React Native Vs Flutter: Which Cross-Platform You Choose for Your App?

Do you have an innovative app idea in the mind? If it’s a yes, then you should turn it into reality before anyone else does and begins collecting a massive revenue. But the problem lies in choosing the right platform for your project, right? When it comes to building an app on a suitable cross-platform, two options, React Native vs Flutter, traps the developers in a never-ending dilemma. Now no more!

The below discussion aims at bringing the difference between React Native vs Flutter to the table and assisting you to choose the best mobile application framework for your project. So, let’s dive deep to know the platforms better.

What is React Native?

React Native is a revolution in the cross-platform app development industry. It is a renowned open-source app development framework among all developers since its advent. Using React Native, you can develop Android and iOS apps from a single codebase using JavaScript. Backed by Facebook, React Native has vast community support, allowing simple troubleshooting of technical issues. Moreover, if you are already familiar with React design, you will find React Native layout to be similar and easy to use.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is another exciting platform to build impeccable applications effortlessly. The cross-platform runs on Dart and boasts the support of tech giant, Google. Flutter lets you develop intuitive UI for your applications using a single codebase. The robust widgets and libraries in Flutter make it the best UI toolkit in the industry. Using Flutter, you can develop excellent cross-platform Android and iOS applications in the blink of an eye. Also, Dart is a relatively new language but extremely easy-to-learn by the developers having programming experience.

The latest Flutter version 1.20 has significant features such as AutoFill mobile text field, Interactive Viewer Widgets, and DartDev Tool embedded in Visual studio. 

React Native vs Flutter – The Difference

Indeed, both React Native and Flutter are competent and ideal for cross-platform app development. However, there are several differences between the two platforms. You need to know the distinct aspects of the two platforms to make an informed decision for your project. So, let’s learn the distinctions between React Native and Flutter below.

1. Language Support

React Native and Flutter can create amazing applications but support different languages. While React Native used the already established JavaScript, Flutter works on a relatively new one called Dart.

Although Dart is simple to learn and use, the developers prefer sticking with the primitive JavaScript language and focus on app development only. Depending upon your language choice, you can select either React Native or Flutter for your app development project.

2. Community Support

Tech giants, Google and Facebook, lie at the backbone of React Native and Flutter. Consequently, they boast massive community support for the developers. Launched in 2015, React Native enjoys a vast community, facilitating the developers in troubleshooting any problem coming in their way.

Similar to React Native, Flutter also has robust community support for the developers. However, being a newbie, the Flutter community is still growing and the community is far behind its expected size. Luckily, developers around the world are adapting Flutter and expanding the community dimensions rapidly.

3. User Interface

Flutter is a popular platform to design interactive UI and replicate the entities of a native app effortlessly. The final product works well on both Android and iOS by rendering the mutual entities in the codebase. Thanks to the packaged UI library in Flutter that the applications get the exact look and feel of the native ones.

Creating an exciting UI using React Native is a bit more difficult than Flutter. The rendered entities in a React Native app might behave differently on Android and iOS devices. So, the application risks offering a hindered user experience with technical glitches and malfunctioning.

4. Platform Architecture

When choosing a cross-platform for your apps, the framework architecture plays a pivotal role. Both React Native and Flutter have a unique architecture and aim at providing a smooth user experience. However, there are some differences and downsides in the architecture as well.

React Native uses JavaScript Bridge to communicate between JavaScript and native facets. These objects send JSON messages to interact and offer a consistent performance to the users. Unfortunately, the equilibrium might suffer glitches in the end and fail to provide the expected outcome.

Flutter doesn’t involve any concept like bridge and packs everything within itself. Consequently, the communication overhead decreases, resulting in smooth performance and a creamy experience.

5. Technical Documentation

A well-documented platform is what the developers look up to. Despite being an old platform, React Native has degraded documentation lacking in several aspects. The essential navigation portion seems missing in the document and creates difficulties among the developers.

In contrast, Flutter has complete documentation with each aspect explained in great detail. From packages to exclusive elements, you can know everything about Flutter through the documentation. Also, it offers various debugging options to rectify and streamline the final cross-platform application.

6. Compilation and Code Reusability

Do you know that React Native and Flutter boost your productivity? Yes, React Native allows code reusability for faster development and rapid construction. Moreover, the platform has a captivating preview-changes panel for the users to visualize the changes in their final product after every iteration.

Similarly, Flutter provides the developers with a previewing-changes option and lets you collect feedback on the design and UI before compilation and saving the changes. All these factors integrate towards providing a higher developers’ productivity, saving time and energy in mundane rectification and debugging.

7. CI/CD Solution

Despite being an old player in the cross-platform industry, React Native lacks a CI/CD solution for the developers to deploy their app in Google Play Store and App Store. You can do all these manually, after overpassing numerous technical hurdles.

Surprisingly, you will not find any official documentation regarding launching your app on the App Store from the React Native team. So, you will end up depending on third-party vendors, like Bitrise, to deploy your product in the App Store.

Luckily, Flutter saves a lot of effort with simple CLI commands to deploy your cross-platform apps on Android and iOS stores. You can troubleshoot most of your concerns with well-curated documentation from the developers. Besides, you can get advanced features using third-party deployment solutions as well.

8. Cross-Platform Installation and Configuration

You can deduce a great cross-platform framework by its ease of installation and configuration. React Native has a simpler installation process than Flutter. All you need is to pre-configure your system using NodeJS and Yarn packages. Then, you need to install React Native using the command line and wait until the configurations get over.

Flutter installation and configuration entails one step more than React Native. Apart from downloading the Flutter binary file from the web, you will require to integrate the framework to your PATH variable. So, the Flutter installation becomes tedious and takes more time than React Native. If you consider a framework by the installation time, then React Native wins over Flutter through a narrow shave.

9. Learning Curve

It’s worrying if a technical product takes more time to learn. JavaScript is an already established programming language and most developers are familiar with it from the very beginning. So, using React Native for cross-platform app designing is a cakewalk for such developers who know JavaScript. All in all, they don’t have to learn a new language to use React Native and get acquainted with its interface in the blink of an eye.

However, things go out of favor with the Flutter framework. Flutter encompasses a new programming language called Dart. Although Dart is simple to learn and use, the developers feel intimidated to work with a fresh language regardless of its similarity with C#. So, Flutter gets a downside with the inclusion of Dart language for application development.

10. Testing and Quality Assurance

A product is incomplete without rigorous testing and quality assurance. React Native has some support towards unit testing and allows ensuring the app quality concisely. However, you will have to rely on third-party solutions for UI testing to guarantee a glitch-free experience for your users.

In contrast, Flutters offers a lot in terms of quality assurance and testing. With several testing tools integrated into the framework, Flutter becomes the leading player to create honed applications.

Now, it’s time to unveil the winner between Flutter and React Native for cross-platform app development. Stay tuned!

Who is the Winner?

After knowing so much about Flutter vs React Native, you must be intrigued to know which one is favorable for application development. Well, both competitors are equally good and the choice depends on your objectives solely. The main advantages of cross-platform app development are cost-effective and time-saving development. React Native and Flutter have several upsides and downsides.

You can easily convert your existing apps into React Native or Flutter. Ultimately, you should go with the one that best fits your requirements. So, let’s learn about when to use React Native and Flutter for cross-platform app development.

When to Use React Native?

You can select React Native for your project if your objectives align with the following scenarios:

• You want to develop lightweight and swift cross-platform apps.
• You want to upgrade your apps to cross-platform using React Native tools.
• You wish to develop an app with responsive UI and asynchronous build.
• You have a lofty budget and enough time to develop the React Native project at a slow pace.

When to Use Flutter?

Choose Flutter if you have the following requirements:

• You have a strict time constraint and a low budget.
• You don’t wish to get a fully native application.
• You want to get a customized app using widgets and UI testing.
• You have time to learn a new programming language before app development using Flutter.

So, you have the answer with yourself! React Native or Flutter – which one to use depends on you and your objectives only. Before choosing the best cross-platform framework between the two, it’s advisable to jot down your requirements and consider a platform that suits all your demands under a roof.

If you’re unaware of the above technicalities, then we recommended you hire cross-platform app developers from the best cross-platform mobile application development company i.e. Auxano Global Services, the best mobile app development company. That’s all from our side. Hope this information will help you to choose the best app development frameworks between React Native vs Flutter.