI | 75 | 121 | 38% | 11 | 4 yrs8 owners | — |
| Ionic FrameworkThis page | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Ionic Framework and Capacitor aren't affected and remain open source and are actively maintained by the team.”
“it’s a bit dated (still on Material v2)”
“Ionic doesn't support ad blocking abilities.”
“It was a lot like Ionic: something you used when you had a captive user-base that literally couldn't pick a better product.”
“I had the least pain from the ionic stack which I guess is a happy middle ground”
“Ionic (or the Cupertino package in Flutter) is the way to go.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.