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Flutter vs React Native - Which is best to choose for app?

Vennila Ramasamy

6 mins

Flutter vs React Native - Which is best to choose for app?

Flutter vs React Native

A question that would kill the developer’s sleep for weeks. The most inevitable confusion that developers endure in cross-platform app development is not deciding the features but the framework. Why is it so confusing? Because both frameworks are the best in the market and provide exotic features that make app building easier than ever. So, choosing one means missing out on the features that the other platform offers.

We have listed the pros and cons each platform has in this blog and also made a quick comparison for you to understand which platform is best suited for your app.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is the open-source UI toolkit created by google to develop cross-platform apps with a single codebase. Flutter allows easy and faster app development across platforms like IOS, Android, and even the Web. Flutter comes with a complete widgets and tools kit that can ace up the development process.

Flutter can be of two parts: SDK and a framework. The SDK is the software development kit that comes with a package of widgets and tools while the Flutter framework is a UI library based on the widgets. It comes with reusable UI elements like buttons and text inputs that can be reused and personalized as per your needs.

Dart is the programming language needed to develop using Flutter. It was released in 2011 and has evolved since. The current version of Dart is 2.14.1. It mainly focuses on the front end, however, it can also be used in creating mobile and web applications. Dart is a relatively simpler language with no class in other classes. The syntaxes of Dart are similar to that of JavaScript, so if you know a bit of programming already, Dart can be easy for you to master.

Pros of Flutter

Same business logic across platforms:

Flutter uses a single codebase for all the platforms, which means you develop once and deploy it everywhere, this can be time and energy-saving. You need not hire different developers for each platform rather a one-time development is all needed. This can be easy in debugging and fixing the bugs in the future.

Quicker Development:

Now that there is only one code to develop, test and fix, the development cycle is quick and fast. Apart from this, the Hot reload option helps in making the changes without rebooting the whole system, this in fact saves a lot of time in developing.

Native App Experience:

Flutter app gives an experience that is almost similar to native apps.  The framework allows seamless access to the hardware features of the device just like the native apps. Though the developing side needs to undergo the complexity of channeling the code, the experience it offers is worth all the complexities. However, Flutter has already created channels for almost all standard smartphone features and made it open-source, so that must come as a relief to the developers.

Flutter uses its own rendering Engine:

Flutter app development needs a high-performing cross-platform engine to perform almost all of its features. It uses its own engine called Skia to render itself on a platform-provided canvas. How is this helping the developers? Own rendering engine means now UI developed on flutter can be launched onto any platform virtually without worrying about adjusting the UI to fit the platform.

Cons of Flutter

Large Files:

The major drawback that comes with flutter is larger files. Not every user is fond of making space for a large app. This sometimes pushes the developers to opt for a different tool to develop irrespective of the amazing features flutter has to offer.

Insufficient Third Party libraries:

Third-party libraries are free, open-source packages that help the developer with certain features. Flutter is a young framework, lacks such easily available, pre-tested features. So, developers have to wait for long or choose an alternate tool for development.

Dart is unpopular:

Dart is a new language and there ain’t many experts in the language to develop a full-fledged app. Though being easy, the language is not a great substitute for other object-oriented programming languages like C#, objective C, or JAVA.

What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source framework for cross-platform app development with a single code base. It allows the users to develop native rendered apps for mobile in android and IOS.

React native is a product of Facebook and has been used in building many successful apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Skype. React Native is different from React, though it is based on it. React native is built on the React-JavaScript library. uses JavaScript for development.

Similar to Flutter, React Native also uses one code for both android and IOS, this makes it easier for developers to build and enhance the app simultaneously for both platforms, saving huge time and effort.

Since React Native app is built using JavaScript, the front-end development of the apps will look and feel more robust in mobile apps than that of the apps built-in other frameworks.

Pros of React Native

Cost-Effective Development

The react native development is cost-effective, as all you need is one development team that is fluent in one programming language for multiple platforms. Javascript is quite a common language that is popular among developers, so it is quite cost-effective in terms of cutting down the team size and even being able to build an effective app.

The apps have a stable growth:

The React Native apps have a brief abstraction that allows the user to work on the app without worrying about getting into the details of the platform.  The react native app has a set of components that is aware of how to display the app.  These features give react native apps high stability allowing the developers to schedule and perform the update much smoothly.

Many Libraries and tools to support:

There are many libraries available to support development in React Native. It also has ready-made solutions that can enhance the app development process and save time. These libraries are developed and pre-tested, so using them in development can be easy and quick.

Large Developer Community:

React Native has a large community of developers. This means, development never gets lonely. For all your queries and doubts in the process, you can reach out to the well-developed community and seek help.

Cons Of React Native

Debugging is a difficult task:

Debugging in React Native can be hard, since the code is developed using Java, C, and other hard languages. More than this the code swings between the native code and the JavaScript that the React Native app is developed with. This issue is however overcome by using Flipper to integrate the code.

Too many updates to deal with:

React Native keeps releasing updates every week. It is true that the framework is being enhanced with each update, but since the updates happen very frequently the developers lack time to understand and adapt to the new changes.

Also Read: Advantages and Disadvantages of Flutter Mobile App Development

JavaScript can lack type safety:

This might look like a small problem, but when developers have a whole set of code to develop, a loose type condition can become a headache that can’t be dealt with. It is often very tough to deal with such situations, so the developers go to libraries and integrations that can help with this problem.

React Native Vs Flutter

Now that you have understood the features, advantages, and disadvantages the frameworks have, you can choose which is better for your app by comparing the benefits and drawbacks of each framework.

Let’s make it easier for you, we have done the comparison for you and you choose the platform that feels better for you.

Comparison between React Native and Flutter

FeatureReact Native Flutter
Developed ByFaceBookGoogle
Released onJune 2015May 2017
Programming LanguageJavaScriptDart
ArchitectureReact Native uses Flux and Redux architecture. Facebook has developed Flux but Redux is most preferred within the communityThe architecture uses Business Logic Component
UIInteracts with the native UI controllers to create app’s UIUses custom widgets to build the app’s UI.
PerformanceThe performance is relatively slow compared to Flutter, and issues are faced while using hybrid apps.Flutter apps are fast and have a better native performance as Flutter compiles the code in arm C/C++ that making the code similar to machine code.
TestingThird-party tools are needed to test the appAll types like Unit Testing, Integration Testing, and Widget tests can be performed using Flutter.
Customer SupportIt has a great customer supportLess to no customer support
Hot ReloadYesYes
Industry adoptionGoogle Ads, HamiltonInstagram,Facebook

Conclusion:

Flutter has gained higher response with time, in spite of it being a young framework. However, React Native has a large community to support you all along the process. Like this, each and every feature of both the frameworks has its own highs and lows. If you are still confused or searching for a good app development team, you can reach NYL technologies. We are a mobile application development company in Chennai, that can help you with both React Native Apps and Flutter Apps. Now build your app with us.

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