A Comparison Between React Native and Flutter: Which is better?

Releasing an application simultaneously for both iOS and Android is a great opportunity which React Native and Flutter offers. These frameworks are adopted by hundreds of worldwide known companies. However, when it comes to using them, it may depend on the powerful features that they offer. This article shows the difference between them through pros and cons.

React Native and Flutter are mobile application frameworks used to create iOS, Android or Web applications. In addition, Flutter offers also Linux & Windows Applications. React Native was released as an open-source framework by Facebook on March, 2015 whereas Flutter from Google on May, 2017. Both of these technologies help app developers to build cross-platform apps faster by using a single programming language.

Flutter

Flutter's programming language is Dart and has a similarity with languages like Java and C#. Because it uses object-oriented concepts, Dart syntax is easier to start for Java or Javascript developers. It’s easy to get started with Dart as there is a great and easy-to-follow documentation available on the official Dart site. In addition to this, Flutter's architecture can access native features of the mobile device directly without any additional interlayers. Thus, it compiles quicker and consumes fewer resources to execute the code and that results in the instant start-up of the application, faster performance and it is able to use multiple threads and complicated animations without overloading the device.

React Native

On the other hand, React Native architecture heavily relies on JS runtime environment architecture, also known as JavaScript bridge. The code is compiled into native code at runtime. The source code execution on React Native happens through a “bridge” from the JavaScript (JS) code to the device’s native environment. This bridge is important in the process of communicating and exchanging data between the two environments. Briefly, the bridge serves as an interpreter that translates Javascript code to the device’s native programming language and vice-versa. As a result, the bridge is an additional process and requires extra time and resources to process and usually creates a bottle-neck in react-native applications. As a result, React Native uses the JavaScript bridge to communicate with native modules, which somehow produces poor performance whereas Flutter engine has most of the native components in the framework itself and it doesn’t always require a bridge to process the native components.

Component Ecosystem

When it comes to components, React Native has to rely on third-party libraries in order to access most of the native modules whereas Flutter through the rich set of components such as UI components, API access, or lots of libraries makes it independent without the need to use third-party libraries. Using the Flutter framework, means you will have everything required for developing mobile apps. As a fully-fledged framework, React Native has great developer support in terms of IDEs and language features. Flutter is sufficiently new at this point but will grow very soon as the community and popularity around Flutter increases. When it comes to security, both technologies are able to provide a high level of security for mobile apps.

According to Google Trends, from the past month, the volume of users searching for Flutter exceeded those of React Native. This tendency is an early sign of the potential for Flutter’s future growth and market distribution.

Google trends for React Native versus Flutter Google trends for React Native versus Flutter

Some of the apps built with React Native are: Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Walmart to name just a few. Apps built with Flutter include: eBay, Philips, Alibaba, BMW, Hamilton and Google itself.

Conclusion

In conclusion, from the comparison of React Native versus Flutter, the last one is better in terms of performance, UI, engineering productivity, and further support, as well as market trends. However, React Native is a more familiarized framework among developers as it is based on Javascript and distinctively better when it comes to finding software developers. The availability of skilled engineers is important as it influences the market. For many organizations, this is necessary when choosing the best technology for creating an app.


Njomza Mehmeti

Junior Software Engineer

I love integrating server-side web application logic and am excited to solve problems while being part of a transparent, diverse, hardworking and supportive team. I have a great passion for developing beautiful and innovative applications.


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