So you have finalized your app idea and are ready to get started with the development process of your next app or project. What confuses you now is how to choose between Flutter and React Native, two of the market leaders for developing cross-platform applications.
You know that both Flutter and React Native are compelling cross-platform app development tools. Alternatively, there are also some advantages if you choose native app development instead of cross-platform framework(s).
A detailed analysis of the capabilities, pros, and cons of Flutter vs React Native will help you make an informed decision with your app development project. Let’s take a deep dive and compare the two tools.
Why we created this article
At JayDevs, we can connect you with the right developer for your cross-platform apps development project depending on your project type, feature-list and business need to help you form the best team for your cross-platform mobile development task. However, how would you decide on the skills to include in your team?
According to Statista, 42 percent of developers prefer Flutter when it comes to cross-platform mobile frameworks as of 2021, which is closely followed by React Native’s 38% developer preference.
We have found that our clients often reach out to us with the following questions:
- How can I compare Flutter vs React Native?
- What factors should I prioritize to compare Flutter and React Native?
- How should I consider Flutter vs React Native trends in the industry to ensure optimal future community support for my app?
- Should I go ahead with native app development using native platforms or choose cross-platform application development instead?
- How to evaluate the difference between Flutter and React Native?
The main purpose of this article is to give you a complete idea when you evaluate the suitability of Flutter vs React Native for your cross-platform development project.
Let’s get started with our comparison between React Native and Flutter.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a popular app development framework based on dart language and is currently the global market leader for cross-platform app development. The tool was created and marketed by Google back in 2017 with several advantages over the native app development process. Flutter lets you use a single codebase to create apps for multiple environments, including web development, desktop apps development, and mobile development.
When you compare Flutter vs React Native, Flutter offers great support for designing UI components with a friendly user interface and a fast development process.
Famous Apps Created with Flutter
Many large companies worldwide have utilized Flutter to create ground-breaking mobile apps. Flutter’s official Medium channel reported that over 500,000 apps have used Flutter for app development and deployment as of May 2022.
Let’s quickly go through a few of them.
1. Alibaba
With over 100 million downloads in the Google Play Store and over 500,000 ratings on Apple’s App Store, Alibaba is one of the most versatile apps for B2B shopping and trading experience. The app developers relied on Flutter and the dart programming language to achieve great graphics and quick load speed.
2. Hookle
Hookle is a great social media management app for small businesses, and the developer team used Flutter to create the app. Hookle achieved a 4.3-star rating on Google Play and 4.7-star on Apple’s app store. Several news and technology outlets have featured Hookle as one of the best Flutter apps that used a single codebase for building mobile apps on multiple platforms.
3. Google Ads
Google Ads is another prominent example of Flutter app, which has been developed and marketed by Google, the creator of Flutter itself. Over 10 million users globally have downloaded the Android version of Google Ads, and the app maintains a rating of 4.3-star indicating excellence in terms of performance, functionality, and stability. The iOS version also possesses a solid 4.5-star rating.
Some other prominent companies that have used Flutter for app development include BMW, Beike, Google Pay, ByteDance, CrowdSource, eBay, Hamilton, Nubank, Push, Supernova, Tencent, and others.
Flutter: Pros and Cons
Although many developers globally have trusted Flutter with their mobile app development projects, the platform has its pros and cons. Let’s explore those now.
Pros of Flutter
Here are some reasons for you to rely on the Flutter framework.
1. Hot Reload for Smooth Development Process
Flutter lets you make any changes in the source code and populate the Dart Virtual Machine (VM) with the new version of code without having to stop it and reload the entire code. The Flutter hot reload results in a significantly faster app development experience and shortened lead time.
2. Single Codebase for Multiple Platforms**
Flutter supports both iOS and Android, letting you use only one codebase to create mobile apps for both platforms. You can create custom widgets and designs on Flutter, which you can make appear the same across different platforms. As a developer or team manager, you will find it highly convenient.
3. Half the Testing
Quality assurance is an integral part of your software development process. When you use native components, you will have to run the same test for all of the platforms. However, using a single codebase with Flutter helps you reduce the number of testing at least by half.
4. Native 2D Graphics Library
Instead of relying on third party libraries, Flutter lets you use its own Graphics Library known as Skia. Skia takes advantage of the GPU to deliver great speed and smoothness up to 60 frames per second. You can specifically program the redrawing process of elements during the coding and development phase.
5. Creating Great Designs
Flutter developers can create and manage custom widgets and designs using their own graphics engine without using native modules. For this reason, Flutter offers a more user-friendly UI, giving it an edge in the React Native debate. Apart from creating custom Flutter widgets from scratch, you can also customize existing widgets from the widgets catalog.
6. Same UI Across All Versions
Flutter works seamlessly across multiple platforms and multiple versions, including the older ones. Thus, you won’t typically worry about how your app would perform or look in the older OS variants.
7. Suitability for MVPs
As Flutter allows faster app development and deployment, it is a great option when you want to create an MVP or minimum viable product to showcase to the stakeholders.
Before starting cross-platform development project, check out the official Flutter Gallery app to learn more about Flutter features, app behaviors, designs, and widgets.
Cons of Flutter
Despite having many great features, Flutter is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Depending on your project nature, there are some cons you should consider as well. Such as:
1. Smaller Development Community (is that so?)
When you debate Flutter vs React Native popularity, many users will tell you about Flutter’s possibly smaller developer community. The main reason behind this argument is that Flutter came to the market two years after React Native.
In addition, JavaScript code is more popular compared to Dart. However, the situation has changed significantly in the past couple of years, as there are over half a million Flutter apps on the market. So the developer community is also snowballing.
2. Fewer Libraries and Support
Google has been working relentlessly to build a robust database of library, support, and documentation for Flutter; however, it still falls behind native documentation in many areas. Developers would typically find greater and richer resources during native development.
3. Lack of CI/CD Support
Flutter cannot natively support all of the CI/CD or continuous integration and deployment tools. So the developers may sometimes need to use custom scripts while testing and implementing any changes.
4. Platform Dependency
Like every other third-party platform, Flutter is vulnerable to platform dependency risk. If Google decides to abandon the Flutter project, it will be very problematic for the developers. That said, the chances of such occurrence are minimal at this moment because Google has always been actively releasing new updates for the Flutter framework instead of undermining it in any way.
5. App’s Size
Typically, Flutter apps take up a more significant size compared to native apps. Although these are not night-and-day differences, developers often prefer their apps to be lightweight so that it has a lower footprint on the storage, system, and bandwidth.
Now that we know the basics about the Flutter framework along with its pros and cons let’s check out the same for React Native, as it will help us decide between Flutter vs React Native.
What Is React Native?
Similar to Flutter, React Native is also an open-source mobile application development framework based on JavaScript as its programming language. React Native is highly scalable, meaning you can use it for any size of app project. The cross-platform app development framework has been developed and released by Meta (formerly, Facebook). The first stable version of React Native arrived in 2015.
React Native supports multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, tvOS, Windows, Web, UWP, and VR. As JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages, anyone with knowledge of JavaScript finds it reasonably easy to develop applications with React Native, which gives React Native an edge when we do Flutter vs React Native comparison.
Famous Apps Created with React Native
Regardless of the app’s size and scale, React Native is a popular framework for app developers. Facebook App is possibly one of the most widely-used apps that are built on the React Native architecture. Here are a few more:
1. Instagram
The world’s most popular photo-based social network, Instagram, used React Native to take advantage of features like hot reload and live reload and to achieve higher iteration speed. More than a billion users have downloaded Instagram from the Google Play store.
2. Walmart
Walmart, the widely-used retail shopping app, has used React Native framework to develop its mobile application to take advantage of the single shared codebase. Another advantage of React Native is its superb animation capabilities, which convert the source codes to platform-specific views before rendering.
3. Tesla
The world’s leading electronic car manufacturer, Tesla Inc., has developed its iOS and Android apps using React Native. More than a million users have downloaded the Tesla React Native app from the Google Play store.
The user base of React Native includes many fast-growing startups to several Fortune 500 companies.
Pros and Cons of React Native
Before we compare React Native vs Flutter having a clear idea about the pros and cons of React Native apps would be beneficial. Let’s explore those now.
Pros of React Native
Here are some compelling reasons to use React Native cross-platform application development instead of native applications.
1. Fast Refresh
React Native’s fast refresh is quite similar to the hot reload of Flutter. So the feature is not a stark difference between React Native and Flutter. The fast refresh feature, introduced with React’s 0.61 version, basically combines live and hot reload, making it easy for a React Native developer to edit the source code and view the result instantly. You can also overcome the limitations of the lazy load native modules.
2. Single Codebase
Regarding Flutter and React Native comparison, React Native also offers a single shared codebase, which React Native developers can use across both iOS and Android platforms. In addition, React Native’s JavaScript language is well compatible with web applications too.
3. JavaScript’s Wide Compatibility
JavaScript is one of the most common programming languages available and using it is an advantage for React Native in terms of Flutter vs React Native popularity. On the other hand, Flutter’s Dart still has miles to go as a programming language.
4. Developer Can Decide
A React Native developer enjoys complete freedom over the app’s development. They can choose what components to use within React Native and what they should develop within the native environment.
5. Relative maturity
If we compare React Native with Flutter, React Native is older than Flutter. The platform has become more mature over the years. The React Native team and Meta have released several stable updates and fixes to improve React Native. Developers can now build more efficient and lightweight apps using the platform.
6. Strong Community
There is a sea of videos, React Native documentation, libraries, and UI designs that you can use while developing cross-platform applications with React Native. You can also integrate the development and coding process with many third-party libraries.
For instance, when you need to integrate with AWS apps or features, you may efficiently utilize AWS Amplify, which brings advanced storage, analytics, and data management solutions.
7. Flat Learning Curve
React developers, who already have good knowledge in web application development, can learn and start using React Native in no time. In addition, using JavaScript as the primary programming language also put it to an advantage in the React Native vs Flutter debate. The developers can also use the same components from any existing React solutions, including libraries and designs.
8. Half the Testing
As React Native is platform-independent, you won’t need to run tests for all platforms. Instead, a single test would identify problems for any platform, a common characteristic for both Flutter and React Native.
Although there are many advantages of using React Native, it may not be the perfect solution for every situation. Let’s explore some limitations of React Native as well.
Cons of React Native
1. Native Feeling instead of being Native
You can simulate a native experience by using React Native. However, it is not the same as developing it using complete native components and platforms. Although the simulation will be close to the original, there will still be differences and some inefficiencies in termination size, speed, and processing power requirements.
2. Necessity for Customization
When you use the native components and framework, you may find a few UI elements such as buttons, notification prompts, and indicators out of the box. However, React Native gives you only the most basic ones. You will need to design and customize the remaining ones yourself.
3. Requires a Decision
As a React Native developer, you have options to either use React Native or stick with native components. You will have to assess the pros, cons, and performance for every situation to generate the most efficient output. So it will require additional time and effort to find the business logic and React Native performance comparison for every scenario.
4. Too Many Outdated Resources
React Native has indeed accumulated a large number of resource libraries over the years. However, it is like a double-edged sword, as you will find many outdated libraries within the sea of resources. Those libraries, repositories, and packages may waste your time and efforts.
5. Unstable UI
When the OS manufacturer rolls the stem update, the individual app components will reload. This sometimes causes the React Native components to break, and the app becomes unusable. However, in a Flutter vs React Native comparison, Flutter enjoys an advantage in this aspect because it rebuilds the app components independently in case of a system update.
6. Apps are bigger than Native ones
When you build a cross-platform mobile application using React Native, it will run from the JavaScript VM, which will load from the application itself. On the other hand, native applications won’t need JavaScript VM to run. Thus, the React Native applications will put a higher footprint on the device storage compared to native apps.
Now that we have covered the pros and cons for both Flutter and React Native, let’s move on to see how they compete head-to-head.
Flutter vs React Native: Head-to-Head Comparison
Flutter and React Native have many overlapping advantages and limitations of features. So a head-to-head comparison will help us pick a winner from Flutter vs React Native.
Flutter vs. React Native: Demand
Let’s begin our Flutter vs React Native comparison with their industry demand or outlook. As of May 2021, in terms of popularity and usage, Flutter was on its way to overtaking React Native. Let’s look at the statistics.
Industry data from Statista suggest that the developer preference for Flutter has increased from 30% in 2019 to 42% in 2021. In contrast, React Native lost 4% of the preference within the same period. So in terms of Flutter vs React Native debate, we can see that Flutter has more promising market demand.
Flutter vs. React Native: Performance
If you analyze React Native vs Flutter performance, there are two primary aspects to consider – speed and size of the app. Flutter enjoys an advantage in terms of Flutter vs React Native speed, and the apps are slightly faster to load.
As React Native has to use a JavaScript bridge to run the apps, it hampers the performance to an extent, although very marginally. On the other hand, Flutter has a default smoothness setting at 60 fps, contributing further to the app’s performance.
That said, a Flutter vs React Native comparison in terms of performance does not let you pick Flutter as the winner because Flutter apps typically take a larger space than React Native.
Flutter vs. React Native: Programming Language
React Native uses JavaScript, whereas Flutter uses Dart as its programming language. Here’s how they defer.
Dart as the Programming Language
Dart is comparatively more difficult to learn compared to JavaScript, and also, there are fewer developers available who are fluent with Dart. Thus, in a Flutter vs React Native comparison in terms of programming language, React Native stays ahead. That said, you also need to remember that it usually takes less time to write codes with Dart due to its object-oriented concept.
JavaScript as the Programming Language
JavaScript is easy to learn, and more importantly, developers will find tons of resources to learn and practice JavaScript. For any problems, you can also find help from the rich developer community in no time. The pre-built modules, frameworks, and libraries of JavaScript will make programming more convenient. Thus, JavaScript helps React Native lead the Flutter vs React Native language comparison.
Flutter vs. React Native: Architecture
Flutter uses the Skia architecture, and React Native uses the Flux architecture. Here’s how you compare them.
Flutter’s Skia
You can rely on Flutter’s Skia architecture and pre-built 2D graphics rendering library to run the source code. Skia architecture can generate native codes out of the source code you have written in Dart. Thus, it does not require any program bridges.
React Native: Flux
Flux requires JavaScript as a programming bridge to run the codes. Thus, it inherently lowers the app rendering time, which is a drawback of Flux if you compare Flutter and React Native’s architectures.
Flutter vs. React Native: Installation
Due to inherent architectural differences, the installation speeds vary in Flutter and React Native.
Flutter: Slower Installation
As Flutter does not use any program bridges, you need to download the full binary for the particular platform from its GitHub repository. You will also need an extra .zip file for macOS installation to use a PATH variable. Thus, the Flutter installation process is slower and requires more steps.
React Native’s Node Package Manager
If you know JavaScript, you can simply use the node package manager and install React Native quickly with minimal effort. So, you can easily pick React Native in a React Native vs Flutter debate based on installation difficulties.
Flutter vs. React Native: UI and Development API
Flutter has customized UI development toolkits, which are fully compatible with Apple’s Cupertino and Google’s Material Design. Besides, it is also natively compatible with Google. In contrast, when you use React Native, you may have to adjust and create components using JavaScript and use patches in your code to make the component work. Thus, if you ask which one would lead the Flutter vs React Native battle in terms of UI convenience, Flutter is our answer.
Flutter vs. React Native: Development Time
When considering the development time, one drawback of using Flutter would come up. Flutter falls behind in a Flutter vs React Native contest mainly due to the lack of available supporting and training resources.
As Flutter is a comparatively newer framework, you will have to spend more time assembling your development team. In contrast, React Native developers can use plenty of available resources, libraries, and designs from a variety of sources. In addition, React developers may also use any JavaScript-based IDE or text editor.
Flutter vs. React Native: Code Reusability
Flutter’s codebase is more reusable than React Native, making Flutter win the contest between Flutter and React Native in terms of code reusability. Flutter lets you change a single line in your codebase, define a new logic and reuse your codebase for another purpose. The highly intuitive and graphical coding interface contributes to easy reusability.
Flutter vs. React Native: Quality Assurance
Regarding quality assurance and testing, it’s challenging to pick a clear winner for the React Native vs Flutter debate. Google has included tons of testing and integration features within Flutter, although it has fewer third-party testing tools. On the other hand, React Native will allow you to use many third-party testing tools like Detox or Jest to overcome any limitations.
Flutter vs. React Native: Release
Google has made the app release process of Flutter a breeze, making it a better choice between Flutter and React Native considering the difficulty of the release process. From fast lane deployment to automated release, Flutter’s release process offers you lots of flexibility. In contrast, React Native’s release protocols are relatively standard and manual.
Flutter vs. React Native: Hiring Developers
Hiring a developer is one of the key challenges you would face when developing an app. Let’s see which one poses the tougher challenge in a React Native vs Flutter contest.
Flutter Developers vs React Native Developers: Rates
According to Glassdoor, the world’s leading salary information website, you will have to spend roughly $100,000 per year on average to hire a Flutter developer. However, a React Native developer would likely charge around $108,000 per year on average. Thus, in a Flutter vs React Native comparison, the cost of hiring a developer is higher for the React Native framework.
Flutter Developers vs React Native Developers: Pool
Traditionally, as JavaScript is a more popular programming language compared to Dart, you will find more developers who are familiar with React Native. That said, keep in mind that Flutter is now leading the cross-platform application development tool market and the pool of developers is quickly catching up.
Flutter vs. React Native: Device Compatibility
Apple currently supports Flutter apps for iOS 9 or above, whereas it is iOS 11 or above for React Native apps. Similarly, for Android, you will need Android 4.1 or above for Flutter and Android 6.0 or above to run React Native apps. Therefore, you can pick Flutter as the more compatible one if there is a comparison between Flutter and React Native.
Flutter vs. React Native: Documentation
Flutter is a newer framework, and from the beginning, it focused on building comprehensive documentation with well-planned how-to videos and resources. It is easy to find relevant resources from the support website. On the other hand, despite a lot of third-party documentation and guidelines, it is sometimes difficult to find the React Native resources you are looking for. So, React Natives loses the Flutter vs React Native battle here. Thus, this aspect makes it difficult to pick a winner in the React Native vs Flutter debate.
Regardless of what framework you would use between Flutter and React Native, JayDevs is a great place to connect with industry-leading developers and solution architects.
The Future of Flutter and React Native
If we compare React Native vs Flutter concerning their futures, the recent trends of the frameworks will give us some interesting insights. Within the most recent three years from 2019 to 2021, Flutter has surpassed React Native to become the most preferred cross platform mobile application framework by the developers.
Google is fostering an enthusiastic community to support Flutter and has been regularly releasing stable updates to the platform. With the release of Flutter 3, the total number of Flutter-based apps has surpassed the 500,000 mark.
Some of the major improvements of Flutter 3 include:
- Support for desktop platforms
- Support for international text inputs
- Universal binaries on macOS
- Support for foldable phones
- Variable refresh rate for iOS
- Faster image decoding on Web version
On the other hand, recent improvements with React Native 0.69 include:
- Enhanced compatibility with M1 users
- New .xcode.env configuration file
- Newest status bar API
- Hotkeys on iOS debug menu
- Compatibility with C++17
The Meta community has been working round-the-clock to bring large-scale changes and improvements to React Native as well. So it is unlikely for React Native to fall behind in the Flutter vs React Native race anytime soon.
Flutter vs React: Which one to choose for your app?
Your preferences to Flutter and React Native would most likely depend on your app type and size. Here are some points to help you choose from React Native vs Flutter:
When to Use Flutter
- App is larger and requires performance
- You want to reduce the time to market
- App requires a lot of customization or specific tasks
When to Use React Native
- Project requires 3D rendering
- App requires more interactions with the OS
- App has to be lightweight
These are just a few factors you will have to consider when choosing Flutter vs React Native, which is definitely not an easy task. The seasoned developers at JayDevs can always help you out.
Summing Up
Both Flutter and React Native are excellent frameworks for building cross-platform mobile apps, and it is difficult to choose any of those as superior in the Flutter vs React Native contest in 2022. Flutter has the advantage of being developed by Google and having excellent documentation. However, React Native is more popular with developers and has a larger community.
They both have pros and cons depending on the use case, and app types, which you should consider carefully before choosing Flutter vs React Native. Reach out to JayDevs to connect with highly skilled Flutter and React Native developers.
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