shouldiuse.io

Comparison

Onsen UI vs Monaca

Onsen UI and Monaca both land on Depends.

Onsen UI versus Monaca
CompareOnsen UIMonaca
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forCordova/Monaca hybrid appsTeams maintaining existing Cordova/PhoneGap apps
Who it's not forApps needing native performance (games, heavy animation)New mobile apps . Cordova/PhoneGap is a declining stack
PrivacyNo known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁸No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.15
Support qualityCommunity-only; small forum footprintNo support evidence in reviewed sources
Public sentimentUsers praise Onsen UI's ease of use and learning curve, but the community is small and some developers doubt its momentum versus React Native and Ionic.³No independent user reviews were found; all product claims come from Monaca's own marketing pages.14
Biggest gotchaGuess: tied to the Cordova/Monaca approach; migrating to native later means a rewrite.10Adobe discontinued PhoneGap; Cordova ecosystem is shrinking, raising long-term support questions12

Pick Onsen UI when

  • Cordova/Monaca hybrid apps
  • Teams wanting a free iOS+Android UI kit
  • Angular/React/Vue projects shipping mobile
  • Prototype and MVP budgets

When Onsen UI is not a fit

  • Apps needing native performance (games, heavy animation)
  • New products betting on long-term framework momentum
  • Teams needing vendor support SLAs
  • Enterprises needing security docs and compliance evidence

Pick Monaca when

  • Teams maintaining existing Cordova/PhoneGap apps
  • HTML5/JS shops wanting cloud builds without local Xcode setup
  • Orgs plugging mobile builds into existing web workflows

When Monaca is not a fit

  • New mobile apps . Cordova/PhoneGap is a declining stack
  • Teams needing native performance or modern tooling
  • Buyers who require reviews, transparent pricing, or proven support
  • Solo devs . free Cordova CLI plus VS Code covers the same ground

Sources

  1. Onsen UI official siteonsen.io
    official
  2. Onsen UI GitHub repositorygithub.com
    official
  3. Onsen UI G2 reviewsg2.com
    review
  4. Ionic vs Onsen UI comparison (6Sense)6sense.com
    review
  5. Framework 7 vs Onsen UI (G2)g2.com
    review
  6. Websites using Onsen UI (Tomba)tomba.io
    news
  7. Hybrid app frameworks comparison (Anyforsoft)anyforsoft.com
    review
  8. Onsen UI security page scanonsen.io
    security
  9. Monaca integration guideonsen.io
    official
  10. Cordova + Onsen UI discussion (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  11. Monaca official sitemonaca.io
    official
  12. Monaca headline page (PhoneGap/Cordova)monaca.io
    official
  13. Monaca Features, Reviews & Pricing . SaaSWorthysaasworthy.com
    review
  14. monaca.io alternatives . sitelike.orgsitelike.org
    review
  15. Monaca.io trust score . Gridinsoftgridinsoft.com
    security
  16. Monaca (software) . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news