Koin vs Dagger in KMP: A Practical Comparison

Dependency injection is critical for maintainable KMP apps. We've used both Koin and Dagger/Hilt extensively in production. Here's when to choose each, with real examples from our apps.

Koin: The KMP-First Choice

Koin is multiplatform from the ground up. No annotation processing, no code generation, no platform-specific setup. Define modules in shared code and they work everywhere. The DSL is intuitive, testing is straightforward with checkModules(), and the learning curve is gentle. For new KMP projects, Koin is our default recommendation.

Dagger: When You Need It

Dagger excels in large Android codebases with complex dependency graphs. Compile-time validation catches errors early. Hilt simplifies Android-specific setup. But Dagger is Android-only — in KMP projects, you'd need Dagger for Android and manual DI or Koin for other platforms, creating inconsistency.

Our Verdict

For KMP projects: use Koin. For Android-only projects with complex graphs: Dagger/Hilt still wins. For migrating Android to KMP: start replacing Dagger modules with Koin incrementally. All MBS products use Koin for its simplicity and multiplatform support.