Guide
A native, non-Electron alternative
If your Mac is hot and your fans are loud, Electron is usually why: every Electron app ships its own Chromium. LiquidPad is the native alternative: it runs all your web apps in one menu-bar panel using Apple’s own WebKit (WKWebView) on AppKit, with no bundled browser engine, no Node runtime per app, and no telemetry. You get the convenience of a Rambox-style hub at a fraction of the RAM and battery. You also get isolated sessions, a built-in terminal and SSH, and a slide-over that feels like part of macOS.
Native vs Electron, briefly
- Electron hub: one Chromium per app, cross-platform, heavy on RAM/battery.
- LiquidPad: one native app, shared WebKit, macOS-only, light and fast.
Frequently asked questions
Why look for a non-Electron alternative?
Each Electron app bundles a full copy of Chromium. Run several of them (Rambox, a chat app, a notes app) and you multiply RAM use and drain battery. A native app built on the system's own browser engine avoids that overhead entirely.
What makes LiquidPad non-Electron?
LiquidPad is written in Swift on Apple's AppKit and renders web apps with WKWebView, the same WebKit engine Safari uses. There's no bundled Chromium and no Node runtime per app, so memory and battery cost are a fraction of an Electron hub.
What does it replace?
It's a native, Mac-first alternative to Electron/Chromium web-app hubs like Rambox, Franz, Ferdium, Shift, Wavebox and WebCatalog. You also get isolated sessions, a built-in terminal and SSH, and a menu-bar slide-over.
Is there a tradeoff?
It's macOS-only (those Electron apps are cross-platform). If you live on a Mac, that's the point. You get native speed, integration and battery life instead of lowest-common-denominator portability.
See the head-to-heads with Rambox, Franz and Ferdium, the full alternatives list, or download LiquidPad free.