Qt Widgets
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 21 of 45 GUI frameworks by recommenders
Recommended for consistent, native-looking desktop apps and fast development with C++ or PySide; critics say it feels dated and is in maintenance mode.
Recommended for consistent, native-looking desktop apps and fast development with C++ or PySide; critics say it feels dated and is in maintenance mode.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 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.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Looks and feels dated
“Qt Widgets is fantastic, but now dated since it has not been updated for the modern world.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Developing a Beautiful and Performant Block Editor in Qt C++ and QML” “looked like a piece of software made in 2013”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” “the buttons look like something out of Windows 3.1”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron Sued in US over Memory Price Fixing” Little active development
“QtWidgets is extremely good though, even if it is effectively in maintenance mode.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Why I'm Done Making Desktop Applications” “receiving performance enhancements and updates and widgets is not, and has not for some time”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Developing a Beautiful and Performant Block Editor in Qt C++ and QML”
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 | — |
| Qt WidgetsThis page | 18 | 4 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Qt Widgets is very unpleasant to work in for a modern dynamic app”
“the buttons look like something out of Windows 3.1”
“Unlike Qt Widgets, QML/JavaScript is a horrible mess”
“Tbh I'd still use C++ with QtWidgets.”
“Very easy to get going and it scales very far.”
“QtWidgets is extremely good though, even if it is effectively in maintenance mode.”
“implements consistent controls but sometimes talked about as deprecated (same as WinForms)”
“looked like a piece of software made in 2013”
“Widgets apps absolutely look like actual desktop apps (menus, toolbars, dialogs)”
“for some more complicated views I'd want qwidgets”
“Qt Widgets still have weird bugs when you connect or disconnect displays it rerenders UIs twice the size.”
“I never had a problem with Qt Widgets layouts.”
“You are free to write one, and it works.”
“it is so nice to use despite being very old”
“Qt Widgets is fantastic, but now dated since it has not been updated for the modern world.”
“receiving performance enhancements and updates and widgets is not, and has not for some time”
“I'll just stick to my widgets.”
“the cumbersome process of defining nested sizers”
“I've worked with QtWidgets and I have mixed feelings”
“it's IMO the better technology for that”
“you can still just use QtWidgets. You just don't get fancy animations.”
“Using QWidgets+UIC is nice, but in my experience creates problems when you want to get fancy and custom with your design”
“solved the architecture/widget duality long ago with the signal/slot system”
“Even QWidgets is still super fast to develop with if you're using PySide”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.