Let’s compare the leading market players today and will conclude by choosing the best framework for your next mobile application.
Which framework to use?
Choosing the right cross-platform app development framework is a crucial part of starting with any application. The past was the days when people used to struggle for more features with the limited option of frameworks.
As per my knowledge earlier developers have Android SDK & java or swift for iOS. But with new cross-platform frameworks, it seems that the world has been changed when the featured app is in the market. Isn’t it?
Here I have come up with two major frameworks that are in demand when it turns to Application development.
What is React Native?
I must mention some examples of React Native Applications such as Instagram, Pinterest, and more whereby known organizations using React JS Development Service are Facebook, Tesla, Airbnb, Yeti Smart Home, why, ChaperHome, Uber Eats, SoundCloud Pulse and the list goes on.
Reusable code, free, open-source, etc are other noticeable benefits of React Native that works so well for any cross-platform app development.
Like it’s pretty clear that React Native is appropriate to fit from any social networks to enterprise software applications.
What is Flutter?
On the other side, Flutter takes over landing in 2017 and it’s a project started by Google.
An all-new player in the market with its stable version in December 2018. An easy programming language is been used known by Dart that can be compared with C#, Java, and others.
Google targeted to provide flexibility with native components and low-cost app development through Flutter app development as a cross-platform app development framework.
Yes, it is open-source as well and even shares free plugins and helped developers to build native app run on iOS & Android.
Google even worked on a new OS after Flutter called Fuchsia, whereby the flutter app development company used this operating system for application development.
Some of the applications made with Flutter are the JD finance app, Xianyu Alibaba, Reflectly, Google ADs app, Topline, Top Goals, Hamilton app, and many more.
Flutter vs. React Native: Market overview
Considering a research-based outcome, there are approx 5 billion smartphones worldwide.
From which 65% of people go with a smartphone where iOS take the lead in the United States and 85% in the remaining region and remaining 35% goes with Android phones in the United States and 15% goes with iPhone apart from the US.
No one can ignore either of them and a mobile application development company should focus on both Android and iOS.
Market research says that the demand for mobile applications increases and so for cross platforms.
As more and more people are going for Android phones and replacing them with new one very often as per the ratio of iPhone.
But this doesn’t stop the attraction of people towards updated version phones for their daily usage.
A lot of new technology is helping for the bright future of mobile app development.
Let us have some tech highlights of Flutter and React Native
Architecture:
Flutter development services compile Dart code to native ARM code without any bridge as being a newbie for their mobile application development. With more than 1450 packages available on Flutter, it is a powered-accelerated Skia 2D engine for better results. Another architecture to be noticed is the BLoC (Business Logic Component).
A JavaScript runtime architecture, React Native is no beginner and the main patterns used are OEM widgets. It uses an abstraction of HTML DOM, a virtual DOM. It resides with an ability to only update and re-render the changes instead of rendering the whole page again.
Hot reload:
Here it’s serious competition as both Flutter and React Native comes with a functionality called hot reload. Now why it is so vital to know the function better is it provides React Native developers to quickly see visible changes in code.
But I must say flutter works better here so definitely a plus point from the side of Flutter developer as Flutter’s hot reload feature allows changeling in code while the application is running and will reload the code and continue further.
For instance, with the help of hot reloading, it’s possible to inject updated source code files that you edited during a runtime. One must note that Flutter has a short development cycle as it helps to inject source code files during runtime.
While hot reload is also available in React Native but the speed leaves a lot to be desired. Both Flutter and React Native cross-platform framework support hot reload that works at truly lightning speed in comparison with how iOS and Android apps native apps compile on XCode and Android Studio, respectively.
Ecosystem:
To access almost all native modules, React Native uses UI kits consisting of material, native base, and elements. It even supports iOS-style form components. Whereby Flutter still needs some contributed content.
It comes with multiple UI components though along with testing, stateful management, libraries, etc. Yes, Flutter does lacks iOS-style form components in the Cupertino library due to which the iOS design features aren’t compatible with the libraries.
Support:
Much as an adult framework, we can observe React Native has a solid worldwide network. It has more than 66,693 stars and 1,692 givers on GitHub, which means it’s continually being improved.
As indicated by AppBrain, at present over 5% of the top US applications are assembled utilizing this prominent system. And as per the research, the complete number of React Native-based applications is 15,000.
But Flutter is not the less as well. We have to consider it as it is new in the market still its fan-base is rapidly extending. This is observed in one of the research that shows its prevalence on Stack Overflow.
Performance:
All the components of Flutter including the UI are compiled using C/C++. So it is closer to machine language, Flutter employs the C/C++ library as it tends to deliver better native performance.
Whereby React Native doesn’t employ C/C++ but instead of native language, it uses a set of UI components done using their native equivalents. Please note here JavaScript will become a bridge that connects to each native module to perform desired output.
In spite of the slight contrast in the dispensed memory, the two applications ran easily and had a comparative realistic presentation.
So let me tell you the usage of CPU and energy impact whereby React Native apps take more memory as compared to other applications. And it requires about 20 MB of memory to run RCTBridge.
So we can say React Native carries more efficiency compared to other hybrid alternatives. However, React Native’s performance is not as efficient as Flutter’s.
As we have seen the difference in performance between both cross-platform React Native and Flutter lies in the approach they follow.
Stability:
For any device to work with ease is what user wants & that can be possible for my operating system and applications. The developer can rate stability quite well as the community offers more features and is reliable as well.
React Native came in 2015 stand tall with all stability and developers love to work with as compared to newly entered Flutter. Now it’s not worth to say that Flutter is not stable because it’s one of the two versions i.e. beta 2 version is quite stable than alpha.
Documentation:
In terms of documentation and tooling as well Flutter offers a well-ordered, unwrinkled and competently smooth documentation. Yes, you read correct here Flutter is leading by documentation that simplifies the job of the app developers.
As the documentation of React Native is a bit clumsy and even not well organized as it missed out some things which are been provided by Flutter.
Now considering tools for both the frameworks as we can see an unbending competition one or the other way.
- Framework since 2015 into mobile app development, React Native has more support for IDEs and tools.
- Flutter being new in the market is trying to reach the target as of now far away from the existing position of React Native.
What is Customer Base?
React Native is well known for the big names that have adopted it for their business. Besides Facebook and Instagram, Walmart, Airbnb, and Skype are among the companies that use React Native.
Another advantage of React Native is that it is suitable for projects of all sizes. Of course, the winner is React Native App Development Company because of its tremendous popularity amongst the global industry.
Since Flutter has just made its appearance a year and a half ago, so seems to take a little time to get the clientele.
It does not have much to showcase from the industry if compared with other stable frameworks. At present, there are several applications like Hamilton, Xianyu Alibaba, Reflectly to show in its bank. However, we do expect many more customer base to be added to the list with passing time.
Runtime Execution for Flutter and React Native
From developers’ experience, the behavior of React Native is fake as it also creates a true-blue native app on iOS and Android structurally. It seems to go with high performance based they lack some practical base.
It uses JavaScript as a bridge for execution and this is the reason developers can write using modern JavaScript. And a good, as well as bad news, is the code that they write is sent untouched to the device where it is interpreted.
One plus point of React Native using JavaScript is it also opens up to the opportunity of using open-source JavaScript libraries like Axios, Redux, Lodash, Flow, Moment, and the list goes with essentially any JavaScript Library that doesn’t address HTML or CSS.
As Java improves a lot with its dynamic nature and this gives a power wing to React Native.
As React Native uses JavaScript, Flutter uses Dart language. Invented by Google in 2011 as a potential replacement for JavaScript on the web, Dart “fixes” the problems of OO developers as they are not using JavaScript due to its dynamic nature.
Here Google plays well and found an opportunity to goal at the right time and injected Dart into the conversation as a serious contestant. To reiterate, some people will love Dart right out of the chute. But even those who don’t love it will quickly see its advantages.
Dart is elegant in its way as it allows us to compile ahead-of-time (AOT) to native instructions tuned for the arm64 chip and that’s the reason for running so correctly in the CPU rather than an expensive just-in-time (JIT) compiler.
It may be disliked, but experienced OO developers have found it easy to work with.
Flutter vs. React Native: Business Proposal
Before cross-platform, we used to stick for the website and getting the same look over mobile phones as well. But developers have limited options to go for & now it’s all possible with the cross-platform framework.
An industry-standard React native stands tall as the best cross-platform for mobile app development.
Now, the question may arise to you as Flutter is better than other cross-platforms?
React Native is the closest rivalry to Flutter.
It set the standard for cross-platform native app development. As both of these technologies help app developers build cross-platform apps faster by using a single programming language.
React Native is already a mature tool and has a huge community and Flutter also started seeing huge adoption rates for top cross-platform mobile app development since 2018.
What are the pros and cons of the best cross-platform development framework?
As we have been witnessed all the importance and pros for cross-platform in a business. But it’s not all roses, right?
Considering two sides of a coin, there are three noticeable cons of React Native as it occupies more memory compared to other native apps, iOS components are more reliable than Android in React Native and here developers have to write platform-specific code.
- Inferior performance: It’s not a huge difference but when comes to comparison, native apps do perform complex tasks better.
- Difficult UI design: Design is something that asks for more efforts to have a perfect native look and feel using cross-platform frameworks.
- Code design: Numerous mobile devices with different edge cases ask for a lot more while execution is taken into account at the stage of perfect design.
Takeaway
I hope that you enjoyed reading this post. It’s hard to declare the winner as both the frameworks have their specialty and similarities as well. Flutter through being little youth gaining popularity and trying to improve whereby React Native is already a mature & stable framework for mobile application development.
Always consider the capabilities and functionalities of the framework before deciding the one for development. Contact us to know more about your business application to decide upon which framework is best to have long-lasting output.
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