Table of Contents
Flutter vs. React Native: Which is Best in 2023?
Introduction
The mobile app development industry has seen a massive surge in recent years with businesses seeking to create their own mobile apps to reach out to their customers. With the advent of technology, it has become easier for businesses to develop mobile apps that cater to their customers’ needs.
Two of the most popular frameworks used for mobile app development are Flutter and React Native. In this blog, we will be exploring the two frameworks and comparing(Flutter vs React Native) them to determine which one is the best for mobile app development in 2023.
Market Trends
According to reports from Grand View Research and Statista, the global mobile application market is projected to experience phenomenal growth in the upcoming years. A compound annual growth rate of 13.4% is expected from 2022 to 2030, while mobile app revenues are anticipated to reach an incredible 935 billion U.S. dollars by 2023. This remarkable growth clearly illustrates the immense possibilities of web application development in the future.
Its market share has grown from 38% to 42% in the past year, making it the clear leader on the Statista graph.
Source: Stastista
React Native follows Flutter as the second most popular cross-platform application, holding a 38% market share, according to the same report.
Flutter and React Native are both open-source, free frameworks that have gained widespread popularity in recent years. According to recent statistics, React Native is the second most used framework for mobile app development, while Flutter is the third most popular. Both frameworks offer a wide range of benefits, making it difficult to choose one over the other. However, in this blog, we will be examining their features and comparing them to determine which one is best suited for mobile app development in 2023.
Read More: Flutter vs. Kotlin: which is the best pick for your next project?
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a powerful UI toolkit and mobile app SDK created by Google, allowing developers to quickly and easily build beautiful, fast, and natively compiled apps for both iOS and Android platforms. Utilizing Dart as its programming language, Flutter offers a unique approach to development, making it easier and faster to produce high-quality apps. Additionally, Flutter’s growing popularity in recent years is due to its ease of use and fast development cycle, making it a great choice for both beginner and experienced developers alike.
What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source mobile app development framework created by Facebook that uses JavaScript library and ReactJS library to build native mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms. By allowing developers to write code once and run it on multiple platforms, React Native is an exceptionally versatile framework for mobile app development. Moreover, with a large and active community, React Native is one of the most popular mobile app development frameworks. By utilizing React Native, developers are able to save time and resources, and create powerful, feature-rich mobile applications.
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Flutter vs React Native Comparison
When it comes to developing mobile applications, two of the most popular frameworks today are Flutter and React Native. Both platforms have strengths and weaknesses, and understanding the differences between them is essential for choosing the right framework for any project. In this article, we’ll compare the two frameworks across four distinct areas: architecture, performance, community and support, and development tools and ecosystems.
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Architecture: Flutter vs React Native
Flutter uses a unique architecture, the Dart framework, which allows for fast development and high performance. It includes a rich set of pre-designed widgets that simplify the process of creating a UI.
React Native uses JavaScript and ReactJS, which is a popular library for building user interfaces. It uses native components instead of WebView to provide a more native look and feel to the app.
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
| Approach | Flutter uses a unique architecture with its own widgets and framework | React Native uses native components and a JavaScript-based architecture |
| Customization | Flutter allows for full customization with its own widgets | React Native allows for some customization but is limited by the native components |
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Performance : Flutter vs React Native
Flutter has a fast performance due to its Dart framework and the use of widgets. It provides 60 frames per second and is optimized for high performance.
React Native also has good performance, but it can be limited by the performance of the JavaScript engine. The use of native components provides a good look and feel, but the performance can vary depending on the device and the complexity of the app.
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
| Speed | Flutter has fast performance due to its Dart language and efficient architecture | React Native has good performance but may slow down with complex applications |
| CPU Usage | Flutter has lower CPU usage compared to React Native | React Native has higher CPU usage compared to Flutter |
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Community and Support : Flutter vs React Native
Flutter has a large and growing community, with many developers and companies contributing to the framework. It has good support from Google, with a growing number of libraries and packages available.
React Native also has a large and growing community, with many developers and companies contributing to the framework. It has good support from Facebook, with a large number of libraries and packages available.
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
| Community | Flutter has a growing and supportive community | React Native has a large and established community with a wealth of resources and support |
| Availability of Resources | Flutter has a limited number of resources compared to React Native | React Native has a vast amount of resources and support available |
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Development Tools and Ecosystem : Flutter vs React Native
Flutter has a growing number of development tools and packages available, including a rich set of pre-designed widgets and a fast development cycle.
React Native has a large number of development tools and packages available, including a growing number of native modules and a fast development cycle. It also has good integration with other technologies such as ReactJS and Redux.
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
| Development Environment | Flutter offers a rich development environment with many tools and plugins available | React Native offers a good development environment with some limitations |
| Ecosystem | Flutter has a growing ecosystem with many plugins and packages available | React Native has a mature ecosystem with many plugins and packages available |
Advantages and Disadvantages of Flutter and React Native
Flutter Advantages:
- Offers great performance and a fast development cycle
- Supports features such as hot reload and easy debugging
- Provides an array of ready-made widgets and tools to speed up the development process
- Has a large library of well-documented packages
- Open source and actively supported by Google
Flutter Disadvantages:
- Limited number of Android and iOS libraries and tools
- Unclear implementation of complex UI components
- Requires a steep learning curve to master
- Issues with large app size due to high compilation times
- Limited amount of available tutorials and resources
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React Native Advantages :
- Fast development cycles
- Easy to learn for developers who are already familiar with React
- Cross-platform codebase that can be deployed to both iOS and Android
- High performance due to its use of native components
- Ability to integrate with native code
- Open-source and backed by a vibrant community
React Native Disadvantages :
- Limited native components compared to the native SDKs
- Large library dependencies can cause performance issues
- Lack of custom modules can limit the possibilities of the platform
- Third-party libraries may not be as reliable as native ones
- Compatibility issues with some older versions of Android or iOS
Here’s a comparison table of Flutter and React Native, considering the features you mentioned:
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
| Initial Release | 2017 | 2015 |
| Backed by | ||
| Programming Language | Dart | JavaScript |
| Licensing | BSD | MIT |
| Type | Cross-platform | Cross-platform |
| Platform Support | Android, iOS, Web, Desktop | Android, iOS, Web |
| Application Performance | Excellent | Good |
| Documentation | Good | Excellent |
| IDE Support | Good | Good |
| Code Reusability | High | High |
| Testing | Good | Good |
| Community Support | Growing | Mature |
| Components Library | Large | Large |
| Adaptive Components | Yes | Yes |
| Learning Curve | Steep | Moderate |
| Hot Reload | Yes | Yes |
| Apps Built | Few | Many |
| Time-to-market | Faster | Slower |
| GitHub Stars | 127k+ | 110k+ |
| GitHub Forks | 16k+ | 38k+ |
Read More: Top Flutter Packages, Tools, Plugins & Libraries For Development
Flutter vs React Native Google Trends and Future Technology Evolution
Since February 2021, the number of users searching for Flutter on Google has significantly surpassed those searching for React Native. This development is a strong indication of Flutter’s future growth and market dominance potential. With its robust development tools and expansive library of libraries and services, Flutter is quickly becoming the go-to choice for app development.
Source: Market Trend
React Native has been the go-to choice for cross-platform development for a while now, largely due to its greater market experience. However, Flutter is quickly gaining traction and is on the fast track to becoming a major player in the development world. With its increasing adoption rate, it won’t be long before Flutter overtakes React Native as the market leader in cross-platform development.
In terms of market trends, both technologies are expected to continue to rise in popularity. React Native is likely to remain the dominant player due to its established community and larger pool of developers. Flutter, however, will continue to gain traction as more developers become familiar with it and as Google continues to invest in its development.
Both Flutter and React Native are popular frameworks for developing mobile applications and have seen a surge in popularity in recent years. Flutter has been praised for its modern and expressive design language, fast development time, and good performance. React Native, meanwhile, is a mature technology that is widely used, has a large and established developer community, and is easy to learn for web developers.
In terms of future evolution, both technologies are likely to continue to evolve and improve, with new features and improvements being added to both frameworks. However, it is likely that React Native will continue to evolve in a more incremental and evolutionary way, while Flutter may continue to introduce more radical changes and new features.
Popular Apps Are Made With React Native and Flutter
Here are 10 popular apps that are built with React Native and Flutter:
Apps Built with React Native:
| – | One of the world’s most popular social networking platforms, with over 2.7 billion active users worldwide. |
| – | A photo and video-sharing app used by millions of people to connect with friends and share their lives. |
| – | A popular online marketplace for booking and renting short-term lodging accommodations. |
| – | A food delivery platform that lets users order food from their favorite restaurants and have it delivered to their doorstep. |
| – | A popular retail chain that allows customers to shop online for a wide range of products. |
| – | A leading global business and financial news provider. |
| – | A free voice and text chat app designed for gamers that allows users to create and join servers to communicate with other players. |
| – | A website builder that allows users to create professional-looking websites without any coding skills. |
| – | A music streaming platform that allows users to discover, stream, and share music. |
| – | A leading electric car manufacturer that produces high-performance electric vehicles. |
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Apps Built with Flutter:
| – | A popular platform for online advertising that helps businesses reach their target audience across various websites and mobile apps. |
| – | A popular e-commerce platform that connects buyers and sellers worldwide, with over 1 billion active users. |
| – | A mindfulness and mental wellness app that uses machine learning to provide personalized daily reflection exercises. |
| – | A mobile app development company that uses Flutter to create high-quality mobile apps. |
| – | A social media management tool designed for small business owners that helps users manage multiple social media accounts in one place. |
| – | A personal development app that provides users with tools and resources to improve their well-being. |
| – | A water tracking app that helps users stay hydrated by tracking their daily water intake. |
| – | A Broadway musical-themed app that provides users with a unique mix of music, lyrics, and animations. |
| – | A popular ride-hailing app that offers various services, including food delivery, grocery delivery, and more. |
| – | A popular digital bank in Brazil that offers a range of financial services, including bank accounts, credit cards, and loans. |
These are just a few of the numerous applications that have been created with React Native and Flutter. Both frameworks are well-liked by developers and are frequently updated, which makes them ideal options for creating mobile applications.
Read More: Hire Full Stack Developers: Cost & Skills
Conclusion
If you’re a developer trying to decide between React Native and Flutter for your project in 2023, you’ve come to the right place. At Syndell, our mission is to provide developers with unbiased, detailed comparisons between React Native and Flutter, so you can make an informed decision about which language best suits your needs and skills.
Although Flutter is a powerful competitor to React Native, both languages have their own strengths and weaknesses. With the Agile methodology for software development, Syndell ensures no matter which language you choose, we will provide you with the best developers to maximize the potential of your business. Whether you’re looking for a React Native app development company or a Flutter app development company, we’ve got you covered.
FAQs
Both Flutter and React Native offer cross-platform mobile development features that let you create apps for both Android and iOS using a single codebase. Flutter is an open-source user interface toolkit from Google, whereas React Native is a JavaScript framework developed by Facebook. Both are popular choices for mobile development and are capable of producing high-performance apps with gorgeous user interfaces.
With the help of the UI toolkit Flutter, programmers can create native desktop, web, and mobile applications using only one codebase. You can use React to create native mobile apps thanks to the React Native framework.
React Native can be learned more quickly if you have experience with JavaScript and React. In a similar vein, learning Flutter may be easier if you have familiarity with Dart programming. It’s crucial to take one’s background and experience into account.
When it comes to performance, both Flutter and React Native offer advantages and limitations of their own. The advantage of using native components with React Native over Flutter, which is well recognized for its quick development cycle, is that it can lead to speedier performance.
No, it is not possible to use current React Native code in Flutter, and the reverse is also true. This is due to the fact that the two frameworks employ different programming languages—JavaScript for React Native and Dart for Flutter—as well as separate architectures and libraries.
