Flutter and React Native are currently on top when it comes to mobile cross-platform development frameworks.
There’s an ongoing debate on which of these frameworks is better.
However, I’m not here to choose the winner, as both of these frameworks perform perfectly in different conditions and have their respective advantages.
It depends on your project, which one of them will fit your needs. I will guide you through their pros and cons to help you choose the one that perfectly fits your requirements.
Meet the Competitors
React Native
React Native is an open-source mobile application framework. It was developed by Facebook in 20015. It uses JavaScript.
It is used to create applications for Android, Android TV, iOS, macOS, tvOS, Web, Windows, and UWP, allowing developers to take advantage of the React framework along with the native capabilities platform. It uses a single JavaScript codebase and translates it to native views.
The most notable examples of React Native apps are Facebook, Walmart, Instagram, Tesla, and Bloomberg.
Flutter
Flutter is an open-source and free mobile application development framework. It was developed by Google in 2017. The programming language used in Flutter is Dart.
It can be used to develop natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
The examples of apps developed with Flutter are Google Ads, Xianyu, Groupon Merchant, Reflectly, and PostMuse.
The Battle of Application Frameworks: Flutter vs React Native
Popularity
React Native has been with us for a longer time and during it managed to gather an enthusiastic group of fans. Launched in 2015, it succeeded to establish a cult following, with 81% of developers claiming to prefer React Native for app development.
Flutter, initially launched in 2017, had way less time to grab developers’ attention and devotion so obviously, it’s less popular. However, it steadily gains more attention, with 61% of developers admitting to being interested in Flutter.
It’s also important to take into consideration the fact that way more people are familiar with JavaScript than with Dart. JavaScript’s approachability and universality make it more encouraging.
Business perspective: More people are familiar with JavaScript, and React Native is more popular at this point, so it would be easier for you to find React Native specialists.
Programming Language
As I previously mentioned, more developers are familiar with JavaScript than with Flutter. JavaScript is considered a default language for almost every browser and has been there for a longer time, so its superiority at this point is obvious.
Flutter, on the other hand, is based on Google’s in-house language, Dart, which is way less common. However, if you start from the beginning, without knowing JavaScript, the process of learning Dart may be easier.
Business perspective: More developers specialise in JavaScript. However, that doesn’t mean that Dart is an obscure programming language; finding a Dart specialist is not going to be a challenge for you.
Cost to Develop App
Whether you decide to use Flutter or React Native, the app development cost is likely to be almost the same with both frameworks. There are no significant differences when it comes to the budget.
The cost of app development usually depends on the experience of the software development team, as well as the time needed to build it.
Business perspective: The cost of the development process is one of the most important determining factors when choosing frameworks. However, there’s no clear winner here. Whether you choose React Native or Flutter, you have to prepare for approximately the same expenses.
Learning Curve
As I mentioned before, Dart is comparatively a new language for developers. That means that using Flutter requires additional learning efforts. However, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that Dart is difficult.
JavaScript is well-known, so creating in React Native usually doesn’t require any additional effort. Moreover, JavaScript comes with a huge community of programmers who can offer advice to beginners.
Business perspective: Once more, the power of React Native lays in its popularity. With a bigger community of programmers familiar with JavaScript, it may be easier to develop your product and solve any possible pain points.
Productivity
Both frameworks support hot reloading: the feature that allows the app development team to make instant changes in the backend and reflect the changes right away, enhancing developers’ efficiency. Both frameworks can effectively support this feature.
When it comes to installation and configuration, both Flutter and React Native are rather easy to get started with.
Business perspective: Developer productivity is the key to building apps faster and an essential factor in choosing a cross-platform framework. As for it, React Native and Flutter are neck and neck. No matter which one you choose, you will be satisfied.
Performance
When it comes to performance, Flutter takes the crown as it is much faster than React Native.
React Native leverages JavaScript to connect to native components via a bridge. Flutter streamlines this process by avoiding the need for a bridge to interact with native components. Consequently, the speed of development and running time gets expedited drastically.
Business perspective: If app performance and speed is your priority, then you should definitely take a chance on Flutter.
Reasons to choose React Native
- Using React Native reduces the app development time and cost-of-development.
- React Native allows you to reuse components.
- It has a vast and devoted community of developers.
- It uses a well-known programming language.
Reasons to choose Flutter
- It allows developers to write code faster.
- Flutter apps work faster.
- With Flutter it’s possible to build custom UI effortlessly.
- Using Flutter increases the time-to-market speed.
Who Wins the Battle?
Both frameworks can work perfectly in specific conditions.
Even though the superiority of React Native was overwhelming, mostly due to its devoted community, Flutter has grown to be a strong competitor.
At some points, Flutter overtakes React Native and vice versa. Both Flutter and React Native are powerful options for cross-platform app development.
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