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This is a list of notable library packages implementing a graphical user interface (GUI) platform-independent GUI library (PIGUI). These can be used to develop software that can be ported to multiple computing platforms with no change to its source code.
| Name | Owner | Programming language | Platforms | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Flex Formerly Adobe Flex | Apache Software Foundation | ActionScript, Flash, Adobe AIR | Windows (x86, x64), macOS, Android (ARM, x86), iOS, Web (SWF) | Free: Apache |
| Apache Pivot | Apache Software Foundation | Java | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: Apache |
| Avalonia | AvaloniaUI OÜ | C#, XAML, WASM | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web (WebAssembly), Samsung Tizen | Free: MIT |
| Delphi, FireMonkey | Embarcadero Technologies | Object Pascal, Python [1] | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Proprietary |
| Flutter | C, C++, Dart | Android, iOS (experimental: Web, Linux, Windows, macOS) | Free: New BSD License | |
| Fyne | Open source | Go | Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Android, iOS (experimental: Web) | Free: New BSD License |
| Godot (game engine) | Open source | GDScript, C++, C#, GDNative | Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD, Haiku, iOS, Android, HTML5, WebAssembly, Xbox One, Universal Windows Platform, also useful for making GUI apps in VR (OpenXR and WebXR) | Free: MIT |
| PureBasic | Fantaisie Software | BASIC | Windows, Linux and OSX | Proprietary |
| JavaFX | Oracle Corporation | Java | Windows, Linux X11, macOS, Android, iOS | Free: CDDL, GPL with linking exception |
| Kivy | Kivy | Python | Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS | Free: MIT |
| LCL, Lazarus | Open source | Free Pascal | Windows (Win32, Qt), Linux (GTK, Qt), macOS (Qt, Carbon, Cocoa) | Free: GPL, LGPL |
| Mono, GTK# | Xamarin | C# | Windows, Linux (X11, Wayland), macOS | Free: MIT, LGPLv2, GPLv2 (dual license) |
| Swing | Oracle Corporation | Java | Windows, Linux X11, macOS | Free: CDDL, GPL with linking exception |
| SWT | Eclipse Foundation | Java | Windows (Win32), Linux (GTK), macOS (Cocoa) | Free: Eclipse |
| Tcl/Tk | Open source | Tcl | Windows, OS/2, X11, OpenLook, Mac, Android | Free: BSD-style |
| Unity | Unity Technologies | C#, JavaScript, Boo | Windows, X11, macOS, Android, iOS also features cross-platform Web player | Proprietary, based on open-source |
| Uno Platform | nventive | C#, XAML, WASM | Windows, iOS, Android, Web (WebAssembly), experimental macOS | Free: Apache |
| VisualWorks | Cincom | Smalltalk | Windows, OS/2, Linux (X11), OpenLook, Mac | Proprietary |
| Xojo | Xojo, Inc. | Xojo | Windows, macOS, Linux (X11), iOS, web | Proprietary |
| LispWorks CAPI | LispWorks, Ltd. | Common Lisp | Windows, macOS, Linux (Gtk+), Motif | Proprietary |
| Name | Owner | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| VisualAge | IBM | Discontinued by IBM in 2007. |
| AppWare | Novell | Has been de-emphasized (commonly viewed as dropped) by Novell |
| Open Interface | Neuron Data | One of the earliest PIGUI supported DOS, macOS, OS/2, VMS, Microsoft Windows 3.0 |
| Zinc Application Framework | Professional Software Associates | May still be supported, but no new sales |
In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.
PyQt is a Python binding of the cross-platform GUI toolkit Qt, implemented as a Python plug-in. PyQt is free software developed by the British firm Riverbank Computing. It is available under similar terms to Qt versions older than 4.5; this means a variety of licenses including GNU General Public License (GPL) and commercial license, but not the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). PyQt supports Microsoft Windows as well as various kinds of UNIX, including Linux and MacOS.
The FOX toolkit is an open-source, cross-platform widget toolkit, i.e. a library of basic elements for building a graphical user interface (GUI). FOX stands for Free Objects for X.
Twisted is an event-driven network programming framework written in Python and licensed under the MIT License.
eric is a free integrated development environment (IDE) used for computer programming. Since it is a full featured IDE, it provides by default all necessary tools needed for the writing of code and for the professional management of a software project.
The Apache Portable Runtime (APR) is a supporting library for the Apache web server. It provides a set of APIs that map to the underlying operating system (OS). Where the OS does not support a particular function, APR will provide an emulation. Thus programmers can use the APR to make a program truly portable across platforms.
Tkinter is a Python binding to the Tk GUI toolkit. It is the standard Python interface to the Tk GUI toolkit, and is Python's de facto standard GUI. Tkinter is included with standard Linux, Microsoft Windows and macOS installs of Python.
SALOME is a multi-platform open source (LGPL-2.1-or-later) scientific computing environment, allowing the realization of industrial studies of physics simulations.
A PIGUI package is a software library that a programmer uses to produce GUI code for multiple computer platforms. The package presents subroutines and/or objects which are independent of the GUIs that the programmer is targeting. For software to qualify as PIGUI it must support several GUIs under at least two different operating systems. The package does not necessarily provide any additional portability features. Native look and feel is a desirable feature, but is not essential for PIGUIs.
Crazy Eddie's GUI (CEGUI) is a graphical user interface (GUI) library for the programming language C++. It was designed for the needs of video games, but is usable for non-game tasks, such as applications and tools. It is designed for user flexibility in look-and-feel, and to be adaptable to the user's choice in tools and operating systems.
Tk is a cross-platform widget toolkit that provides a library of basic elements of GUI widgets for building a graphical user interface (GUI) in many programming languages. It is free and open-source software released under a BSD-style software license.
Phatch is a raster graphics editor used to batch process digital graphics and photographs. Phatch can be used on the desktop as a GUI program or on the server as a console program.
GTK is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the Wayland and X11 windowing systems.
PsychoPy is an open source software package written in the Python programming language primarily for use in neuroscience and experimental psychology research. Developed initially as a Python library and then as an application with a graphical interface, it now also supports JavaScript outputs to run studies online and on mobile devices. Unlike most packages, it provides users with a choice of interface - they can generate experiments by writing Python scripts, use a graphical interface that will generate a script for them, or combine both methods. Its platform independence is achieved through use of the wxPython widget library for the application and OpenGL for graphics calls. It is also capable of generating and delivering auditory stimuli.
Embedded Wizard is a graphical user interface tool developed and distributed by TARA Systems GmbH for creating graphical user interface (GUI) applications mainly for embedded systems. It provides a WYSIWYG front-end for editing graphics, effects and logic of the user interface and generates ANSI C code for particular target hardware. Embedded Wizard is independent of a specific graphics hardware or color format and supports object oriented programming.
FireMonkey is a cross-platform GUI framework developed by Embarcadero Technologies for use in Delphi, C++Builder or Python, using Object Pascal, C++ or Python to build cross platform applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. A 3rd party library, FMX Linux, enables the building of FireMonkey applications on Linux.
appJar is a cross-platform Python library for developing GUIs. It can run on Linux, OS X, and Windows. It was conceived, and continues to be developed with educational use as its focus, so is accompanied by comprehensive documentation, as well as easy-to-follow lessons.