# Expo

> MIT platform for React Native apps on iOS, Android and web

**Category:** Libraries  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://expo.dev  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/expo/expo  
**Added:** 2026-10-18

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## The Hook

Expo is an open-source platform for building universal native apps in React and JavaScript: one codebase runs on iOS, Android and the web, with a runtime, libraries, a CLI and file-based routing (Expo Router) included.

## What's Good

MIT (expo/expo), the repo behind the Expo SDK (expo 58.0.14 on npm), the Modules API for writing native modules, Expo Go, the CLI, Expo Router and the docs. Expo Go lets you run a project on a phone without building it first, and most React Native libraries work alongside it. ★~52.8k.

## The Catch

It is mobile-first: web is a target, but it is not a desktop app shell like Electron or Tauri. Expo Application Services (EAS), the hosted build, submit and update service, is a separate product with its own pricing; you can still build locally with Xcode and Android Studio. Track the SDK version (the expo package on npm), not the repo's "latest release" on GitHub, which is a single package such as expo-template-tabs. Some dependencies are under other licenses such as BSD.

## Verdict

The default way to start a React Native app today — decide early whether you build locally or pay for EAS.