React Native vs Flutter: Which is Best for Your App?

When any startup has queries regarding app development technology or framework they should use, I suggest them to use Cross-Platform Apps as they can give a very fast MVP(minimum viable product) and are cost-effective as well. You as a reader may have a questioning mind and might be unaware of the term Cross-Platform App. So, Cross-Platform Apps are those apps that have a single code base for Android, iOS & web most of the time, This method saves a lot of effort in terms of time and money and only one developer can work on the whole project, in this way the later growth and upgrade is also pretty much sustainable. Now there are several frameworks that can be used for mobile app development, these apps but the most trending ones are Flutter and React Native. So let me compare both of them as it is the title and aim of the blog so that you can get an idea about what framework to choose when you are going to develop your next cross-platform app either for your college project or for a big cap client. Just to let you know, Yes these two frameworks are efficient enough for useful projects and are not just limited to dummy toy-like projects.

What is React Native?

React Native is the small brother of React JS and is managed by the great Facebook that is now going to be known as Meta. React Native just like its big brother is a JavaScript-based framework that you can use to build efficient and quality apps. Your code for one platform and then can build the application for the other platform that is the web, iOS /android.

How to Setting Up the Development Environment?

Just go to the official site and you would get the installation guide step by step. Trust me, the official site is informative enough to guide you and you won’t need help from any of the youtube guides.

But when you would be installing then you would come across a dilemma while choosing the CLI. React Native has two CLI options one is EXPO CLI and the other is React Native CLI. I am going to help you in this dilemma as a torchbearer and would explain the pros and cons of each CLI but I am not going to comment on which one is the best. The choice is going to be yours as per the need of the hour.

Expo CLI is a developer tool that provides you with an interface between developer and expo tools. Yeah I know this definition is quite bookish, let me write in a simpler form. Basically, Expo gives you some tools that help you in developing apps in an easier way. Expo CLI provides you with an app called Expo Go that previously came as Expo Client that opened the app you were developing, directly on your phone without building the apk. So if you wanted to check the look of the app on an iOS phone, just open the app through Expo Go on your iOS Phone, and boom, you get the view. Similarly, you could do with the android app as well. The plus point of using Expo CLI is that it provides you with some of the pre-built libraries that are usually required in the app and you had to code it yourself if you did not use Expo CLI.

React Native CLI provides you with the plain react-native projects for you with separate native projects for iOS and Android platforms. You can modify the native projects as you want to write native code for each platform. Here everything is in your hand.

If CLI was about clothing then Expo CLI would be a box with a big sheet of cloth, with a guidebook and some ornaments. You would stich and make the dress using the guide and could decorate the dress with the ornaments in the box. While React Native CLI gives you only the sheet of cloth that you can stich to make the dress.

It might be a bad example but yeah, this is what comes to my mind while I am writing this piece of blog. One more example I could give here is of a canvas; React Native CLI gives a blank canvas to make your art on, but what does Expo CLI give in terms of canvas? I don’t know. You can tell me in the comment.

So once you can decide what CLI to use then you are good to go with the system set up for the development.

Pros of React Native:

• JavaScript is the biggest pro for me.
• A lot of options in terms of CLI, libraries, etc.
• A big community to help you with the problems.

Cons of React Native:

• Few necessary features like Shared Preferences got deprecated, I don’t know why.
• You might need to customize a lot of things separately for different platforms.
• A big headache to add a few features that is absent for iOS but you need it on Android and vice versa.

Future Work of React Native

• The need for separate customization for android and iOS can be reduced.
• The gap between Expo CLI and React Native CLI in terms of libraries and features can be bridged.

Now let’s head towards Flutter.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a framework with the same goal as React Native and the parent is the big daddy I mean Google. Flutter is basically based on Dart Language. If you are a newbie then you might have to learn the basics; but as a developer, I feel you must not be concerned about the language because every language has the same fundamentals, and if you know any language whether it is C, java, C# or C++ you are good to go. The installation for Flutter is pretty simple just visit the official site and you are done. When I was doing it for the first time I did not expect it to be so easy because I had already worked with React Native and had some presumptions about installation stuff.

Now If I say Flutter is easy to install then really doesn’t mean that it is very easy to learn or develop. Flutter has a very sophisticated architecture and often while working on flutter I felt like a great flutter app developer doing some great magic performing some great tasks and at the same time while working on React Native I felt like a small web developer just doing some tricks with JavaScript that I learned ages ago.

Pros of Flutter:

• Managed by Google is the biggest pros for me.
• The builds are quite smooth. I don’t find a big difference between IOS and Android build in terms of UI.
• You get quite good features to add in the app.

Cons of Flutter:

• It could be made easier to code.
• Community is not that big, maybe because it is a bit tough to learn and is younger as compared to React Native.

Future Work of Flutter

• Community is definite to grow.
• SDK can be made lighter.

Now comes the comparison time and I would compare in the same fashion as all others, Yeah table form. The table would be easy to compare. Right?

If you are looking for a technology company TechnoYuga is a team of mobile app development that care for client success. We believe in long-term results and stay away from ‘quick wins’ that don’t last. You can contact us at hello@technoyuga.com.