React Native Vs Ionic Vs Xamarin [A Comparison]

It is not wrong if we say that we are living on our mobile phone screens and our world has been succumbed within mobile phone applications. There is a huge development market for smart phone application development. There have been popular mobile applications generating revenue cycles that are hard to ignore. Some of the popular mobile phone applications in the running are: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.

However,  what would be the prerequisites when we talk about mobile app development as there have been certain considerations in the mind of mobile app developers to choose the perfect framework or platform.

For cross-platform apps which are highly compatible with Android and iOS operating systems, if you have such a business scenario in mind, then there are plenty of options that you can choose from. Flutter, React Native, Ionic, etc, as per preference and development compatibilities, you can select the best framework that can perfectly adapt to your project requirements.

In this blog, I am going to discuss about the different aspects of React Native Vs Ionic Vs Xamarin that can help you out to choose the best developmental framework for your next mobile application.

Which one you should ideally choose: React Native Vs Ionic Vs Xamarin?

Before digging into the actual differences, let us understand What is React Native, Ionic and Xamarin?

What is React Native?

Developed by Facebook in the year 2015, it has been used in developing native mobile and web applications using Javascript.

It supports both Android and iOS platforms along with an interactive mobile user interface.

What is Ionic?

Conceptualized by Drift Co in 2013, Ionic is one of the most popular open-source platforms developed for building high-end hybrid applications.  It also supports cross-platform development.

What is Xamarin?

Xamarin is a tool developed and conceptualized by Microsoft that has been used for cross-platform mobile app development, allowing engineers to share about 90 percent of code across major platforms.

Now, let’s explore each framework in detail, for you to decide which one is better than the other?

I will try and illustrate the differences between React Native Vs Ionic Vs Xamarin which will help you in concluding which framework to choose and why?

1)The Language Stack:

Let’s see which framework performs better in the programming language compatibilities and benefits:

React Native:  At present, React Native uses Javascript which is one of the most popular, dynamic and high-level programming languages. Supported by Facebook, it combines the advantage of React Js and Javascript to develop customized cross-platform applications. For this one might need to hire mobile app Developer to execute the process smoothly.

Ionic: Ionic uses HTML5, CSS, and Javascript to develop and run applications. It is ideal for hybrid apps.

Xamarin: Xamarin utilizes C# with .net environment to develop Android, iOS and Mac applications. It is ideal for cross-platform applications.

Who wins this point?

React Native wins the point and emerged as a winner among Ionic and Xamarin.

2) Performance:

One of the most important attributes that can entirely judge the performance of the app.

React Native:  The performance of react native is similar to native applications. It renders the code programmatically without allowing the code to be shared and reused across different platforms ensuring high performance capabilities.

Ionic:  Ionic significantly reduce the performance as compared to React Native and Ionic. Since, it utilises web technologies to render an application. It has decreased the speed significantly and thus Ionic loses the game in the performance barometer. To understand this in detail you might take the help from a good mobile app development company who have skillful developers for all the three technologies.

Xamarin:  Xamarin has always been compared to React Native when it comes to performance but the approach of operating codes is significantly different as compared to other platforms, this has been the reason for the performance downfall.

Who wins the performance battle?

React Native is the clear winner in the performance battleground followed by Xamarin and Ionic.

3) Market and Community Support:

An extensive market scope and community support is something that businesses look forward to when they think about Market and Community Support.

React Native: React Native surpases all when it comes to Market and Community Support. The network of React Native developers are growing. It utilizes an amazing library and Javascript to develop native mobile applications. These features have made this platform popular in the market and community support.

Ionic:  After React Native, Ionic is the second most popular framework. It enables developers to develop native mobile apps faster as possible.

Xamarin: Backed by Microsoft, Xamarin is a quite popular framework. Microsoft has been putting in a lot of effort at a stretch in making Xamarin, a popular platform for mobile apps.

Who wins the market and community support rattle race?

Undoubtedly, React Native wins the point in the market and community support followed by Ionic and Xamarin.

4) Supported Platforms:

Supported Platforms are as follows:

React Native: Android, iOS

Xamarin: Android, iOS, Windows

Ionic: Android, iOS, Windows

5) Pricing:

Pricing is one of the most important aspects when businesses think about investing in mobile application. Let’s differentiate the pricing difference:

React Native:  It is an open-source framework. React Native developers can utilize these libraries for free to develop applications.

Xamarin: For Xamarin app development, Xamarin developers requires to install and integrate IDE within their development platform, provided on a subscription basis. It also offers a free edition for students and non-enterprise ventures with up to 5 users.

Ionic: It is a free and open-source framework for developing cross-platform mobile applications. The organization offers Ionic Pro which is a paid version that helps in accelerating the development process.

Who wins the pricing battle?

React Native emerged as a clear winner in the pricing section followed by Xamarin and Ionic.

6) Graphical User Interface:

GUI of an app is an important aspect when a user look forward to while using the app. The GUI of an app must be engaging enough while giving an ease of usage. Let’s see how these platforms fare in GUI aspect:

React Native:  It gives an amazing user experience closer to native apps. It utilizes the ReactJS library with extensive UI elements and streamlines the UI development.

Xamarin: It enables you to make your UI in two different ways using Xamarin.Android/iOS or Xamarin.forms. The first one takes time but it enables a native look and feel in terms of UI. 

Ionic: It doesn’t utilize native elements at all and renders everything in HTML and CSS. It applies Cordova to give native mobile experience. It also enables Ionic apps look like the native ones. 

Who wins the point?

React Native clearly wins the point followed by Ionic and Xamarin

Who wins the race among React Native Vs Ionic Vs Xamarin?

In the blog, I can clearly conclude that React Native wins all the point without a doubt.  React Native excels in all the department and has been shining constantly without fail. However, I can't diss the fact that the other competing technologies are not lagging behind and they are giving a close competition to React Native.

So, if you have a project that has it’s development base on the above pointers, go for React native developers that can ease out your development process and can help you finish the project on time. Hire React Native Developers for your next project!

Hope it helps!

Thanks!