Pros and Cons of Flutter and React Native

Last updated on December 22nd, 2023 at 06:41 am

Technologies promise effective solutions to businesses, and it has been proven with real-time facts. Smartphone apps are rising rapidly, and multiple types of mobile app development solutions exist in the market.

If you are looking for a cost-effective solution, cross-platform app development is the right thing to do. The flutter and React Native are best with their qualities, but if you need to know about Flutter vs React Native, this article is dedicated to revealing the difference between these two.

As a business owner, you might be searching about some questions such as –

• Which type of app development will be best for my business?
• How to choose the right types of app development?
• How do I choose the best mobile frameworks for a business app?
• Is the mobile app beneficial for the business?
• How to monetize the app

Or there might be more.

These are the most eligible questions that every enterprise owner seeking mobile app development services must ask before taking any final decision. Before we reach any conclusion, one point can surprise you that-

Cross-platform app development is such a perfect choice for the startups and small businesses seeking growth, the best way to utilize the limited funds, and want to target a wider audience. The Flutter and React Native are two trending technologies that businesses hire a mobile app development company for having a cross-platform app.

So, let’s start with the introduction to Flutter and React Native. The next section will let you know some fantastic information about these frameworks.

What the flutter is?

Flutter’s tagline is- Build Apps For Any Screen. These are not only the five words of the tagline. If you closely analyze it, it says a lot more about it.

This line means you can develop an app that works responsively and functions on all devices irrespective of any platform; it directly indicates cross-platform mobile application development.

Not only mobile apps, but you can also develop web apps, desktop apps, and embedded apps from a single codebase.

It is an open-source framework by Google to develop multi-platform applications using a single codebase that functions & performs like native apps.

Flutter’s key features are:

 Speedy Execution

The flutter code executes fast on any device as it compiles to ARM, Javascript and Intel Machine Code.

 Highly Productive

While code writing, if there are any changes, its hot reload functions work fantastically that instantly showcase the changes.

 High Flexibility

It remains flexible for designing and development as well. It provides freedom to the designers for work on each pixel.

This framework is based on Dart language that supports optimization of apps to let them work fast on any platform. Globally Flutter framework is used by 39% of the global cross-platform app developers. One of its best examples is Google Pay.

What Are the Pros & Cons of Flutter?

When it comes to Flutter Vs. React Native app development, you also need to know about the pros and cons of both frameworks, so here you will read about the pros and cons of Flutter, and the next section is dedicated to React Native. So, let’s start with the pros.

#1. Pros of Flutter

• Hot Reloading

One of the top-notch advantages of the Flutter framework makes it one of the most favorable choices for a mobile app development company.

The point is while developing the application, the developers usually update the code. So while working with Flutter, the updates reflect instantly helps the app developers to implement the ideas fast and even hot reloading also helps in application testing.

• Single Codebase

At starting this blog, the idea is revealed that Flutter and React Native are cross-platform mobile app development frameworks.

So, the flutter developers can develop multi-platform applications using a single codebase. The single flutter code covers the web, desktop, Android, iOS, and embedded platforms.

• Easy Bug-Fixing, Reduced Testing Cost

Again here we will talk about hot reloading. While testing the Flutter application, bug fixing is easier than any other framework or technology. It empowers the developers to produce feature-rich and fully functional apps. Due to the cross-platform ability, the testing cost is less as there is no need to test the code separately.

• Fantastic Designs

Flutter has a powerful rendering engine that empowers the designers to utilize each pixel to create the most lovable design to take the user experience to a greater extent.

Another exciting fact is that it supports hardware-accelerated graphics that make the app design fabulous and used on any platform.

#2. Cons of Flutter

• Small Size Developer Community

Although the flutter community is rising, still it has less size than native app developer communities. Regarding Flutter vs, React Native, the React Native app developer community is more experienced than Flutter.

Another point is that Dart is a less used programming language than JavaScript.

• Fewer Libraries & Plugins

The Google-powered cross-platform framework Flutter’s libraries are impressive and fine to use; still, it offers fewer plugins and widgets compared to React Native.

• Immaturity

The flutter framework is still immature compared to React Native and other frameworks. It needs some missing advanced features to attract and onboard more programmers onto it.

• Bigger App Size

Flutter apps occupy more space than native apps. Although the framework owners and team are working on it, the result is still awaiting.

What is React Native? 

Now here comes another fantastic cross-platform app development framework – React Native is owned by Facebook. Its tagline is – Learn Once, Write Anywhere.

That indicates that after learning React Native App Development, it is easy for the developers to write the code for multiple platforms without any complexity. Moreover, it has a powerful JavaScript library that facilitates the developers to develop the native performing app for iOS and Android from scratch.

 In 2015, Facebook Now Metaverse launched it. In a short span, it got its momentum, and till 2018 it became one of the top-notch app development platforms having the second-highest repository at GitHub. It is supported by many contributors and companies such as Microsoft, Infinite, Callstack etc.

React Native’s Key Features Are-

• Rendering With Native Code

Although the app’s code will be written with JavaScript, it will use the native platform similar to its API. It helps in creating platform-specific versions that can be shared with multiple platforms.

• Robustly Supports Native UI Building Blocks

The React Native has several components that support the native UI building blocks; in turn, it creates the best user experience absolutely without a doubt.

• Seamless Cross-Platform Performance

It is different from any other cross-platform frameworks, and the reason is that at the time of development, React Native app developers write the code using JavaScript and finally, the application UI functions 100% native.

• Highly Responsive to The Platforms

React Native is known as one of the cross-platform app development frameworks, but applications developed using it match platform users’ expectations, i.e., Android and iOS.

It is the most demanding technology of the market, not only for app developers but also for the React Native web developers for professional web applications that a business can leverage. 42% of worldwide software developers use it, and the graph is still rising.

What Are the Pros & Cons of React Native?

Like the Flutter, it also has pros and cons that make it different from the others. React Native’s pros and cons also help us to identify some key points about Flutter vs React native. So, let’s start reading one by one.

#1. React Native Pros

• Fast Refresh

Yes, it sounds interesting that it combines the power of hot reloading and live reloading. The fast refresh is introduced with React Native 0.61 version. It works fine to recover the typo & other mistakes and does not transform the code invasively.

• Single Codebase for Multi-Platforms

Any React Native app development company develops a single code base using this platform that runs fantastically on Android, iOS and even on the web Platform.

• Strong Libraries

React Native libraries are strong enough to empower cross platform app development such as iOS, Android, web and desktop. Its key libraries are React Native for Web, React XP, and React Native Windows.

• The Power of Javascript

The Flutter is based on Dart programming language, and React Native is based on JavaScript, which makes it more advantageous from a Flutter vs JavaScript point of view.

• Mature Framework

In comparison to the Flutter, it is a more mature framework. Each time with the launch of its new version, it comes with a more stable API compared to the previous one.

• Large Community

If you are going to search, what is React Native community size? The answer is that it has a large community of professional app developers and programming experts around the world due to the complete support of JavaScript.

• Easy Learning Curve

If you are familiar with programming or have solid learning of app development and web development, it becomes very easy to use React Native. Instead of learning to utilize the new libraries, you can use existing libraries with ease.

• Cost-Effective Testing

The testing cost can be reduced upto 50% as to develop the application for Android and iOS platform single codebase is required.

• Easy Hiring of React Native App Developers

Due to the majority of its community, when it comes to hire React Native app developers, it becomes very easy for an enterprise.

#2. Cons of React Native

• Less Native Ability

It is a fact that it is not 100% native as other cross-platform app development solutions. Still, React Native is much better than Flutter. It contains more native elements than Flutter; it is another truth regarding Flutter vs React Native.

• Complex to Debug

Although with React Native App Development, the cost can be reduced due to the use of C/C++ and JavaScript debugging is such a complex process using this framework. In addition, it demands robust programming knowledge, especially native programming.

• Tough to Form The Team

Now you are fully aware that React Native is a cross-platform framework. So, if you want to develop a cross-platform app for business, you need to choose developers with profound knowledge of web and mobile app development, including JavaScript.

• Support Only Basic Components

Among its other limitations is that it supports only basic components, so whenever customization is required, such as animations or multiple screen transitions, React Native is not the perfect choice.

Key Differences Between Flutter & React Native

So now we have gone through all the aspects of Flutter vs React Native, where we have gone through the features and pros & cons of both. The following showcases the key differences between Flutter and React Native in a tabular form. That will help you to differentiate between these two top-notch cross-platform app development.

The Final Thoughts:

The point is nothing is perfect in this world as things depend on the need. So, the point is there is no such perfect cross-platform framework that exists, although we have done a reading on Flutter vs React Native through this blog. Both these frameworks have their own limitations and advantages.

By keeping this in your mind now, you can make your own decision; however, in terms of reach, finding React Native app development services is less complex due to the availability of experts.

The rest of the things depend on your concurrent project requirements. However, still, you can refer to this blog to take a final decision.

Naveen Khanna

Naveen Khanna is the CEO of eBizneeds, a company renowned for its bespoke web and mobile app development. By delivering high-end modern solutions all over the globe, Naveen takes pleasure in sharing his rich experiences and views on emerging technological trends. He has worked in many domains, from education, entertainment, banking, manufacturing, healthcare, and real estate, sharing rich experience in delivering innovative solutions.