Flutter vs React Native

When it comes to mobile application development, we have a lot of options. There are plenty of cross-platform solutions that allow you to write code once and deploy it everywhere. The most well-known options include:

1. Flutter (a Google product)
2. React Native (a Facebook product)
3. Ionic (built using Angular framework)
4. NativeScript (built using Angular framework)
5. Xamarin (a Microsoft product)
6. Cordova (HTML/CSS/JavaScript)

There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding which platform to use for mobile app development. Here we compare Flutter and React Native in terms of performance, ease of development, support, and more.

Flutter vs. React Native - A Brief Introduction

Flutter and React Native are two of the most popular frameworks for building mobile apps. They both allow you to build native applications for Android, iOS, and other platforms with a single code base. The main difference between these two frameworks is that React Native uses JavaScript and Flutter uses Dart. 

Flutter's optimized for both iOS (iOS 11+) and Android (Android 8.0+), and it uses the Skia 2D graphics engine so you don't have to worry about rendering bugs like those seen in UIKit-based applications. You can also use Flutter integrations with third-party libraries like Material Design or Material Components to add animation effects or pull data from cloud push notifications. Flutter is more focused on graphics rendering, so it has lower latency than React Native does. It also allows for more fine-grained control over animations and other elements of the user interface.

React Native is based on React and also requires developers to use Facebook's JavaScript library for building user interfaces (UI). Its architecture is based on Flux application architecture and Redux state management pattern. The main advantage of this framework is that it allows you to reuse your existing web development skills while working with a native mobile development platform (either iOS or Android).

Despite this difference, they both offer similar functionality, such as building user interfaces, handling navigation transitions, and so on. Both frameworks have their own pros and cons; however, Flutter appears to be more popular than React Native at this time due to its ease of use and cross-platform functionality.

Performance

Flutter is a new framework that has been built from the ground up to be fast and lightweight. It uses an ahead-of-time compilation process so that your app can load almost instantly. It also uses a single thread so that it doesn't waste resources on multi-tasking, which makes it easier to run on lower-end devices. In general, Flutter's performance is comparable with native apps built in Java or C++, which tend to be faster than those written with JavaScript frameworks like React Native.

React Native uses React's virtual DOM, so there's no need for an additional compilation step like there is with Flutter (although you do need to go through the process of compiling native Android or iOS code). However, this means that React Native apps will generally load slower than those built using Flutter since they have more overhead from loading all their dependencies first before actually running anything useful like rendering UI components

Ease of Development

While both platforms are incredibly easy to get started with, they each have their own unique strengths. Flutter is based on Dart, which uses an entirely new programming language that has a lot of built-in features for developing mobile apps. It's also highly customizable and offers a large set of pre-built widgets that can be used with little or no customization required. 

On the other hand, React Native is based on JavaScript (or TypeScript) which is already familiar to many developers since it's used in many web applications as well as native apps on Android and iOS platforms. This means that new developers won't have much trouble picking up React Native quickly since they already know how to program in JavaScript or TypeScript languages.

Support

When it comes to supporting, Flutter has an edge over ReactNative. The Flutter team has been able to provide timely fixes and updates for bugs that have been found in the framework. The developers also provide reasonable support by responding to questions on StackOverflow or GitHub issues. Flutter offers a more robust support system than React Native, including:

• A full tutorial and documentation site
• A community forum to ask questions and get help with your project
• An active Slack channel where you can ask questions and get feedback on your code
• A detailed wiki filled with guides on how to use Flutter's various features

On the other hand, ReactNative's support is limited to a few community forums where users can ask questions about their projects or issues they're having with their codebase. Since there is no official support channel for this framework, users have to rely on other developers' answers in these forums which may or may not be helpful depending on who responds first.

Application Size

Flutter apps are typically smaller than ReactNative apps. The average Flutter app weighs in at around 10 MB, while the average ReactNative app is around 15 MB.

Why is this? Because Flutter uses a single codebase to build iOS and Android apps, while ReactNative requires separate codebases for each platform. This means that you need to write more lines of code in ReactNative if you want your app to run on both platforms.

Development Time

When it comes to development time, Flutter has a slight edge over ReactNative. According to a recent study, developers can build basic Android and iOS apps in Flutter with an average of 1,800 lines of code (LOC). On the other hand, the same app would require an average of 2,000 LOC in ReactNative. Flutter takes less time compared to React Native because of its faster compilation process and code reuse. This makes it a great choice for organizations looking to get their product out quickly and without sacrificing quality.

Flutter vs React Native - Takeaway

Judging between React Native and Flutter is not an easy task. Both have their own pros and cons as well as several differences that can affect the development process. However, both of them improve upon different shortcomings, making them suitable for specific projects. The choice is ultimately up to the developer, based on the project's requirements, to decide which tool works best.

While there are similarities between Flutter and React Native, they were created with different goals in mind. React Native's goal is to make developing native apps easier by targeting JavaScript developers and leveraging the vast knowledge of open-source libraries of JavaScript. Flutter, on the other hand, takes a different approach. It doesn't use JavaScript and it is not an extension of any other platform. Flutter intends to provide a consistent mobile UI independent of the platform for which it's being developed. While this does make development more difficult than with React Native, it gives Flutter much more flexibility when creating mobile apps. Ultimately, Flutter and React Native have different focuses and will likely appeal to different types of programmers. Someone who wants to quickly develop native applications for a variety of platforms may be better off using React Native. But if you're looking to create applications that are visually consistent across platforms, or you're specifically interested in cross-platform development, Flutter may be a better choice for you. Apps built with Flutter share as much as 99% of their code across iOS and Android versions of the app, which helps significantly reduce costs by reducing the time it takes to make updates or add new features. Flutter apps run natively on iOS and Android devices instead of being hosted in a browser tab like WebViews (like most hybrid mobile apps), they can take advantage of platform-specific features like push notifications, camera access, local storage access, etc., without requiring any additional steps from developers or users.