The Difference Between Flutter And React Native Framework

 First thing on my mind when building a cross-platform mobile application is which framework I should use? There are many questions that arise when choosing a platform, such as: where can I easily find a hybrid app developer? Are there any differences in speed between the two development kits?

A Flutter or React Native code base can be created that works equally well on iOS and Android devices in contrast to a native mobile development approach. Apps can be created faster and for a lower cost since there is less coding required. Due to their popularity, both of these mobile development toolkits have gained immense popularity.

To compete in the market today, a Mobile App Development Company must select a framework which enables developers to write only one code-base and deploy it over multiple platforms, thus saving developers time and money. In that way, we can help our customers determine which framework is most likely to work well for them in achieving their goals.

With the help of this article, you can compare React Native vs. Flutter and decide which is a better mobile cross-platform framework for your mobile application.

The Difference Between Flutter And React Native Framework

Flutter Vs. React Native Frameworks

With the emergence of so many frameworks, it becomes necessary to compare them in order to determine which is most suitable. As a relatively new framework, Flutter has a bit of a disadvantage over React Native. Developing native apps is made easier for both of them through cross-platform frameworks.

Many app developers will find a comparison of these frameworks helpful in determining which is most appropriate for their apps. Google developed Flutter, while Facebook developed React Native. The benefit of cross-platform frameworks is that they allow developers to maintain a single team for both mobile platforms, eliminating the need for two.

Also Read: AngularJS vs NodeJS vs ReactJS

What Is Flutter?

Flutter is a cross-platform user interface system developed by Google. The app was launched in May 2017 and has grown steadily since then.

A key selling point of Flutter is its support for cross-platform frameworks with only one codebase. It used to take several tools for businesses to develop usable apps for mobile, web, and desktop. For example, hiring a web developer, another developer with desktop application development experience, and an app developer for iOS and Android platforms might be necessary.

Flutter market usage stats:

·      Flutter is used to build cross-platform mobile applications by 39% of the worldwide population. (Statista)

·      The majority of development community members are fans of Flutter. (StackOverflow)

·      The libraries and tools of Flutter are popular enough that 7.2% of the community chose it. (StackOverflow)

Flutter: Use Cases

·      MVPs for mobile applications

·      Material-designed apps

·      Operating system-level apps

·      Plug-ins with advanced logic for OS

·      High-performance apps powered by Skia

·      High-level widgets with flexible UI

·      Integration of vast amounts of data to reactivate apps 

Which Popular Apps are Made with Flutter?

·      Google Ads – A portable user experience on iOS and Android was enabled by leveraging Flutter's static utility classes, Firebase AdMob packages, and Dart packages.

·      BMW – Management of the user interfaces using flutter_bloc provided high performance.

·      Reflectly – StreamBuilder widget was used to create quality data events with React Native and Flutter to improve data synchronization.

·      The Tencent Corporation - Created a multi-platform user experience built on connected devices with fewer than five developers.

·      Alibaba – Integrated a single codebase and created a highly performant app navigation experience for all applications.

·      EBay – Created autoML using firebase and Flutter to create a complex and customized edge-powered AI experience. 

Flutter : Pros and Cons

Pros

Feature: Hot Reload

·         The hot reload feature allows you to view the changes to the code directly in the application.

·         The feature makes writing the code faster and thereby enabling you to develop the app faster as well.

·         It is possible to do experiments or improve your app by hot reloading and see the results as soon as they happen.

·         The hot reload feature will not be used for all code changes.

Same code

·         It's possible to write the same code for both iOS and Android with Flutter.

·         As it has its own widgets, Flutter runs independently of a platform.

·         Both platforms can be used with the same app.

Tests automatized

·         If the app is the only one, you just need to test it.

·         Only one code base needs to be covered by the automatic tests.

Faster applications

·         Apps run quickly and smoothly with Flutter. There is no lag when scrolling for users.

·         Flutter's reactive programming is what makes it perform so smoothly.

Aesthetic Designs

·         The widgets you create with Flutter can be attractive to users.

·         The widgets can also be customized for your app to suit its needs.

All versions look the same

·         Your users will have the same experience regardless of which mobile platform they are using thanks to Flutter.

·         There are no additional costs to run Flutter on older OS versions.

Faster development

·         You can show your stakeholders the MVP you've built using Flutter.

·         Fast app development is possible with Flutter. 

Cons

Support for libraries

·         Library support for Flutter is not yet complete. The libraries will require more work to set up.

·         Currently in a developmental stage, the community is a new framework.

Supporting Integrations

·         There are not many CI platforms that support the framework, such as Travis or Jenkins

·         In order to build, test, and launch your application automatically, you will need custom scripts. 

What is React Native?

Open-source framework React Native utilizes JavaScript. Apps that are mainly compatible with Android and iOS are primarily rendered natively using the technology. JSX is an extension to JavaScript that employs XML-like formatting and XML-like markup for the React Native framework. This framework is backed by Facebook, which has over 50 engineers working on it currently.

Some cool React Native statistics:

·      A recent survey reported that 42% of developers plan to develop cross-platform apps using RN in 2020. (Statista)

·      React Native's native tools and libraries are preferred by 11 percent of developers. (StackOverflow)

·      React Native is loved by 58.5% of the developing community. (StackOverflow)

React Native : Use cases

·      A simple cross-platform app

·      Prototype applications that are quick to develop

·      Simplified user interfaces for apps

·      With FlexBox, you can create apps that look close to native

·      Reusable components for apps

·      Synchronous APIs are used by apps 

Which popular apps use React Native?

·      Facebook – Constructed a mobile UI that is responsive, supportive, and easy to use.

·      Walmart – By building smooth animations for in-app functionality that mimic native functionality, we enhanced user experience.

·      The Wix website – Implemented configurable navigations and screen options with high speed and agility.

·      Bloomberg – An easy, personal way to access content. Shared code is updated automatically as users move between pages.

·      Instagram – Added push notifications as WebViews without creating navigation infrastructure.

·      SoundCloud – Integrated iOS and Android patches simultaneously to bridge the time gap between updates. 

React Native : Pros And Cons

Pros

Optimal performance

1.    Utilizing native controls and modules with React Native can improve performance.

2.    Both platforms are supported by the framework. A native API is also developed.

3.    As native APIs and UI are run in separate threads, performance will improve.

Coding Reusability

1.    In addition to reuse of codes written for one platform, codes can also be reused for another platform. Several hours and effort can be saved.

2.    Pre-developed components are available as open-source libraries.

3.    It is possible to incorporate the existing codes and adapt them to meet the requirements of the app.

Community of Developers

1.    If you get stuck with your app development, you can find help in a large community.

2.    As part of the community, you can also make a contribution. You can share any new information you learn about using React Native in the community.

3.    In addition to being a Facebook product, React Native also provides developers with a platform to communicate.

Hot and live reloading

1.    When you compile and read the changes you've made, you're doing live reloading.

2.    Even while an app is running, you can reload the corrected file wherever it belongs.

3.    Changes can be viewed as they are made via this feature.

4.    By using this feature, we save a great deal of time because we don't have to refresh and view changes all the time.

Economic Solution

1.    You can reuse the codes in React Native, making it a cheap solution. The developer can save time this way.

2.    It does not require the company to dedicate a large team to rewriting mobile code.

Stable applications

1.    The data binding in React Native makes it easier to build apps with more stability.

2.    You can only update certain components using it. It increases its reliability and stability.

Solution-and-Library-Useful

1.    Provides ready-made solutions and libraries to simplify the development of mobile applications.

2.    Several libraries are available that can aid you in developing applications.

Cons

Immature and new framework

1.    Developers are forced to make many changes in order to incorporate frequent updates.

2.    There may be elements that are not compatible with React Native which will require additional code.

Learning difficult

1.    Learning React Native is not for the faint of heart, especially for those who are just starting out.

2.    This is because JSX combines JavaScript and HTML syntax.

Security concerns

1.    A JavaScript library is used in the open-source framework, making it insecure.

2.    Building apps for banks or financial companies with confidential data will require extra security.

Starting delays

1.    In React Native, the runtime takes a long time to initialize since it is based on JavaScript threads.

2.    The same applies when you render hi-tech gadgets and devices for the first time. 

React Native vs. Flutter  : Performance Delivery

No matter how much Flutter or React Native promise, they cannot deliver native. Due to their high cost and long time to market, you should opt out of these. As a result, your audience won't be able to see any difference, so you need not worry about native performance. These frameworks offer a degree of functionality analogous to native development technologies such as animation, transitions, and scrolling.

In terms of providing smoothness to animations and screen flexibility, FPS is critical. By rendering the animations in a standard frame within a minute, you can make them smooth.

Both frameworks gave excellent results when tested on different devices. Scrolling performed close to native in terms of performance and efficiency. While Flutter offers 60 frames per second, React Native offers 59 frames per second, which is more than enough to provide excellent performance. The memory covered by React Native is greater than that of Flutter and other native apps.

When heavy animations are present, the performance of React Native drops to 7 FPS. Flutter goes through 19 frames per second if you rotate, scroll, and fade. In contrast, Flutter's Android app reached 19 FPS when rotating, scaling, and blurring heavily.

There is a possibility that these frameworks will be slower and require more memory and CPU power than native ones. When compared to React Native, Flutter shows better results.

A performance comparison of React Native and Flutter shows that Flutter is the winner.

Also Read: Progressive Web Application Development Cost and Features

React Native vs. Flutter Apps : Design and Graphics Interface

Despite the fact that they use totally different approaches to draw user interfaces, React Native and Flutter both have excellent graphical features. Using each of these technologies it would be possible to produce perfect graphics and complete animations.

You can create UIs with Flutter by using widgets like buttons, text, cards, animation, position, and touch options. With these widgets, you will be able to edit the end result. A widget's appearance changes when its status changes because it reconstructs its meaning. The status of a widget is changed when a button is pressed or in the same way.

There are two widget sets in Flutter. These are:

·      Widget for Material Design

For Android-oriented design, Google developed the Material design language. Therefore, it replicates the design of Android.

·      Cupertino widget

Based on the iOS layout, this widget mimics it.

On both Android and iOS, Flutter apps look natural with these widgets. A Flutters app has a consistent UI regardless of the device's OS type. Using Flutter, users can get the same UI experience across all platforms.

In React Native, JavaScript is the foundation. To begin with, Java or C++ code must be converted to Android or IOS native UI. This can be accomplished by unit testing serialized JSON data and then using a bridge between Java and C++ code.

Finding an app that is native and has smooth animations is made easier using this process. In this framework, there are several key elements. You can select buttons, images, scroll views, and more. As well as developing Android-specific and iOS-specific components, you can also use these frameworks. The best UI can be created by integrating third-party libraries.

The design and UI of Flutter and React Native is similar, with both providing beautiful designs and UIs.

React Native vs. Flutter: Development Speed of Code

You can create faster-performing apps with both frameworks. Flutter allows developers to see changes to the code quickly. Results can be viewed quickly with the Hit Reload feature. Performance and speed are enhanced with Flutter widgets. Flutter development can easily be updated in the console by typing 'flutter development'.

A developer can use the new code directly after entering it with Fast Refresh, which comes with React Native. Sometimes the engineer has to manually update the updates because of a problem with the update. Furthermore, the release version allows one to view JavaScript code which is not good for security.

In terms of development speed, Flutter is faster than React Native.

React Native vs. Flutter: Testing Methods

Flutter can pass three tests. This unit test examines one function, one method, or one category. A widget test is the second. Integration testing involves testing an application as a whole or a significant portion of it. Faster than other tests, Flutter tests record errors and provide repair instructions.

As a result of the use of numerous JavaScript engines, React Indigenous tests are complex.

In this case, Flutter's quick and easy testing makes it better than React Native.

React Native vs. Flutter: Ecosystem cases

React Native and Flutter were created by large corporations. The first version of React Native appeared in 2015, while the first version of Flutter appeared in 2017. In most cases, Flutter displays higher performance than Iterate.

React Native vs. Flutter: Developer Community

Flutter is maintained by a community of open-source developers and Google team members. Flutter Engage is one of their events that connects people.

React Native is maintained by Facebook and the community. A forum that is supported by companies acts as a community or a group. As well as Reactiflux, a community on Discord. It's React Conf that's the big event.

Plugins, libraries, and tools

Comparing Flutter to React Native, it has a relatively poor ecosystem. Among the Flutter packages available for use, there are more than 14,000 items. Small improvements can be added to these packages.

Library and component support are abundant in React Native. The library contains awesome-react-natives, which are third-party components of high quality.

A comparison of the React Native and Flutter ecosystems reveals that React Native is superior to Flutter.

React Native vs. Flutter: Developers' Knowledge

The researcher asked developers about frameworks in a study conducted by Stack Overflow in 2020. React Native was used by 11.8% of respondents, and Flutter by 6.6%.

It would be better to have a server that offers fewer segmented ideas. The study found that 8% of developers used Kotlin.

Flutter had a reach of 2 million by April 2020, which means more people used it. This framework reaches up to 500,000 people each month. Developers reported 92% satisfaction with Flutter. Users prefer Flutter over React Native based on the survey results.

It can be beneficial to choose a developer that makes use of Flutter if you want to hire one for your project.

We can say right now that React Native has a clear advantage over Flutter among developers.

React Native vs. Flutter: Easier to Learn?

When learning about the framework, it depends on the language it was written in. It is possible to learn any language from scratch, but you have to know some basics of mobile app development and have a bit of understanding of frameworks.

It uses Dart, a programming language that is not very common or easy to learn. Since Java has a high entry threshold, you may find it easier to understand if you are a Java developer.

JavaScript is the underlying language of React Native, so it is a simple and familiar language. Front-end developers commonly use it as a standard programming language. Being a simple language, it is easy to learn.

When learning these frameworks, you should choose React Native as it is simpler than Flutter.

Future of React Native vs. Flutter Apps: 2021 and beyond

The surveys show that Flutter is not going away, contrary to some rumors. Flutter is becoming more and more popular among developers and businesses when developing applications. As of 2020, Flutter's popularity increased by 9%, while React Native's popularity stayed the same.

As the popularity rating of Flutter is increasing exponentially, it will dominate by 2021.

You can learn React Native rapidly by putting in some effort or using JavaScript if you are familiar with it.

It is not difficult to learn Dart if you are passionate about using Flutter. It is more stable, productive, and flexible than Flutter. There's a good chance it's going to become famous within a few years.

In the future, Flutter will win over React Native!

Also Read: Taxi Booking Mobile App Development Cost & Features

Conclusion

Flutter's ability to create MVP apps and multiple iterations makes it a great choice for developing simple native and cross-platform applications. You can use our checklist to help decide which one of these technologies should be added to your tech stack.

React Native is the best choice if:

Modules for cross-platform applications allow you to scale your current applications. Native applications must be lightweight. Your goal is to find out how you can create shared APIs out of the box. Your goal is to create a highly responsive interface with an asynchronous build. If you decide to invest money and time in this project, you will have sufficient resources.

Flutter is the best choice if:

Native functionality is not required for your idea. The delivery timeline and budget are tight. Writing faster codes and deploying them faster are both important. With a single code base and multi-platform support, you are hoping to reduce development costs. In your application, you intend to have a frame rate of between 60 and 120 frames per second. A widget-based UI is what you are looking for.

Having trouble choosing a platform?

Both platforms have been at the core of our business since they were introduced, so our developers will find the right solution for any problem. We can help you choose the best solution based on your business. Tell us about your business. Our company Orion Infosolutions offers cross-platform applications including Flutter app development and React Native app development.

Do you develop cross-platform applications? Contact us to share your experience.