# MauiWeb vs Avalonia's MAUI backend for WebAssembly > Canonical page: https://mauiweb.appmare.com/mauiweb-vs-avalonia.html > Language: English (en) > Purpose: Head-to-head comparison of MauiWeb (server-rendered HTML) and Avalonia's .NET MAUI backend (WebAssembly): first load, SEO, accessibility, Essentials, code security, hosting, offline, status and price, with sources. > Markdown copy made 31 October 2026 ยท Maintained by AppMare (contact@appmare.com) > Site map for this guide: https://mauiweb.appmare.com/sitemap.md Both put your existing .NET MAUI app in a browser without rewriting it. They run it in opposite places: MauiWeb on your server, Avalonia inside the visitor's browser. Checked against Avalonia's own pages on 31 October 2026. ## The short answer Choose **MauiWeb** when the app is a website people find through search and should open at once: the first response is finished HTML, your C# stays on your server and can reach your databases directly. Choose **Avalonia's MAUI backend** when you want static hosting, offline use after the first load, or a Linux desktop build, and can work with a preview: the browser downloads the .NET runtime and your app, then draws the controls on a canvas. ## Side by side | | MauiWeb | Avalonia MAUI backend (WebAssembly) | | --- | --- | --- | | Where your C# runs | On your ASP.NET Core server, one app per browser tab | In the visitor's browser, as WebAssembly | | How controls appear | HTML elements, in a web or iOS look | Drawn by Avalonia with Skia onto a WebGL canvas | | Your pages and view models | Unchanged | Unchanged; Avalonia supplies the handlers | | What you add | A web project, the `AppMare.MauiWeb` package, `MapMauiWeb` and `UseMauiWeb` | The Avalonia backend package, a `net11.0` target and one builder call | | First visit | Finished HTML in the first response: about 17.5 KB for a 60-control page | The runtime and app download before the first frame: about 13 MB after Brotli for Avalonia's five-control demo | | After the page loads | Each tap is a round trip to your server: 1.8 ms of server time with 100 visitors, plus the visitor's network time | Taps are handled in the browser, with no network trip | | Search engines | Read the content in the first HTML; each registered page has its own address | Not by default: the first HTML is a loading page and the content is drawn on a canvas | | Screen readers and page text | Real HTML text and semantics | Avalonia mirrors the control tree into ARIA; its docs rate this "partial support" | | Essentials | 36 APIs through the visitor's browser | Still being written, according to Avalonia | | Your code and secrets | Stay on your server; the app can call your database and private APIs directly | Ship to the browser; private data needs a separate API | | Hosting | Any ASP.NET Core host with WebSockets; sticky sessions with more than one instance; about 0.5 to 1.3 MB of server memory per visitor | Static files on any static host, with `.wasm` served as `application/wasm` | | Offline | No, it needs a live connection | Yes, once loaded | | Other targets | Web only; your phone and desktop heads stay native MAUI | Also Linux desktop and embedded Linux | | Status | Released (1.0), built and tested on .NET MAUI 11 | Preview since March 2026; stable planned alongside .NET 11 | | Price | Free for development; from $249 a year per live domain | Free; Avalonia is MIT licensed and the backend preview is public | ## When MauiWeb fits better - **The site has to be found.** Product pages, shops, bookings and content pages need text search engines can read on the first request. - **Visitors arrive on phones and slow networks.** The page appears with the first response instead of after a multi-megabyte download. - **The app talks to private systems.** Your C# runs next to your database and keeps keys and business rules off the visitor's device. - **You need browser features today.** File and media pickers, geolocation, clipboard, share and preferences work now. ## When Avalonia fits better - **No server.** You want to put static files on a CDN and pay nothing per visitor. - **Offline or heavy local work.** Once loaded, the app keeps running without a connection, and drawing-heavy screens never wait for the network. - **Linux desktop.** The same backend also builds your MAUI app for Linux. - **An internal tool** where search engines do not matter and visitors load it once and keep it open. ## Can you use both? They do not exclude each other. Both take the same MAUI pages and view models, each from its own head project, so a team could ship a Linux desktop build with Avalonia and the public website with MauiWeb from one codebase. ## Questions ### Does MauiWeb use WebAssembly? No. Your app runs on your server and the browser receives HTML, with a small script that sends taps and typing over a WebSocket. ### Is Avalonia's MAUI backend free? Avalonia says the framework is MIT licensed and the backend preview is public. It sells professional tools and premium components separately. ### Which one loads faster? On the first visit, MauiWeb: the finished page arrives in the first response, while a WebAssembly app downloads the runtime first. After loading, a WebAssembly app answers taps without a network trip, while MauiWeb's speed depends on the visitor's distance from your server. ### Which is better for SEO? MauiWeb, because each page's content and title are in the HTML that search engines fetch. A canvas-drawn WebAssembly app shows a loading page to a crawler that does not run it. ### Is Avalonia's backend ready for production? Avalonia calls it a preview and plans a stable release alongside .NET 11. Check its repository for the current state before you commit to it. ## Sources - [Avalonia vs .NET MAUI](https://avaloniaui.net/maui-compare), Avalonia UI: backend setup, licence, status and roadmap. - [Avalonia UI for WebAssembly](https://avaloniaui.net/avalonia/wasm): rendering, hosting, accessibility and the 13 MB demo (measured by Avalonia on 23 August 2026). - [MAUI Avalonia Preview 1](https://avaloniaui.net/blog/maui-avalonia-preview-1), Avalonia UI blog, 16 March 2026. - [AvaloniaUI/Avalonia.Controls.Maui](https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia.Controls.Maui) on GitHub. - [MauiWeb performance measurements](https://mauiweb.appmare.com/docs.html#performance), 25 October 2026. Something here out of date? Email [contact@appmare.com](mailto:contact@appmare.com) and we will correct it. See also the [four-way comparison with Uno Platform and Blazor](https://mauiweb.appmare.com/compare.html).