WebKitGTK
Shares rank 8 of 9 browser engines by recommenders
Recommended as the most viable non-Blink engine built for embedding in other software, but critics say it is slow, lags upstream WebKit and uses too much RAM.
Recommended as the most viable non-Blink engine built for embedding in other software, but critics say it is slow, lags upstream WebKit and uses too much RAM.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 24%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Only viable embeddable non-Blink engine
“it's the only viable (if only somewhat) non-blink web engine that is designed to be easily embedded in other software”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “The Cost of 'Lightweight' Frameworks: From Tauri to Native Rust” Works inside GtkWebkit views
“works in GtkWebkit views.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow performance, heavy RAM use
“that library is based on an ancient version of webkit, which is slow and lacks some modern web features”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Tauri” “it's also much slower compared to more popular browser engines and is particularly bad with RAM usage”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” “WebKitGTK has honestly abysmal performance, and you're missing a lot of modern standards.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET MAUI is coming to Linux and the browser” - Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop”
- Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Steam Client is now faster than Epic's new vibe coded launcher”
- Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop”
- Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “The Cost of 'Lightweight' Frameworks: From Tauri to Native Rust”
Rough, unstable, hard to work with
“historically been slow, unstable, and frequently lagging behind the main WebKit project”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” “The usage of WebKitGTK IS the problem that makes it second class on linux.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Linux server management over SSH – written in Rust and Tauri” “For some reason that always means WebKitGTK, which is crummy.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Zero-native – Build native desktop apps with web UI” - Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Kagi releases alpha version of Orion for Linux”
- Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop”
- Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Steam Client is now faster than Epic's new vibe coded launcher”
- Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Servo is now available on crates.io”
Lags behind upstream WebKit
“that library is based on an ancient version of webkit, which is slow and lacks some modern web features”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Tauri” “historically been slow, unstable, and frequently lagging behind the main WebKit project”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” “the major version of WebKitGTK to not upgrade at all except during major OS upgrades”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” - Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Kagi releases alpha version of Orion for Linux”
Missing modern web features
“that library is based on an ancient version of webkit, which is slow and lacks some modern web features”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Tauri” “WebRTC is still experimental in webkitgtk while caniuse says Safari supported it back in 2017.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Deno Desktop” “WebKitGTK has honestly abysmal performance, and you're missing a lot of modern standards.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET MAUI is coming to Linux and the browser”
Other browser engines people recommend
The four most recommended other browser engines, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Servo browser engine | 81 | 32 | 72% | 12 | — | Approved |
| WebKit | 33 | 33 | 50% | 12 | — | — |
| Blitz | 14 | 5 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| One Agent One Browser | 12 | 4 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| WebKitGTKThis page | 5 | 16 | 24% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
22 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“that's due to the poor state of WebKitGTK than Tauris fault”
“the rendering perf also seemed noticeably poor, and that's harder to live with”
“WebKitGTK is kinda rough around the edges.”
“WebKitGtk is a monster and do not really make a good fit for the one man idea”
“works in GtkWebkit views.”
“The usage of WebKitGTK IS the problem that makes it second class on linux.”
“WebRTC is still experimental in webkitgtk while caniuse says Safari supported it back in 2017.”
“the major version of WebKitGTK to not upgrade at all except during major OS upgrades”
“it's also much slower compared to more popular browser engines and is particularly bad with RAM usage”
“assorted webkitgtk bundling/incompatibility madness”
“The performance of webkitgtk is like running an emulator inside an emulator.”
“avoid the mess that is webkitgtk”
“historically been slow, unstable, and frequently lagging behind the main WebKit project”
“For some reason that always means WebKitGTK, which is crummy.”
“known for being not exactly great”
“it's the only viable (if only somewhat) non-blink web engine that is designed to be easily embedded in other software”
“the performance on Linux is really poor right now”
“This is not entirely accurate in some cases, as seen re: Linux && Tauri/WebkitGTK.”
“that library is based on an ancient version of webkit, which is slow and lacks some modern web features”
“webkitgtk is notoriously behind and difficult to work with”
“Webkit on Linux has essentially been relegated to embedded devices”
“WebKitGTK has honestly abysmal performance, and you're missing a lot of modern standards.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.