Which software is best for a great GUI?
A surgeon monitoring vitals mid-procedure, a factory operator tracking a production line’s metrics, or a driver checking crop conditions from the cab of a combine harvester. In each case, a well-designed graphical user interface (GUI) is doing the heavy lifting, converting complex data into clear, actionable information at exactly the right moment.
The best GUIs share common qualities regardless of industry: clean, navigable and intuitive layouts, real-time data visualised in an engaging, accessible form, options for shortcuts and multitasking, and interactive feedback.
They improve safety, boost productivity, and reduce training time. But which GUI is best for your product? Let’s dive into three leading options.
Qt
Qt is widely regarded as the industry standard for embedded GUI development. Now at version 6, it offers a mature, full-featured framework that spans everything from microcontrollers (via Qt for MCUs) to high-performance application processors. Qt Quick and QML make it straightforward to build fluid, modern touchscreen interfaces, while Qt Widgets provides a rich library for more traditional layouts.
Qt supports C++ and Python, integrates with all major embedded platforms, and includes professional tooling such as Qt Creator and Qt Design Studio for UI design, prototyping, and deployment. Its commercial licence includes long-term support, and the framework also offers open-source options under LGPLv3. For teams building complex, multi-screen GUIs across industries like medical, industrial, or automotive, Qt remains the benchmark.
Flutter
Flutter is Google’s cross-platform UI toolkit and increasingly adopted for embedded Linux applications. Sony’s open-source embedder enables Flutter to run on embedded Linux with Wayland, X11, or DRM backends. Toyota has adopted it for in-vehicle infotainment, while BMW uses Flutter across its companion mobile apps.
Flutter uses the Dart language and offers hot reload for rapid prototyping, a rich widget set, and GPU-accelerated rendering. It’s a strong choice for teams who also develop mobile or web applications and want a single codebase across platforms. However, embedded Linux is not an officially supported Flutter platform, so teams have to rely on community-maintained embedders, and should plan for additional integration work.
LVGL
LVGL (Light and Versatile Graphics Library) is an open-source framework purpose-built for resource-constrained devices. It runs on MCUs with as little as 16 MHz clock speed, 2 KB of RAM, and 64 KB of flash, making it ideal for products where every kilobyte counts.
Despite its small footprint, LVGL offers over 30 built-in widgets, smooth anti-aliased rendering, and a flexible styling system inspired by CSS. The LVGL Pro Editor provides drag-and-drop UI building with Figma integration and real-time preview. It is MIT-licensed and free for commercial use, though teams should expect to invest more development time compared to Qt’s integrated toolchain.
Choosing the best GUI framework for your embedded project?
At Tria, we help OEMs design, build, and deliver cutting-edge products with market-leading user interfaces, whether it’s supplying just the compute module, or designing and building a full human machine interface (HMI) system. As an official Qt Group partner, we offer the Qt 6 commercial software stack pre-integrated on our SMARC modules as well as other modules in our range, so your team can start building immediately, while our system design and display engineers can build the display and control surface around your product or application with a GUI to match.