Flutter vs React Native: a battle of giants

Flutter vs React Native: a battle of giants

Many designers and application programmers are in a real debate.
In one hand, we have a React Native, a platform developed by Facebook, the first to go to market; On the other there is Flutter, developed by Google and who has won a significant number of followers in the past two years.

We know that many beginners, experts and leaders in the technology sector have their doubts about which platform will be the reference in the market, we present this comparison.

Flutter

In simple words, it is a mobile app SDK that is open-source and allows the software developer to write an application with a single codebase and compile on both IOS and Android platforms. The main agenda is to deliver high-performance apps that work seamlessly on every platform.

Flutter 1.0 has been launched in December 2018.
Pros

  • Customized user-experience
  • Highly creative and productive
  • Create native mobile apps with a single codebase for Android and IOS
  • Continues debugging from where the apps left off lastly
  • No compatibility issues with different OS versions

Cons

  • Dart is a new language in the market
  • Lack of user support under software testing and limited libraries to be accessed by the app developers
  • Does not cover web apps
  • It does not involve Continuous Integration under the Flutter development

React Native

Is a JS Framework that assists the developers to write real and natively rendering mobile applications for the IOS and Android platforms. Its basis is React that involves Facebook’s JavaScript library. This helps in building user-interfaces that targets the mobile platforms instead of the browsers. It supports the developers in creating the React App by using the JSX platform that is an extension to JavaScript and an ES6 based syntax.

Pros

  • Building the Cross-platform mobile apps.
  • Time-saver and affordable.
  • Its mobile apps can be built using Web technology.
  • The software development company can use the native control and modules to improve the performance.
  • Accelerates and speeds up the development process.
  • As the code is reusable, so it is cost-effective too.

Cons

  • It’s still under improvement stage.
  • It just has a small collection of the ready-made components.
  • It uses JS library, so developers need to place a close watch on the malicious codes.

Comparison Between Flutter and React Native

  • Programming Languages Used: Flutter uses Dart as the programming language whereas React Native uses JavaScript and React.
  • Creators and Launch Date: Google developed Flutter in Jan 2015 (1.0 in December 2018), and Facebook developed React Native in May 2017.
  • Adoption by the Community: React Native has big community followers, whereas the community members are slowly adopting Flutter.
  • Components Library: The Flutter platform has a smaller library, whereas the library component of the React Native is broad and inclusive.
  • Adaptation of the Components: In Flutter, the components are not adaptive but have to be configured manually. In React Native, the components are adaptive automatically.
  • Hot Reloading: Both Flutter and React Native supports the hot reloading. You can write the code, save it, and the platform will automatically display it.
  • Architecture: The main architecture of Flutter is BLoC, and that of React Native is Redux.

Summary

In general, both technologies involve an agile software development process and have their benefits. If you are not sure what technology to use for your project, we recommend you visit our Services – Mobile Development section to provide the advice you need.