We are living in a connected world. In fact, there are 3.75 billion smartphones worldwide and 3.3 billion active users on social networking sites – a number that has tripled in the past eight years.
We notice that our life is becoming increasingly digital and it’s affecting the way we do business.
So if you are looking to develop apps more quickly for your business by reducing the cost with cross-platform development but finding it difficult to choose the more convenient technology then this is the article for you.
When it comes to cross-platform mobile app development, you have two main options:
Flutter and React Native. These two frameworks are the big players in the “write once, run everywhere” space. Many startups have already made the choice to go with Flutter or React Native. But for those who haven’t yet decided, comparing them side-by-side will help you in making your decision.
To understand the differences between React Native and Flutter, we need to first understand what they are, the factors that make them different from other cross-platform mobile development tools, and their similarities.
So let’s explore more about them;
We are going to differentiate react native and flutter on the basis of the following features;
Language –
React native – JavaScript is used in react native. The popularity of JavaScript will also make it easier for React Native to gain acceptance in the enterprise world, since projects that developers have worked on in the past can be easily adapted and applied to React Native.
Flutter – Dart language is used for flutter. Dart is a good programming language, it does not have the popularity that JavaScript has. Dart also resembles Java, c++ and other OOP languages, thus it becomes easy for the developers to pick this quickly. On the other hand, the dart is preferred by the developers.
Corporate Backing –
React native – Created by Facebook and open-sourced, React Native is the leading framework in the market. React Native is made to be extremely flexible, developer-friendly, and easy to use. Rather than building their products natively for each platform, they decided to use React Native and build different products for different platforms. This is rather unique, especially with Facebook being one of the biggest players in the game.
Flutter – When compared with react native, flutter is a relatively new framework. Giant and google back up the flutter and it is an open-source and new SDK for creating multi-platform applications for Android and iOS using a single code base. Community of Google is also investing in Flutter to make it the most preferred solution to build cross-platform applications.
Architecture –
React native – Being able to communicate with native languages is an awesome feature that opens the door to a world of possibilities. It has two sides; the native side and the JavaScript side, they communicate by sending JSON messages. It supports asynchronous messaging.
Flutter – On the other hand Flutter is an all-in-one package that includes framework such as material design and cupertino. This means flutter doesn’t require a bridge to communicate with native components.
Installation and initial configuration –
React-native – Installing the React-Native CLI on your computer is quite simple and straightforward. On top of that, you also need to install package managers such as yarn and NodeJS.
Flutter
On the other hand, to install Flutter on your machine, the first step is to download it. You can download the required binary for a specific mobile platform from the official website. And the best thing about it is that you can add a path variable via command line. When compared with react native installation process of flutter is quite complicated.
Developer productivity –
React Native-
React Native is a wonderful tool for cross-platform app development. It has some serious pros that have left me impressed—from the simple learning curve to the hot reloading feature. However, developers should keep in mind that they are only getting access to the JavaScript API stack. If you are not using React Native as the single frontend of your app, then you have to take care of other aspects of the app development such as logic, business logic, UI/UX and so on. Despite that drawback, React Native is definitely worth your time and effort if you are interested in building cross-platform apps with JavaScript.
Flutter – It’s a strong platform, but Flutter should be used only if you are willing to write the entire app in Dart. You can use Flutter, or if you have an existing app that is implemented in Java/Kotlin or iOS, you can migrate your existing code to it and enjoy the benefits. It’s because of the simplicity and robustness of Flutter that it may not be an ideal choice for new developers or teams with no background in Flutter or Dart.
Community Support –
React native – What’s really important for open-source development frameworks is that the community around them is widely used and accessible.
And there is no denying that React Native is the most popular among modern JavaScript frameworks.
Flutter – Flutter may be less popular than react native, but it is quickly gaining popularity and support. Flutter is in development and its developer community will be growing.
User Interface –
React Native – With React Native and JavaScript Bridge, it’s incredibly easy to build high-quality native applications that work in the most popular mobile operating systems. React Native comes with a ready-made set of components, which simplifies building an app for each platform.
Flutter –
Flutter makes it easy to create beautiful mobile apps that work on iOS and Android. No need to learn a new language, as Flutter is based on Dart – an intuitive programming language. Flutter apps are built with a consistent set of high-quality UI widgets that run across all platforms. Plus, Flutter has a large collection of third-party libraries to draw on as well.
Conclusion –
Even though both react native and flutter have their pros and cons, flutter has entered the mobile development market very strongly. Flutter is making waves in mobile app development, with TechCrunch predicting the platform to become the future of mobile app development.
