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About Xamarin

Software development platform for businesses that help build mobile applications with single codebase suited for different environments

Learn more about Xamarin

Pros:

Net (extremely common among the software development community) it's far easier to maintain a Xamarin solution (as opposed to having to find native platform developers).

Cons:

C and it is familiar with visual studio so if i do not know studio then it is difficult job.

Xamarin ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.1
Customer Service
4.1
Features
4.3
Value for Money
4.4

Likelihood to recommend

8.5/10

Xamarin has an overall rating of 4.4 out 5 stars based on 60 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (60)

Gabriel
Gabriel
Operational Manager in Netherlands
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Probably the best multi-platform framework

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: To state upfront: I have experience with both native Xamarin and .Forms variants, using Visual Studio as the choice IDE.
Development is straightforward and there is plenty of learning material available to enable even mid level .Net developers to become productive in a matter of days.
From a product owner's perspective this is the go-to tool when having to target multiple platforms. You get the advantage of being able to target device & platform specific features without the pains of having to use web containers like Cordova or Ionic frameworks) For the standard developer, the biggest pain is the debugging experience. This is usually slow (for instance it lacks the native Android's "Fast deployment" feature) and due to compiler optimizations, Intelisense will barely work (you don't get listings of the available properties & methods, while some property values will not be accessible at all) - although this can be mitigated by using a good logging tool. To add further, the (relatively) new Xamarin Forms will further constraint the developer to use a unified implementation, making the overall product even more maintainable (although this may have limitations when converting existing native apps). All in all, this is a matured product that should always be considered when targeting multi-platform software.

Pros:

- First and foremost, it's portability that is driving the market. Being able to write a single implementation which targets multiple platforms is extremely cost effective - Being backed up by .Net (extremely common among the software development community) it's far easier to maintain a Xamarin solution (as opposed to having to find native platform developers) - Hardware support is really at an all time high - even hardware producers (e.g.: Motorola) are putting out Xamarin SDKs.

Cons:

- Perhaps the only true disadvantage is that there is always a delay before it gets updated to support the latest platform update - Debugging can become tedious and I've seen this especially on the native implementations due to Xamarin's less-than-optimal way of reporting an issue (i.e.: you may end up in situations where an error message related to an Android run-time was actually caused by some small layout issue where a needed element is not present)

Oussama
Founder & Game Designer in Morocco
Computer Games, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Xamarin: A Comprehensive Review of its Pros and Cons

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall, Xamarin is an excellent choice for cross-platform development. It is easy to use, reliable, and the code sharing feature is incredibly helpful for saving time and effort. I would highly recommend Xamarin for anyone looking for a comprehensive cross-platform development solution.

Pros:

Xamarin is an incredibly powerful cross-platform development tool that allows for easy code sharing and a streamlined workflow.

Cons:

Although Xamarin is relatively easy to use, it is not as intuitive as some of the other development tools on the market and lacks some of the more advanced features that could be useful for experienced developers.

Arpit
Team Leader in India
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Use something else

1.0 7 years ago

Comments: Cross-platform development.

Pros:

It provides native support using language you already know (C#). If you know C# very deeply then maybe this would right choice for you.

Cons:

Can't do high level UI stuff. Not cross-platform as they advertise it is. you will end up doing same code for each platform. I'd do native rather than this.

Manthan
Manthan
Senior Software Engineer in India
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Xamarin - An open source mobile app cross platform

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: We have created our application in very less time compared to previously where we used native platforms to create individual application. It gives us an extra time to create more applications. Also Windows application can be created from a same project.

Pros:

We just need to create different UI for different OS. Create a shared project for all back end communication. Can save lot of times from business perspective and create a impactful application.

Cons:

iOS UI should be created within Xamarin only. No need to open xcode for that.

Richard
Richard
Software Developer in Canada
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

A development delight, if you know what you're doing

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Nice unified development environment.

Pros:

Xamarin comes in a few flavours. There is Xamarin.Forms which is a totally unified development experience across all apps. You're more limited & restricted in what you can do, but at the payoff of being able to develop once across all platforms. Xamarin.IOS and Xamarin.Android are C# wrappers for the native libraries, so you're basically writing a native app but in C# and are able to share code between platforms using a portable class library or a .net standard library. Also it's totally free and backed by Microsoft. They keep up to date with the latest libraries really well and has large community support.

Cons:

There is a bit of a learning curve with all Xamarin - and certain levels of understanding really help you out. But it can be confusing when you're looking at examples and unsure of how it applies to your own code. Xamarin.Forms has a lot of restrictions, but if your goal is to make a simple native feeling form-y application and don't want to do anything specific, it can save a lot of development time. With Xamarin.IOS and Xamarin.Android you're in a bit of trouble if no one has created bindings for a library you want to use, you can do it yourself but it's not well documented and can be confusing. If you don't like Visual Studio and C# this is not for you.

Douglas
Programmer in UK
Program Development, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Xamarin for app development

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Very useful for developing apps if the developers are already comfortable with C#. Otherwise they would have to learn Java (the standard language for android).

Pros:

For programmers who already use C#, Xamarin is a very natural choice. The transition is smooth since all the syntax is the same, and is just like learning a new .NET module. This is my favourite part of the framework, because developers need very little training if they already know C#.

Cons:

Sometimes it can be quite buggy and doesn't give you the level of detail for errors you might want. For example, if the app crashes on the phone, quite often the program will just stop and not give any output instead of some kind of error message.

Mohammad Sami
Mohammad Sami
Senior Software Engineer in Pakistan
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Mobile Development Made Easy

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: Overall, I've been using Xamarin for over 6 years now, and enjoying developing applications that I can then deploy on multiple OSes without learning anything else than Xamarin

Pros:

The best thing with this framework is that it offers single code base that is used to develop software for multiple OS, like I can use the same code for developing app that can run on Android, iOS, Windows and macOS

Cons:

App build up times are still slow, it takes a while to deploy the application when compared to other frameworks

Navjot
Navjot
Sr. Software Engineer in India
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Best cross platform tool for IOS & Android development

4.0 6 years ago

Pros:

The best thing is it is owned by Microsoft so you will get regular updates, tutorial, and blogs for understanding new features, security measures introduced. You need not to hire separate developers for IOS & Android & it will eventually reduce development time. You can also develop native apps along with cross-platform. Development is basically C# based so learning is easy for developers working on Microsoft Technologies

Cons:

Only IDE available for development is Microsoft Visual Studio costing of which may be a concern for smaller organizations.

Ankush
Ankush
Xamarin Developer in India
Verified LinkedIn User
, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Best cross platform

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: Mobile application development and designing.

Pros:

Xamarin is the best available cross platform for mobile application development. The platform works with #C and .Net frameworks to design stylish and smother applications. Support forums are easily available of this. 90 percent code is shareable in pcl class library.

Cons:

Xamarin provides limited access for the open source library functions which can be improve. When comes to iOS development it has support limitations.

anthony
anthony
Business Analyst for Data Analytics in Philippines
Verified LinkedIn User
Consumer Electronics, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

best mobile development platform for IOS, Windows and Android

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Xamarin help us to have a single code base for our mobile application which is easier to maintain. Our developers can now focus on a single programming language which has more time for mastery.

Pros:

I like the most on this software is the capability to create mobile application on android and IOS with a single code base. Xamarin has rich control libraries which is compatible for IOS and Android devices which save a lot of development time.

Cons:

Xamarin is not beginner friendly. A user must have a fundamental knowledge on application developement with android and ios.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Review for Xamarin

5.0 4 years ago

Comments: It is the only choice for developers who needs to develop mobile applications for various platforms in less period and less team number as it can leverage shared libraries.

Pros:

It is an extremely useful platform for cross-platform mobile app developers. Since it is backed by Microsoft, it has all features, frameworks, tools and services supports by Microsoft. It is thus far the most successful and robust cross-platform framework to develop native android and iOS mobile apps.

Cons:

The device emulators are not very useful when it comes to developing complex apps. It has a big and bit of complex learning curve. For those who are not familiar with .NET C#, the learning curve extends

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Best cross platform to deliver great mobile apps

5.0 7 years ago

Pros:

We can reuse source code to a great extent speeding up the engineering cycle. Its look and feel and behavior is very close to native app. Also due to its cross-platform application, Xamarin makes maintenance and updates easier.

Cons:

With Xamarin, you have to use only the components provided by the platform and some .Net open source resources. Xamarin's main benefit is the ability to share your code across the platforms. Yet, you can only share the logic, UI code will be mostly platform-specific. This makes building games, rich custom UI, or complex animations in Xamarin pretty pointless.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Xamarin Power

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: In all the occasions in which I have developed using Xamarin, the practicality was always the most important consideration if it is especially desired for data-driven applications, if more sophisticated applications such as games are desired, it is better to use native tools. Xamarin will not disappoint him if he used it intelligently, he can also put a lot of integration with other VIsual Studio projects and not die in the process.

Pros:

The big virtue of Xamarin is simplicity and interporability, if you are a C# programmer with regular skills on MVC and Mobile Development you can create functional apps in a short time. The capability to publish your apps on Android, Mac OS and if needed Windows Mobile, allows you to enable enterprise level apps for must osf your expected users. Also common shared code for your projects reduce the amount of work you need. Current templates covers must of common use cases and all you need is customize your user experience.

Cons:

The big contra is that user interfaces are not so easey to customize as several advanced features are sacrified in order to achieve multiplatform capabilities. Also as expected apps are not so fast as the native ones created with Android Studio or Xcode.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great for building applications across multiple platforms

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Building Xamarin apps allows me to deploy mobile apps to both android and iOS. It saves me a ton of development time.

Cons:

The UI code is still platform specific, and often tough to work with as you are not working with the native language of the platform. Though the time saved from deploying the same business logic to multiple platforms makes Xamarin a home run.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

very functional multiplatform to create your mobile applications with c # and .net languages.

5.0 7 years ago

Comments: I began to develop in this multiplatform since I started programming, with it I saw opportunities to provide my code and test the applications in the multiplatform that it offers.

Pros:

Since Xamarin allows packages / add-ons from the nuget.org website, or can install any package from nuget.org, which saves writing code for these functions. It is a very comfortable way when developing projects.

Cons:

The Visual Studio emulator is a little slow and has a somewhat confusing intrefaz, besides that it consumes many resources in a computer.

Matthew
Matthew
Developer in US
Education Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Adoption of the platform was seamless.

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: Easy to deploy cross platform mobile applications.

Pros:

Xamerin primarily chosen because of our familiarity with C#. It is a lesser learning curve if you already have the c# resources. We have found it very easy from start to finish to deployment of mobile applications

Cons:

One problem we keep running into is remote build server for iOS builds. The connection to the remote build server gets disconnect or can not connect we have to remove temp files to get the connection back

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Xamarin is easy to learn but could be better

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Xamarin is not bad. However, it’s not the best. I personally would just use Visual Studios since it is free and receive updates often.

Pros:

The text editor to go to if you are new and looking to make Android or IOS apps. Xamarin makes it possible to develop smartphone apps without learning all that technical know-how. All you need is basic knowledge of C#

Cons:

Unfortunately, going the easy way isn’t necessarily the best way. So, Xamarin let you take shortcuts to make an app, but it can lead to struggles with the build. Also, if you’re using Xamarin free version then you will be very limited compared to the full version.

Ben
Ben
Head of development in UK
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

The way to go for cross platform development if you're a .NET house

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

We currently use Xamarin for both mobile application development, and we are looking at using it for development of OSX apps too. Development is easy once you have a bit of knowledge, getting your head around the way to code in Xamarin is relatively easy, and after that you can develop in .NET (we use C#) without many issues. Adding features which require native code is easy enough too, and wrappers are easy to find to do this for you.

Cons:

Xamarin forms are still not as good as we would like, so we tend to produce native user interfaces for each platform. We have hope that forms will reach a good enough standard to be used in most cases soon though.

Marian
Marian
Desarrollador web in Venezuela
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Xamarin, the best option to develop a mobile application for different platforms

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

- The best thing about Xamarin is that with the same programming language, I can develop applications on all the platforms of the market, as it says: "Write once, execute on all platforms". - In case of an error, the correction will be applied on all platforms. - The applications developed are completely native

Cons:

This platform uses C # language for application development, so those who do not have experience with this language will have to learn it, the good news is that it is a friendly language, easy to learn and manage

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Xamarin is best cross Android application platform

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: Development of Android applications.

Pros:

Xamarin an efficient cross application development platform works with #C and dot net frameworks. Xamarin form design is pretty much attractive as we can code it to make brilliant UI. There is a certified Developer course of Xamarin from official University. Overall you can build an outstanding application in low cost.

Cons:

This platform also has some limitations as for iOS it support limited functionality as compare to Android. You must need proficiency in #C and dot net to get into Xamarin.

Trevor
Trevor
Owner in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Invaluable for Cross-Platform Development

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Xamarin is now integrated with Visual Studio and together they make programming, especially for mobile, extremely easy. Writing code once and being able to share it across Windows, Android, iOS and MacOS is something I didn't think would be possible when I started coding. Xamarin is a life saver.

Cons:

I love this software. I don't have anything bad to say about it.

Brandon
Brandon
Owner in US
Telecommunications, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Awesome tool for mobile development

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: Xamarin is incredible, you can create IOS, Android, and windows mobile applications from one IDE. Easy to use and setup and you can't beat the price for Xamarin Studio (Free)!

Pros:

Easy to use, cross platform, includes prebuilt templates for different development projects

Cons:

None really, other than it can take up quite a bit of space on your hard drive ~20gb

Jean Hazel
Jean Hazel
Junior Software Developer in Philippines
Verified LinkedIn User
Retail, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Xamarin - One Code, All Platforms

4.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Being able to code mobile application by just using C# and then you can publish to Android, iOS and even Windows Phone is just simply incredible.

Cons:

This technology is still young and may still have some bugs. Also the Visual Studio emulator is verrry slow, so I just use a physical hardware on my development.

Ali Faruk
Ali Faruk
Software Developer in Türkiye
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Cyborg :)

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: This is single handedly best thing to happen to a .net developer. Because thanks to it we dont need to learn any more software language. One language above all else.

Pros:

We are happy to develop with it because it let us develop for multiple platforms without work for each of them one by one.

Cons:

When you up to big project it can be a big hustle to deal with render time.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Financial Services Software, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Multi-platform support for C# developers

4.0 6 years ago

Pros:

As soon as you are having some experience with C# and Microsoft development ecosystem, Xamarin would be your default selection for a development of any iPhone, Android and Windows application. Platform has evolved significant through the years and nowadays it is difficult to think of another way to develop native cross-platform applications without it.

Cons:

Heavily reliant on Microsoft ecosystem. Might be troublesome for new comers. There are many other 'free' alternatives to it.