Cross-platform application development is becoming the new face of the mobile market. Developers are appreciating the concept of making their app live on multiple platforms and catering to the needs of a wider audience. They are diving deeper into the industry to experiment with different cross-platform technologies, frameworks and tools and determine which can bring more value to their app development process.

In such a scenario, if you are someone facing the dilemma of choosing between React Native and Flutter as a part of your app tech stack, this article will be a good read for you.

Here, we will take a comparative look at both the cross-platform technologies - beginning with a quick recap of both the technologies.

React Native

React Native is a JavaScript-based framework introduced by Facebook to deliver a native-like experience on both Android and iOS platform. The framework is based on React, Facebook’s own JavaScript library, and is considered highly by developers and businesses with its code reusability and hot reloading features.

Flutter

Flutter is an open-source UI framework for developing applications for Android, iOS and upcoming Google Fuchsia. Backed by Google, the UI development framework offers facilities like beautiful UIs, native performance, and faster development with hot reloading features.

With this attended to, let’s turn towards different comparing factors and determine which is a better choice for your next app project.

Factors to Choose Between React Native and Flutter

Programming Language

React Native uses JavaScript to develop cross-platform applications which is dynamically typed and widely used by developers. Whereas, Flutter relies on Dart which is rarely used by developers and has, in fact, just reached to Dart 2.2 version. So, considering the programming language factor, React Native wins over Dart.

Technical Architecture

React Native depends on Flux architecture that compiles JavaScript code into native code at runtime and JavaScript bridge to interact with the native modules. Whereas, Flutter employs Dart framework that has a myriad of in-house components though bigger in size and does not require a bridge to communicate with the native modules. It also employs Skia C++ engine and frameworks like Material Design and Cupertino to provide compatibility with the trending technologies; making it a complete package for mobile app development.

So, Flutter wins over React Native in terms of technical architecture.

UI Component and Development API

React Native app development framework provides only the basic UI rendering and device access APIs. To access other native modules, developers have to turn towards the third-party libraries.

But, this is not so in the case of Flutter framework. It serves Flutter framework with ample UI rendering components, navigation and testing tools, and loads of libraries which minimize the need to introduce third-party libraries into the development environment. Besides, the framework also provides widgets for Material Design and Cupertino that enables them to easily render the UI for both Android and iOS mobile platforms.

So, Flutter proves to be a better option over React Native by being less dependent on third-party libraries.

Performance Level

Though React Native and Flutter both initiate hot reloading to speed up the development process, Flutter leads the battle. And this happens because of the absence of JavaScript bridge in Flutter ecosystem to maintain communication with native device features.

Development Time and Cost

Since React Native depends on third-party libraries, the app development time varies with the time associated with finding and integrating the right third party libraries into the development process. Whereas, in the case of Flutter, almost all the resources are available at the same platform but coding using Dart is still a new experience for many. So, the development time varies - something that makes it tough to calculate the development time without looking into the exact business app needs. And since the cost to build a mobile application is proportional to the time, the Flutter application development cost and React Native development cost also varies based on the project needs.

So, it can’t be said which platform is better at this front.

Community Support

React Native is in the market since 2015 and has gained momentum in the market due to JavaScript support and a lot of meetups and conferences sharing about React Native.

Flutter, on the other side, has just hit version 1.2. It is enjoying surplus popularity in the market with the support of Google, but its community is still lower than React Native.

So, when talking about Community support, React Native is a better option over Flutter.

App Testing

React Native, based on JavaScript, suffer from the lack of an official UI level testing tool. It depends on third-party tools like Appium and Detox for testing the app. But, Flutter has its own set of testing features to perform different testing procedures. It also has detailed documentation that helps Flutter developers to test their app easily and effectively.

Thus, React Native lags behind Flutter when it comes to testing an app.

Installation Process

The React Native application development framework can be installed using the Node Package Manager (NPM) while Flutter requires downloading the binary for a particular platform from Github. Besides, Flutter does not support package managers like MacPorts, Homebrew, APT, etc. that makes developers take some extra steps during installation. Because of this, Flutter lags behind React Native in terms of the installation process.

Future Aspect

Presently, React Native is used by a wider set of app development companies and businesses, including Instagram, Pinterest, Bloomberg, Vogue, and Wix. Whereas, Flutter is chosen by selective brands, including Alibaba, Google AdWords, Hamilton Musical, and Reflectly. It is still new in the development world at present.

While these factors can help you to determine which cross-platform application development technology is apt for your business needs, let’s take a quick scenario look to see what is best.

So, choosing Flutter for app development is the right decision when you want a beautiful UI, exceptional native experience, earlier entry to the mobile market, enjoy competitive advantage of using Dart. Whereas, selecting React Native is best when you seek for native performance, mature community to support, and the benefits from the popularity of JavaScript language.

But in case, you are still confused about what to consider for your mobile app development needs, connect with the best cross-platform app development company. They will guide you with the right piece of advice after studying your business needs, target audience’s expectation, and other influencing factors.