The short version: on maturity, ecosystem, and depth-of-Windows, Electron wins - it’s a decade-old incumbent running half your desktop. On size, supply-chain footprint, and native-module DX, Bunmaska wins by a structural margin Electron can’t close without un-bundling Chromium. Bunmaska now runs on all three desktop OSes (Windows is x64-first, with a few engine-blocked APIs), so “no Windows” is no longer the simple dividing line it used to be.
The table
| Electron | Bunmaska | |
|---|---|---|
| Download size | 150 MB+ | ~16-23 MB |
| Installed size | ~220 MB | ~60 MB |
| Rendering engine | bundled Chromium (every app, again) | system WebKit by default, pinnable via the engine store (from-source WinCairo on Windows) |
| Runtime | Node + V8 | Bun + JavaScriptCore |
| Process model | multi-process (sandboxed renderers) | single cooperatively-pumped process |
| Native modules | node-gyp / N-API / electron-rebuild | a .ts file that dlopens the OS |
| Compile step | yes | none |
| Runtime deps | several | zero |
| Platforms | Win / macOS / Linux | Win (x64) / macOS / Linux |
| API | the original | drop-in, ~70-80% parity |
| Maturity | 10+ years, runs everything | alpha |
Where Electron still wins (yes, really)
- Windows depth. Bunmaska now runs on Windows (x64), but Electron is still ahead there: Windows-on-ARM64, no engine-blocked APIs (Bunmaska can’t serve custom
protocol://or doprintToPDF/capturePageon WinCairo), and a runtime you don’t have to build/bundle yourself. If you need Windows ARM64 or those specific APIs today, Electron wins. - The multi-process sandbox. Electron isolates each renderer and survives a renderer crash. Bunmaska is one process - a WebKit/JSC crash takes the whole app with it. That’s a real defense-in-depth trade, not a rounding error.
- Ecosystem & maturity. electron-builder, Forge, a decade of Stack Overflow answers, thousands of compatible native modules, and actual production track record. Bunmaska has none of that yet.
- The long tail of the API. That last ~20-30% -
BrowserView, sync IPC, the Chromium-internal surface - is where you’ll hit walls.
Where Bunmaska wins
- Size & updates. ~3× smaller installed, ~7-10× smaller to download, tiny updates, and no Chromium-CVE re-ship treadmill.
- Buildless native modules. The
node-gyp/electron-rebuildtreadmill simply doesn’t exist. See Native Modules. - Supply chain. Zero runtime deps, zero compiled native code, no postinstall scripts. Your SBOM is “Bun + your code.”
So which should you use?
If you need Windows ARM64, the full API surface, or battle-tested stability today - use Electron, and check back on Bunmaska later. If you’re shipping a focused app for macOS, Linux, or Windows x64 and you care that it’s small, fast, and doesn’t drag a browser engine and a compiler toolchain along for the ride - that’s exactly what Bunmaska is for.