Native applications work without a hitch on smartphones, and their data and graphic transformation reduce UI rendering compared to cross-platform development. Their codes can help communicate straight to the mobile OS code by allowing all possible UI methods, and it could be one of the justifying reasons. On the other hand, native mobile platforms (OS) are written in distinct languages. For example, Android OS is a blend of C, C++, and Java.

In comparison to this, the iOS platform is developed over Swift and Objective C. Thus. One would require to know languages like Java and Swift for native mobile development. It can be a huge deal for some companies as everyone cannot afford to hire a top to react native app development company for each platform.

While we discuss cross-platforming, mobile applications are less competitive, though it is pretty hard to observe it at first glance. However, these are economical and effective and can be an excellent fit for your company. Facebook was the first player to announce React Native in the market. Simultaneously the cross-platforming development also turns out to be accurate as one can develop the code once, and it turns to native designs. The next significant event that happened in 2017 was the announcement of Flutter. Google was the one to announce Flutter, and it was based on the Dart programming language.

Here in this article, we will learn in detail about React Native and Flutter. Further, we will analyze their performance for both platforms, and let’s see who wins the battle of Flutter vs. React Native.

Table of Contents

  1. Flutter Vs. React Native
  2. More About React Native
  3. More About Flutter
  4. Flutter Vs React Native Performance
  5. Flutter Vs React Native Code Comparison
  6. Flutter Vs React Native: Which is Easy to Learn
  7. Flutter Vs React Native Stack Overflow
  8. Conclusion

Flutter Vs React Native

Before moving further to a detailed comparison, let us get a basic idea about Flutter and React Native. Read more on Flutter vs. React Native vs. Ionic vs. Nativescript.

More About React Native

React Native release date, 26 March 2015, is one of the well-known open-source frameworks that operate over JavaScript. It mainly focuses on the inherent rendering of mobile applications that are majorly compatible with iOS and Android. The programming language is built with the combination of XML Esque markup and JavaScript, which is also known as JSX. It is entirely backed by the social media giant Facebook, with more than 50+ dedicated engineers working on the framework at that very moment.

☛ Here are some researched stats and data that can help you understand the market usage of React Native.

  • According to Statista, in 2020, about 42% of web developers made use of React Native for their cross-platform app development.
  • As per StackOverflow, more than 11.5% of developers prefer to use React Native for their libraries and tools.
  • As per StackOverflow, about 58.5% of the developing community prefer to use React Native.

☛ Functions of React Native

  • User-friendly cross-platform apps
  • swift prototype applications
  • Applications with streamlined UI.
  • Applications appear to look nearly native with flexible UX with the usage of FlexBox.
  • It delivers apps with reusable components.
  • It operates with contemporary APIs.

☛ Some popular apps that are developed with React Native

  • Facebook: It was built as a supportive, supercharged mobile UI with straightforward navigation.
  • Walmart: It provides users with an improvised user experience by developing smooth in-app animations identical to native functionality.
  • Bloomberg: It caters to streamlined, simple to use, personalized content for its users with immediate code refreshing features.
  • Instagram: The feature of push notification was implemented in WebView without building the navigation infrastructure.
  • SoundCloud: React native bridged the time gap between the patched versions and updates parallel for Android and iOS.
  • Wix: It has grabbed high speed and agility in the development of screen options and navigations.

More About Flutter

Flutter is an open-source framework that operates with a language called Dart, built by Google. It is majorly known as an enhanced UI toolkit used to develop cross-platform applications with a single codebase. It offers accessibility to build flexible and expressive UI with native performance. Furthermore, it is supported and delivered by a team of Google developers and the entire flutter community.

☛ Here are some stats that will help you to choose between flutter vs react native.

  • According to Statista, 39% of the developers use Flutter to develop cross-platform mobile apps worldwide.
  • As per Stack Overflow, Flutter is one of the preferred platforms by 68.8% of the community.
  • StackOverflow states that 7.2% of the community opts for Flutter for tools and libraries’ popularity.

☛ Functions of Flutter:

  • It develops apps with material design.
  • It delivers MVP mobile applications.
  • It develops apps that operate with OS-level features.
  • It has advanced OS plugins with basic and simple logic.
  • It provides high-performance apps with a skin rendering engine.
  • It supports high-level widgets with a flexible UI.
  • Users can reactivate their apps with vast data integration.

☛ Some popular apps that are developed with React Native:

  • Alibaba: It was developed as a single tap navigation experience for all kinds of mobile applications with a single codebase and high FPS.
  • Google Ads: Firebase AdMob plugins, Leveraged dart packages, and static utility classes of Flutter cater to users with portable user experience in Android and iOS.
  • Tencent: Developed a connected and shared device experience for all mobile apps with a single codebase and high FPS.
  • eBay: It has complex and customized edge-powered AI features by incorporating Firebase and Flutter to build autoML for eBay motors.
  • BMW: It was built with high-performance user interfaces by utilizing flutter bloc for management.
  • Reflect: It switched from React Native to Flutter and built quality data events with the StreamBuilder widget to enhance data synchronization.

Flutter Vs React Native: Performance

It is quite debatable to discuss the difference in the performance of Flutter and React Native. Individual communities for both Flutter and React Native are a bit divided as everything they provide is excellent in terms of agility and speed. However, RN has faced a lot of criticism for its performance due to the involvement of third-party libraries and native modules. So let us get into details and learn about Flutter vs React Native for beginners. It would be recommended to consider the elemental “hello world.” App with a straightforward image with both Flutter and RN. Read

☛ How does React-Native Perform?

React Native still has some scope of performance improvement in comparison to Flutter. It is because JavaScript tends to bridge the communication difference between native modules. For every interval, the amount of frames released in the React Native “hello world” app is much higher than Flutter. While in some cases, the app looks more extended than 16 milliseconds to provide the program making the application shitter. One can improvise the app’s performance by integrating third-party libraries like prop guard to optimize the bytecodes. React Native has elements like Slowlog that helps in setting performance timers that would track the performance issues and resolve them.

☛ How does Flutter perform?

Flutter has a better performance graph than React Native as it does not focus on bridging the gap between native modules. They lack this aspect because of their default availability of native components. The performance test pointed out that the “hello world” app used to perform at 60 FPS consistently. Further, the time utilized to render each frame does not take more than 16 milliseconds. At the same time, the number of frames that were dropped was more minor in comparison. As discussed earlier, Flutter uses the Skia graphics library to permit the UI to be redrawn with each modification in the application view. Undoubtedly Flutter performs much more efficiently, even at 60 FPS. Read more on why Flutter is a future of cross platform app development.

Flutter Vs React Native Code Comparison

React native undoubtedly has one of the most significant communities and support. Still, various issues are being faced while maintaining the language of your application. On the contrary, it is much more convenient to manage Flutter than React Native.

☛ Code complexity of React Native apps

In React Native, debugging and upgrading the code can be pretty painful. When you pitch the code that would match your application, it will interfere with the framework’s logic, slowing down the development process. In addition to this, most of the native components support third-party library dependency. These libraries and modules are outdated and thus are not easy to maintain, as it faces lots of issues under the process.

☛ Code Complexity of flutter apps

On the contrary, it is pretty effortless to manage the code of the flutter application. The swiftness and simplicity of the code will help developers source external tools, issues, and further support third-party libraries. However, the feature of reloading immediately resolves the problems at hand. Thus the time utilized for releasing the quality updates and making required changes in the application can be considered to be better than the reloading capacity of React Native.

Flutter Vs React Native: Which is Easy to Learn

The question might have rolled you to Flutter or react Native, which one would be easy to learn. Although both Flutter or react native, both have distinct learning curves. Thus one needs to make some calculations of the time invested in building a simple to-do app from the beginning. So let’s find out which one of Flutter vs React Native is easy to learn and explore.

☛ Learning Curve For React Native

React Native is quite simple for the ones who have developed applications using JavaScript and others. While web development can be a bit unique from mobile app development, it can be why mobile developers find it challenging to learn and implement the framework. Over the years, React Native has launched many extensive documents, libraries, and various tutorials that would improve the language’s learning curve.

☛ Learning Curve for Flutter

While on the other hand, Flutter is very hard to learn and explore. As here, it is required to write code with Dart. That might be a bit unusual, but that is one of the reasons why building flutter is very easy. As if you want to learn this framework, you would require insights into the basic know-how of native iOS and Android development. Apart from this, developers that have reported the documentation in Flutter are much more effortless than React Native.

Flutter Vs React Native Stack Overflow

Apart from the various advantages and disadvantages of Flutter and React Native, one needs to identify the team size and technologies used before starting the development process. It will help you plot and decide on the cost of sourcing or hiring developers. This might be a bit novice for the one who has been all through the framework of their choice.

☛ Team Size for React Native

Suppose you wish to develop an app with React Native, then you will need about 5-10 developers. The team can comprise a mix of talent, but it should have a minimum of 2 React Native experts to guide the team through the development process. Apart from this, as the code maintenance of distinct platforms is one of the vital successes of React Native applications, thus you should team up with developers who have distinct technical backgrounds.

☛ Team Size for Flutter

Can you believe that 5 developers developed big players like PostMuse, Watermania, BMW, and many more with their skills and expertise? The learning curve for Flutter is relatively easy, and it allows developers to write codes effortlessly, but it is also simpler for the bees to understand and explore this framework. As the training cost for Flutter and Dart is quite adequate, even the novice developer can be trained accordingly. Further, you can hire developers from the top mobile app development company for expert guidance, as they’ll adequately guide you through the process.

Conclusion

We discussed various essential aspects that can help you choose the winner of Flutter Vs React Native. React Native is one of the well-known and trusted frameworks used to develop simple native and cross-platform applications. While on the other hand, Flutter is best at developing multiple iterations and MVP applications. We have created a checklist that would help you select which technology stack you should choose and why for further assistance.

☛ Consider React Native, if:

  • You are looking forward to widening your applications with cross-platform modules.
  • If you want to build lightweight native applications, react-native alternatives can help you develop one.
  • If you are searching for possibilities to develop shared APIs out of the box.
  • If you wish to develop an application with an allochronic build and highly responsive user interface.
  • You have in-hand time and money to invest in the project.

☛ Consider Flutter, if:

  • Your idea does not require whole native functionality.
  • You have a restricted budget and a tight delivery timeline.
  • You are looking forward to writing code faster and deploying them into the market.
  • You are looking to reduce development costs by scripting a single code base with multiple platform support.
  • Your goal is to develop applications that would perform at speeds between 60 FPS and 120 FPS.
  • While you need to customize the UI with widgets, and require testing.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

In areas of performance, compatibility and engineering cost, and many other market trends, Flutter is best. Still, when it comes to finding skilled engineers directly who influence the market from time to time, and software developers, React Native is best.

Reason to learn Flutter: Because of the C++ engine and the Skia graphic library, the coding process is faster, resulting in the best performance compared to React Native.

Flutter is an open-source technology designed and developed by Google, and developers and designers are available at no cost. This app runs on iOS and Android both.