# wxWidgets 32 Hacker News commenters recommended wxWidgets and 16 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free C++ GUI toolkit using native widgets on Windows, macOS and Linux, with a license that allows commercial static binaries. Common caveat: dated API and a Windowsy look. ## Why people recommend it - Uses native widgets on each platform (6 comments): "It uses the native toolkit no matter where you run it across Windows, GTK, Qt, Motif, macOS/Carbon, macOS/Cocoa, and X11 with generic widgets." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47868507)) "they are very close to native appearances on both macOS and Windows and are much easier to program than anything Qt" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48006165)) "The old wxWidgets supports native OS interface targeting being truly cross-platform." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49550133)) - License allows commercial static binaries (3 comments): "It is why the wxWidgets has a license that allows creating monolithic commercial blob dependent binaries for Windows, Linux Gtk/X11, and MacOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49607908)) "Static linking libraries for MacOS or Windows is contaminated by GPL/LGPL code, and this is why wxwidgets excludes the disclosure requirement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47465193)) "wxWidgets is also nice, without the licensing weirdness" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47477160)) - Sizers avoid pixel-level alignment (3 comments): "wxWidgets has sizers where elements sit inside them and grow/shrink as necessary." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045737)) "In wxWidgets you use sizers, so you don't work on pixel-level alignments." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46883914)) "you can manually construct an interface from nested linear layouts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159081)) - Stable, long-lived, well documented (2 comments): "have always been robust, stable, well documented, and easy to use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49199627)) "If you want to build an app today that will still run in 20 years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48169145)) ## What people warn about - Dated, Windows-like look (3 comments): "I don't like how wxWidgets look and that touch is seemingly not considered a first-class citizen like mouse+keyboard (yet)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50281059)) "it had a clunky MFC style to it, limited feature, along with a rather Windowsy look and feel" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47940175)) "feeling somewhat Windowsy though not full-on MFC/Win32" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46675136)) - Old, macro-heavy C++ API (3 comments): "wxWidgets is quite great, although I have to also agree with the comment above, that C++ for a GUI library is just a PITA when used from any other language" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48007272)) "It's the heavy use of C style macros instead of C++ templates, mostly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777826)) "this library has old design written all over it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48456727)) - Native widgets inconsistent; weak DPI scaling (3 comments): "wxWidgets uses native controls but they don't behave better despite that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868685)) "Trying to defer to native widget rendering per platform was a mistake" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46750449)) "they tend to not handle DPI scaling well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47940691)) - Bloated for simple tasks (2 comments): "MFC, wx, Qt .. it's all overcomplex pointless bloat for this task imo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481276)) "wxWidgets comes with a disappointing amount of bloat though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48636819)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Qt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qt.md): 191 recommend - [GTK](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gtk.md): 85 recommend - [Windows Forms](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winforms.md): 76 recommend - [SwiftUI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/swiftui.md): 75 recommend - [Tcl/Tk](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tcl-tk.md): 61 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "wxWidgets", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wxwidgets/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).