Do you want to explore more about Flutter vs React Native vs NativeScript and choose any one of them for your development journey? Flutter, React Native and Native Script are popular app development frameworks with cross device support. If you are looking for an app development framework then you need to choose one of these frameworks for your projects.
You need to consider performance, reliability, productivity and more while choosing the one framework for your app needs. In this blog, we are about to learn the difference between Flutter vs React Native vs NativeScript in detail.
What is Flutter Framework?
Flutter is an UI software development framework created by Google for building all types of platforms such as website, desktop, and mobile applications. This open source framework is used for building multi-platform applications from a single codebase.
It is used to build, test, and deploy beautiful applications with faster, flexibility and productivity. You can deploy applications on multiple devices from a single codebase. You will be able to perform automated testing, tools and everything else you need to build quality applications.
What is React Native Framework?
React Native Framework is an open source Javascript framework developed by Meta platform. Developers can use this framework to build native mobile applications for android and iOS devices using a single codebase. You will get access to the React framework along with the native platform ability.
React Native focuses on developing the front end frameworks and working with development teams to ensure quality of the entire application. React native uses react components which allow developers to design and control UI elements using Javascript.
What is NativeScript Framework?
NativeScript is an open source framework which helps developers create web applications for Android and iOS platforms using Typescript, Javascript, and other languages. It offers a cross platform approach with native performance and User interface.
Developers can write code once and deploy it on both iOS and Android applications. Unlike hybrid app frameworks it can be used to build apps using native UI components resulting in a native like experience with full access to APIs.
Flutter Vs React Native: What is the Difference?
Flutter and React Native are two popular frameworks used for building mobile friendly applications. Let us check some of the major differences between these two frameworks.
Programming Language
Flutter uses Dart, a language developed by Google. Dart is optimized for UI development and is similar in syntax to languages like Java and JavaScript, making it somewhat easy to pick up for developers familiar with those languages.
React Native: Uses JavaScript (or TypeScript), which is one of the most widely used languages. Since JavaScript is already popular for web development, it’s easier for web developers to transition to React Native.
Performance
Flutter apps are compiled to native ARM code, which means they tend to offer better performance because they don’t rely on a bridge to communicate between the native code and the framework.
React Native uses a bridge to connect JavaScript code with native components. This can lead to slightly slower performance compared to Flutter, especially for complex apps, because of the overhead introduced by the bridge.
UI Components
Flutter comes with a rich set of highly customizable widgets for building the user interface, and it renders everything using its own engine (Skia). This gives Flutter more control over how the app looks and behaves.
React Native uses native components (like buttons, text inputs, etc.) provided by the platform (iOS or Android). This makes it feel more like a native app, but it can also cause inconsistencies across platforms without extra effort in customizing UI elements.
Development Time
Flutter provides a “hot reload” feature that allows for quick updates to the codebase. However, because Flutter uses its own rendering engine and widgets, it can sometimes take more time to develop custom UIs, especially if you need them to look and behave like native apps.
React Native also has a hot reload feature, which speeds up the development process. React Native allows for using native components, which can make it easier to build standard UIs quickly and efficiently.
Community & Ecosystem
Flutter is relatively new (launched in 2017) but has been growing rapidly. The community is expanding, and there’s good documentation, but it still has fewer third-party libraries and plugins compared to React Native.
React Native has been around since 2015 and has a large and mature ecosystem. There are many open-source libraries, tools, and plugins available, making it easier to implement common functionality.
Maturity and Stability
Flutter being newer, Flutter is still evolving. It’s stable for most use cases but might lack some of the maturity found in React Native, especially when it comes to platform-specific customizations and integrations.
React Native is more mature and stable in terms of handling platform-specific details, performance, and integration with native modules. It’s widely used in production apps (e.g., Facebook, Instagram).
Platform Support
Flutter supports iOS, Android, web, desktop (Linux, Windows, macOS), and even embedded devices (IoT). This makes Flutter a good choice if you want to target multiple platforms with a single codebase.
React is primarily focused on iOS and Android. However, with additional frameworks like React Native Web and Expo, you can target web platforms, but desktop support is more experimental and less robust compared to Flutter.
Integration with Native Code:
Flutter allows you to easily integrate with native code when necessary (via platform channels). However, since Flutter uses its own rendering engine, integrating some native UI components might require more effort.
React Native is easy to integrate with native modules because it works more closely with the native components of the platforms. You can also easily bridge native code when needed.
Learning Curve
In Flutter, the learning curve may be steeper for those who are not familiar with Dart. Also, understanding how Flutter works with its own rendering engine and UI components can take time.
React Native is easier for developers who are already familiar with JavaScript and React. The learning curve is relatively gentle, especially if you already know how React works.
Developer Experience
In Flutter, the developer experience can feel very smooth thanks to features like “hot reload” and the comprehensive set of Flutter tools, but since it’s newer, there might be some friction in terms of finding community solutions to problems.
React Native provides an excellent developer experience with “hot reload,” debugging tools, and integration with the React ecosystem. However, since React Native sometimes depends on native code, there might be some challenges in debugging or platform-specific issues.
NativeScript vs React Native: What is the difference?
NativeScript and React Native are both popular frameworks used for building cross platform web applications in an optimised manner. Let us check in what terms they are different from each other.
Programming Language
NativeScript primarily uses JavaScript (or TypeScript). You can also use Angular or Vue.js for building applications, which is one of its unique features.
React Native uses Javascript with the React library for building UIs. If you’re already familiar with React, this could be a smoother transition.
Approach to UI
NativeScript renders native UI components directly. You can use native APIs and components in a more direct way compared to other frameworks. NativeScript provides bindings for native SDKs, meaning you can access native platform APIs (iOS and Android) directly within JavaScript.
React Native uses native components for each platform. React Native wraps the native components of iOS and Android in a bridge and uses JavaScript to communicate with them. React Native relies more on its bridge to connect the JavaScript layer to the native layer.
Performance
NativeScript since it accesses native components directly, NativeScript apps tend to have better performance than frameworks that rely on a bridge, as there is no JavaScript-to-native communication overhead.
React Native’s performance is slightly lower than NativeScript due to the bridge (JavaScript to native code communication). However, for most apps, this difference is not noticeable. but React Native has made significant optimizations over the years.
Development Speed
NativeScript has live-reload and hot-reload capabilities, which speed up development. However, due to the need to understand both the web framework and the underlying native platform, the learning curve can be steeper for developers who are not familiar with those frameworks.
React Native hot loading and a rich ecosystem make React Native development fast and efficient. If you’re already familiar with React or JavaScript, React Native is generally faster to pick up and work with.
Difference Table Flutter Vs React Native Vs NativeScript
Let us now completely analyse the differences between these three popular mobile development frameworks i,e. Flutter vs React Native vs NativeScript
| Flutter | React Native | NativeScript |
| Flutter uses Dart language. | React Native uses JavaScript (or TypeScript) | NativeScript uses JavaScript (or TypeScript); Angular, Vue.js |
| It provide custom widgets (uses its own rendering engine) | It has native components via bridge | It provides direct access to native UI components |
| It offers high performance (compiled to native code) | It is slightly lower due to bridge communication | It offers high performance (direct access to native code) |
| It offers a growing, smaller community | It has a large, mature community and ecosystem | It offers a smaller community, but growing |
| It provides easy access to native code via platform channels | It has native modules via bridge, sometimes complex | It provides direct integration with native APIs |
| Flutter is highly customizable widgets | React Native uses native components, more limited customization | NativeScript uses react native UI access and customization |
| It offers easy integration via platform channels | It requires bridging (sometimes complex) | It provides direct access to native code (easier integration) |
| It works excellent with (iOS, Android, Web, Desktop) | It is excellent (iOS, Android, Web via React Native Web, Desktop via Expo) | It is good (iOS, Android, Web via Angular/Vue) |
| Flutter offers rapid adoption in production apps | React Native is used by major companies like Facebook, Instagram | NativeScript is growing, but less widely adopted than React Native |
| It offers high-performance apps, customized UIs | It offers quick development, large ecosystem, and web support | It provides direct native integrations, apps requiring deep native features |
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Flutter vs React Native vs NativeScript FAQs
Q1. What is Flutter Framework?
Ans: Flutter is an UI software development framework created by Google for building all types of platforms such as website, desktop, and mobile applications.
Q2. What is React Native Framework?
Ans: React Native Framework is an open source Javascript framework developed by Meta platform. Developers can use this framework to build native mobile applications for android and iOS devices using a single codebase.
Q3. What is NativeScript Framework?
Ans: NativeScript is an open source framework which helps developers create web applications for Android and iOS platforms using Typescript, Javascript, and other languages.
Q4. What is the best difference between Flutter vs React Native vs NativeScript?
Ans: Flutter uses Dart as its programming language, React Native uses Javascript or Typescript and NativeScript uses Javascript for its execution and development.
