The Avalonia team has previewed a backend for MAUI (multi-platform app UI) using .NET 11 (itself in preview), enabling developers to add Linux and WebAssembly targets to their cross-platform GUI (graphical user interface) applications using the framework. This move addresses a fundamental limitation of Microsoft's own cross-platform offering: platforms Microsoft's own cross-platform .NET framework lacks.
The development approach Avalonia has taken reveals something important about how cross-platform frameworks handle user interface controls. Cross-platform frameworks take one of two approaches to how they render controls such as buttons and switches, either calling native platform APIs to display the controls built into the operating system, or using custom drawing to provide their own versions of those controls. The native approach ensures a correct look and feel for each platform, while the custom-drawn method provides more cross-platform consistency. By building MAUI on top of Avalonia's drawn UI model rather than native controls, developers get more platforms and improved performance, with applications looking and behaving consistently whether they are on Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile or running in a browser tab.
Developer Steven Kirk created Avalonia in 2013, when WPF appeared abandoned, offering both an actively developed framework for developers with WPF skills and applications, and a way to port those applications to macOS and Linux. Avalonia is mature and production ready and is used by companies, including Schneider Electric, Unity, JetBrains and GitHub.
Yet there are reasons to temper expectations. The new preview is based on .NET 11, which is expected to be generally available in November, meaning that Avalonia MAUI will remain in preview until then. More significantly, according to software engineer Tim Miller, "there are still many areas to address," including a version of the Microsoft MAUI APIs for essential platform features such as storage and media access. Another issue is that Avalonia does not yet support Wayland, the modern display system for Linux, relying on X11 or the XWayland compatibility layer.
The larger issue facing this initiative is not technical but commercial. Low adoption and persistent bugs are likely to constrain uptake. Developer frustration with MAUI has become a defining characteristic of the framework. The transition from .NET 9 to .NET 10, released last November, had been problematic, with some Android and iOS features not working as expected. When developers asked how MAUI was doing in 2026, responses painted a stark picture. One reported trying "numerous fixes and attempts that didn't work and so reverted back to .NET 9." Another observed that "things got much worse compared to 2025 and the Q1 of 2026 was a time of constant regressions and other bugs that make it difficult to use in production."
Microsoft's own actions speak volumes about its confidence in MAUI. MAUI has limited take-up, with developers struggling with bugs and slow updates, while Microsoft itself appears hardly to use it. Cross-platform applications like Microsoft Teams use TypeScript and the Electron framework, not MAUI. React Native is also popular within Microsoft, used in Microsoft Office and elsewhere.
There is genuine merit to what Avalonia is attempting. Developers want Linux support, both for desktop and for embedded devices, and a drawn control model that provides consistent behaviour across platforms, rather than relying on the native toolkit available on each system. The Avalonia backend tackles both of those head on. This partnership may well improve MAUI itself. The Avalonia MAUI project has brought direct benefits to Avalonia itself, with the creation of new controls and APIs for the forthcoming Avalonia 12 that "close the gap between the control set available in .NET MAUI and Avalonia."
For MAUI developers, Avalonia's work represents a lifeline of sorts. It restores something that MAUI promised but failed to deliver: a genuinely cross-platform solution. Whether it can overcome MAUI's credibility crisis with developers remains uncertain. The framework's problems run deeper than missing platforms; they involve the stability and responsiveness of the core system. An additional backend layer, no matter how well engineered, may not repair the trust that MAUI has spent years eroding.