Flutter vs.React Native, Xamarin, Native Development: Major Pros and Cons
By: Andrey Kazakevich
Tags: Flutter, Flutter App Development, Mobile App Development

There are two ways you can go about developing mobile software. The first is to hire a one development team to have a cross-platform application built.

The second one is to hire one team to have an iOS app built. And then another team to have an Android app built. Kinda a hustle.

The decision might get difficult. Apart from “cross-platform vs. native” thing, both of which have their own set of pros and cons, there is also a pile of frameworks, SDKs, and other tools you have to choose from.

To help you decide, I will review the newbie of the cross-platform development world — Flutter SDK. Flutter will be compared to two developer favorites — React Native and Xamarin, and native development as well.

Flutter vs. React Native

React Native packs a punch in this comparison. It has a large community and a long history. But let’s not get our hopes down — Flutter has some edge over it.

PROS OF FLUTTER

- Efficient performance

The foundation of Flutter is a well-performing language Dart, which is used by Google for its own products. When it comes to React Native, it uses a JavaScript bridge to access native device components. Such access increases the app response time, where Flutter uses its foundation Dart bridge to speed things up.

On top of that, the Flutter uses C/C++ libraries to compile apps, which are known for better native performance.

- Good documentation

As with all it’s development products, Google makes sure that the documentation is as exhaustive as possible. The same is with Flutter — the documentation is detailed and thorough. It doesn’t matter how experienced the developer is — the documentation makes it easy to grasp the technology.

Flutter is also a favorite amongst enthusiasts, who make tutorials and add up to the documentation.

- Strong architecture

In terms of architecture, Flutter has a better one because of the built-in components which let you develop the whole application from scratch. As for React Native, it may use third-party tech, like JavaScript bridge to access the device’s native modules.

Flutter has built-in design standards, Material Design for Android and Cupertino design for iOS. So you will be able to build a Flutter application that looks and feels like a native one on each platform.

CONS OF FLUTTER

- Weaker ecosystem

Since Flutter is younger than React Native, it’s lagging behind in terms of established packages. It has a way ahead of it, but it may not be that long: thanks to community dedication.

- New language

Dart language, which serves as a foundation of Flutter, is a new language. Even though Dart is performance-effective and easy to learn, it is hard to beat the popularity JavaScript has gained over the years.

JavaScript is used almost everywhere — many companies have adopted it, it is supported by lots of web development frameworks. The main reason for such success is that the language allows developers to create almost everything.

So Flutter is a preferable choice because of the high performance, good documentation, and strong architecture, while React Native excels at having a profound ecosystem and well-established development language.

Now I will compare Flutter to an open-source cross-platform development framework Xamarin.