Top Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks - React Native vs. Ionic vs. Flutter -Which one to go with?

Mobile applications are one of the most used digital channels for organizations, today, to reach their customers. Be it banking or IT, every industry prefers a user-friendly app to reach its audience as quickly as possible. It is one of the proven methods to save resources while assisting their customers with ease — and, on time. However, keeping in mind the variations of operating systems available in the market, creating an app that works for all has become an unavoidable need for app development companies. The very vision of businesses to have an app is the broader customer reach regardless of the operating system they use. This is the main reason app development companies that provide cross-platform app development services are flourishing to newer heights in the present time.

Platforms to develop a mobile app

Some of the basic guidelines to rate an app is to check for characteristics such as high performance, fast loading time, quick responses, and organized content. Native app development companies can provide all the characteristics so why one should prefer using cross-platform mobile app development services? The answer is simple! To fulfill a business’s need to ensure their app’s reach to all users without worrying about what operating systems they are on. A cross-platform mobile app development company provides a single codebase to publish your app on multiple platforms without any need of rewriting the code every time. It is not only cost-effective but also provides a market reach with a reusable, convenient, and easy to maintain code. Moreover, not every app can be developed with a cross-platform solution. And we have seen a lot of cases where Native app development is a preferable choice over cross-platform app development because it comes with its own advantages like Native apps utilize the device and platform’s capabilities up to their full potential and make the best use of the resources. However, cross-platform development has always proved that it’s worth considering because it significantly reduces the time and cost of development.

Developing a cross-platform app is a need of the day to save your resources and time but finding the one that is the best is crucial. We have written a brief comparison of the best cross-platform mobile app development tools — namely — React Native, Ionic, and Flutter. Our team anticipates that these three will continue to remain the most preferred tool for this purpose.

So if you are starting with Cross-Platform App Development in 2021, here’s Everything you need to know

React Native

Facebook created this mobile application framework called React Native, couple of years ago and first released it on 26 March. React Native is written in JavaScript, Java, C, C++, Objective C, Objective C++, and lastly Python. It is an open-source mobile application framework. One can develop a mobile application with React Native for both of the popular operating systems: Android, and iOS. It is also used for websites to build responsive web designs. React Native gives a native-like performance and it is used by big names such as Facebook itself, Uber eats, Walmart, Instagram, and more.

Ionic

Ionic is used to create hybrid mobile applications. It was released in 2013 by the company Drifty. Ionic is written in Java only, unlike React Native that can be written in various other computer languages. But with Ionic, you can develop apps for websites, devices using android operating software and native iOS. It is one of the best cross-platform mobile app development tools.

Flutter

Flutter is a collection of software development tools and is UI-based. It helps in the creation of the required software with its kits and in-built software. Flutter came just 2 years ago in May. The creator of Flutter is the most renowned one, Google.

Flutter can develop applications for several platforms such as Google itself, Linux, Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, and Fuchsia. Flutter applications can be written in C, C++, Dart, and also Skia Graphics Engine.

React Native vs Flutter vs Ionic — Which one you should prefer?

• React Native performs faster and gives a native-like experience whereas, Ionic is interactive and helps develop apps faster. Flutter is a high-performance tool that develops graphically enhanced apps
• When it comes to Front-end support Flutter provides great support to different UIs and also has built-in widgets. Ionic is useful while working with HTML, CSS, and some other UI designs as well. React Native, on the other hand, has a declarative UI and supports native components.
• Flutter also uses the most advanced features of the widely used programming languages, as it can be written in Dart, the latest computer programming language developed by Google.
• React Native and Ionic have strong community support but Flutter still has to see a string and wider community support, as it came to market recently.

Above mentioned cross-platform app development tools are efficient in their own ways. And we have already discussed the programming languages, the developers, and the platforms for which these cross-platform mobile development services are best suited. You can consider the information mentioned in this article along with keeping other factors in mind such as time, budget, type, and size of the application, and eventually, make your final move.

It is also important that mobile applications work efficiently and provide a world-class user experience. A high-performing app is necessary to provide ease to the end consumers and this is what every business aims for. It is not enough for cross-platform mobile development services to just develop an app for their customers, the app must meet the expectations from all aspects — be it performance, storage, user-friendliness, usage, or more importantly, reaches a wider audience.