While designing a mobile application, the selection of the right framework among Flutter vs Xamarin vs React Native is one of the most crucial tasks. Developers use either React Native, Xamarin, or Flutter for developing cross-platform apps. The process of developing the app becomes time-consuming and costly when the same code has to be written twice, but thanks to cross-platform mobile app development solutions where the same code can work on both Android and iOS.
The expert developers use certain tools like React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter, which improves the overall performance of the app. But you might be wondering which of these tools work best for cross-platform? To help make the right decision, we have provided a detailed comparison of all these tools, i.e. Flutter vs Xamarin vs React Native in this informative guide.
Why Choose Cross-platform Mobile Development?
Developers choose cross-platform development over native development due to following reasons:
- Affordability: Cross-platform application development is affordable as there’s a shared codebase, which reduces the costs of building an app.
- Code Reusability: Code shareability is a real game-changer impacting the entire development process, from time management to affordability, it brings numerous benefits. With transparent code, the developers can more effectively and efficiently manage such applications.
- Smaller team: Cross–platform can be done effectively with fewer developers as well as they don’t need to appoint separate teams.
- Access to wider audience: By deploying cross-platform technology, one can reach a wider audience. The developers can make the application exposed to at least two groups of users using devices with different OS.
- Fast Development: Unlike native apps that take more time, developing a cross-platform application is less laborious and time-saving. Sharing code enhances efficiency by eliminating duplicate work, allowing developers to manage their tasks more effectively.
All About React Native
React N -source frameworks for building mobile applications using JavaScript and React, the technologies deployed for building web applications. Reach Native was developed by Facebook in 2015 and is used for creating native mobile applications that are compatible on both iOS and Android platforms with a single codebase.
Key Highlights of React Native
- Cross-platform development for broad compatibility.
- High performing framework
- UI-focused
- Extensive library of pre-built components
- Third-party libraries and plugins
- Live updates
- Comes with easy and quick deployment
All About Xamarin
It is another cross-platform app development framework that uses the C# programming language and .NET framework. With Xamarin, one can easily write apps in C# for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows using a single shared code base which makes Xamarin an ideal alternative to other cross-platform frameworks like Flutter and React Native.
Key Highlights of Xamarin
- Cross-platform development.
- It uses a single, shared C# codebase for creating apps for multiple platforms.
- Access to native APIs and platform-specific features enhances versatility.
- Well-integrated with Visual Studio, Microsoft’s integrated development environment.
- Supported by a robust and extensive community.
All About Flutter
Google created Flutter, an open-source mobile application development framework with the help of Dart programming language. Flutter is an ideal option if you look for near-native app performance on a variety of platforms. Moreover, it’s version 3, not just supporting Android, iOS, Web, and Windows, but also macOS and Linux.
The key features of Flutter include:
Key Highlights of Flutter
- Cross-platform development
- High performance, with fast development and rendering times
- Hot Reload feature for real-time updates during app development
- Access native device features and APIs seamlessly.
- Utilise customizable widgets for crafting distinctive and intricate UI designs.
Flutter Vs Xamarin vs React Native: A Comparative Analysis
Flutter Vs. React Native Vs. Xamarin: Popularity
In regard to the popularity of these three frameworks, React Native wins the race. But if we look at the recent development, Flutter is also getting popular and is being deployed by famous brands like Google, Alibaba, and Tencent. Hiring native developers can prove beneficial as they can create efficient mobile applications.
Flutter Vs Xamarin vs React Native: Community Support
When it comes to community support, React Native boasts the largest following due to its open-source nature and longevity. However, both Flutter and Xamarin are witnessing growing community support to meet the rising demand.
Flutter Vs. React Native Vs. Xamarin: Programming Language
The main programming language used for React Native is JavaScript, which is widely popular among the developers. On the other hand, Flutter uses Dart- Google’s in-house programming language and C#- which is a Microsoft language that is being used in Xamarin. Out of all of these languages, JavaScript wins the race.
Flutter Vs Xamarin vs React Native: Development time
In terms of development time, React Native outshines Flutter and Xamarin by using JavaScript, known for its prevalence and ease of learning. Xamarin experiences the lengthiest development time among the three frameworks.
Development Cost: Flutter vs Xamarin vs React Native
The overall development charges for mobile app development using Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin differ from each other due to factors such as the complexity of the app, the experience of the development team, the geographic location of the development team, and more.
Based on these factors, the general estimate of the development cost for these frameworks are written below:
| Flutter | Xamarin |
React Native |
|
Development Cost: $10,000 to $35,000 |
Develop-ment Cost: $15,000 to $40,000 |
Development Cost: $10,000 to $35,000 |
Final Thoughts
All of these framework’s help minimise the overall cost and time needed for app development and each of this framework has its own merits and demerits. For instance, both Flutter and Native offer excellent native-like experiences, while Xamarin adheres to two mobile development approaches with amazing excellent coding quality.
To choose the best framework amongst Flutter vs Xamarin vs React Native, its highly recommended to appoint experts at Kodehash Technologies who can finalise the best framework as per your business’ requirements.