Facebook and Google have developed advanced mobile application development frameworks i.e. React Native and Flutter respectively. Since Flutter got released, Flutter vs React Native is a hot topic in the market where people discuss different aspects of both languages. There are many pros and cons in using both for mobile app development.
Comparison of Flutter and React Native
We will discuss here Flutter and React Native in terms of development criteria. According to project scalability, you should go with respective frameworks. Flutter and React Native Development Services.
1. Programming Language
Flutter uses Dart language for development while React native uses JavaScript. Dart has most of the object-oriented concepts so it is easy for javascript or Java developers to learn and write code.
JavaScript is widely used by web developers and is popular. So according to analysis, React Native is quite easy to adapt and most of the mobile applications are running on React Native framework.
2. The framework architecture
Flutter has in-built native components and thus it does not require any bridge to communicate with machine level language. Obviously, as it has built in components, so its size increases after compilation.
React Native works on Java runtime machine environment architecture. This is also known as JavaScript Bridge. Its code is converted into native code while the program is getting compiled.
3. Installing framework
Steps to install any new framework should be easy and straightforward, so that any newbie can start his project quickly and apply main logic. Flutter can be installed by downloading its binary zip and setting up PATH in the bin file.
While React native can be installed via npm (Node Package Manager). The command to install react native is npm install -g react-native-cli. React Native installation seems quite easy as it just has to be installed using cmd and npm and no further steps to be taken.
4. User Interface and Development API
It is very important that Flutter and React Native give native components of Android and iOS while developing mobile applications to give the feel of native mobile apps to users.
React native does not give much components but it just compiles and UI structure while Flutter has lots of in-built components which make the app look rich in UI. Thus in Flutter you do not need to install more third-party libraries. Flutter UI can be easily rendered for both Android and iOS applications.
5. Development Productivity
Any framework should enable developers to develop code hasslefree. He/She should not have to wait for any compilation and testing.
React Native has a very good feature of hot reload by which any experienced javascript developer can make its development faster and apply changes. You can use any text editor for development while Flutter uses Dart language, so many text editors do not support it except Visual Studio Code etc. Hot reload feature is also available in Flutter.
6. Developer’s Community
Community is meant to gather developers working on the same platform or framework and solve each other’s problems and mainly share new knowledge.
React Native was launched in 2015 and it was the first most successful hybrid app development framework. So developers have accepted it very quickly and there are lots of communities and meetups being held around the world. Also there is a very big GitHub community for React Native developers.
Flutter was launched in early 2017 in Google I/O. No doubt the Flutter community is growing fast but there are some limitations due to which developers are not able to resolve their common problems. But it will not be a problem in nearly 1 year as the community will become very big soon.
7. Testing and Quality Support
If the framework is mature enough then it will definitely have a testing framework which can be used to create unit and integrated tests to resolve the bugs quickly.
There are testing tools like Appium and Detox for React Native development while there is not official testing tool available for it.
Flutter has in-built rich testing tools through which you can carry on unit testing and resolve bugs faster. Flutter has its official document on testing mobile apps. Flutter also offers an awesome widget testing tool to carry out faster unit tests at the user interface level.
8. Build and Deployment and Updates
Every developer finds it painful when it comes to releasing applications to play store or iOS store. When you are working on a hybrid mobile app development framework, it becomes more difficult.
React Native does not have any official document for uploading applications to the play store but there are manual guides which can help you to upload apps to store via Xcode. Useful links are given below.
- Manual process
- Deploy on play store
- Fastlane process to deliver apps to play store
Flutter gives cmd support and with that, we can build a binary of applications by following the official document’s instructions.
- Flutter Android app release
- Flutter iOS app release
Wrapping Up…
Do you have any project ideas for mobile app development and confused about which platform you can develop it from Flutter and React Native? We are here to help you and our expert will consult you to get you the best out of your business.
Skywave is one of the topmost web development and mobile app development companies in Ahmedabad, India. Also having expertise in making flutter and larval development, digital marketing, and SEO services.
