Xamarin is a software company that offers a suite of commercial Mono-based products that allow developers to create apps for Android, iOS, and OS X using C# and the .NET framework. Xamarin's cofounder, Miguel de Icaza, has directed the Mono project since its inception in 2001.
Xamarin's primary product offerings are:
- Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android)
- Xamarin.iOS (formerly MonoTouch)
- Xamarin.Mac
Each of these products is licensed through an annual subscription with the following levels being available:
- Starter: This subscription is actually free, but restricts the size of apps.
- Indie: This subscription provides everything needed to build and deploy full-featured mobile apps, but can only be purchased by companies with five or less employees. This subscription also does not include the use of the Visual Studio add-in discussed in the Using the Visual Studio environment section.
- Business: This subscription adds the use of the Visual Studio add-in as well as e-mail support.
- Enterprise: This subscription adds access to a set of prime components, hotfixes, and enhanced support.
Note
A link for the pricing information can be found at the end of this section. For quick reference, please visit https://store.xamarin.com.
Xamarin also hosts a component store; a market place to buy and sell components that can be used in Xamarin apps. The components in this store can be distributed for free or sold, and Xamarin pays component vendors a percentage of the revenue collected from the sales.
Another service that Xamarin offers is the Test Cloud. As the name implies, this is a cloud-based testing service that allows teams to create automated testing capabilities for their apps that can be run against a plethora of physical devices. This is particularly important for Android developers as there are far more devices that need to be considered.
The following table provides useful links to additional information about the Xamarin suite:
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Type of information |
URL to access it |
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