For years, if you wanted a website as its own desktop app, Nativefier was the answer: one terminal command, and you had a Chromium-powered app for macOS, Windows, or Linux. But its repository has been archived since September 2023, and its README now reads: "Nativefier is unmaintained."
If you still run apps you built with it, or you were about to start, WebCatalog Desktop is an actively developed replacement. It's built on the same foundation, Chromium through Electron, and it handles the parts Nativefier left to you: building, updating, and keeping track of your apps.
At a glance
| WebCatalog Desktop | Nativefier | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Actively developed | Archived and unmaintained since 2023 |
| How you create apps | Pick from a catalog or enter any URL, in the app | Run a command in the terminal |
| App catalog | 65,000+ apps with names and icons | Any URL, with an attempt to detect the name and icon |
| Updates | WebCatalog Desktop and your apps update automatically | Apps keep the Chromium version they were built with |
| Multiple accounts | Every account signed in side by side, each with its own session | One session per app |
| Organizing apps | Spaces that group apps and accounts in one window | One app per website |
| Unread badges | On macOS, Windows, and Linux | On macOS, with the counter option |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
What is WebCatalog Desktop?
WebCatalog Desktop does what Nativefier did, turning websites into desktop apps on Chromium, but as an app you install rather than a command you run. It updates itself and every app you create with it, so nothing you install is left on an old browser engine.
What is Nativefier?
Nativefier is an open-source command-line tool that wraps a website in Electron, the framework behind many desktop apps, and outputs an app for macOS, Windows, or Linux. You install it with Node.js and run a command such as nativefier 'example.com', with options for the system tray, injected CSS and JavaScript, and which links open inside the app. The project was archived in September 2023.
1. Apps that keep getting fixes
This is the difference that matters most. Every app Nativefier builds bundles a copy of Chromium from the day you built it, and that copy never updates on its own. The Slack or Jira app you made in 2022 is still running a 2022 browser engine, while the sites it loads keep changing. To pick up browser security fixes, you have to rebuild, and with Nativefier no longer maintained, newer versions of Electron and Chromium aren't being tested with it.
WebCatalog Desktop is actively developed. It updates itself, and the apps you install update automatically too, so they keep getting the latest Chromium fixes without you rebuilding anything.
2. Settings in a window, not flags in a terminal
With Nativefier, every choice is a command-line flag decided at build time. Want links to Google Docs to open in the app instead of the browser, or the app in the system tray? Look up the flag and rebuild.
WebCatalog Desktop is a regular app. Search the catalog of more than 65,000 apps, click install, and the app is ready with the right name and icon; any other site can be added by URL. The options Nativefier users relied on are in each app's settings and can be changed any time:
- Link handling: links to other sites open in your default browser, and per-site rules can send them to a specific app or account.
- Menu bar or system tray: keep an app one click away, on top of other windows if you like.
- Custom CSS and JavaScript: tweak a site's look or behavior without a rebuild.
3. One app, all your accounts
A Nativefier app has one session, so people who needed two GitHub accounts, or a client's Gmail next to their own, often ended up with two nearly identical apps.
WebCatalog Desktop lets one app hold all your accounts for a service, each with its own isolated session, all signed in at once and listed in a sidebar. Unread badges work per account and on the Dock or taskbar on macOS, Windows, and Linux, not just on the Mac.
4. Room to grow
Nativefier builds one app at a time, and keeping track of them is up to you. In WebCatalog Desktop, spaces group the apps and accounts for a client or project into one window with its own icon and keyboard shortcut, and your setup syncs across your computers. Each app also comes with tabs, bookmarks, downloads, and a built-in ad and tracker blocker.
Which one should you choose?
Nativefier can make sense if you specifically need to script app builds yourself and are prepared to maintain and rebuild those apps on your own.
If you're looking for a Nativefier replacement, WebCatalog Desktop is the better fit. Choose it if you:
- Want your apps to stay on a current, patched version of Chromium
- Would rather change settings in the app than rebuild from the terminal
- Have accounts you'd like signed in side by side in one app
- Want unread badges on every platform you use
Nativefier helped many people bring web apps to the desktop. Now that it's no longer maintained, WebCatalog Desktop is a modern way to keep doing that.
