.NET MAUIvs
Flutter
Flutter: If you want more mature cross-platform UI polish and are open to Dart
.NET MAUI
Microsoft-maintained, free framework for native iOS, Android, Windows and macOS apps from one C# codebase
As of 1 September 2026, .NET MAUI is free to use. The successor to Xamarin. Softwr lists it under Mobile Development. .NET MAUI is made by Microsoft Corporation, available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
Overview
What .NET MAUI does
.NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) lets developers write a single C# and XAML codebase that compiles to native UI on iOS, Android, Windows and macOS. It replaced Xamarin.Forms, which Microsoft retired in 2024, consolidating what had been a separate mobile-focused product line into the mainline .NET SDK and Visual Studio tooling. The distinguishing fact is cost and cadence rather than architecture: .NET MAUI itself is free and open source under the MIT licence, funded entirely by Microsoft as part of .NET, with no separate mobile licence fee. What buyers need to track instead is .NET's support lifecycle: even-numbered .NET releases (.NET 8, .NET 10) are Long Term Support with roughly three years of support, while odd-numbered releases get about eighteen months, and MAUI's own release train has historically lagged slightly behind the core .NET release, so a team must plan upgrade cycles around Microsoft's calendar rather than its own. Buyers are organisations already invested in C# and .NET, often with an existing Windows or Xamarin codebase, wanting to extend into mobile without adopting a new language or a second toolchain. The trade-off is platform-specific polish: MAUI's Android and iOS output has historically had more rough edges (control styling gaps, tooling bugs) than Flutter or React Native at comparable maturity, and its desktop story outside Windows is thinner than its mobile one.
What people use it for
- A .NET shop extending an existing C# codebase or business logic layer into iOS and Android
- A team migrating a retired Xamarin.Forms app, since Microsoft provides an official upgrade path
- An organisation that wants one codebase spanning mobile and Windows desktop without a second language
- A company standardised on Visual Studio and Azure DevOps wanting mobile builds in the same pipeline
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about .NET MAUI.
- Its release and support lifecycle is tied to the underlying .NET version, so a team on an odd-numbered .NET release faces a support cutoff roughly every eighteen months and must budget upgrade work accordingly.
- Platform-specific control styling and native look-and-feel have historically needed more manual work and workaround packages than Flutter delivers out of the box.
- macOS and desktop support are less mature than the iOS and Android targets, so teams wanting a strong Mac app experience often still reach for native AppKit or a dedicated tool.
- The talent pool of mobile developers fluent in MAUI specifically is smaller than for Flutter or React Native, even though C# itself is common.
- Third-party control libraries such as Syncfusion and Telerik fill real gaps in the built-in component set, meaning a serious app often carries an additional commercial licence cost despite the framework itself being free.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of .NET MAUI
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- .NET MAUIvsReact Native
React Native: If your team is already JavaScript-first rather than C#-first
- .NET MAUIvsKotlin Multiplatform
Kotlin Multiplatform: If you want to keep native UI per platform but share business logic in Kotlin instead
Pricing
What .NET MAUI costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
.NET MAUI
Free
- MIT licensed, unlimited apps
- Bundled with the free .NET SDK
- Visual Studio Community edition available at no cost for individuals and small teams
Capabilities
Features
Single C# and XAML codebase
One project targets iOS, Android, Windows and macOS
Native UI rendering
Compiles to native controls per platform rather than a WebView
Xamarin migration path
Official tooling and guidance for moving from the retired Xamarin.Forms
Hot Reload
Live UI updates during development inside Visual Studio
Blazor Hybrid support
Mix Razor-based web UI with native MAUI pages in the same app
MVU and data binding
Standard .NET MVVM patterns carried over from WPF and Xamarin
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is .NET MAUI really free for commercial apps?
Yes. It ships under the MIT licence as part of the free .NET SDK, with no separate mobile licence fee from Microsoft.
Is this the same as Xamarin?
It is the successor. Xamarin.Forms was retired in 2024 and Microsoft provides migration tooling from it to MAUI.
How long is each .NET version supported?
Even-numbered releases get Long Term Support (around three years); odd-numbered releases get roughly eighteen months, and MAUI follows that same .NET release cadence.
Keep looking
Where to go from .NET MAUI
- .NET MAUI alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- .NET MAUI pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- .NET MAUI badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Mobile Development softwareThe full category
- Best Mobile Development softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Mobile Development software for
Compare .NET MAUI with
- Flutter
- React Native
- Kotlin Multiplatform
- EAS Build
- NativeScript
- Xcode
- Capacitor
- RevenueCat
- AppsFlyer
- Emerge Tools
- Maestro
- Sencha
- Luciq
- Superwall
- NativeScript
- Emerge Tools
- Maestro
- Sencha
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for .NET MAUI, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on .NET MAUI
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Best Mobile Development software alternatives
Open source framework compiling JavaScript and TypeScript UI to true native components
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