Selecting the right framework for your application is super important to decide its functionalities and productivity. A poorly-developed application won’t work efficiently on every device and might lead to stuttering, lags, or even malfunction. There’s a constant debate between the two cross-platform development frameworks; Flutter and Reactive Native.
Understanding the Frameworks
Reactive Native and Flutter frameworks are used
in cross-platform app development. Both of them provide assistance to the developers
to decrease the time to launch a project into the market and thus improve
productivity. In this blog, we are going to draw a comparison between Flutter
and React Native with their architecture, learning curve, performance,
community support, use case, and various other factors.
What is Flutter?
It is an open-source framework that works with
the programming language called Dart (Developed by Google). This framework is
commonly preferred for its improved UI toolkit used for creating cross-platform
applications with a single codebase. The developers are able to develop a
flexible and expressive UI with native performance by using flutter app
development. The Google team of developers supports and contributes to this
framework for effective flutter app development. Plus, developers have
the backing of an entire flutter community.
Where Flutter is Used
●
It is used for
creating MVP mobile applications
●
Applications
following the material design language
●
Applications that
have OS-level functionality
●
OS plugins that
work with simple logic
●
Apps compatible
with Skia rendering engine
●
Reactive
applications using huge data integration
●
Innovative UI with
advanced widgets
What is React Native?
It is another widely popular open-source
framework that works on JavaScript. React Native app development has the main
aim of native rendering of applications that are compatible with Android and
iOS. A unique combination of XML- JavaScript and Esque markup is used to write
React Native. This framework was created by Facebook for react native app
development and currently, there are over 50 dedicated engineers working on
React Native. The framework depends on native components instead of depending
on web components as building blocks.
Where React Native is Used
●
It is used for
developing simple cross-platform applications
●
React Native is
ideal for fast prototype applications
●
It is effective for
applications with a simple user interface
●
React Native is
ideal for applications that almost appear native
●
React Native is
preferred for applications with reusable components
●
It is useful for
applications that work with synchronous APS.
Let’s
Draw a Comparison Between Flutter and React Native with This Chart
|
|
Flutter |
React Native |
|
Definition
|
A UI toolkit for the development of
natively-compiled applications for mobile, web, desktop from one codebase |
A framework used in the development of
applications with React |
|
Release
Date |
December 2018 |
March 2015 |
|
Invented
by |
Google |
Facebook |
|
Open-Source |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Used
Programming Language |
Dart |
JavaScript |
|
Userbase
|
Over 120,000 users on GitHub (May 2021) |
Over 95,300 users on GitHub (May 2021) |
|
Tops
Apps Created with the Technology |
Google Ads App, My BMW, Xianyu app by Alibaba,
Hamiton, Philips Hue |
Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Tesla, etc. |
|
The
UI Differences |
●
Flutter Apps look uniform both on newer and older operating systems. ●
The flutter apps
look and act similarly across different operating systems because the
codebase remains the same. ●
Flutter apps are
meant to act naturally on each platform by learning from the native
components.
|
●
The React Native
Application looks similar to native applications (Ex; the buttons look the
same on respective platforms) ●
The React Native
apps depend on the native components. Thus, any OS update also changes the
app’s components. ●
You have to use
third-party libraries to achieve the native features of the respective
platforms. |
|
Competitive
Advantages |
●
Provides the
stunning look and feels with advanced widgets ●
Continuously
growing community ●
Get complete
documentation support from the Flutter team. This makes it to develop with
Flutter ●
Enhancing flutter
for Web to get one codebase across different mobile and web platforms |
●
A very stable
platform with over 5 years of existence in the market ●
Many successful
businesses are using React Native ●
It is also an
easy to learn technology with a huge community ●
Developers can
reuse the code for web app and desktop application development |
|
Not
Ideal When |
●
If your app
requires 3D touch support ●
The design of
your app is made for a specific platform ●
If your app needs
to send multiple requests to an OS or needs rare libraries
|
●
If your app needs
to focus on very specific tasks in the background ●
You need customized communication with
Bluetooth ●
If you want to
develop an application only for Android |
Which One to Choose for
Mobile Application Development?
Both of the frameworks are reliable for creating
reliable applications. However, there are different use cases where you should
choose one of the two options.
Native
Platform Support
Flutter can be used for not only mobile and web
applications; we can use flutter app development for desktop and embedded
applications as well. It is much better when your application can be accessed
through almost any device including phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, etc.
Performance
Flutter apps work with native code, thus
improving the overall performance. However, these apps might face performance
issues if the graphics functionalities are not optimized from time to time.
Ease
of use
The traditional JavaScript developers consider
that is much easier to learn React Native. Whereas, learning Flutter requires
expertise in Dart programming language
Size
of Project
React Native projects are comparatively more
lightweight than Flutter projects. It could be a great option for developing
applications for wearable devices with limited storage. Thus, choosing react
native app development makes a more sensible option.