Dart Vs Kotlin: The Detailed Comparison In 2021

The technology world is an ever-growing and expanding one, which today has many segments of its own. From that, app development is a highly evolving one. Dart Vs. Kotlin is the prime example of this.

Before moving to the comparison between these two successful programming languages. Let's first witness their current status of evolution.

It's common knowledge that Dart is used for Flutter, a cross-platform SDK. But you'll be wrong if you still believe that Kotlin is only used for android.

Yes! The programming language, in its latest innovation, has unfolded its cross-platform benefits through Kotlin multi-platform.

Below I have tried to cover all the standard and new aspects of the comparison between Dart and Kotlin.

Introduction

Google developed Dart to deliver optimized client apps and ease the development process. It came into the world nine years back. Since then, it has successfully manifested the reputation of being an ahead-of-its-time technology. This has enabled many visionaries to provide the world with apps that deliver an experience like never before. We'll talk about apps developed with Dart in the later part of the blog.

Kotlin is also developed by one of the highly renowned tech giants, JetBrains. It was developed nine years ago to meet their demand for a simpler language than Java. While they even wanted the new technology to be interoperable with it. Since then, Kotlin has risen to be one of the prominent programming languages in the world. Its use has widely grown, to the extent that in 2019 Google announced it to be the preferred language for android app developers.

Detailed Technical Comparison: Dart Vs. Kotlin

A year back, this comparison might have been just like apples versus oranges. But as JetBrains announced, Kotlin Multiplatform in 2020. The comparison between Dart and Kotlin has only gotten more relevant and popular. Below are technical points for comparison.

Core

Here the bigger question is that where your fundamentals lie?

Kotlin was devised to have a better and more advanced programming language than Java, but still be interoperable. This was successfully achieved by adding data classes, extension functions, more null-safe types, and sealed classes.

On the other hand, Dart is a simple language that resembles the core of JAVA with a few unique features. It is based on dynamic keywords, which make the development experience as if mapping JSONs. Along with this, the Async-await feature makes Dart stand when compared with Java and Kotlin.

It is widely believed and agreed that if a developer is experienced in Java, then shifting to Dart is easier than Kollin. But if you are well versed and experienced in Kotlin, the shift to Dart isn't considered to be preferable. Developers have observed Dart appear outdated in front of Kotlin.

Tools Available

Both languages have a robust tooling ecosystem, which is constantly expanding as well.

Dart & Kotlin have a very similar set of tools. Developers have noticed that while writing in IntelliJ (or Visual Studio), they found Kotlin more convenient. This is because the former has ensured faster writing through post-fix completion and many such features.

Along with this, in Dart, you don't find info popups in constructors that use field assignment syntax. Also, the static analysis is sometimes flaky, while available intent actions are far and apart. After reading this, you might feel like Dart is taking us back to writing codes on a notepad, but don't worry, the situation isn't that severe.

Overall, Dart has more scope of improvement. But it isn't a point of worry, as Google enjoys a positive reputation of consistently innovating and bettering its products.

Partnered Framework

Programming languages often enjoy the limelight due to their partnered frameworks. Don't feel lost if this section feels like Kotlin Vs Flutter, as it's time to discuss the partnered frameworks.

Let's talk about the giant & diverse world of Kotlin, Kotlin Native, and Kotlin Multiplatform first, whether it is about native Android or iOS development, or altogether cross-platform development. Today it is safe to say that Kotlin language has a partnered framework to produce almost any app for almost all types of operating systems.

On the other hand, Flutter is the framework for Dart, and it is a cross-platform SDK, as we have mentioned above. It has gained prominence due to its widget-oriented development. This makes building apps with Flutter an easy and smooth user experience.

Commercial Comparison Between Dart & Kotlin

Usually, none lays a specialized focus on commercial aspects of technologies. Though in a few articles, you might find the essence of the below points. But they aren't explained in their entirety, so here's the comparison between Dart and Kotlin based on:

Popularity

The popularity of technology acts as a testament to its user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness. That's why it is an important factor of comparison.

In 2020, Kotlin was accepted as a preferred language for Android by Google. While Dart is a prodigy of Google itself. Along with this, the following points will highlight their popularity comparison:

• Kotlin has 35.9 k stars with 4.4k forks, while Dart has 6.6k stars and 991 forks.
• Currently, PYPL ranks Flutter as 21st and Kotlin as the 11th most popular programming language.
• In a poll, Dart turned out to be the most relevant programming language while Kotlin ranked at 10th in the same.
• Both the languages even share a space in the top five programming languages as per TechRepublic.

Best Apps For Respective Technology

This is the section which will let you know about the apps that currently use either of the technology. They may have been built by it or might have migrated to. By this, you can understand the app experience that a particular technology provides.

Apps that use Kotlin:

1. Quizlet
2. Google
3. Pinterest
4. Trello
5. Netflix
6. Airbnb
7. Zomato

Apps that use Dart:

1. Google Ads
2. Google Assistant
3. Xianyu app
4. eBay Motors
5. Tencent
6. SpaceX Go
7. Dream11

Pricing

Pricing plays an important role. Along with developers, the businesses and individuals also look for comparisons between technologies with a motto of developing their business app. So I have done deep research, and the following are the approximate budgets for building apps with:

Dart- Flutter apps are in trend and hence possess intense competition among them. This has led to competitive pricing hence making them affordable for clients. This is why they are also preferable for low-cost MVPs. You can have a multi-platform app built with a dart under the minimum budget of 20000$ for simple apps, 30000$ for medium apps, and 45000$ for big futuristic advanced leveled apps.

Kotlin- On the other hand, Kotlin language can be used for building native apps (Kotlin Native) and cross-platform apps (Kotlin Multiplatform). For this the minimum cost for native will be 35000$ (simple)- 80000$ (advance) and cross-platform will be 25000$ (simple) to 55000 (advance).

I am sure that the Dart versus Kotlin comparison will be clear to you by now. There are many segments on which two programming languages can be compared upon. But it is always important that you take care of technical as well as commercial aspects. This approach helps in covering the technicalities and user (and client) perspective as well. Dart and Kotlin are among two fast-growing technologies that have their domains and strengths, I advise you to get consulted in app development concerning your idea and vision for choosing the best.