Do you want to build a mobile application and are not sure which platform to use? Are you struggling to choose between Flutter and React Native frameworks which one is best suited for your project?
Stay tuned! This article will help you.
In today’s time, developing interactive mobile applications is important for business growth and customer acquisition.
When we decide to build an application, we have to make numerous decisions based on our budget, requirements, and timeline.
One of the most important decisions is to choose which framework we should use to develop the application most efficiently.
Flutter and React Native are the two trending mobile application development frameworks. Often developers struggle to choose between them.
This Flutter vs. React Native post will help you to precisely understand the difference between them so that you can choose the right cross-platform framework for you.
Concise Introduction to Flutter and React Native:
Before jumping deeper, it is important to grasp the basic knowledge of Flutter and React Native platforms for precise understanding.
Both Flutter and React Native are Cross-Platform frameworks. So, let’s start by understanding what the Cross-Platform framework means.
Cross-Platform
There are multiple operating platforms on which mobile applications can operate like Android, iOS and Web. Users of all platforms are increasing rapidly due to the smartphone boom and cheap data.
To avoid the development of a single mobile application multiple times for each platform, developers use Cross-Platform development.
In this process, developers develop one application that can operate uninterruptedly on myriad platforms.
Using Cross-Platform for mobile application development has many benefits:
- Developers won’t be required to write code multiple times for each operating platform separately.
- It makes a mobile application suitable for iOS, Android and Web platforms simultaneously and allows developers to add multiple features.
- Easier to monitor and update applications and provide a consistent user experience.
As you have read basic details about the Cross-Platform framework. Now, it’s time to start the discussion about Flutter and React Native.
React Native
React Native Cross-platform is one of the most popular frameworks in the world. It is developed to build cross-platform mobile applications. It is flexible and allows developers to use the abilities of multiple native platforms like JavaScript, React and other platforms to build mobile applications.
This open-source and well-used framework was developed by Facebook in 2015. Since its launch, React Native started getting traction from developers because of its ability to use native components instead of web components.
Which helped them to develop mobile applications with a shared codebase for iOS and Android.
Post its launch, React Native start becoming popular because of its features like:
- The usage of native components in React Native development framework made the platform authentic and feel good.
- It makes it easier to collaborate with developers and simplifies the process.
- JavaScript is a popular language and React Native leveraged its popularity very well along with the React library. JavaScript has widespread popularity and usage. It has its own ecosystem and React Native gets benefits from its library and tools.
- React Native allows developers to reuse code to develop mobile applications. It saves their time and energy.
Limitations of Using React Native and Popular Companies that Used React Native to build their systems:
Each system and framework has its own features and some limitations. React Native is not an exception. So, here are some key limitations of React Native framework:
- React Native has a complex user interface in comparison to other development frameworks.
- Many times seamless navigation is not possible while developing applications using React Native framework.
- When you want to develop an application whose highlight is performance, then React Native framework wouldn’t be an ideal choice for you because using JavaScript as a communication medium slows the process often.
Despite the odds, many popular companies choose React Native Cross-Platform to build their online system, for example:
- Tesla
- Skype
- Artsy
- Bloomberg
- Vogue
Impressed with the features of React Native Cross-Platform? Let’s understand Flutter to do a legit comparison of React Native Vs Flutter development frameworks.
Flutter
Like React Native, Flutter is also a cross-platform framework used for mobile application development. It is an open-source mobile application development framework developed by Google in 2017.
Flutter eases the process of development for developers by allowing them to develop mobile applications for multiple operating systems like iOS, Android and the web at a single time.
Both React Native and Flutter gained popularity amongst developers soon after their launch by giants like Facebook and Google.
Flutter makes the development cycle faster and helps developers to develop performance-based applications. It has a flexible and expressive User interface. The framework is one of the most widely used open-source frameworks.
You can develop highly customizable UIs by using a combination of a variety of tools and custom widgets.
Here are some prominent features of Flutter which make it popular among developers:
- It reflects the live status of the development process while developing an application. Real-time updates speed up the development process and save significant time.
- Flutter operates using a unique approach “Everything is a widget” making it ideal for the development of customizable applications.
- Usage of the powerful 2D rendering engine “Skia Graphics Engine” and compilation of Dart code to native ARM code let developers create visually stunning and performance-based applications.
- Excellent support from the Google team works like the cherry on the cake. Google provides extensive written documents and official support to help developers to deal with problems.
Limitations of using Flutter framework for development and popular companies that used React Native to build their systems:
As we have discussed the features of Flutter. Now, it’s time to flip the coin and discuss the limitations of Flutter:
- Flutter development framework uses Skia Graphics and built-in widgets which increases the application size developed by using Flutter framework compared to other frameworks.
- Reliance on Native tools and technologies is another limitation of Flutter.
- Flutter is a comparatively new development framework than others. So, its ecosystem is not mature and also not enough third-party packages available for it.
Many companies ignore these limitations and show their trust in the Flutter development framework and build their online system by using it.
Names of some such big companies are:
- Topline
- Hookle
- Hamilton
- Alibaba
- OfflinePal
Flutter Vs React Native: which one is better?
Flutter and React Native both are wonderful application development frameworks. Which platform is better for you depends on multiple factors. There is no simple answer to questions like is Flutter better than React Native? Or Is React Native better than Flutter?
Now, we will do a detailed comparison based on some relevant factors which will help you to decide which framework is suitable for you:
Comparison of Ecosystem and Development Philosophy of Flutter and React Native
The Ecosystems of both development frameworks were developed and managed by tech giants like Facebook and Google.
It is hard to maintain an ecosystem for such a large app development platform and keep them open source.
But their development philosophy is significantly different from each other. Flutter provides many facilities to the developers like a huge widget library and PUB package manager.
Also, Google provides and maintains many plugins in the Flutter framework which facilitates development.
So, is Flutter better than React Native?
Maybe! It depends on your needs.
React Native provides basic base components for the development, so you would require to use tools from third-party to complete your React Native project.
Both Flutter and React Native are supported by giants like Google and Facebook and have a huge ecosystem that provides almost everything you need for the development of an application.
Application Development Speed
As we have already discussed, React Native and Flutter use different coding languages for application development.
Now, the question is which one is faster?
In precise words without being diplomatic, the Application development process in Flutter is faster than React Native.
The absence of a JavaScript bridge makes it faster.
So, in terms of speed, yes Flutter is better than React Native Cross-Platform but you should have mastery in Dart programming language to untapped the real potential of Flutter.
Although, some people find React Native faster than Flutter due to their efficiency in JavaScript Coding language.
Coding languages
In React Native Cross-Platform framework developers can code apps in Javascript with the addition of React library. So, you can understand it as an extension of Javascript because it originally was never meant to be introduced for the development of mobile applications.
While Flutter launched with the programming language Dart. This language is specifically optimized to merge multiple platforms.
Dart language has many performance advantages over Javascript but many people don’t know it well because it is a comparatively new language and Javascript is widespread and well-known.
Now when we compare Flutter and React Native based on programming, both have certain limitations and advantages.
Dart is an advanced coding language with many performance benefits but you would require to learn a new language to operate Flutter.
On the other hand, Javascript is a commonly known coding language but less efficient for application development.
So, it’s up to you, whether you want to learn a new language or stick to the commonly known Javascript.
Development of performance-based applications:
For the development of high-performance-oriented Android applications then flutter is better than react native as Flutter has its own UI engine that renders your UI.
Also, many researchers suggest that there is a huge disparity between the performance of Flutter and React Native but you won’t notice much while developing applications in both platforms.
Testimonial of Alibaba’s team on Flutter’s website says that they developed their Android application by using the Flutter framework in 2 weeks which would have taken one month of time if they had selected React Native Cross-Framework.
So, high-performance and UI-based applications should be developed by using the Flutter framework.
Freedom and third-party dependency:
React Native Cross-Platform is better than Flutter for the development of customized mobile applications.
React Native gives more freedom to the developers to use their components for App development but it also increases the dependency on third-party tools.
While Flutter provides many commonly used widgets and plugins. They are already built and developers can use them for the development. It also decreases the dependency on third-party providers.
So, you can choose either of them based on their merits in this segment. If you want to build a highly customizable way then you should opt for React Native Cross-Platform but it will increase your dependency on third-party providers.
Otherwise, you can choose Flutter Cross-Platform for the App development.
Common features of React Native and Flutter:
As we have discussed Flutter vs React Native topic based on various factors. So, before jumping to a conclusion, let’s discuss some common features of Flutter and React Native:
Hot Reload: It is the feature which keeps your application development process updated by implementing codes without disturbing the current state of the application. It saves changes by automatically reloading the application.
State Management: State management is a concept in both React Native and Flutter which help developers to determine the state of the application.
It also allows components to store and update the data internally.
Tree Representation: Tree Representation is used to display hierarchical data in both the cross frameworks i.e. React Native and Flutter.
It shows the parent-child relationship between data and makes understanding and performance faster for developers.
Conclusion
React Native vs Flutter has become a hot topic on the internet. Developers discuss which platform is better and users are also keen to know which is better, Flutter or React Native.
Many times choices are not simple and straightforward as they look. For one person Flutter is better than React Native and for others, React Native is best.
Both platforms have their pros and cons.
In this post, we compare Flutter and React Native based on various points like a Programming language, Ecosystem, Performance and third-party dependency.
The best way to determine which framework is best, you would require to analyze your requirements with the framework’s features and compatibility.
It will help you to choose the best Cross-Platform for Application development.
