React Native and Flutter are among the best mobile app development frameworks. Both of them are from big players named Facebook and Google. In this article, we will have a comparison between React Native and Flutter.
There are several mobile app development frameworks in the market such as Xamarin, Ionic, and so on. What’s so special about React Native and Flutter? And which is better?
In this comparison guide, I’m trying to answer these questions. After reading this post, you will get a basic idea of these frameworks and it will be easy for you to select the right framework for your business.
React Native: React Native is an open-source mobile app development framework developed by Facebook, which is used for building iOS and Android apps. This framework was released in March 2015. It’s a free tool.
Official site: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/
GitHub: https://github.com/facebook/react-native
Flutter: Flutter is also an open-source mobile app development framework. It’s developed by Google. It’s used for developing iOS and Android apps. Flutter was released in May 2017. It’s a free tool.
Official site: https://flutter.io/
GitHub: https://github.com/flutter/flutter
Ease of learning: React Native vs Flutter
React Native: If you’re an experienced JavaScript developer and have some React skills, you can quickly grasp the concepts of React Native. This framework is really easy to learn. You don’t have to give much effort to learn this technology. This is not a hard thing to learn. If you don’t have any JavaScript knowledge, it will actually be difficult for you to learn it. But if you know JavaScript and React well, it can be pretty easy for you.
Flutter: Flutter is also easy to learn. But you have to learn Dart, Google’s object-oriented programming language. You have to build mobile apps using Dart in Flutter. You may think that learning a new language will take time but grasping the concepts of this language won’t require much time if you’re familiar with object-oriented concepts and languages like JavaScript because it’s syntax is extremely similar to that of JavaScript.
Ecosystem
React Native: The ecosystem has been there for a long time now and that is why it is considered far better than that of Flutter. The ecosystem of React Native also supports hot reload and is also supported by most of the editors you would wish to use. React Native has almost 5 times the packages compared to Flutter, which makes it the clear winner in this category as well. These factors can be justified since React Native has been there long before Flutter.
Flutter: Flutter is younger to React Native and has clear disadvantages when compared to React Native’s ecosystem. Still, Flutter is catching up to its competitor and many core packages are available for public use and with the incredible support of the community, Flutter is driving at breakneck speed to improve itself. Right now there are 1450 packages available on Dart.
App speed
React Native: React Native is famous for the performance it offers. It provides near-native performance. So if you build an app with this framework, your app will be super fast. Although it gives a great performance, you can always try to improve it because app performance is very important for your business success.
React Native allows you to write code in Native languages such as Swift, Objective-C, and Java. So you can build some part of your app in React Native while the other part can be built using Native code. In this way, you can achieve excellent performance.
Flutter: Flutter also provides great performance. When you’re building an app with Flutter, you don’t have to worry about app speed because this framework will give you the performance that will satisfy the app users. So like React Native, Flutter is also a good choice for building a fast application.
Just like React Native, Flutter also lets you use native code to achieve great performance. Widgets include platform differences like scrolling, navigation, and fonts. So you will have a smooth performance on all platforms such as Android and iOS.
Developer’s productivity
React Native: As React Native gives you the freedom to work on any text editor / IDE that you like. So you can choose a text editor that saves you time. Besides, React Native provides you with pre-built components that let you finish your project fast.
React Native has a special feature called ‘Hot Reload’ that saves you a lot of time. Using this feature, you can instantly reload your app, without having to recompile the app. Recompiling the app will take a lot of time. So instead of recompiling it, you can simply hot reload it.
In this way, a developer’s productivity gets increased with React Native. You can accomplish more in less time with this framework.
Flutter: The Hot Reload feature is also available in Flutter. So using this feature, you can save a lot of time with Flutter, too.
There are several widgets and APIs in Flutter which let you finish your development work quickly.
So we can say that with this framework also, you can work in a productive way. So you can save a lot of time while building a mobile app, which is a big advantage for your business.
Learning materials
React Native: React Native has sufficient, high-quality documentation on the official site. There are also a great number of learning resources such as tutorials, articles, and blog posts on the Internet. With a great number of learning materials available online, you can master React Native fast.
If we search for react native tutorial on Google, we get 64,70,000 results, as of writing this post.
Flutter: Flutter is also a framework that has a lot of high-quality docs available on its official site. Besides, like React Native, you will find lots of useful resources on the Internet.
As both are in huge demand in the field of app development, there are a lot of great quality materials available on the Internet, for both the frameworks.
If we search for flutter tutorial, we get 97,40,000 results, as of writing this post.
Documentation
React Native: The documentation is pretty impressive. It also explains the purposes of every prop and how to use them, which makes it more user-friendly. The official document involves guides and popular topics in cross-platform development with React native.
Flutter: The documentation is really great, and it makes it very thorough and helpful. In case you are new to the programming field, you might find it a little hard to navigate. Once you are used to it, you’ll be able to navigate it with ease.
Community support
React Native: React Native has strong community support. On GitHub, it has 66,693 stars and 1,692 contributors who are working on React Native to improve it. As this framework has a large community of developers from across the globe, you can take help from them by asking questions on QA sites and forums.
Flutter: Flutter also has good community support. On GitHub, it has 33,248 stars and 223 contributors making the framework better. They are working on different areas of Flutter to give you a great development experience. Flutter developers are also active on QA sites and forums. So you can take help from them.
Apps built with these frameworks
React Native: Some popular mobile apps built with React Native are Facebook, Facebook Analytics, Instagram, Facebook Ads Manager, Skype, Pinterest, Uber, Tesla, Walmart, Artsy, Bloomberg, F8, Discord, Chop, SoundCloud Pulse, Vogue, and so on.
Flutter: Some popular mobile apps built with Flutter are Topline, AppTree, Alibaba, Google AdWords, Reflectly, Google Greentea, Hamilton Musical, Birch Finance, OfflinePal, Hookle, BetaBubs, and so on.
Both of these frameworks are used by great companies and hot startups. Why are these great companies trusting React Native and Flutter? Obviously, because both are amazing tools for building rich mobile apps.
So which is better?
Now here comes the big question – which framework is better? As we have seen from this post that both of these frameworks are great for building rich mobile apps. It’s really hard to say which one is better. Rather, you have to think which framework would be the right fit for your business. If your developers are passionate about JavaScript and React, you should choose to React Native because if they have some JavaScript and React experience, they can quickly learn the basics of React Native.
Although both are great tools for building mobile apps, not everyone likes them both. Some people prefer coding to React Native while others like Flutter.
Consider the comparison factors discussed in this post to understand which tool would be good for you. You may also visit the official sites of these frameworks to get a better idea of them. Once you have enough knowledge of them, it will be easier for you to choose the right one for your business.
You can also try out online tutorials to understand and use both React Native and Flutter. To learn React Native, ‘Projects in React Native: Learn By Building Real World Apps’ would be a great choice to help you learn by making your own applications. Similarly, if you want to learn about Flutter instead, you can try ‘Learn App Development in Flutter from Ground Up’, especially if you are a beginner.
About the Author
Hey,
Thanks for putting together this post on React Native vs Flutter. I particularly find your thoughts on the React Native ecosystem interesting.
I’m glad to find another amazing mobile app development blogger.
Cheers.