Flutter Vs. React Native: Which is Best For your Project in 2023?
Mobile application development is growing at a very fast pace of time. The new lifestyles and the latest methods of communication have raised the demand for mobile apps. But it is creating the app for iOS and Android, meaning you need two different teams with various skill sets. However, with the help of the cross-platform mobile app development framework, it is easy to develop an app for both platforms with a unified codebase.
Cross-platform mobile apps platforms such as Google’s Flutter and Facebook’s React Native are two of the latest topics to debate when selecting hybrid app development platforms. But deploying the app on Apple Store or Google Play Store is the need of every business. However, shipping in the app market and selecting the correct technology stack is the most important step to take wisely. However, when we discuss the two most renowned platforms, React Native and Flutter, it is very difficult to find the most suitable for your project. But before going on any discussion, let’s discuss both these frameworks in detail.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source, cross-platform mobile application development framework that uses Dart language. As Google introduces Dart and Flutter, the business industry uses this framework to create robust and big-size enterprise apps easily. However, due to its huge capability of cross-platform app development, Flutter has gained much popularity in a very short time. Hence, it has given birth to many mobile apps which are getting appreciated by people.
What are the benefits of Flutter App Development?
1. Hot Reloading
The hot reloading feature perfectly matches Flutter’s nature, which is the major advantage of utilizing Flutter for streamlining cross-platform development. However, with the help of this feature, the programmers can make the changes quickly, make instant tweaks, and then merge the updated elements. Hence, this approach has necessarily streamlined the development process and will make bug fixing easier.
2. Embedded Application Builder
The built-in app builder is another benefit of Flutter app development. Hence, this tool has many pre-developed UI elements that the developers must merge and customize. An app builder is flexible and allows creative and non-patterned ideas.
3. Codebase Sharing
Flutter-build applications can share the code between iOS, Android, and various other platforms by eliminating the requirement to rewrite it from scratch. Hence, this feature makes Flutter a great choice for MVP development. With this, the developers can deliver the app with a close-to-native look, test it with the targeted audience, and decide on the necessity of making a native application.
4. High Productivity
As Flutter is cross-platform, you can use a similar codebase for the iOS and Android apps. Hence, it will save time and resources.
5. Great Performance
Dart compiles into the native code, and there is no requirement to access the OEM widgets, as Flutter has its own. There is less mediated communication between the app and the platform, as Flutter is the SDK that gives reactive views without needing a JavaScript bridge. Hence, it contributes to the fast application startup times and the very few performance issues.
6. Compatibility
As the Flutter widgets are part of the app rather than the platform, you will get less experience or no compatibility issues on the various OS versions. Hence, in turn, less time is spent on testing.
What is React Native?
React Facebook launched Native. It is the most preferable and well-known cross-platform mobile app development framework. Hence, React Native uses JavaScript and simplifies Android and iOS app development with a single codebase.
What are the major benefits of React Native App Development?
1. Code Reusability
The major benefit of React Native is that programmers are not required to make different codes for multiple platforms. However, approximately 95% of the code can be reused between two platforms, which helps to increase development speed and efficiency considerably. Thus, you will get a faster time-to-market with fewer maintenance efforts.
2. Native look and feel
React Native Components merges the blocks from a native user interface with their JavaScript and gives an app a native-like appearance. Moreover, by creating the blocks for the same iOS and Android, the look and feel of the app will be the same across the two platforms.
3. Live Reload
The live reload feature of React native permits you to view and work with the changes in real-time. You can fix the code while an app is loading and it reflects in the application with the automatic reload feature. Hence, reload the particular change area to save time on a compilation.
4. UI Focused
React Native makes use of the React JavaScript library to create app interfaces that are fast and responsive. It has great rendering abilities and utilizes the component-based approach, making it easy to make simple and complicated UI designs.
Also Read: Top 10 Most Used React Component Libraries in 2022
5. Cost-Efficiency
As code is reusable in React Native, it helps you save up to 40% of development costs. Hence, you do not have to hire the two various Android and iOS developers to make the application. Therefore, the pre-built components in React Native will fasten the development process.
6. Third-Party Plugins
Developing the app from scratch is expensive; React Native gives several third-party plugin options, including JavaScript-based and native modules. Therefore, the third-party plugins alienate a requirement for the particular web view functions, and it helps to enhance an app’s functionality and performance.
React Native Vs. Flutter: Which is the Best Cross Platform Mobile App Development Framework In 2023?
Both React Native and Flutter is the renowned platform for cross-platform mobile app development. Hence, both have their benefits. So, let’s compare Flutter and React Native with the different criteria.
1. Programming Language
React Native uses JavaScript to make the user interfaces. It is easy for web developers to work with React Native because of its robust popularity of JavaScript. JavaScript is the highly preferable and the selected programming language among the programmers, and also it simplifies training the development team to work on React Native.
On the contrary, Flutter uses the Dart language, which Google launches. As it is a client-centric language, Dart gives various benefits. Hence, Dart enables the assembling of famous OOP languages such as C++ and Java. You will easily get the command over Flutter if you have complete knowledge and understanding of any OOP language.
2. Architecture
In React Native architecture, JavaScript builds the bridge between the Native language and JavaScript. It works through the two-sided conversation by sending the JSON message. Hence, due to an asynchronous message transmission, it needs a smooth user interface for the app. However, React Native app development has the chance of lagging UI in the end as the bridge affects rendering speed.
In Contrast, Flutter is a package that does not need any bridge to communicate with the native components. Hence, it has everything within itself, such as the Cupertino framework, materials design, etc. The Flutter benefit makes an app more predictable and robust to perform on various platforms than React Native.
3. Installation and Configuration
React Native gives an easy configuration process. You can Install React Native CLI globally with the help of the command line. In addition, you need to install Yarn and NodeJS as the package manager. You can install Flutter by downloading the binary for the specific mobile platform and adding it to your PATH variable. Hence, it can be easily done by the command line. Therefore, Flutter goes one step down in the installation phase, as the installation procedure is not as straightforward as React Native.
4. Development Tools and Documentation
React Native is robust, and developers with experience with JavaScript can use this framework. For example, essential features like navigation need to be better documented. So, finding the info about creating native libraries can be troublesome.
In comparison to React Native, Flutter has a rich set of documentation. It gives in-depth guides in video and graphics format. The best thing about Flutter is that it has multiple tools like the Flutter inspector and debugger, which aids you in the mobile app development process.
5. User Interface
Due To the JavaScript bridge, React Native renders a native component for single platforms. A user interface gives the look and feel of the mobile application. React Native provides readymade elements that behave like an app’s building block. Hence, it is toughest to replicate the complex UI in a React Native app. Flutter gives the UI widgets packaged within itself, which simplifies the native mobile app development. Thus, it eliminates the requirement for third-party libraries as it has a huge set of framework widgets. Besides that, Flutter apps are constant across all platforms.
6. Developers Productivity
React Native gives the functionality of reusability across all platforms. You can use many libraries created by the development community as the building blocks to fasten the mobile app development procedure. Moreover, React Native has a hot reload feature that will show the app changes without recompiling them. On the other hand, hot reload in Flutter will simplify an app iteration and get feedback instantly. Hence, Flutter gives fast app compilation.
7. Community Support
A large community matters when we talk about open-source mobile app development frameworks and React native has all this functionality. It is the best cross-platform mobile app development framework which Facebook launched in 2015. In comparison, Flutter has a very smaller community than React Native. But, later on, Flutter gained massive popularity among tech professionals and grew quickly.
8. CI/CD Support
React Native does not support the CI/CD solution for Google Play Store and Play Store delivery. Unfortunately, manual deployment for Google is well-documented. You require a third-party solution to automate your app deployment procedure. On the contrary, Flutter has a well-defined documented guide to develop and deploy the app on the Android and iOS platforms. Therefore, it enables an app deployment via the CLI, and in the case of any advanced customization, it permits third-party integrations.
Conclusion
In the Flutter Vs. React native, as there are no winners or losers. Every framework has its benefits and drawbacks. Some experts assume that Flutter is the future of mobile app development. At the same time, React Native will stay complicated and contend with some of the remarkable advantages and impressive React Native-based apps that are accessible in the market. Therefore, it is dependent on your budget and project specification.
At Bosc Tech Labs, we work both on React and Flutter frameworks. Let us know if you are interested, and we will reach out as soon as possible. Consult us if you want to hire React developers or hire Flutter developers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which server is considered best For Flutter app development?
Firebase is a Google-Powered backend service that will work great as the Flutter server-side. This platform gives various development tools that expedite mobile and web development assignments. Hence, it is well-known for the JSON-enabled NoSQL database, which saves and syncs the data in real time.
2. Should I use React Native or Flutter?
The Flutter framework comprises UI rendering components, device access APIs, testing, and navigation. In comparison to that, React Native must rely on third-party libraries to access most native modules. Hence, for better performance, you should opt for Flutter.
3. What makes Flutter better than React Native development?
Flutter relies on the developed widgets for customization, whereas React Native incorporates third-party customization components. Hence, Flutter delivers the most compatibility. Moreover, Flutter development is constructed on widgets, whereas React Native uses JSX.
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