# Wails 25 Hacker News commenters recommended Wails and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** People recommend Wails for building small, fast desktop apps with a Go backend and web frontend, far lighter than Electron. Some call it a compromise. ## Why people recommend it - Much smaller than Electron (6 comments): "Golang "backend" w/ a Svelte "frontend" to build desktop apps the fraction of the size of Electron is a killer imo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928520)) "I've been using Go/Wails for desktop projects rather than a bundled Chromium and Node" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48629262)) "brings a tiny statically linked binary instead of running on top of a massive runtime" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46037438)) - Simple, low-friction development (4 comments): "very simple to use, reliable, and keeps up with the performance and consistency demands on an IRC client" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50048511)) "With Wails it’s also a low friction way to build desktop software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47334074)) "the DX is simply incomparable to that of web technologies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46031648)) - Go backend with web frontend (3 comments): "Golang "backend" w/ a Svelte "frontend" to build desktop apps the fraction of the size of Electron is a killer imo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928520)) "the biggest go gui successes still land in the web-technologies stack (wails)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47897320)) "Wails serves our golang and SvelteKit/Svelte provide the UX." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928079)) - Reliable, trouble-free use (4 comments): "very simple to use, reliable, and keeps up with the performance and consistency demands on an IRC client" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50048511)) "The Rust features all worked pretty much first try every time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47252082)) "I don't have the kind of issues you're mentioning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48630366)) ## What people warn about - Seen as a compromise, not ideal (2 comments): "So switched to Wails... I hate myself for doing this but it was by far the best option available" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47663255)) "the compromise I've settled on but will likely change my mind at some point again" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47768055)) - Shares a problem with Tauri (2 comments): "This problem isn't unique to Tauri as I have seen apps using Wails copy this same trick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514323)) "neither Tauri or Wails have this figured out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46086951)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Electron](https://hackerapproved.com/p/electron.md): 203 recommend - [Tauri](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tauri.md): 152 recommend - [Deno Desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deno-desktop.md): 30 recommend - [Electrobun](https://hackerapproved.com/p/electrobun.md): 17 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Wails", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wails/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).