Flutter vs React Native: A Brief Comparing

You are thinking about creating your own mobile app if you read this. This is a good decision, considering its revenue overall will reach $613 billion by 2025. 

When choosing a suitable app development framework, several questions arise, and the main one is about the software frameworks. As for 2022, React Native and Flutter got top positions among cross-platform app development frameworks. 

This article will focus on what these frameworks stand for, their pros and cons, and how to choose the proper one for your project. Let’s dive into the details.

React Native vs. Flutter: Which is Better for Your Project?

The difficulty of choosing between these two frameworks is that they are both cross-platform and have their special features. You could also read about some other JavaScript solutions such as NativeScript, Angular, or TypeScript that expand JavaScript possibilities. Today we will talk about two software frameworks that are at the top of popularity and cause the most discussion.

To finally make a choice, you should pay attention to their popularity, simplicity, functionality, and other criteria that we will analyze in today’s article. Keep reading.

What is Flutter? 

Flutter is an open-source framework from Google that provides a straightforward way to build any hybrid or cross-platform application. Since it’s based on the object-oriented Dart language, it’s easy to learn and use, especially for developers who are familiar with Java and C# architecture. 

Flutter Pros and Cons

Our research indicates the main advantages and drawbacks of Flutter, which should be taken into consideration when choosing. Let’s start with Flutter’s pros. 

Unified Codebase 

With Flutter, developers can write code for both Android and iOS. Since the same design is used, you can get an identical app for users of different systems. In addition, ready-made widgets will make the development process faster and easier. 

Community Support

With the backing of thousands of developers, you can find answers to your questions and solve code issues. Also, Google provides Flutter with updates and bug fixes up-to-date, so your app will stay secure and protected.

User-friendly UI

“The devil is in the details”, that’s why Flutter is focused on a better UI to help you attract more users. According to it, you are able to create an intuitive interface, customize built-in widgets or create your own. 

As for the cons, there are the following:

Lack of libraries 

Third-party tools allow you to save time on creating elements from scratch. So far, The Flutter base is not so developed, since the framework itself is quite new. Open-source libraries are evolving, and over time developers will be able to use rising numbers of ready-made and tested solutions. 

Large Apps Size

Developers need to create an app that will occupy the minimum possible amount of memory. To reduce the app’s size, you have to remove certain features and make elements or widgets simpler. For examples, Java app size is around 539 KB, Kotlin is about 550 KB and Flutter exceeds 7.5 MB according to Medium research. 

Need To Learn Dart

According to the review, Dart is not that popular programming language with a small community. Still, if the developer works with Flutter, it involves writing in Dart. Due to the limited number of resources, it’s increasingly difficult to develop apps with Flutter. 

When To Use Flutter? 

The uniqueness of the project also determines the framework that is optimal for its creation. Flutter will be relevant if your future app involves that you:

• Have a limited project budget and a constrained time for development
• Want to provide a better app performance 
• Need a complex user interface 

What Is React Native?

React Native is a cross-platform solution for mobile apps development. One of its features is that developers use the same UI building blocks with JavaScript and React instead of building in Kotlin or Swift. 

React Native Pros and Cons

To learn more about whether React Native is suitable for your project, we will dive into the main advantages and disadvantages. Let’s start with its pros.

Easy to Code

This framework doesn’t require CSS or HTML knowledge, developers only use React Native and JavaScript for creating apps. Due to this, the average development time is also reduced. 

Android & iOS Support

The written code will be natively displayed on both platforms, so there is no need to spend additional resources to create separate apps. In development, it is important when you modify the code’s elements, they also change across Android and iOS platforms. 

Better User Experience

According to the statistics, every dollar a company spends on improved UX gives them back $100. With React Native, you are able to provide high-grade page downloading time and smooth interaction. 

Now let’s pay attention to the cons: 

Issues With Updating 

After some research, we found that upgrading React Native is a challenging task that requires some extra effort. Since it’s a multi-step process, developers have to be precious and not miss even one stage. Instead, it can lead to debug issues, and as a result — even more time to fix bugs. 

Lower Performance

Compared to native apps, the performance is still quite slower. Also, if you are more about complicated interfaces, React Native is not the proper choice and you better select the native development. 

Large Apps Size For Android

Unlike other Android apps, written with React Native have a larger size, up to 7 MB. The reason for this is that Android natively doesn’t have the possibility to run JS code. Therefore, there is a need to add a ReactJS library to the app that supports the written JavaScript code. It’s quite inconvenient and requires additional MB. 

When To Use React Native?

Our research indicates that there are two main cases to choose React Native when it comes to developing an app, so you:

• Want a cross-platforming app with better performance 
• Already have a desktop version or a website
• Need to hire a team for fast mobile developing 

React Native vs Flutter: What To Choose?

	React Native	Flutter
Popularity	12.57% among developers	12.64% among developers
Language	JavaScript	Dart
Speed	Performs slower since it use a JavaScript bridge to run the app	Performs faster
Architecture	Flux is created by Facebook and allows developers to build the client-side web app	BLoC that allows to use one code-base for different platforms
Documentation	General docs that are not such easy to as in Flutter	Straightforward and easy-to-understand
Community Support	106k ⭐ on Github2k+ issues 125k+ questions on StackOverflow	147k ⭐ on Github5k+ issues 147+ questions on StackOverflow
Developers Rates	$60.10 in US	$36.24 in US

Famous Apps Created With Flutter and React Native

Despite the fact Flutter was created recently, it has already captured the attention of many business giants: 

Xianyu from Alibaba

This is an app for selling and buying various used things, available on Android and iOS. 

Google Ads

It’s a solution that provides an opportunity to manage campaigns efficiently from your device , available on Android and iOS. 

eBay Motors

The app allows customers to find new and used cars or accessories, available on Android and iOS.

When it comes to React Native, it’s used by top digital companies in social media industry and startups, including the well-known ones: 

Pinterest

The app allows users to search and add photos, create boards, share them with others and much more. Available on Android and iOS.

Discord

It’s an app for communication that provides a platform for exchanging messages, making calls, creating chats, rooms and much more. Available on Android and iOS.

Walmart Shopping & Grocery

This app allows users to find the best prices in Walmart and order shopping online or at the market. Available on Android and iOS.

The Future of Flutter and React Native

According to the rating research, both competitors take the first place among multi-platform frameworks. One of them is more popular among developers, but both are developed by digital giants, Facebook and Google. New features are gradually added to both platforms, making them more and more convenient to use.

If you want to know more about which framework to choose, contact us for a free consultation. The Talentica team will answer all your questions through a short call. 

To Sum Up

We have considered the main benefits and features of each software frameworks and their comparison. To make a choice, you have to consider all the uniqueness of your project, the software you need to use. Nowadays, it’s hard to decide a proper framework according to the app’s type, your budget and request. 

As for React Native, it provides a large community of developers, which makes the developing process easier. On the other hand, Flutter has more ready-made solutions, for example, on GitHub. 

Faq

• Is React Native better than Flutter?

  Both competitors have their advantages and disadvantages, and the choice will depend on the specifics of your project. Pay attention to performance, how large your program will be and how many resources are needed.

• Will Flutter replace React Native?

  As both teams are constantly improving Flutter and React Native, and their communities are growing, we cannot talk about a complete replacement. As we can see from the statistics, the popularity of this framework is increasing, but React Native holds no less high position in the ranking.

• Is Flutter faster than React Native?

  Apps based on Flutter run faster because it doesn’t have any JavaScript bridges and compile into native code for both Android and iOS. And the animation standart 60 FPS provides high and faster performance.

• Which has more demand, Flutter or React Native?

  To answer this tricky question, let’s look at the statistics. Among professional developers who participated in the survey, 13.62% chose React Native, and 12.56% voted for Flutter. Both alternatives go hand in hand, and their differences, for example, the environment configuration, determine whether it suits your project.