List of widget toolkits

Low-level widget toolkits

Integrated in the [operating system]

• OS X uses Cocoa. Mac OS9 and OS X use Carbon for 32-bit applications.
• The Windows API used in Microsoft Windows. Microsoft had the graphics functions integrated in the kernel until 2006
• The Haiku operating system uses an extended and modernised version of the Be API that was used by its spiritual predecessor BeOS. Haiku Inc. is expected to drop binary and source compatibility with the BeOS at some point in the future, which will result in its own Haiku API.

  As a separate layer on top of the operating system

• The X Window System contains primitive building blocks, called Xt or "Intrinsics", but they are mostly only used by older toolkits such as: OLIT, Motif and Xaw. Most contemporary toolkits, such as GTK+ or Qt, bypass them and use Xlib or XCB directly.
• The Amiga OS Intuition was formerly present in the Amiga Kickstart ROM and integrated itself with a medium-high level widget library which invoked the Workbench Amiga native GUI. Since Amiga OS 2.0, Intuition.library became disk based and object oriented. Also Workbench.library and Icon.library became disk based, and could be replaced with similar third-party solutions.
• Since 2005, Microsoft has taken the graphics system out of Windows' kernel.

  High-level widget toolkits

OS dependent

On [Amiga]

• BOOPSI was introduced with OS 2.0 and enhanced Intuition with a system of classes in which every class represents a single widget or describes an interface event. This led to an evolution in which third-party developers each realised their own personal systems of classes.
• MUI: object-oriented GUI toolkit and the official toolkit for MorphOS.
• ReAction: object-oriented GUI toolkit and the official toolkit for AmigaOS.
• Zune is an open source clone of MUI and the official toolkit for AROS.

  On Macintosh">Apple Macintosh">Macintosh

• Cocoa - used in OS X .
• MacApp Macintosh framework.
• PowerPlant Macintosh framework.

  On [Microsoft Windows]

• The Microsoft Foundation Classes, a C++ wrapper around the Windows API.
• The Windows Template Library, a template-based extension to ATL and a replacement of MFC
• The Object Windows Library, Borland's alternative to MFC.
• The Visual Component Library is Embarcadero's toolkit used in C++Builder and Delphi. It wraps the native Windows controls, providing object-oriented classes and visual design, although also allowing access to the underlying handles and other WinAPI details if required. It was originally implemented as a successor to OWL, skipping the OWL/MFC style of UI creation, which by the mid-nineties was a dated design model.
• Windows Forms is Microsoft's.NET set of classes that handle GUI controls. In the cross-platform Mono implementation, it is an independent toolkit, implemented entirely in managed code. WinForms' design closely mimics that of the VCL.
• The Windows Presentation Foundation is the graphical subsystem of the.NET Framework 3.0. User interfaces can be created in WPF using any of the CLR languages or with the XML-based language XAML. Microsoft Expression Blend is a visual GUI builder for WPF.

  On [Unix], under the X Window System

• LessTif, an open source version of Motif.
• MoOLIT, a bridge between the look-and-feel of OPEN LOOK and Motif
• Motif used in the Common Desktop Environment.
• OLIT, an Xt-based OPEN LOOK intrinsics toolkit
• Xaw, the Project Athena widget set for the X Window System.
• XView, a SunView compatible OPEN LOOK toolkit

  Cross-platform

Based on C">C (programming language)">C (including bindings">Language binding">bindings to other languages)

• Elementary, open source, a part of the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, a fast, stable, and scalable library that can be used to create both rich and fast applications that can be used on anything from every day desktop computers to small PDA's and set-top boxes.
• GTK+, open source, primarily for the X Window System, ported to and emulated under other platforms; used in the GNOME, Rox, LXDE and Xfce desktop environments. The Windows port has support for native widgets.
• IUP, open source, a minimalist GUI toolkit in ANSI C for Windows, UNIX and Linux.
• Tk, open source, a widget set accessed from Tcl and other high-level script languages.
• XForms, the Forms Library for X
• XVT, Extensible Virtual Toolkit

  Based on [C++] (including bindings">Language binding">bindings to other languages)

• CEGUI, open source, cross-platform widget toolkit designed for game development, but also usable for applications and tool development. Supports multiple renderers and optional libraries.
• FLTK, open source, cross-platform toolkit designed to be small and fast.
• FOX toolkit, open source, cross-platform toolkit.
• GLUI, a very small toolkit written with the GLUT library.
• gtkmm, C++ version of GTK+
• Juce provides GUI and widget set with the same look and feel in Microsoft Windows, X Window Systems, OS X and Android. Rendering can be based on OpenGL.
• Nana C++, open source, a cross-platform toolkit designed to enable modern C++ GUI programming
• Qt, proprietary and open source available under Unix and Linux, MS Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10 and embedded Linux; used in the KDE, Trinity, LXQt, and Lumina desktop environment, it's also used in Ubuntu's Unity shell.
• Rogue Wave Views provides GUI and graphic library for Windows and the main X11 platforms.
• TnFOX, open source, a portability toolkit.
• Ultimate++ is a free Win32/X11 application framework bundled with an IDE
• The Visual Component Framework is an open source C++ framework project.
• wxWidgets, open source, abstracts toolkits across several platforms for C++, Python, Perl, Ruby and Haskell.
• Zinc Application Framework, cross-platform widget toolkit.

  Based on [OpenGL]

• Clutter is an open source software library for creating fast, visually rich and animated graphical user interfaces.

  Based on Flash">Adobe Flash">Flash

• Adobe Flash allows creating widgets running in most web browsers and in several mobile phones.
• Adobe Flex provides high-level widgets for building web user interfaces. Flash widgets can be used in Flex.
• Flash and Flex widgets will run without a web browser in the Adobe AIR runtime environment.

  Based on Go">Go (programming language)">Go

• Fyne, open source is inspired by the principles of Material Design to create applications that look and behave consistently across Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Android and iOS.

  Based on [XML]

• GladeXML with GTK+
• XAML with Silverlight or Moonlight
• XUL

  Based on [JavaScript]

• Cappuccino
• jQuery UI
• MooTools
• Qooxdoo Could be understood as Qt for the Web
• Script.aculo.us

• Adobe AIR
• Dojo Toolkit
• Sencha
• Telerik Kendo UI
• Webix
• WinJS
• React

• Echo3
• SproutCore
• Telerik UI for ASP/PHP/JSP/Silverlight
• Vaadin - Java
• ZK - A Java Web framework for building rich Ajax and mobile applications

• Google Web Toolkit
• Pyjs
• FBML Facebook Markup Language

• Rialto Toolkit
• YUI

  Based on SVG">Scalable Vector Graphics">SVG

• Raphaël is a JavaScript toolkit for SVG interfaces and animations

  Based on [.NET]

• Gtk#, C# wrappers around the underlying GTK+ and GNOME libraries, written in C and available on Linux, MacOS and Windows.
• Windows Forms. There is an original Microsoft's implementation that is a wrapper around the Windows API and runs on windows, and Mono's alternative implementation that is cross platform.

  Based on Java">Java (programming language)">Java

• The Abstract Window Toolkit is Sun Microsystems' original widget toolkit for Java applications. It typically uses another toolkit on each platform on which it runs.
• Swing is a richer widget toolkit supported since J2SE 1.2 as a replacement for AWT widgets. Swing is a lightweight toolkit, meaning it does not rely on native widgets.
• Apache Pivot is an open-source platform for building rich web applications in Java or any JVM-compatible language, and relies on the WTK widget toolkit.
• JavaFX and FXML.
• The Standard Widget Toolkit is a native widget toolkit for Java that was developed as part of the Eclipse project. SWT uses a standard toolkit for the running platform underneath.
• java-gnome provides bindings to the GTK toolkit and other libraries of the GNOME desktop environment
• Qt Jambi, the official Java binding to Qt from Trolltech. The commercial support and development has stopped

  Based on [Object Pascal]

• FireMonkey or FMX is a cross-platform widget and graphics library distributed with Delphi and C++Builder since version XE2 in 2011. It has bindings for C++ through C++Builder, and supports Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and most recently Linux. FireMonkey supports both platform-native widgets, such as a native edit control, as well as custom widgets that are styled to look native on the target operating system. Its graphics are GPU-accelerated and it supports styling, and mixing its own implementation controls with native system controls, which lets apps use native behaviour where it's important
• IP Pascal uses a graphics library built on top of standard language constructs. Also unusual for being a procedural toolkit that is cross-platform, and is completely upward compatible with standard serial input and output paradigms. Completely standard programs with serial output can be run and extended with graphical constructs.
• Lazarus LCL, a class library wrapping GTK+ 1.2, Gtk+ 2.x and the Windows API.
• fpGUI is created with the Free Pascal compiler. It doesn't rely on any large 3rdParty libraries and currently runs on Linux, Windows, Windows CE, and Mac. A Carbon port is underway.
• CLX was used with Borland's Delphi, C++ Builder, and Kylix, for producing cross-platform applications between Windows and Linux. It was based on Qt, wrapped in such a way that its programming interface was similar to that of the VCL toolkit. It is no longer maintained and distributed, and has been replaced with FireMonkey, a newer toolkit also supporting more platforms, since 2011.

  Based on [Objective-C]

• GNUstep
• Cocoa

  Based on Ruby">Ruby (programming language)">Ruby

• Shoes is a cross platform framework for graphical user interface development.

  Not yet categorised

• WINGs
• LiveCode
• Wt
• Immediate Mode GUI

  Comparison of widget toolkits