Before we compare React Native and Flutter, it’s important that we have the basics covered- i.e. what is React Native and Flutter? React Native is a well-known Java script mobile application framework that helps app developers to create applications for mobiles for both Android as well as iOS devices.
The codebase in RN or React Native remains the same while a user can develop new applications for several platforms. React Native is written in a mixture of XML-Esque markup and JavaScript, commonly known as JSX. It is funded by the social media powerhouse Facebook, and over 50 committed developers are now working on the framework.
Flutter, on the other hand, is a UI toolkit that is portable and available on Google. It is used to develop applications natively from a fixed codebase for web platforms. Flutter is free and open-source, compatible with existing code, and is utilized by developers and organizations all around the world. It is sponsored and contributed to by a Google developer team as well as the whole flutter community.
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React Native Vs Flutter | Which One To Choose?
React Native and Flutter are both applications that are useful for the same population group- application developers and enthusiasts. However, they do have a lot of differences in terms of architecture, performance, community support, use case, learning curve and much more. Despite the differences, there does happen to be a similar outcome to their existence in the market-Both assist developers in reducing Time to Market (TTM) in delivering interactive business apps to clients and therefore improving productivity.
So what are these frameworks used for? React Native is used to build apps that are simple to use across several platforms, applications for rapid prototyping, apps with simpler user interfaces, apps that appear nearly native with responsive UX using FlexBox Apps with reusable components, applications that use synchronous APIs, etc. On the other hand, Flutter is used to develop mobile applications, applications with designs of materials, apps with OS-level features, any application with high –performance, applications which are reactivated with vast data integration.
Which applications were made with React native and Flutter the market ?
The well-known applications- Facebook, Walmart, Instagram, SoundCloud, Wix and Bloomberg and Alibaba, Google Ads, eBay, BMW, Reflectly, Tencent respectively are developed with these apps.
Pros and Cons of React Native and Flutter
We shall now focus on the pros and cons of these two frameworks-
React Native is great for native rendering, performance, ecosystem, debugging and hot-reloading, whereas the cons are the tools and plug-ins, user interface and debugging. The pros of the framework Flutter are- hot reloading, rich widgets, seamless integration quick shipping and code sharing whereas the cons are the user interface, tools and plugins, operating platforms and updates.
React Native’s performance can be characterized by its Javascript bridge which is used to understand native modules and sometimes it takes longer than the usual time (16 milliseconds) to render the program and sometimes it may stutter. Flutter works comparatively better in this regard. Flutter’s performance does not require a bridge to communicate between native modules due to the default availability. The number of frames that were dropped were comparatively less so it showed almost negligible stutter.
The kind of architecture that is supported by React Native makes sure to increase native functionality. However, this also increases the size of the application for obvious reasons, and therefore, resulting in performance lag or issues with the device in general. On the other hand, Flutter’s architecture has several layers and starts the development of any application on platform-specific widgets. It is easy for developers on Flutter of any level of experience to create difficult apps with simpler core concepts because of the way the Flutter architecture is built.
Now, we come to the important question- can we build a complex application on Flutter and React Native? It is quite easy to use Native React to build complex applications. For this, native app development needs to be involved with React Native thus making your app a hybrid one in comparison to the cross-platform. Flutter, at present, is not suitable for developing complex applications, we shall see how it advances itself to suit the users’ needs in years to come.
Which one is easier to test? React Native or Flutter?
There are very few unit level frameworks for testing available in the market at the moment for React Native as it offers no UI testing or integration testing support. Flutter Application on the other hand is much more useful and advanced- it offers proper support for automated testing as it functions with a dart. It has detailed documentation along with every testing it supports.
The Flutter community, ever since its conception, has been receiving proper traction from several famous platforms such as Slack, Discord, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Gitter and Flutterday. When we compare React Native and Flutter, React Native ends up having received a tad bit lesser traction but does boast of a great user community consisting of popular platforms such as Discord, Telegram, Slack, Meet Up, Stack Overflow and Reddit.
When questions around modularity arise- Flutter offers a better deal. It has better reach when it comes to team diversity and division of the codes of the project. In comparison, React Native has lesser modularity support to offer However, without enough knowledge, the amount of support available would also not be utilized if there is no expertise. In fact, it is not very convenient for React Native to maintain code in applications concerned whereas Flutter is convenient.
How is user experience different in both?
Flutter’s user experience is amazing and incredibly user-friendly and React Native has up till now not been up to par. The size of the Flutter application is 7.5 MB whereas React Native’s current size is 13.4 MB.
In conclusion, we can state that both these frameworks- React native and Flutter have advantages and disadvantages and it’s up to the user to decide which feature or element is more important for them to possess in an application. So, this was all about React Native Vs Flutter. I hope you have understood which one will serve best for you. Stay tuned to TechAdvises for more such tech tips, app development knowledge and tutorials.
