WinForms alternatives compared
If you have a working WinForms application and need it on macOS or Linux, the real question isn’t “which UI framework is best” — it’s “how much of my existing code survives?” Every option below is a good framework. They just ask for very different amounts of your codebase.
The short version
| Option | UI paradigm | Linux | macOS | Mobile / web | What happens to your existing WinForms code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Majorsilence.Forms | WinForms (Form, controls, events, Designer files) |
Yes | Yes | Browser, Android, iOS (early) | Kept. Namespace change + a compatibility layer; the migrator automates the mechanical part |
| Avalonia | XAML + MVVM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rewritten as XAML views and view models |
| Uno Platform | WinUI XAML + MVVM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rewritten as WinUI XAML |
| .NET MAUI | XAML + MVVM | No official support | Yes (Mac Catalyst) | Yes | Rewritten, and re-scoped for a mobile-first control set |
| Eto.Forms | Its own forms-style .NET API, native widgets per OS | Yes | Yes | No | Rewritten against Eto’s API — familiar in shape, but not source-compatible with WinForms |
| WPF | XAML + MVVM | No | No | No | Rewritten, and still Windows-only |
| Wine | None — runs the Windows binary | Yes | Yes | No | Untouched, but you are shipping an emulated Windows app, not a native one |
Majorsilence.Forms is built on two of these
Worth being explicit, because it is a common misreading: Majorsilence.Forms is not competing with Avalonia or Uno Platform. It uses them. Every control is drawn by Majorsilence.Forms itself with SkiaSharp, and Avalonia (or Uno) is the host underneath that creates the window, runs the message loop and presents the Skia surface. See Platform backends.
So the choice isn’t “Majorsilence.Forms or Avalonia”. It is: do you write Avalonia’s XAML directly, or do you keep writing WinForms and let Avalonia be the plumbing?
Option by option
.NET MAUI
Microsoft’s official cross-platform successor to Xamarin.Forms, and the answer most search results will give you. It is a strong choice for a new mobile-and-desktop app.
For an existing WinForms LOB application it’s usually the hardest path: there is no official Linux
support, the control set is mobile-first (no DataGridView equivalent, a different windowing and
dialog model), and every screen is rebuilt in XAML with a view-model layer that your WinForms code
almost certainly doesn’t have. There is no meaningful reuse of *.Designer.cs files.
Avalonia
A mature, genuinely cross-platform XAML framework — desktop, mobile and WebAssembly — with excellent Linux support and a Skia renderer. If you want a modern XAML stack and are prepared to rewrite the UI layer, this is the strongest general answer, and it’s the default host Majorsilence.Forms runs on.
Note that Avalonia’s commercial XPF product is a compatibility layer for WPF, not WinForms; it
doesn’t help a System.Windows.Forms codebase.
Uno Platform
Implements the WinUI/UWP XAML API across desktop, mobile and WebAssembly, with very broad reach and strong tooling. Same shape of decision as Avalonia: excellent target, full UI rewrite from WinForms. It’s also available as a Majorsilence.Forms backend if your organization is already invested in it.
Eto.Forms
The closest thing in spirit to this project outside it: a cross-platform .NET UI library with a forms-and-controls API rather than XAML, binding to each platform’s native widgets (WinForms on Windows, Cocoa on macOS, GTK on Linux). Native look per OS is a real advantage.
But its API is its own — Eto.Forms.Form is not System.Windows.Forms.Form, layout is
container-based rather than coordinate/anchor-based, and there is no path for existing designer
files. You rewrite, in a familiar idiom.
Mono’s System.Windows.Forms
Mono did ship a WinForms reimplementation, which is why “WinForms works on Linux” turns up in old forum threads. It targeted the .NET Framework era, was never carried into modern .NET, and is not a viable target for a new port today.
Wine
Wine runs your unmodified Windows binary on Linux and macOS. Nothing changes in your code, which is genuinely attractive — until you have to support it: you ship a Windows app plus a compatibility runtime, you inherit whatever Wine’s Win32/GDI+ coverage happens to be, integration with the host OS is approximate, and installers and updates get complicated. It’s a deployment workaround, not a platform strategy.
Staying on WPF
WPF is a fine framework and a modest conceptual step from WinForms, but it is Windows-only. It solves “modernize the UI”; it does not solve “run on macOS and Linux”.
When Majorsilence.Forms is the right answer
- You have a substantial WinForms codebase — especially a line-of-business app with many forms — where the business logic and UX are the asset and the rewrite risk is the problem.
- Your team’s skills are WinForms, and a XAML/MVVM retraining cycle is a real cost.
- You need Windows, macOS and Linux from one codebase, with browser and mobile as a later option.
- You can accept a beta compatibility layer and pin your version.
When it isn’t
- Green-field, no WinForms code, no WinForms team. Write Avalonia or Uno directly; you get a mature XAML stack with no compatibility layer in the middle.
- Mobile-first. MAUI, Avalonia or Uno target phones properly today; Majorsilence.Forms’ Android/iOS support is early, and a coordinate-positioned desktop form is a poor phone UI anyway.
- Your app is deep in Win32. Heavy
WndProc,Control.HandleP/Invoke or custom Win32 controls don’t survive any of these ports — including this one — without real work. - You need pixel-identical parity with native WinForms on Windows. Controls are drawn by Skia and themed consistently across platforms rather than matching each OS’s native widgets.
Next
- Cross-platform WinForms — how the compatibility layer works and what it costs.
- Migrate an existing WinForms app — the automated rewrite.
- Compatibility matrix — control-by-control coverage, before you commit.