Flutter vs. React Native- What is Preferable for Your Next Project?

Statista has revealed an interesting fact- Android from Google and iOS from Apple together possess over 99 percent of the market share globally. It simply means that a feature-rich business app that runs seamlessly across both these operating systems can drive growth for your company. Robust cross-platform app development frameworks like Flutter and React Native can do it effectively for you.

In this article, we are going to see the difference between Flutter and React Native frameworks. But, before moving ahead, let’s understand the concept of cross-platform app development.

What is Cross-platform App Development?

Cross-platform app development is a process of developing an app that can run on both iOS and Android OS using a single codebase. Flutter app development services and React Native app development services are useful for building cross-platform apps with a native-like experience.

Cross-platform mobile app development is a cost-effective process that saves a lot of time and effort for developers and reduces the development cost significantly. Simply put, companies can get a cross-platform app for leading mobile operating systems at affordable rates through Flutter, React Native, and other cross-platform development frameworks.

History of Flutter and React Native

Flutter was announced at the developer summit back in October 2016. Based on the Dart programming language, Flutter is maintained by Google’s team of developers. Flutter app development services are designed to build native apps for both Android and iOS using a single codebase. The first stable version of Flutter came in February 2018 as 1.0.

React Native, on the other hand, was released a bit earlier than Flutter. Its first beta version was released in March 2015. However, its stable version 1.0 was launched in September 2017. React Native app development services have gained popularity quickly thanks to the huge technological support from Facebook.

Apart from Google Pay, some of the big brands like BMW and eBay count on Flutter, whereas Facebook, Instagram, and Uber use React Native framework.

Why Do We Compare Flutter and React Native?

Flutter and React Native are the most popular technologies to build cross-platform apps. As per the Statista report, these two frameworks have remained on the top of the list of cross-platform app development frameworks for two years in a row.

However, Flutter become the number one in popularity among developers in 2021 with around 42 percent of developers using Flutter.

Therefore, in this article, we will dig deep into the comparison of Flutter vs. React Native. It will help you choose the right cross-platform app development framework for your next app project.

Also Read- Your Super Guide to Hire Flutter App Developers in 2023

Key Points of Comparison- Flutter vs. React Native

We will consider five big points of comparison between Flutter and React Native frameworks. These aspects include performance, time to market, and compatibility. Let’s go through one after another aspect here.

Performance

Both Flutter app development services and React Native app development services are based on cross-platform technologies. When it comes to memory-intensive tests as compared to native apps in compute-intensive tasks, Flutter remained 2-6 times slower than its native counterpart. Here, React Native showed worse performance than Flutter in such tests showing 2-15 times slower than Flutter.

However, if you want to make a website, React has the upper hand over Flutter. The programming language of React Native is JavaScript and is also known as one of the basic front-end languages to build websites.

Dart, which is a programming language of Flutter, on the other hand, is yet to gain popularity in the web development domain. Dart has no advantages on the web and ready-made infrastructure also.

UI Design

Whether you opt for React Native app development services or Flutter app development, you can get amazing graphical features in your business app. However, both these frameworks have different approaches to building UI designs.

React Native has native elements like menus, buttons, etc. to provide app users with smooth and personalized experiences.

Flutter app development services enable you to get the app with the same appearance irrespective of Android and iOS or even a variety of devices. It is also possible that if developers have made the app in a hurry, Android users may get iOS-styled menus or Apple users have to deal with Android-style elements.

Support and Reliability

As open-source frameworks, React Native and Flutter are highly reliable as software giants Facebook and Google support them respectively. Also, Facebook and Google engineers put their effort to keep these frameworks up-to-date so that they can meet the complex business requirements.

As compared to React Native, Flutter is more simple. React Native is dependent on native elements of the Android and iOS devices so developers need to put additional adaptation efforts while building apps. We cannot consider it as a drawback because this characteristic of the React Native platform enables it to build apps with a better experience.

Compatibility

Flutter is compatible with different devices with Android 4.1+ and iOS 8+, and React Native supports Android 4.1+ and iOS 10+. However, React Native and Flutter app development services require some additional native processes for adding sophisticated features. It takes more time and effort in comparison to native app development for Android and iOS platforms.

Flutter has inbuilt widgets and React Native has ready-made libraries with native code injections. It enables developers to bring near-native performance in cross-platform apps with complex features.

Flutter app development facilitates developers to deploy applications using the CLI (Command-Line Interface), and React Native has no such integrated tool.

Time to Market

Flutter and React Native have a common functionality- code reuse. Both these frameworks enable developers to reuse up to 80 percent of code for Android and iOS devices. What’s more, these are complete frameworks that include UX/UI, app integrations, business logic, and other layers of application development.

High productivity and ease of development are two big benefits of React Native and Flutter app development. As a result, developers can reduce time to market significantly while making a feature-rich app using either React Native or Flutter.

Read more : How Much Does It Cost to Build a Flutter Application?

Flutter vs. React Native- Which One Should You Choose?

To be honest, there is no specific or one-line answer to this question. The selection of frameworks depends on multiple factors including the developer’s preferences and project requirements. Individually, Flutter is better than React Native in terms of performance, compatibility, development costs, and market trends.

However, React Native has the advantage of having a vast community of active developers. It is directly related to time to market, and as a result, many companies prefer React Native to build their business app.

Closing Remarks

Both Flutter and React Native are highly popular and preferred frameworks among developers. When it comes to developing a custom cross-platform app for your company, you need to consult a reputed mobile app development services provider.

You can choose the right platform for your upcoming app based on the differences mentioned in this post, your business goals, project requirements, and expert advice from a cross-platform app development company.

InheritX Solutions is a renowned Flutter app development company. We have an in-house team of dedicated and experienced Flutter app developers. You can hire your team of developers through our flexible engagement models. Do you want to know more about our cross-platform app development services? Simply drop us a line at contact@inheritx.com with your project needs and queries.