Who Would Win Between Flutter and React Native

Written by sanjay-kidecha | Published 2022/09/13
Tech Story Tags: flutter | react-native | flutter-vs-react-native | javascript | javascript-development | javascript-frameworks | android-app-development | ios-app-development

TLDRFlutter is a mobile app SDK that allows you to create high-quality, native apps for both iOS and Android and Linux, Mac, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and the web. React Native is a framework for building native mobile applications using JavaScript. It is a library that can be used to develop cross-platform applications for Android, Android TV, Android. It was created and maintained by Facebook. Flutter uses the Dart programming language, which is also developed by Google, and is an easy-to-learn programming language.via the TL;DR App

Cross-platform app development is a new norm for companies to take their app ideas off the ground and experiment rapidly with all the features and performance without compromising on any platform. But what the innovation is not making easy is choosing the right technology. Since you will write code once and use it twice, thrice, and many times for different operating systems, you must pick a robust technology.

And to help you with that, I have chosen to dive deeper into the most-talked-about cross-platform framework Flutter vs. React Native. This Flutter Vs. React Native comparison is going to be fun so stick with me till the end and you will have an answer to which one's worthy of your app idea.

Before we take one on one, I thought it would be better to get you acquainted with Flutter and React Native characteristics. So, let's get straight to it.

Snapshot of Flutter vs React Native Comparison

Particular

Flutter

React Native

Purpose

UI toolkit for producing beautiful, natively compiled apps for web, mobile, and desktop from a single codebase.

UI framework for building truly native apps for Android, iOS, and the web.

Exist since

Dec 2018

Mar 2015

Creator

Google

Meta (Facebook)

Programming language

Dart

JavaScript

Latest version

Flutter 3.3

React Native 0.70

UI

Flutter uses widgets

React Native uses JavaScript and JSX

Popularity

145k stars on GitHub

105k stars on GitHub

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a mobile app SDK that allows you to create high-quality, native apps for both iOS and Android and Linux, Mac, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and the web. It is a free and open-source project developed by Google.

Flutter uses the Dart programming language, which is also developed by Google. Dart is an easy-to-learn, object-oriented language that enables you to create apps quickly.

Flutter apps are compiled into native code, so they are fast and responsive. They are also designed to be reactive, so they can update in real time without needing to reload the page.

Flutter is an excellent option for creating cross-platform apps, as it allows you to share a single codebase between iOS, Android, and more. This can save you a lot of time and effort when developing your app.

What is React Native?

React native is a framework for building native mobile applications using JavaScript. It is a library that can be used to develop cross-platform applications for Android, Android TV, iOS, macOS, Web, Windows, and UWP. It was created and maintained by Facebook.

Furthermore, React Native uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular React, but the implementation of these blocks is different. Developers with web development experience can easily build mobile apps with React Native as it is identical to React.

Any app made with Flutter?

You may already know that Google, Alibaba, eBay motor, Groupon, and Hamilton use Flutter in their software applications. Hence, I have researched and found some new sorts of apps built with Flutter you might not know until now.

Cryptomaniac pro

It offers its users in-depth information about cryptocurrency signals, wallet histories, and news and more than 1500 cryptocurrencies for users to access.

Philips Hue

Powered by Flutter, Philips Hue is a smart-home lighting mobile app for smartphones. It offers many unique features that make it one of the most brilliant Flutter apps on the market.**

Flydirekt app

With the Flydirekt app, you can find direct flights all over the world, as well as check the weather forecasts and load estimated prices of the flights without any hassle.

Any app made with React Native?

React Native is a widely used framework in many large brands' technology stacks that do not require an introduction, such as;

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Bloomberg
  • Walmart
  • Wix
  • Delivery.com

Benefits and downsides of Flutter

Both frameworks provide efficient code reusability and have built quite nice native-looking cross-platform apps. But this doesn't clear whether you should hire Flutter developers or React Native developers for your project. So, let us get to the gist of the Flutter vs. React Native comparison and find out the answer.

Pros of Flutter:

  • Flutter provides an all-in-one solution for developing high-quality cross-platform applications with native performance and advanced features like rich animation, beautiful themes, a flexible layout system, hot reloads, and more.
  • It offers a broad range of widgets and libraries, including Cupertino and Material Design, to make your app identical to native.
  • Since Flutter doesn't use OEM widgets or WebView, it provides a better user experience and performance than React Native.
  • Flutter is more developer-friendly than React Native, and Dart programming language is also easier to grasp than JavaScript.
  • Unlike React Native, Flutter doesn't rely on a bridge but rather uses a graphic machine, Skia, that compiles the UI to native code and renders an unparalleled experience when the user interacts with the app.
  • Flutter offers multiple debugging tools, such as timeline, memory, performance inspector, and more, to simplify the quality assurance for developers.
  • The rapidly growing Flutter community is always available to lend a helping hand to developers when they face issues or need advice.

Cons of Flutter

  • There are still some deficiencies in its stability, as well as some minor development flaws that need to be fixed as well.
  • Despite Flutter's solid performance, its file size is much larger than native apps (5,000KB on average).
  • Though the Flutter team is constantly working on it, the framework supports limited libraries and packages.

Benefits and downsides of React Native

  • React Native is a powerful and fast mobile development platform that allows you to build high-performance apps for Android and iOS.
  • Since JavaScript isn't much developer-friendly, it requires significant effort to learn to work with React Native fluently.
  • React Native has a huge ecosystem of high-quality third-party libraries, much bigger than Flutter's.
  • It allows you to leverage reactjs features and use the UI library to build UI components for mobile apps.
  • React Native also has a large and active community of developers, making it easy to find what you need.

Cons of React Native

  • React Native does not have out-of-the-box UI Components compared to Flutter.
  • Updating to newer versions can be a pain.
  • You might need to re-think using React Native if your project requires complicated designs or advanced integrations.

What will become of Flutter and React Native in the future?

The mobile app development landscape is constantly changing and evolving. New technologies and frameworks are constantly being released, and it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. Two of the most popular mobile development frameworks are Flutter and React Native. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, and it can be hard to decide which one to use for your next project.

So, what will become of Flutter vs. React Native in the future? Only time will tell, but we can make some predictions based on the current state of the two frameworks. It is likely that Flutter will continue to be the more popular choice for large companies and enterprise-level projects. Given how rapidly Google's SDK is catching up with performance, testing, and overall app development innovations.

Sum up

After the comparison, let us recall both frameworks once again.

Flutter is an open-source mobile app SDK that is used to create native apps on Android, iOS, Web, Desktop, and more. Google has developed it to offer a single solution for creating high-quality apps with a short development time. Flutter enables developers to build beautiful, high-performance mobile apps that run across multiple platforms.

On the other hand, React Native is a JavaScript framework for building user interfaces for Android and iOS apps. It was developed by Facebook in 2015 and became popular among developers because of its flexibility, cross-platform capability, and faster development time.

While React Native has been around for longer, Flutter is not far behind in providing everything to push your creativity and build modern solutions. Now that I helped you understand both frameworks' good and bad, it's up to you to decide whether Flutter app development or React Native app development is the right.

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Written by sanjay-kidecha | Sanjay Kidecha is the CMO of Kody Technolab. He loves to explore and write on latest Tech Trends.
Published by HackerNoon on 2022/09/13