Xamarin Platform Reviews

Name: Xamarin Platform
Brand: Microsoft
Rating: 4.1 (40 reviews)

4.1 out of 5

40 reviews
93% willing to recommend

590 followers

What is Xamarin Platform?

Xamarin is an open-source platform for developing modern and performant applications for iOS, Android, and Windows using.NET. Xamarin is an abstraction layer that manages how shared code is communicated to the platform's underlying code. Xamarin is for developers with the two following goals:

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Xamarin Platform is the #6 ranked solution in top Mobile Development Platforms. PeerSpot users give Xamarin Platform an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 40 most recent Xamarin Platform reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.5. (Among the highest in the category). Xamarin Platform is most commonly compared to Mendix: Xamarin Platform vs Mendix. Xamarin Platform is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 66% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 13% of all views.

Helped 824,129 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Vishal Paliwal

Xamarin Developer at Cognizant

My favorite feature of Xamarin platform is the Xamarin.Essentials package. I also like the changes seen in Xamarin's upgrade from Xamarin.Forms to .NET MAUI, because in the older Xamarin Platform, Xamarin.Forms gave you multiple libraries of a particular level for a single platform, whereas .NET MAUI comprises a single, organized library that contains everything needed for both Android and iOS.

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Nishan Timilsina

Mobile Engeneer at ServiceLInk inc

The product has a lot of features. The common UI is great. You can just write one XM channel core and it'll be used for both iOS and Android. That is a strong feature. It's just natively compiled on the device like other platforms. It can work across platform technology and is natively compiled to build onto both platforms. You can access the native features through the custom vendor, which we call Dependency Services. Dependency Service is another vital feature to access the native functionality of the different platforms, including iOS and Android. It's not too difficult to set up.

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Prince Tiwari

Senior Software Engineer at AAPC

I like its simplicity. As someone who didn't start my career as a dedicated developer, I was used to building websites or Windows applications. Transitioning to mobile app development meant learning new languages like Swift or Java. With C# and Xamarin, though, I could leverage my existing skillset. Xamarin, and specifically Xamarin.Forms, let me write my code once and deploy it natively to both Android and iOS. Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform. The advantage is that roughly 90% of my UI code can be shared. This significantly reduces the amount of platform-specific UI work compared to having to write separate UIs for each platform. For the most part, Xamarin's integration with Visual Studio improved the workflow, whether I'm on Windows or Mac. Since I'm familiar with Visual Studio, it provides a comfortable development environment. Additionally, features like Hot Reload and the integration of tools like Copilot help streamline the development process. Overall, it offers a positive development experience.

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Xamarin Platform mindshare

As of December 2024, the mindshare of Xamarin Platform in the Mobile Development Platforms category stands at 7.5%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Mobile Development Platforms	Dec 31, 2024	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Dec 31, 2024	Download
Comparison	Xamarin Platform vs OutSystems	Dec 31, 2024	Download
Comparison	Xamarin Platform vs Mendix	Dec 31, 2024	Download
Comparison	Xamarin Platform vs Salesforce Platform	Dec 31, 2024	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Mendix	4.2	22.5%	94%	51 interviews Add to research
OutSystems	4.2	21.2%	94%	50 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

"The native features and Xamarin Essentials package are highly valuable to us."
"Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform."
"The platform is easy to learn as many tutorials are available on YouTube."

Room for Improvement

"The primary area for improvement is the support for third-party libraries, especially for major providers like Microsoft and Google."
"In Xamarin.Forms, we have the option to preview our UI designs, but the functionality can be limited. So, this is not fully functional. Since I have some knowledge of iOS, where when you write code or design in the storyboard, your design is immediately visible in the preview."
"Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS."

Pricing

"The product is inexpensive."
"You can build in Xamarin without paying any money."
"I think the solution is free."

Popular Use Cases

Service and Support

Deployment

Scalability

Stability

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Xamarin Platform Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Energy/Utilities Company

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

University

Healthcare Company

Logistics Company

Construction Company

Media Company

Government

Wholesaler/Distributor

Real Estate/Law Firm

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Hospitality Company

Consumer Goods Company

Insurance Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Non Profit

Compare Xamarin Platform with alternative products

Learn more about Xamarin Platform

Cross-platform sharing of code, tests, and business logic.
Writing cross-platform apps in C# with Visual Studio.

Xamarin allows developers to share an average of 90% of their program across platforms. This enables programmers to achieve native performance, look, and feel on each platform while writing all of their business logic in a single language (or reusing existing application code).

Xamarin applications can be created on a PC or a Mac and compiled into native application packages, such as an .apk file for Android or an .ipa file for iOS.

Xamarin Platform Features

Xamarin Platform has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Complete binding for the supporting SDKs: Xamarin includes bindings for almost all of the underlying platform SDKs in iOS and Android.
Java, C, Objective-C, C, C++ Interop: Xamarin gives you the ability to use a variety of third-party code by providing tools for directly invoking Objective-C, Java, C, and C++ libraries.
Modern language constructs: Xamarin applications are written in C#, a modern language with many capabilities that Objective-C and Java do not have, like lambdas, LINQ, parallel programming, generics, and more.
Strong base class library (BCL): Xamarin apps use the .NET BCL, a large collection of classes with streamlined features, like powerful XML, database, serialization, IO, string, and networking support, among others.

Xamarin Platform Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing the Xamarin Platform. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Native UIs and APIs: Xamarin delivers comprehensive access to each platform's native SDK and UI controls, projecting the entire native API of each device into C#. Therefore, the apps you develop are native instead of write-once/run-anywhere programs that look alien on every platform. Xamarin provides you access to all of the capabilities that distinguish each platform.

Share code between platforms: With Xamarin, you can share all code across platforms while providing a native user interface tailored to each individual device. With Xamarin, you can execute the same C# code on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. With Xamarin, your software is compiled to a native binary rather than being interpreted, in contrast to other cross-platform frameworks. Even in the most demanding situations, native compilation provides users with excellent app performance. Xamarin provides responsive, multi-user input and feedback, fluid scrolling, sophisticated graphics and animations, complicated data visualization, and realistic high frame rates for games.

Code with C#: Write shorter, more concise, and more maintainable code by leveraging advanced language features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), delegates, lambdas, events, garbage collection, and many other features. With Xamarin's fully extensible platform, you can include libraries written in C, Objective-C, C++, or Java. In C#, you have access to the entire native ecosystem of components and libraries.