JavaFX
Ranked 24 of 45 GUI frameworks by recommenders
Free Java toolkit for desktop apps, liked for its binding, scene graph and CSS model; critics say it needs extra programming.
Free Java toolkit for desktop apps, liked for its binding, scene graph and CSS model; critics say it needs extra programming.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 59%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: 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
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 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
Binding, scene graph and CSS model
“I really like the programming model with its binding and scene graph and CSS.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27” “One thing JavaFX got right was CSS support.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “JavaFX 27 Native Image on a Raspberry Pi 5” Renders without a browser
“I want to run the same UI on Mac and Windows, and I don't want it to be an Electron web app in a box”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27” “It likely would use less, and doesn't use a browser for rendering.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “The RAM shortage could last years” Pure Java desktop development
“enjoying pure Java development on desktop (Swing, SWT, JavaFX)”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Why Objective-C” “Should just use javafx or swing”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “The Codex App” Composable reactive API, not React-style
“A good example of getting this right is JavaFX which lets you build up functional pipelines that map data to UI”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “LinkedIn uses 2.4 GB RAM across two tabs” “I actually really like the API - it's not a ReactJS based paradigm that never really gelled for me”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11” “it's a nice composable reactive framework to use”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “JavaFX 27 Native Image on a Raspberry Pi 5”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Removed from JDK, forcing workarounds
“JavaFX was later ripped out of Java, to my chagrin, forcing a number of technical contortions.”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven” “then JavaFX was removed from JDKs”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Better Batteries” Patchy, inconsistent UI concept support
“Even JavaFX shows very patchy support for certain very standard UI concepts”
Comment from 18 Mar 2026 in “Java 26 is here, and with it a solid foundation for the future” “I also found JavaFX to be a bit inconsistent”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Clj-pack – Package Clojure apps into self-contained binaries without GraalVM”
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 | — |
| JavaFXThis page | 16 | 11 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
All 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I actually really like the API - it's not a ReactJS based paradigm that never really gelled for me”
“left me dead in the water for android hardware support”
“Gluon and Oracle have done tremendous amount of work with JavaFX.”
“it's a nice composable reactive framework to use”
“once you step outside of the standard platforms it gets complicated really fast”
“One thing JavaFX got right was CSS support.”
“I really like the programming model with its binding and scene graph and CSS.”
“I want to run the same UI on Mac and Windows, and I don't want it to be an Electron web app in a box”
“Swing and JavaFX are also quite good, however require additional programming”
“I'd really consider just about anything else at this point. JavaFX”
“JavaFX was later ripped out of Java, to my chagrin, forcing a number of technical contortions.”
“then JavaFX was removed from JDKs”
“JavaFX was brilliantly done and headed in a positive direction”
“all the text was using fugly non-platform-native (or somehow screwed up) text rendering”
“the JVM has never broken into local apps, even with JavaFx”
“JavaFX is surprisingly decent.”
“I'm not going to install a JavaFX text editor on his computer”
“It likely would use less, and doesn't use a browser for rendering.”
“I'm not sure it would even use less memory”
“A good example of getting this right is JavaFX which lets you build up functional pipelines that map data to UI”
“Even JavaFX shows very patchy support for certain very standard UI concepts”
“I still remember JavaFX treeview taking 3 Generics and I was unable to figure out what one of them is for from the docs.”
“Dude JFX yielded what was called RIAs to JavaScript like almost 15 years ago.”
“being replaced by lovely JavaFX”
“enjoying pure Java development on desktop (Swing, SWT, JavaFX)”
“We do. We are only stubborn.”
“Should just use javafx or swing”
“they all sucked except for maybe JavaFX”
“I also found JavaFX to be a bit inconsistent”
“it's what puts me off writing GUI apps in Clojure”
“Nothing is as easy as JS/HTML/CSS.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.