# Rust and Tauri vs Electron: why Odrivyn isn't an Electron app

> Most desktop meeting assistants are Electron apps that ship their own copy of Chromium. Odrivyn is written in Rust on Tauri. Here is what that changes, with measured install size and memory.

URL: https://odrivyn.vercel.app/blog/tauri-vs-electron-desktop-ai-assistant
Updated: 2026-09-24
Author: The Odrivyn team
Published: 2026-09-24

**Short answer:** Electron apps bundle their own Chromium browser and Node.js, so even simple ones install at well over 100 MB. Odrivyn is written in Rust on Tauri and uses the WebView2 that Windows already has: its installer is 5.7 MB, it takes 20 MB on disk, and its core process uses about 34 MB of memory.

## What is Electron, and why do so many AI assistants use it?

Electron lets a team build a desktop app with web technology by shipping Chromium and Node.js inside the app. It is quick to build with and it runs the same on Windows, macOS and Linux, which is why so many products use it. Public write-ups show that Cluely's overlay and Granola's note-taker are both Electron apps.

The cost is weight: every Electron app carries its own browser engine, which is downloaded, installed, updated and loaded into memory separately from the browser you already have.

## What does Tauri do differently?

Tauri apps are written in Rust and draw their interface with the operating system's own web view. On Windows that is WebView2, the Edge engine that ships with Windows 10 and 11. The app ships its logic, not a browser.

Rust also matters for the parts that run all the time during a call: capturing audio, streaming it for transcription and keeping the window hidden from capture. It runs without a garbage collector, so there are no pauses in the middle of a sentence.

## How big is Odrivyn, measured?

We measured Odrivyn 1.9.8 on Windows 11, open and signed in, in September 2026.

| Measure | Odrivyn 1.9.8 |
| --- | --- |
| Installer (setup .exe) | 5.7 MB |
| On disk once installed | 20 MB |
| Private memory, Rust core process | 34 MB |
| Private memory, core plus its WebView2 processes | 153 MB |

Private memory as reported by Windows for the app process and the WebView2 processes it started.

## Does the size of the app matter on a call?

On a new laptop, less than you might think. On a three-year-old one running a video call, a browser with twenty tabs and a CRM, it's the difference between a smooth call and a stuttering one. A smaller download also means updates arrive in seconds.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Odrivyn open source?

No. It is built on the open-source Tauri framework, and its installers are signed so the app only installs updates we published.

### Why not ship a Mac version with Electron?

Keeping one native codebase in Rust is what keeps the app small. A macOS build is on the roadmap; Windows comes first.

### Does WebView2 need to be installed?

It ships with Windows 10 and 11. The Odrivyn installer installs it on the rare machine that doesn't have it.

## Sources

- [Electron: what it bundles](https://www.electronjs.org/)
- [Tauri: architecture](https://v2.tauri.app/concept/architecture/)
- [Reverse-engineering Cluely (Electron)](https://prathit.vercel.app/blog/reverse-engineering-cluely)