Releasing an app on both App Store and Google Play is every business’s desire. But the trick is, before shipping a mobile application to the market, you have to choose a technology stack. Is it going to be React Native or Flutter? Do you know which one is worth your money, time, and effort?
In short, you should choose Flutter if your budget is limited or you need to make a simple application quickly. Also, you can make a Flutter application if UI is core for your app. But if your funding is sufficient and you want to create a complicated app, go with React Native. Keep reading to find out about the two app development frameworks and their most distinct features.
React Native vs. Flutter in Development
Both Flutter and React Native are popular frameworks for cross-platform mobile app development. But each of them has its peculiarities. Let’s compare React Native and Flutter according to eight criteria:
- Programming language
- Installation and initial configuration
- Development tools and documentation
- Community support
Programming Language
React Native uses JavaScript. In particular, ReactJS – a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. For web developers, working with React Native comes easy.
Another distinct advantage here is JavaScript’s solid popularity. According to Stack Overflow 2020 developers’ survey, JavaScript has been the most commonly used programming language for eight years in a row, so assembling or training a React Native development team will be easy.
With Flutter, you have to use Dart – a programming language created by Google. As a client-optimized language, Dart has many advantages. Take productive app development, for instance.
Luckily, Dart resembles other popular OOP languages, such as Java and C++. If you are familiar with either of those, you’ll pick it up quickly. On top of that, according to Stack Overflow, Dart is more loved by developers than JavaScript.
Installation and Initial Configuration
React Native’s configuration process is simple. Basically, you install React-Native CLI globally through the command line. Keep in mind, you will also need NodeJS and Yarn installed as a package manager.
You can install Flutter by downloading the binary for a specific mobile platform. The next step is adding it to your PATH variable. Lucky for you, this can be done via the command line. With this additional setting, though, Flutter loses points to React Native. Its installation isn’t that straightforward.
Development Tools and Documentation
React Native has decent documentation. Sadly, it’s more focused on mature web developers who are already familiar with JavaScript and has a few gaps. For instance, important features like navigation aren’t well-documented. Moreover, finding information about building native libraries can be troublesome.
Contrary to React Native, Flutter has rich documentation. It offers detailed guides accompanied by graphics and video tutorials. The cool thing is that Flutter has several tools to assist you in app development, including debugger and Flutter
Community Support
When it comes to an open-source development framework, having a large community of contributors matters. Remarkably, React Native has that. The framework was launched in 2015 by Facebook, rapidly gaining the support of many developers. You can find links to React Native community channels here.
As for Flutter, its community of developers is smaller than React Native’s, but not for long. Introduced in 2017, Flutter is a relatively new framework that is gaining great popularity. Even more, its support is growing steadily as well. Check out these Flutter community resources.
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