Slint
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 11 of 45 GUI frameworks by recommenders
A free, native cross-platform UI toolkit for desktop and embedded apps, usable from Rust, C++, Python or JavaScript without a browser runtime. Critics most often raise licensing limits and hard-to-customise widgets.
A free, native cross-platform UI toolkit for desktop and embedded apps, usable from Rust, C++, Python or JavaScript without a browser runtime. Critics most often raise licensing limits and hard-to-customise widgets.
44 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 36
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 36 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 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
Native cross-platform, no browser runtime
“We're actually working on a native open source cross-platform UI toolkit called Slint that's trying to do exactly that.”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “The Codex App” “It’s a native, cross-platform UI framework for desktop and embedded (Rust/C++/Python/JS), with no browser runtime”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “High-Level Is the Goal” “There is no browser under the hood so it is much more lightweight.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Xilem – An experimental Rust native UI framework” - Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “The Birth and Death of JavaScript (2014)”
Runs on embedded and desktop
“Slint is the main one that will go smaller than that (it will run on actual MCU if you need it to).”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Rust (and Slint) on a Jailbroken Kindle” “It's early days but it's looking very promising and is light enough to work on embedded systems.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “ImAnim: Modern animation capabilities to ImGui applications” “one missing from that list: Slint, which i work on. runs on Linux, Windows, macOS and embedded”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” - Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Ratatui – App Showcase”
Usable from several languages
“the UI layer is decoupled from the application language, so you can use Rust, JavaScript, Python, etc.”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “The Codex App” “It’s a native, cross-platform UI framework for desktop and embedded (Rust/C++/Python/JS), with no browser runtime”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “High-Level Is the Goal” “Slint has nice QML syntax for UI and logic (and the underlying framework) is written in Rust.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Swift on Android: Full Native App Development Now Possible” Lightweight and faster than Electron
“significantly faster and more lightweight than Electron”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “The Birth and Death of JavaScript (2014)” “There is no browser under the hood so it is much more lightweight.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Xilem – An experimental Rust native UI framework” “It's early days but it's looking very promising and is light enough to work on embedded systems.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “ImAnim: Modern animation capabilities to ImGui applications”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Licensing restricts some uses
“its more permissive license is made for desktop apps and explicitly forbid embedded (so automotive)”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Unlocking Python's Cores:Energy Implications of Removing the GIL” “They are more restrictive than most of the Rust ecosystem being dual Apache/MIT”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Xilem – An experimental Rust native UI framework” “Licensing a library as GPLv3 severely limits where it can or should be used.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Zed editor switching graphics lib from blade to wgpu” - Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Unlocking Python's Cores:Energy Implications of Removing the GIL”
Custom theming and look are hard
“Slint has invented their own set of UI components, so slint apps don't look and feel like anything else.”
Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” “It's virtually impossible to make a custom theme without re-implementing most widget logic”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Servo is now available on crates.io” Missing dynamic widgets and callbacks
“Not being able to dynamically insert widgets from code was the only thing that turned me off of it for my use case.”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Servo is now available on crates.io” “the more you use it, the more you run into limitations like missing async support for callbacks”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Xilem – An experimental Rust native UI framework” Boilerplate setup and thin docs
“in some ways it is weird and it requires quite a lot of boilerplate setup”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Zed editor switching graphics lib from blade to wgpu” “tutorials and docs are still lacking”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “The state of building user interfaces in Rust”
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 | — |
| SlintThis page | 36 | 8 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 66 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“so far liked it, coming as I am from the Qt/QML world.”
“Rust + Slint + cross-compiling to Windows (I develop on Linux) + Proton runtime was the clear winner”
“Slint has invented their own set of UI components, so slint apps don't look and feel like anything else.”
“Slint and LVGL bindings are where the polished widget stuff lives on ESP32”
“it's GUI and cross-platform and for exercise purposes it was perfect”
“one missing from that list: Slint, which i work on. runs on Linux, Windows, macOS and embedded”
“It really accelerated development to have it running as a mac app and then be able to deploy it on real hardware.”
“significantly faster and more lightweight than Electron”
“tutorials and docs are still lacking”
“maybe the exception of Slint which is really not Rust anymore”
“Slint is the main one that will go smaller than that (it will run on actual MCU if you need it to).”
“If you are looking for something similar but not limited to C++”
“I would strongly prefer something more lightweight like Slint, Iced or egui”
“desktop frameworks have been getting really good these days”
“It's virtually impossible to make a custom theme without re-implementing most widget logic”
“Not being able to dynamically insert widgets from code was the only thing that turned me off of it for my use case.”
“I just wish there was a native C++ alternative to slint.”
“the more you use it, the more you run into limitations like missing async support for callbacks”
“There is no browser under the hood so it is much more lightweight.”
“They are more restrictive than most of the Rust ecosystem being dual Apache/MIT”
“If you want to build a real app with a stable toolkit, use Slint.”
“its more permissive license is made for desktop apps and explicitly forbid embedded (so automotive)”
“Slint has a similar license”
“Licensing a library as GPLv3 severely limits where it can or should be used.”
“in some ways it is weird and it requires quite a lot of boilerplate setup”
“the UI layer is decoupled from the application language, so you can use Rust, JavaScript, Python, etc.”
“We're actually working on a native open source cross-platform UI toolkit called Slint that's trying to do exactly that.”
“Slint is interesting here but then it's more rust and less web coding”
“It seems good enough to at least make some proof of concept project and learn it.”
“It’s a native, cross-platform UI framework for desktop and embedded (Rust/C++/Python/JS), with no browser runtime”
“Slint has nice QML syntax for UI and logic (and the underlying framework) is written in Rust.”
“This is cool because it takes a significant effort to implement”
“I worked with it for a while and enjoyed it quite a lot.”
“the syntax is extremely easy to grasp - very react-ish”
“there is actually much more approval than disapproval for Slint in that huge overview”
“their DSL is even better since it fully compiles to native Rust code”
“Take a look at Slint or Avalonia if you miss this experience.”
“It's early days but it's looking very promising and is light enough to work on embedded systems.”
“isn't anywhere near as mature, but is at least written in Rust”
“I love how Slint works on embedded devices too.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.