Flutter vs. React Native- Comparing Popular Cross-platform Frameworks

Mobile app development is one of the most sought-after services in this digital age. Every day, hundreds of thousands of apps are added to app stores as companies tend to jump on the mobile app bandwagon. People use apps for accomplishing many activities throughout the day on smartphones and tablets. As mobile apps touch various aspects of our lives, it is necessary to consider factors like development time and costs when developing a tailored app.

Here, cross-platform development has emerged as a cost-effective option. It enables entrepreneurs to get enterprise-grade apps that can run seamlessly on both Android and iOS-powered devices. When we consider cross-platform app development, two prominent frameworks come in our mind- Flutter and React Native. In this post, we will see the difference between Flutter vs. React Native to make the right choice for your upcoming app project.

Let’s start with an overview of these highly popular frameworks.

Overview of Flutter and React Native

Flutter is an open-source, cross-platform development framework that has started gaining popularity among developers since its launch in 2018. Google has launched this future-ready framework to build feature-rich apps that can run on multiple devices seamlessly. Flutter has already acquired over 137K stars at GitHub and it has remained a favorite choice of developers and entrepreneurs for cross-platform development.

React Native is another popular open-source framework for developing cross-platform apps. Facebook launched it back in 2015 to build apps with native experiences. Developers make React apps using JavaScript and a thriving community of React Native developers assist them to make enterprise-grade apps with desired apps. React Native apps are easily downloadable on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Flutter vs React Native- Table of Comparison

Flutter and React Native have some similarities and differences. We can see how their popularity remains almost the same year after year.

Want to know the differences between React Native vs. Flutter in detail? Read on.

Key Differences between Flutter and React Native

We will compare five parameters to know the differences between Flutter vs. React Native. This comparison will also help you choose the right option for your upcoming app development project.

• User Interface

As Flutter has a unique set of widgets, it does not depend on native components for drawing UI (User Interface). When you hire dedicated developers to make Flutter apps, they can reuse iOS or Android code to ensure the same look and feel on both operating systems. Flutter has two sets namely Material Design Widgets (for Android apps) and Cupertino Widgets (for iOS apps). Flutter app developers can also make new widgets if necessary.

React Native acts as a bridge between the existing iOS and Android code. Its APIs can combine native UI components and JavaScript code for a native-like experience in both iOS and Android apps. Developers can also use Material Design components for Android apps instead of their native counterparts.

• Documentation

Flutter has structured and detailed documentation that covers various topics. It has an interactive catalog for wizards along with codelabs and tutorials. Moreover, Flutter documentation offers clear guidelines for all types of developers like Android and web developers.

React Native’s documentation has various code snippets and examples that make it easy to understand and utilize for developers. Also, various contributors of a thriving community of React Native developers have made the documentation more useful.

• Performance

Flutter has a built-in AoT (Ahead-of-Time) compiler that generates native code for Android and iOS platforms. This framework also renders the UI to the screen through Impeller to ensure native performance. Impeller is a custom rendering engine that can render at 60 frames a second to give a smooth user experience.

React Native, on the other hand, has a JavaScript-based virtual machine with its JIT (Just-in-Time) compiler. It enables any codebase to get compiled into a native experience. In other words, React Native matches the speed of any native app and performs at the level of customized apps for the iOS platform.

• Community Support

Flutter is a relatively new framework, but more developers are adopting it globally. It has many questions on Stack Overflow and the growing community answers them. Moreover, Flutter is more popular than React Native on GitHub.

React Native is the most popular framework on Stack Overflow and it has a larger community than Flutter. However, it has fewer stars on GitHub as compared to Flutter.

• Industry Trends

Flutter is a choice of over 65 percent of developers as per the recent StackOverflow survey. However, many companies have yet to make it their choice. In other words, Flutter is more popular among developers than entrepreneurs.

React Native has got slightly less attention from developers than Flutter. However, many companies prefer this robust framework for their app projects. It is fair to mention that React Native can generate more job opportunities to date.

Apart from these differences, Flutter and React Native have different app sizes and debugging options. All these aspects give special characteristics to these platforms. Therefore, it is better to consult a reputed mobile app development company to choose the right one for your project.

Future of Flutter and React Native

Both Flutter and React Native have promising futures ahead. As Google supports Flutter and Meta backs React Native, we can expect advancements in these frameworks over the period.

Google has recently evolved and refined the Flutter SDK with new features and performance improvements. Its Flutter 2.10 version offers stable support for Windows apps. Flutter has many enhancements to ensure an efficient app development process.

Meta has made many changes in React Native including a dedicated Window dimensions hook and support for CoocoaPods. React Native offers quick Refresh rates and stable APIs with better support tools in the community.

Regular updates and improvements in features indicate a bright future for both these frameworks.

When to Choose React Native and When to Choose Flutter

Cross-platform app development needs a proper framework selection to ensure the success of apps. When it comes to building a high-quality app from scratch, you need to consider various factors in selecting the right framework. Some of these factors are UI consistency and time-to-market. In both these parameters, Flutter is ahead of React Native. Its code reusability also makes the cross-platform development process more efficient and result-oriented.

Another factor is cost-effectiveness. Whether you hire dedicated developers to build Flutter apps or React Native apps, the cost may remain the same. However, React Native apps can give a more native-like experience than of Flutter apps.

Simply put, Flutter should be your choice if you want to publish your app soon and the app executes between 60 FPS and 120 FPS. Also, Flutter can give a user-friendly UI that you can customize using built-in widgets. However, if you want to build a simple and lightweight app with native experience and create shared APIs, React Native is a better option. React Native apps have highly appealing UI with native components.

How Silver Touch Can Help You Make the Right Choice between Flutter vs. React Native?

Silver Touch Technologies Canada has in-house teams of experienced and dedicated developers of Flutter and React Native. We understand your project requirements thoroughly and research market trends before suggesting the framework. As a trusted partner for cross-platform development, we suggest the most suitable framework for your business application.

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