Electron vs. Web: A Comparative Analysis of Energy and Performance in Communication Apps

Nowadays, remote communication and collaboration apps are indispensable tools for working and recreation. Typically, they can be accessed either via a Web browser or by installing a desktop application. The desktop versions of the most popular communication apps are implemented using a framework called Electron. The primary objective of this research is to critically assess Electron-based communication apps against their Web-based equivalents, to quantify aspects related to energy efficiency and computational demands. An exhaustive multi-factor and multi-treatment experimental design was employed. This structure encompasses unique scenarios that account for platform types, modes of interaction, and interaction durations. The experiment demonstrates that there are differences, with varying effect sizes, in energy consumption and performance between Electron- and Web-based apps. While Electron-based apps exhibit higher CPU utilization and in some cases slightly higher network usage, their Web-based counterparts tend to consume more energy and memory under various configurations.