Comparison of Ionic, Flutter, & React Native

Comparison of Ionic, Flutter, & React Native

Every business has different requirements and hence they appoint companies with varying development levels of skills. A framework that is suitable for one startup may not be perfect for another startup. So, let’s compare the major attributes of the three frameworks that developers usually look for.

Comparison of the top attributes of Ionic, Flutter, and React Native:

  • Programming language

Ionic uses multiple languages and Flutter Google’s in-house programing language whereas React Native is based on JavaScript and Dart.

Ionic: HTML5, CSS, and JS are the multiple languages used to develop and run applications and get into the Cordova wrapper to apply native platform controllers. Here, TypeScript can be used to improve the quality of the code.

Flutter: Flutter uses Google’s in-house language, Dart, to develop applications for Android, iOS, and the web. Though Dart is a little uncommon language, it has the potential to take the industry by storm in the coming years.

React Native: React Native (RN) is highly preferred by developers as it is based on JavaScript and is one of the most admired dynamic languages for creating hybrid apps. RN combines all the benefits of JavaScript and React and is backed by Facebook. Another best thing is that it enables writing a few components in Objective-C, Swift, or Java when required.

  • Implementation and reusability of the code

Strategies for code execution and its reusability are different for all three frameworks. For Ionic, it’s “one code base, any platform,” whereas Flutter offers a highly developed set of features to accelerate the coding process, and React Native follows “learn once and write anywhere,”.

Ionic: With “one code base, any platform”, the codebase can be reused for various applications. The same code base allows developers to create a highly interactive app in a quick time frame.

Flutter: With Flutter’s comprehensive toolkit, developers can create modern apps with ready-to-use widgets, APIs, and its own rendering engine, and also beautiful mobile experiences.

React Native: Its single code base helps to develop multiple apps for various platforms including Android, iOS, and Windows with which developers can build better apps in less time.

  1. Popularity and Community Support

Though it seems that the oldest framework may have the highest popularity and community support, it is not so. Statista suggests that 18% of developers have used Ionic, Flutter is used by 39% of developers, whereas React Native is used by 42% of developers. 

Ionic: It is one of the oldest frameworks with the second-highest community support and a vast marketplace. With respect to popularity, it is given 41.6K stars, 13.3K forks, and is watched by 1.8K developers.

Flutter: As compared to React Native and Ionic, Flutter is a newly launched framework and hence it has a small community. But its popularity is quickly increasing which will make it a major thing in the mobile world. Till now, Flutter has achieved 99.2K stars, 13.7K forks, and is watched by 3K developers which are far more than Ionic.

React Native: RN is based on JavaScript that is a fundamental web development language and also utilizes popular React libraries which is growing its developer network speedily as compared to Ionic and Flutter. According to Github, React Native has 89.7K stars, 3.7K watches, and 19.9K forks.

  1. App’s Performance

The performance of any app is a very crucial factor for businesses. The performance of the app depends on various factors, including in that particular framework. The performance can be evaluated by analyzing the runtime of the app or the efficiency of writing code.

Ionic: It uses advanced web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS with which high- performing hybrid apps can be developed. However, it needs plugins and third-party packages to enclose an application in a native cover.

Flutter: Flutter provides ready-to-use plugins, a wide range of widgets, and its own rendering engine that helps in building beautiful, and high-performance cross-platform applications that take it a step ahead as compared to Ionic and React Native.

React Native: It uses native APIs and components which makes it easy to build an application with a native look and feel.

  • User interface and app design

App design and user interface help users decide whether they will continue with the app or uninstall it. Ionic uses HTML and CSS, Flutter ensures the best user interface, and React Native uses the React library to systematize the UI. 

Ionic: Ionic renders the UI using HTML and CSS without applying native elements. It also uses Cordova to provide a native look and feel while also working with Angular components. Though Ionic can provide a cross-platform application, it uses Cordova for running JavaScript due to which it is low in efficiency and performance as compared to Flutter and React Native.

Flutter: It provides the best user interface in the class with its native components, hence many companies prefer Flutter for developing cross-platform apps. When Flutter and React Native are compared, the efficiency and performance of the two are incredible. 

React Native: With React libraries, RN delivers a native-like app experience with amazing UI. 

  • Cost of development

The cost of app development decides how long it takes to develop the app, the developer’s cost, and the libraries used.

Ionic: Though Ionic is a free and open-source cross-platform mobile app framework, for the professional development environment, the paid version is a must. Here, Ionic Pro can help to accelerate the development process that makes developers build an application in real- time.

Flutter: This open-source platform provides access to a wide choice of widgets, APIs, and libraries for free. Also, Flutter app developers can work with a starting price of $18 to $35+ all across the world.

React Native: This is again an open-source framework that gives access to a wide choice of libraries for free. To get the maximum benefits of this framework, hire a React Native development company with an expert team.

Wrapping it Up

Efficiency, performance, and cross-platform app development mainly decide the usability of an app. The article provides mobile app frameworks & their comparison between Ionic, Flutter and React Native with the meaningful insights for app development.