React Native vs Flutter: Comparison by Main Technical Characteristics
Here, we emphasized the main technical criteria to compare these kits. We are going to compare them by performance abilities, the convenience of user interface creation, the broadness of ecosystem and community support of each technology, the possibility of integration with ready-made native modules, the platforms that are supported by them, and, finally, the most successful and famous projects created on each platform. For your convenience, we have compiled the most concise comparison results for each of the items in a table where the pros and cons of each technology are clearly visible.
The results should help you to decide between React Native or Flutter. Is Flutter better than React Native? Or vice versa? Let’s discuss.
1. Performance
RN
React Native uses a bridge architecture where JavaScript code interacts with the platform’s native components through a special bridge. This allows applications to look and act like native.
However, React Native vs Flutter performance is transmitted over the bridge, this can cause small delays, especially in complex animations or large amounts of data. But this problem is not irresistible, as you can see in our React Native highly-animated music learning mobile app development case.
Also, to implement complex functions may require writing native code, which increases the development time.
Flutter
Flutter uses its own rendering engine and completely bypasses the dependency on native components. The application interface is rendered in its own graphic engine Skia.
How the main advantages can be highlighted:
- Thanks to direct compilation into native code and the absence of bridge architecture, Flutter demonstrates minimal delays.
- Built-in tools allow you to easily create high performance animations with 60 FPS and above.
- The widgets look the same on all platforms, which makes testing and development easier.
Epitome
React Native is better suited for applications where the interface is highly integrated with native components and no complex graphics are required.
Flutter demonstrates excellence in high-performance tasks and complex custom interfaces.
2. User Interface
RN
React Native uses the platform’s native components to build interfaces. This means that the interface elements (such as buttons, text boxes) look and behave as users expect on iOS or Android.
Features:
- Applications look natural on every platform, as they use standard operating system elements.
- You can easily style components using CSS-like syntax.
- Complex interfaces often require the use of third-party libraries.
Flutter
Flutter uses its own widgets to create the user interface. All UI elements, including buttons and text boxes, are rendered within the Flutter engine, regardless of platform.
Features:
- Flutter offers two sets of widgets — Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS), which allows you to mimic the look of each platform.
- Developers can create completely unique interfaces without any native component constraints.
- The interfaces look the same on all devices, which makes testing easier.
Epitome
React Native vs Flutter is better suited for applications where it is important to follow platform standards (e.g., business applications with familiar interface).
Flutter wins if you need to create a custom interface or complex animations, because its widgets provide more possibilities.
3. Ecosystem and Support
RN
React Native has been around since 2015, making it a more mature product with a large user base.
Ecosystem pros:
- Thanks to the popularity of JavaScript, React Native has one of the largest developer communities. This means having a lot of ready-made solutions, discussions, and resources.
- Thousands of third-party libraries are available for functionality extension (such as Redux for state management or React Navigation for navigation).
- Meta regularly releases updates, but their integration can be complicated due to the dependency on third-party libraries.
Flutter
Flutter, which was introduced in 2017, is younger than React Native but has seen significant development owing to Google's sponsorship.
Ecosystem features:
- Although smaller than React Native, it is growing rapidly due to the popularity of Flutter among beginners and enthusiasts.
- Google supports official repositories with high-quality plugins (e.g., Firebase, Google Maps). However, the Flutter ecosystem is less diverse.
- Google is actively introducing new features and improvements. The documentation describes in detail the migration process between versions.
Epitome
React vs Flutter has a more mature and broad ecosystem, which makes it attractive for projects with more third-party integrations.
Flutter offers stability and control through the use of official plugins, but may take longer to find solutions for less standard tasks.
4. Integration with Native Modules
React Native
React Native provides developers with the ability to use native modules for accessing platform-dependent functions such as camera, GPS, Bluetooth, and others.
Features:
- The interaction between JavaScript and native code is done through a bridge, which allows calling functions written in Java, Kotlin or Objective-C, Swift.
- Most popular features are already available as ready-made libraries, but sometimes their implementation may be outdated or insufficient.
- If needed, developers can create their own modules, but this requires native programming knowledge.
Complexity:
- Possible compatibility issues between library versions and platforms.
- More complex to configure when integrating with native code than Flutter.
Flutter
Flutter simplifies native modules with built-in support for platform-dependent functions.
Features:
- Dart and native code (Java, Kotlin, Objective-C, Swift) interact via a unique method that ensures great performance and ease of integration.
- Many native functions are already implemented in official and third-party plugins, which reduces development time.
- Minimal need to switch between Dart and native code, as most functions are available “from the box”.
Cons:
- If deep customization is required, the developer needs to understand platform-dependent APIs.
- There are less third-party libraries compared to React Native.
Epitome
React Native vs Flutter was created for projects where a close integration with native code is required.
Flutter offers a more simplified integration process, which is especially useful for standard functions.
5. Platform Support
RN
React Native was originally developed for mobile platforms, but its capabilities have expanded over time.
Supported software:
- Mobile OSes are main direction of React Native, well optimized.
- Using React Native for Web, you can develop cross-platform web applications.
- There are third-party solutions that allow you to create desktop applications.
Features:
- Support for iOS and Android is excellent due to the large community and number of ready-made solutions.
- Implementation for desktop and web applications has some limitations.
Flutter
Flutter was designed to cover as many platforms as possible.
Supported platforms:
- iOS and Android are the main focus of Flutter, where it demonstrates exceptional performance.
- Support for web applications with compilation in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Official support making Flutter a universal tool for constructing desktop apps.
Features:
- Flutter uses its own renderer to guarantee that the appearance and feel are consistent across all platforms.
- Support for the web and desktop is growing, but it can still resist complex scripts.
Epitome
React Native has strong support for mobile devices, but it is less universal for web and desktop platforms.
Flutter offers a common approach to development for all platforms, but may require some improvements to optimize on each of them.
6. Successful Use Cases
RN
React Native has been adopted by many large companies to develop their mobile applications. Take a quick look at the most significant use cases:
- Instagram uses RN to improve performance and reduce development time.
- The Tesla car control app is built with React Native, which allows for efficient support of iOS and Android platforms.
- Walmart is one of the largest retailers uses React Native to create mobile apps with a single code for both platforms.
These examples demonstrate that React Native is capable of handling high complexity tasks and delivering excellent performance on large projects.
Flutter
Flutter has also been recognized by the major companies that have hired him to develop mobile and even desktop applications:
- Alibaba is a China’s e-commerce giant that uses Flutter to create high-quality user interfaces on both mobile platforms.
- BMW’s car concern uses Flutter to create mobile applications that control various functions of cars.
- The official Google Ads application was developed using Flutter, which confirms its capabilities in corporate development.
Flutter has gained popularity because of its quick development time and ability to easily construct customizable interfaces, making it suitable for innovative and visually appealing apps.
Epitome
React Native is often chosen by large companies that are interested in working with native components and optimizing performance for mobile applications.
Flutter is preferred by those who are craving solutions to create complex interfaces with a high customization and willingness to develop applications for different platforms.
Difference Between React and Flutter: Quick Comparative Table
