The demand for mobile apps has increased tremendously with the years passing by. Nearly every business wants to have its own set of mobile applications for Android and iOS. But building an app for two different platforms, writing codes for iOS and Android separately increases the cost and timeline to finish the project. To solve the issue of cost and time constraints, there comes into picture the cross-platform apps.
Yes! You read that right. Cross-platform apps work in both the platforms, Android and iOS, with a single codebase. This saves time for the development of the entire project as well as keeps the cost for businesses. There are many frameworks in the market to develop cross-platform apps, React Native and Flutter being the popular frameworks for mobile app development.
Now, which framework to choose when two frameworks prove to be the best in the market. Let’s look into what React Native and Flutter are, and then we will see what sets them apart.
What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source, front-end Javascript framework developed and designed by Facebook in 2015. It is used to create apps for Android and iOS using React and native components of both platforms.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source, User Interface software development kit developed and designed by Google and released in 2017. Like react native, it is also used to create cross-platform apps for Android and iOS with a single codebase. Flutter uses the Dart programming language for building apps.
Flutter has always been a step back from the React Native community but has around half a million developers around the world. Being UI-centric and quick in development, flutter may take over React Native in the near future anytime.
Which One to Choose: Flutter vs React Native
There is not much difference between the two when they are being used for the same purpose: to develop cross-platform apps, right? So, which framework to choose when going for cross-platform app development?
Let us understand what is the essential difference between react native and flutter with the following difference chart:
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| Concept | React Native | Flutter |
| Release by and On | React Native was developed by Facebook and release in 2015 | Flutter was developed by Google and released in 2017 |
| Programming Language | Javascript is used to create React Native apps | Dart programming is used to create Flutter apps |
| Latest Version | V0.66 for Android 12 and iOS 15 Support | Flutter 2.5 |
| Community Support | React Native has a great community support, the issues are addressed quickly and solutions are provided to the developers. | Flutter does not have a strong community support as compared to React Native. |
| User Interface | React Native uses native UI controllers to build the User Interface of the app | Flutter uses custom widgets to build the User InterfaceI of the app |
| Testing | For testing, React Native uses third party tools available for testing. | Flutter itself provides a very good set of testing features and it can be used to perform unit testing, integration testing, and widgets testing. |
| Performance | The performance of the React Native application is slow as compared to the Flutter app, because of the JSBridge between javascript and native code. | The performance of flutter applications is very fast. |
| Documentation | React Native documentation is good and user-friendly but very disorganized. | Flutter documentation is one goto place where everything can be found as it is organized, and informative. |
| Architecture | React Native uses Flux (created by facebook) and Redux (community choice) architecture | Flutter uses BLoC – Business Logic Component architecture |
| Choose if | You want universal code for mobile, web and desktop with good community support. | User Interface is a key priority of the app |
When to Choose React Native
If you want to build a large-scale, deeply rooted project, choose React Native as it has good community support and extensive documentation. It is suitable for creating complicated cross-platform apps.
When to Choose Flutter
If you need to create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) quickly, go for flutter, and it’s the best choice when your app is UI-focused.
Conclusion
There are many react native app development companies and flutter app development companies, where you can consult and choose the best framework for your application.
React Native and Flutter have their own ups and downs and strong points and weaknesses. Which one is better? That depends on your application needs. For example, if you do not want to get stuck and need good community support, go for react-native but if you need good performance, go for flutter. Hence, the choice of the framework will depend on the needs of your application and business requirements, but whichever framework you choose will determine the set features of the app and its performance.
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