Kotlin Multiplatform
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 13 cross-platform UI frameworks by recommenders
Recommended for sharing core logic across Android, iOS and desktop in Kotlin; people call it mature and less opinionated than Flutter. Common caveat: Gradle and toolchain complexity.
Recommended for sharing core logic across Android, iOS and desktop in Kotlin; people call it mature and less opinionated than Flutter. Common caveat: Gradle and toolchain complexity.
39 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 69%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 2 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 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
Shares logic across platforms
“I always thought the best answer was something like KMM to do all the backend comms and local data model in a shared way”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin” “I feel it is less maintenance work than having an Android project that uses the Android UI framework and system APIs.”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “StreetComplete on iOS is now in public beta” “Now with KMP you can build a desktop/iOS/Android app with single codebase as well.”
Comment from 18 Mar 2026 in “Java 26 is here, and with it a solid foundation for the future” - Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Using Go for Mobile Apps”
- Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin”
- Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin”
Mature and production ready
“It seems mature enough now that if I want to build an app as a single dev I feel confident that I could get the iOS version out at the same time.”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What Is the State of App Development in 2026?” “Generally, I'm very happy with the platform and it's only gotten better over the past couple years”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “StreetComplete on iOS is now in public beta” “something like KMP has been around longer and is more stable”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” - Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: NeoMud – A multiplayer dungeon game with AI agents that QA and playtest”
- Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Show HN: I built a new word game, Wordtrak”
- Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin”
Preferred over Flutter or React Native
“What I like about Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) vs Flutter is that KMP is not a framework”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “SwiftUI After 7 Years: A Story of Mediocrity” “I find Kotlin Multiplatform to be far and away a better experience than flutter”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” “KMP is much friendlier and less opinionated about how you use it”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “StreetComplete on iOS is now in public beta” - Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Kotlin's Rich Errors: Native, Typed Errors Without Exceptions”
- Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “JavaScript engines zoo – Compare every JavaScript engine”
Native API and library access
“it has replaced their decade-old transpiler from Java to ObjC, which is very impressive”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” “The advantage is that you can cherry-pick the library you want to depend on.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” “it’s a delight and you can use native Swift UI when you want to”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin” - Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin”
- Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: What are some modern technologies that you refuse to adopt?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Gradle and JetBrains toolchain burden
“JVM toolchain bits like Gradle being involved is a turnoff and has kept me away from KMP.”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin” “trading RN problems for gradle and integration problems on iOS”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin” “It's an unfinished, hot garbage bolted on top of Gradle”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” - Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible”
Still too complicated and verbose
“Kotlin Multiplatform is making a serious go at it but it's still too complicated”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Matz 2/2: The trajectory of Ruby's growth, Open-Source Software today etc.” “requires separate source sets, separate files, and considerably more boilerplate”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Swift 6.3 Released” Performance and not native-compiled
“It's still immature compared to Flutter and doesn't necessarily run native compiled code depending on platform”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “What's New in Flutter 3.47” “Shitty toolchain and performance worse than Electron?”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Unlocking Python's Cores:Energy Implications of Removing the GIL” “Flutter and Kotlin MP add extra skia graphics engine.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin” Doubts about Google's commitment
“When it comes to Google, I'll believe it when I see it.”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “The Origins of Scala (2009)” “More like JetBrains dragged Google kicking and screaming into multiplatform, given how piece of a shit setup is”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “JavaScript-heavy approaches are not compatible with long-term performance goals”
Other cross-platform UI frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other cross-platform UI 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flutter | 171 | 106 | 62% | 12 | 3 yrs11 owners | — |
| React Native | 98 | 128 | 43% | 12 | 8 yrs7 owners | — |
| Kotlin MultiplatformThis page | 27 | 12 | 69% | 9 | 2 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Expo | 21 | 10 | 68% | 11 | — | Approved |
| .NET MAUI | 21 | 68 | 24% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 57 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the KMP story seems a lot more mature in that regard”
“KMP is much friendlier and less opinionated about how you use it”
“I feel it is less maintenance work than having an Android project that uses the Android UI framework and system APIs.”
“Generally, I'm very happy with the platform and it's only gotten better over the past couple years”
“trading RN problems for gradle and integration problems on iOS”
“Flutter and Kotlin MP add extra skia graphics engine.”
“it’s a delight and you can use native Swift UI when you want to”
“KMP can call into native libraries easily.”
“it seems like a great and underrated platform to build on”
“I always thought the best answer was something like KMM to do all the backend comms and local data model in a shared way”
“JVM toolchain bits like Gradle being involved is a turnoff and has kept me away from KMP.”
“it was super nice to have shared core logic between the apps”
“KMP is a mature tech by this point”
“KMP makes cross-platform a real thing now”
“It's still immature compared to Flutter and doesn't necessarily run native compiled code depending on platform”
“I should be fine with Compose Multiplatform and Kotlin Multiplatform”
“What I like about Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) vs Flutter is that KMP is not a framework”
“KMP is brilliant and arguably the best way to write a cross platform app that has Android as a target.”
“its much simpler to write 99% of the app in Kotlin and Compose”
“It seems mature enough now that if I want to build an app as a single dev I feel confident that I could get the iOS version out at the same time.”
“Kotlin Multiplatform is production level at this point.”
“requires separate source sets, separate files, and considerably more boilerplate”
“Now with KMP you can build a desktop/iOS/Android app with single codebase as well.”
“Shitty toolchain and performance worse than Electron?”
“The Kotlin Multiplatform story for UI is surprisingly mature”
“More like JetBrains dragged Google kicking and screaming into multiplatform, given how piece of a shit setup is”
“kmp has very distinct advantages over React Native and Flutter”
“Seems to me like Kotlin Multiplatform has been quite successful actually.”
“KMP itself doesn't have an equivalent, but it does have a sibling project”
“it has replaced their decade-old transpiler from Java to ObjC, which is very impressive”
“The advantage is that you can cherry-pick the library you want to depend on.”
“Flutter and KMM are actually very good”
“It's an unfinished, hot garbage bolted on top of Gradle”
“something like KMP has been around longer and is more stable”
“it requires a JetBrains IDE to even run it”
“I find Kotlin Multiplatform to be far and away a better experience than flutter”
“Kotlin Multiplatform is making a serious go at it but it's still too complicated”
“When it comes to Google, I'll believe it when I see it.”
“KMP allows native-level control.”
“You could just use Kotlin Multiplatform and Multiplatform Compose instead.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.