React Native vs Flutter: What’s the Best Mobile Cross-Platform Framework

Before building a cross-platform mobile application, the first question that comes to mind is which framework will be the best? When choosing any platform, many questions arise such as whose hybrid app developer can easily be found? Which development kit is faster than the other?

In this article, you will find out a detailed React Native vs. Flutter comparison research to help you choose the most reasonable framework for mobile cross-platform development for your business.

React Native vs Flutter: use and popularity

You can decide which one will work best for you according to the requirements. The example of both platforms described in this article will aid you to select your choice. You will be in a position to draw your conclusion on the basis of usage, preferences, functions, and opportunities for both.

Use cases of Flutter and React Native

There are some questions you need to answer or know before choosing any of the two frameworks. Framework questions will help you make the right decision. These questions should be about features, availability, screens, and more. The questions include, how many screens will be enough? What features do you need for your app? What devices should the app be available for?

The chart provided shows you the cases of most frequent use. We collected information to make it easier for you to choose the right one. Marks indicate which framework is best for what purpose.

The chart shows that Flutter works in most situations which makes it the right choice. Flutter and React Native will not work if you want to build a game app or an AR-based application. In these cases, it is better to give preference to native app development than others. In the case of a quick prototype of the app, you need to use ReactNative as Flutter does not work for it. There are a variety of things for which you can use both frameworks to develop apps for you. These include mobile banking, social media, messengers, loyalty programs, e-commerce, and broadcast services. Others include lifestyle, fitness, productivity, thinking, education, and issues.

React Native vs. Flutter usage: In the case of use, no clear winner between the two frameworks.

React Native vs. Flutter: popularity

When using an app, no one thinks about the framework or technology used for making the app. Out of those apps, the developing framework behind many applications might be Flutter or React Native framework. You may not think while using these apps developed with the use of these frameworks.

Some apps built on Flutter include:

• Google Ads

The developer created google ads to help track and optimize ad campaigns.

• Grab

Grab is like a merchant app that people use for food delivery services without knowing the source of its development.

• Stadia

Stadia is similar to the gaming service provided by Google.

• eBay Motors

With this app, people can browse, sell and buy various vehicles by phone and laptop.

• Baidu Tieba

It is the biggest communication platform in Chinese.

• KFC DSR

It is an application that helps to reduce KFC paperwork.

Other apps that developed on React Native includes:

• Facebook

Everyone knows this app as it is one of the largest social networks in the world.

• Walmart

It is also a very popular shopping app for a variety of items.

• Bloomberg

A business news app that provides access to unique content, live feeds, and business-related videos

• UberEATS

It is also a popular app that people use for a food delivery service;

• Wix

It is an app that can create and manage mobile apps and websites.

• Skype

Almost everyone knows this as it is a video conference app.

According to a list compiled by the Flutter society, developers use this platform to build more than 2000 apps. For React Native, the number of well-spoken examples is more than 40 which is not the exact number. Applications built using this forum are much higher than this number.

The popularity of Flutter can easily be seen after looking at the number of apps developed. Developers took more interest in this framework over time. The picture provided shows how React Native and Flutter trends differ 5-6 years ago.

React Native vs. Flutter popularity: In popularity, both show a similar trend in recent years, indicating that no one is a winner in the case.

React Native vs. Flutter: performance comparison

Even if Flutter or React Native promise, they can’t give you native. You should opt-out of these because of the cost and time to market factor. The difference will not be visible to your audience, so you don’t have to worry about native performance. These frameworks offer fine animation, transitions, and scrolling that make them comparable to native development technologies.

An important factor that plays an important role in providing smoothness of animation and screen flexibility is FPS. If you can get a standard frame in a second, 60 seconds, you can make the animations smooth.

According to measurements taken for different devices, both frameworks showed excellent results. Performance and efficiency was closer to native as far as scrolling is concerned. Flutter offers 60 FPSs, while React Native offers 59 FPSs that are enough to provide excellent performance. React Native covers more memory to the device compared to Flutter and other native apps.

React Native performance lags to 7 FPS in terms of heavy animations. If you do rotate, scroll and fade measure, React native is 7 FPS, while Flutter goes through 19. But when it comes to heavy animation with rotation, scale, and blurring, React native performance lagged to 7 FPS for Android while Flutter broke out at 19.

These frameworks might be slower than native ones and take up more memory and device power. Flutter seems to show better results than React Native in comparison.

React Native performance vs. Flutter performance: Flutter wins in the event of a performance comparison between the two frameworks.

React Native vs. Flutter: design and UI comparison

Flutter lets you create a UI with widgets that include buttons, text, cards, animation, layout options, and touch connections. You can edit the app using these widgets that will define the end view. When a widget status changes, its appearance changes as it reconstructs its meaning. Widget status change means that when the user presses a button or other such situations.

Flutter has two widget sets. These are:

• Material Design widget

Google developed the Material design language for Android-oriented design. That’s why it mimics the traditional design of Android.

• Cupertino widget

This widget mimics the traditional iOS layout.

These widgets allow Flutter apps to look natural on both Android and iOS. Even if your device is an outdated OS type, Flutters apps still offer a consistent UI. Flutter can provide a consistent UI layout for all devices, meaning users get the same feel.

JavaScript code is the basis in the case of React Native. First, it is needed to convert from Java or C++ code to the native Android or IOS UI. It can happen using the ‘bridge’ of C++ or Java code and serialized JSON objects.

This process helps to look for a native app and smooth animations. There is a collection of key elements in this framework. These components include Button, Image, Scroll View, and more. With these frameworks, you can develop some Android-specific and iOS-specific components as well. This allows you to use third-party libraries to create the best UI.

React Native vs. Flutter design and UI: No winner is clear in design and UI as both offer great designs and UI in a variety of ways.

React Native vs. Flutter: development speed

With both frameworks, you can develop faster-speed apps. With Flutter, the developer can view the changes in the code quickly. The Hit Reload feature allows quick viewing of results. Flutter widgets are easy to work with that enhance performance and speed. You can easily update the Flutter frame by simply typing ‘flutter development’ in the console.

React Native comes with Fast Refresh, which allows the developer to use the app directly after entering the new code. There may be a problem during the updates sometimes that causes the engineer to update them manually. It is also not good for security as one can access the JavaScript code in the release build.

React Native vs. Flutter development speed: In terms of speed, Flutter wins for several reasons.

React Native vs. Flutter: testing

There are three tests Flutter can pass. One of these is a unit test of a single function, method, or category. The second is a widget test for a single widget. The third is the integration test of an entire app or a large part of it. Flutter tests are faster than others and record errors and repair instructions.

React Indigenous tests are complex due to the use of various JavaScript engines.

React Native vs. Flutter testing: Being quick and easy testing makes Flutter better in this case.

React Native vs. Flutter: ecosystem

The Flutter and React Native frameworks came from huge corporations. React Native is slightly older than Flutter as it arrived in 2015, while Flutter in 2017. It has some advantages over Flutter, but now flutter shows good results in most cases.

React Native vs. Flutter: community

Some open community and Google team maintains Flutter and organizes specific events associated with it. They organize events like Flutter Engage to share and connect with everyone.

The Facebook team and open source community maintain React Native. There is a forum as groups and communities supported by companies. It also has Reactiflux that is a Discord community. The main event for this is React Conf.

Libraries, tools, and plugins

In the case of the ecosystem, the Flutter is relatively poor compared to React Native. There are over 14,000 items on the ready-to-use list of Flutter packages. These packages allow developers to add small improvements.

React Native has a lot of libraries and components. It has an awesome-react-native that is a list of high-quality third-party components.

React Native vs. Flutter ecosystem: In the case of the ecosystem, React Native proves to be better than Flutter.

React Native vs. Flutter: development cost

Now let’s talk about basic human resource questions about availability, costs, and additional costs.

React Native vs. Flutter: knowledge among developers

In a 2020 developers study conducted by Stack Overflow, the researcher asked the developers about frameworks. 11.8% responded that they were using React Native, and 6.6% responded in favour of Flutter.

This server does not offer a large number of segmented ideas, preferably. 8% of the developers in the study responded using Kotlin.

By April 2020, Flutter’s reach was 2 million, which means more people tried it. Each month up to 500,000 people reached to this framework. Among Flutter users, 92% of developers responded with satisfaction. This review shows that Flutter is more popular among users than React Native.

If you want to hire a developer for your project, it can be appropriate to go for the one that uses Flutter.

React Native vs. Flutter knowledge among developers: For now, we can say React Native wins.

React Native vs. Flutter: developers’ rates

In mobile development expense, the employee salary plays a significant part. The charts provided show the payment list of Flutter and React Native engineers that can help you if you want to hire a permanent team.

The best way to save money is to hire temporary developers for an hourly wage. The given chart shows the rates of Flutter and React Native freelance developers for hourly pay.

React Native vs. Flutter economy for business: In terms of rates, the rates for React Native developers are less, so it wins.

React Native vs. Flutter: which is easy to learn?

If you want to learn about the framework, it depends on its programming language. You can learn any language from scratch, but you need to know some basics of mobile apps development and have some basis for framework learning.

Flutter is based on Dart that is not an easy or very common programming language. If you are a Java developer, it may be easier for you to learn it as it has a high entry threshold.

React Native is based on JavaScript that is not a complex or unknown language. It is a standard programming language used by many front-end developers. You can quickly learn it as It’s one of the simplest programming languages.

React Native vs. Flutter learning curve: In learning these frameworks, you can go for React Native as it’s easy compared to Flutter.

React Native vs. Flutter future: 2021 and further

Some rumors say that Flutter will soon die, but the surveys show the opposite. More developers and businesses are looking for the Flutter framework for their app development. From 2019 to 2020, the React Native’s popularity didn’t increase, but Flutter’s popularity increased by 9%.

The dynamic shows that by 2021 Flutter is going to dominate as its popularity rating is increasing exponentially.

Being familiar with JavaScript, you can learn React Native quickly by intent or putting in some effort.

If you’re passionate, you can also learn Dart as it’s not difficult if it’s your passion to use Flutter. Flutter is better in terms of productivity, stability, and flexibility. In the coming years, it’s going to get famous.

React Native vs. Flutter future: Flutter wins!

The wrap-up: which to choose?

The article shows you all the advantages and disadvantages of both frameworks. The given chart shows the sum-up of all the discussion:

All the discussions above conclude that Flutter is better for cross-platform mobile app development. The reason is that you can see that both come with mostly the same features and advantages, but Flutter doesn’t have problems with React Native. React Native shows sudden crashes during updates, but Flutter doesn’t. There are other problems too that Flutter can handle. Flutter is capable of handling complex logic and many screens.

Can’t decide which platform to choose?

We have been creating applications for both platforms since their inception, so our developers will find the best solution for any task. Tell us about your business and we will help you choose the right option.

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