Speed Up Xamarin to .NET MAUI Migration – 4 Powerful Tools

2025 is the last year of support for Xamarin by Microsoft. IOS support ends in April, and Android support ends in August.

But don’t worry, you won’t be left behind. We’ve prepared the second episode of a series about tools that boost Xamarin to the .NET MAUI migration process.

In the article: Xamarin to MAUI Migration: 4 Tools That May Save You Up to 50% of Time, we discussed broadly what opportunities current Xamarin users have. In this text, we look at the four most powerful tools that will let you continue developing mobile and desktop apps built on Xamarin.

Stay till the end!

Tools That Simplify Successful Application Migration

4 Powerful Tools to Speed up Your Migration from Xamarin to .NET MAUI.

Microsoft .NET Upgrade Assistant

Microsoft’s .NET Upgrade Assistant automates migrating your applications to the latest .NET versions (including previews). .NET Upgrade Assistant supports projects built on:

• .NET Framework, 
• .NET Core,
• .NET 5+.

This tool can also convert Xamarin.Forms projects to .NET MAUI. However, it doesn’t support Xamarin.Native. You can use .NET Upgrade Assistant as a Visual Studio 2022 plugin or via the CLI on both Windows and macOS.

We’ve tested .NET Upgrade Assistant. We concluded that this tool works well with clear .NET code. However, .NET Upgrade Assistant has a significant shortcoming – its effectiveness can drop as the project complexity increases. This can be a bottleneck if you have many external libraries or custom software solutions, especially those related to Android and iOS support.

Despite performance issues, we still consider .NET Upgrade Assistant a valuable tool. It works best for simpler migrations and is still helpful for many developers transitioning to .NET MAUI.

AI-powered .NET MAUI Migration Tools

You don’t have to be a Xamarin and MAUI specialist to perform a successful migration plan. ChatGPT, Claude, or Mistral can provide instant code suggestions, generate structured outputs, and handle large-scale workflows. AI chats will also help you when the two technologies don’t share the same components, and the view often needs to be completely rewritten.

Instead of spending time learning the differences between Android’s XML and MAUI’s XAML, you can outsource this task to AI chats. They will prepare properly configured files for you in seconds, speeding up the migration between Xamarin.Native to MAUI. In contrast, when you’re migrating applications from Xamarin.Forms to MAUI, you can reuse some of the existing code base.

In what tasks can GenAI assist you?

• Migrating codebases to the new .NET standards by replacing outdated APIs and syntax.
• Converting views from Xamarin.Native to MAUI to ensure visual consistency. You can even ask chat to write code based on the screenshots.
•  Adding the missing documentation or refining it to improve project clarity.
• Generating unit tests, integration tests, and more to cover all cases.
• Explaining or delivering new MAUI concepts if you’re not familiar with the new technology.

Why is ChatGPT the best to accelerate migration?

Among the popular GenAI tools, we suggest you use ChatGPT for migration to a new environment. Discover its 3 advantages:

1. You can integrate the ChatGPT desktop application with IDEs such as Rider or VS Code. The integration lets you send context directly to the Chat as a file or a snippet of selected text. On macOS, you can turn on the “auto-apply” mode to edit code directly.
2. ChatGPT has a built-in Canvas text editor, which simplifies refining generated code on the fly.
3. In the paid version of ChatGPT, you can design dedicated agents to handle specific tasks or workflows autonomously.

How much does it cost to use GenAI tools for migration and further development?

Before you choose a paid version of any popular chatbot, check if it can learn from the provided data. Fortunately, ChatGPT, Mistral, and Claude all have this capability. Review the pricing details of each tool in the table below.

Comparison of ChatGPT, LeChat, and Claude Subscription Plans.

IDE-Based AI Assistants

Continue is an alternative AI chat tool for Xamarin to the MAUI migration. This open-source AI code assistant is available as a plugin for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs. It offers the same capabilities as ChatGPT—so the “What can we ask AI to help with?” section applies here too.

What sets Continue apart? It can deeper integrate with IDEs. This makes writing prompts, editing code, and managing migration more efficient and developer-friendly. Continue’s tight integration with the IDE speeds up migration, but when you’re proficient with ChatGPT and use some extra productivity tools (e.g., Raycast), you won’t see significant time savings.

Savvy users will notice that Continue, unlike ChatGPT, has a chat window inside the IDE rather than outside it. Therefore, files that are not directly edited can be delivered to the prompt.

How much does it cost to use Continue for migration between Xamarin and MAUI platforms?

The Continue plugin is free but requires connecting an LLM (e.g., from OpenAI or Anthropic) via an “API key”.

Unlike ChatGPT, Continue operates on a pay-as-you-go cost model. It means costs vary based on token usage. It’s flexible but expensive for large migration projects. 

How does Continue handle data privacy?

Using popular API-based LLM models doesn’t train AI on your input data. Model providers guarantee that your data is secure. 

However, you should avoid sharing sensitive information such as API keys or confidential business data.

What are the Continue’s key features?

• Chat: Like ChatGPT, this tool enables you to get help from an LLM directly within your IDE. The plugin streamlines the workflow by providing files or selected text as context.
• Edit: You can modify the code directly in your current file. Highlight the section you want to change, describe the modifications, and accept or reject the output.
• Actions: Create shortcuts for repetitive tasks such as reviewing code, writing tests, or adding docstrings.

Your Xamarin app deserves a modern upgrade. Ready for .NET MAUI? Don’t wait — fill out the form and get a free consultation with our expert. With the right tools, you’ll avoid migration pitfalls and launch on MAUI quickly and confidently.

First Name *

Email *

Please share some details

I agree to receive your newsletters and accept the data privacy statement. *

Submit

AI-powered IDEs

Cursor is an AI-powered IDE that goes beyond basic AI integration. It works as a standalone environment, unlike Continue, which functions as a plugin. Cursor is based on Visual Studio Code. This means it supports VS Code extensions and allows profile migration for a seamless transition.

With all the capabilities of Continue, Cursor often completes tasks faster and more conveniently. It also has advanced functionalities, like generating entire files along with their creation process. Cursor significantly improves the developer’s experience during building apps.

Another thing that divides Cursor from Continue is searching and analyzing the project’s code base. This turns Cursor into a digital mentor who knows the project and can clear up a new team member’s doubts.

How much does it cost to use Cursor for Xamarin to MAUI migration?

Cursor offers three subscription plans:

• Business ($40/user/month) – everything in Pro plus additional enterprise features like privacy enforcement, centralized billing, and team management tools.

• Hobby (Free) – includes basic features and a two-week Pro trial. A Hobby plan may be insufficient for larger projects, such as migrations.

• Pro ($20/month) – everything in Hobby plus unlimited completions and advanced capabilities.

Comparison of Cursor’s Subscription Plans: Hobby, Pro, Business.

How does Cursor handle data privacy?

The Privacy Mode in Cursor turns off data retention and prevents storing uploaded data to train the model or third-party tools. The privacy level provided by Cursor is similar to that offered by ChatGPT.

Raycast MacOS Snippet Extension

Raycast is a productivity tool available for macOS. Raycast enhances work with AI tools like ChatGPT and Cursor while supporting migration tasks. Its advantage is Snippets, which lets you replace specific text with predefined templates. The Snippets tool is perfect for reusing common prompts without repetitive typing or copying from a notebook. You can simply assign your favorite prompts to a shortcut or keyword.

Additionally, Snippets can dynamically pull selected text from your active window or clipboard content. This is helpful when using AI tools from providers like Anthropic, where integration may not be as close as with ChatGPT.

Wrapping Up

If you’re using Xamarin, you can’t shirk from migration. But by using AI-based assistants, the whole process will be faster and cheaper.

You can choose the most convenient way among several options. Just decide which one suits you best. However, don’t forget to adjust your choice according to your budget. Also, include how the various tools handle the privacy and management of code sent to LLMs. 

Time’s running out—start your migration today!

Ready to migrate but unsure where to start? Simply fill out our form, and our expert will reach out to arrange a free consultation. We’ll go over your challenges and outline a clear, effective path to move from Xamarin to .NET MAUI with confidence.

First Name *

Email *

Please share some details

I agree to receive your newsletters and accept the data privacy statement. *

Submit