Flutter vs React Native - What to Choose for Developing Your Mobile App?

Over the past decade, mobile applications have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Nowadays, there’s an app for almost everything—and if there isn’t, it’s probably being built. 

With so many developer tools and platforms at your fingertips, choosing the right framework for developing a mobile app can be difficult, especially if you’re not familiar with certain key elements and aspects that come with each tool. We always encourage founders to go for native as their first choice in developing their mobile product, but budget and time constraints may push them towards choosing a cross-platform development framework.  

If you’re a founder in this position, we wanted to spare you the trouble of researching each framework possibility. So we narrowed it down to the two leading ones: Flutter and React Native. 

Flutter vs React Native: The Definitive Guide

In 2024, Flutter and React Native are the two main cross-platform mobile app development frameworks, and they are competing against each other. Moreover, ‘React Native vs. Flutter’ is probably one of the most debated topics among app developers.

One of the fundamental pillars of the tech industry has become creating mobile apps in highly efficient ways, and that’s why cross-platform frameworks have become so important. These tools allow developers to create Android and iOS mobile apps using a single platform.

The two most powerful contenders in this field are Flutter and React Native, however, each framework comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. We wanted to create an objective, bias-free comparison of the two platforms, in order to see which would benefit you and your business the most. We selected 5 aspects that are crucial when it comes to developing a mobile app, to see how our two contenders fare for each one. 

Both platforms are highly powerful, feature-rich, and open-source frameworks. Before jumping into technical stuff, let’s look at a few popular apps created via React Native app development. These include Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Shopify, Bloomberg and SoundCloud Pulse, to name just a few. 

Flutter apps include Google Ads, the marketplace app Alibaba, the Hamilton Musical app, Philips Hue, several BMW apps and more. Now let’s move on to the main points of comparison between the two.

An introduction to React Native

React Native made its first public appearance during Facebook’s 2013 summer hackathon. The framework was open-sourced by the social media giant back in 2015. To this day, a dedicated team is working on improving the platform’s performance and is constantly adding notable enhancements. With Facebook’s direct involvement, the product gained immense popularity, as well as the trust of developers. 

Specific programming languages for React Native

React Native uses and is entirely written in JavaScript, a programming language that is very popular among aspiring and veteran developers alike. A big advantage of JavaScript is that it ranks as one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. This means that you won’t have too much trouble finding a JavaScript developer to build your mobile app with React Native. React Native has a slight edge here, as JavaScript is more widely used. However, learning a new programming language isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. If you’re on a tight schedule, though, it might become an issue. 

Architecture

React Native architecture allows developers to build mobile apps using JavaScript and React, leveraging native components for optimal performance. This makes it possible for the developers to have the same project architecture as a React app, using various common state management solutions (Redux, Recoil, Context, Jotai etc.). The app's business logic runs on a JavaScript thread using the JavaScriptCore engine (or Hermes for better efficiency). A bridge facilitates asynchronous communication between the JavaScript thread and the native thread, which handles rendering and platform-specific APIs. Key components like Fabric and TurboModules further enhance performance and user experience.

Productivity

React Native supports Hot Reload, which speeds up the development process significantly. This allows developers to make quick UI changes that instantly show in the app. React Native provides developers with methods to quickly divide executed codes and styles into various classes.

Animations

In React Native, animations are facilitated through the Animated API, offering a declarative way to create dynamic motion effects using JavaScript. It enables developers to animate various components seamlessly, providing smooth transitions and engaging user experiences. Additionally, third-party libraries extend animation capabilities, allowing for complex and high-performance animations in React Native applications. One example is the recent integration of the Skia graphics engine in a React Native library that offers hardware-accelerated animations and custom graphics that were previously limited.

Performance

React Native with techniques like TurboModules and the new JSI architecture have narrowed the performance gap.

An introduction to Flutter

Flutter is supported by Google. The framework was launched in 2018, so it’s a bit younger than React Native. Flutter also provides an advanced software development kit to developers and stands behind the same concept: to create mobile(and web) apps using a single codebase. Google is heavily backing Flutter, and it’s heavily invested in making the framework one of the best solutions to build cross-platform apps.

Specific programming languages for Flutter

Flutter is written in a programming language called Dart. Dart’s features and capabilities make it a natural fit for Flutter, providing the performance, developer productivity, and robust tooling necessary for building high-quality, cross-platform applications. Its ability to handle both ahead-of-time and just-in-time compilation ensures that developers can create fast, responsive apps with a smooth development workflow.

Architecture

When developing with Flutter, choosing the right architecture/state management solution is crucial for maintaining a clean, scalable and efficient codebase. 

Several patterns which have gained popularity among developers are:

• BLoC is a design pattern created by Google, which separates business logic from the presentation layer. It leverages Streams to manage state and facilitate communication between components.
• Redux is a predictable state container for Dart apps, ported from the popular JavaScript library.
• Provider is a state management library that uses InheritedWidgets internally to make state management easier and more efficient.
• Riverpod is an advanced state management library for Flutter that builds on the concepts of the Provider library but introduces more powerful and flexible features.
   

UI interactions and animations

Flutter also supports Hot Reload. It offers a comprehensive library of pre-designed, customizable widgets which can significantly reduce the time and effort required to build user interfaces.Furthermore, Flutter is easy to install and you can effortlessly run internal checks for Flutter’s rich set of animation tools and libraries provides developers with the flexibility to create both simple and complex animations. From implicit animations for straightforward transitions to explicit animations for more control, and advanced techniques like hero and staggered animations, Flutter covers a wide range of animation needs.Flutter provides excellent performance for animations, thanks to its use of Dart, the Skia graphics engine, and its efficient widget-based architecture.

Performance

When it comes to the issue of performance, Flutter is the clear winner. The platform is compiled to ARM or x86 native libraries, which means it’s super fast – faster than React Native. Additionally, Flutter is compiled to a native code (the Dart programming language), compared to React Native, which uses JavaScript. This also greatly improves performance, as writing in native code is almost always a quicker and smoother experience. However, recent advancements in React Native with techniques like TurboModules and the new JSI architecture have narrowed the performance gap. 

Flutter vs React Native: Who wins the battle? 

Both React Native and Flutter are backed by corporate giants, and they won’t be losing this support anytime soon, so this one is a tie. Moreover, both frameworks provide enough solutions so you can have a clean, scalable and high-performant codebase.

Both React Native and Flutter are easy to code and support hot reloading, however, they follow different configuration processes, which can impact productivity and take more time.

In regards to animations and interactions Both React Native and Flutter have embraced Skia, a powerful graphics library from Google. This levels the playing field when it comes to creating custom graphics and animations. The choice between them might depend on factors like developer experience (JavaScript vs Dart) and the complexity of animation requirements.

So, we could never declare a sure winner, as at the end of the day it all depends on the objectives you have when choosing one or the other for building your mobile app.

Head-to-head comparison of Flutter and React Native

Still unsure of the differences between Flutter and React Native. Check out this table for a summarized comparison:

React Native vs Flutter: What the future holds

Both React Native and Flutter are poised for a strong future, but their paths may diverge based on their core strengths and community dynamics. React Native’s mature ecosystem, large community, and strong corporate backing ensure its continued relevance, especially for projects needing a native look and feel with JavaScript. Flutter’s rapid growth, multi-platform capabilities, and Google’s backing make it a formidable competitor, particularly for developers seeking a consistent, high-performance development experience across various platforms. Ultimately, the choice between React Native and Flutter will depend on specific project requirements, team expertise, and long-term maintenance considerations. Both frameworks are likely to continue evolving, offering powerful tools for cross-platform development well into the future.

Build your next Flutter or React Native app with Tapptitude

Choosing the right framework to build your next mobile product depends on the team you choose to work with, as well as your own time and budget limitations. If your developers already know Dart, it’s a safe bet. If the team you are working with has extensive experience programming in JavaScript, then going for React Native is probably the best – and most effective – choice. However, you need to consider the project's specific needs. Factors like app complexity, desired features, and long-term maintenance can also influence the choice.

At Tapptitude, we can offer you the expertise of working with both frameworks, and we are always willing to advise which one would be the best choice for your business. We did so and helped founders in Healthcare and Wellness, Hospitality and Marketing research create their apps with these technologies over the past couple of years. You can read more about Holiday Hero, and Reverse Health two of our most successful applications built with this technology on our  website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you develop web apps with Flutter?

Flutter is a good option for web app development, particularly for projects that benefit from a consistent cross-platform experience and high-performance UI. However, it may not yet be the best choice for all web applications, especially those requiring extensive SEO optimization or those that need to leverage the full range of web-specific features available in more mature frameworks.

Can you develop web apps with React Native?

While React Native is not the typical choice for building web apps, React Native Expo or other library solutions provide the necessary tools and capabilities to create them using React Native components and features. However, there may still be differences in behavior and performance between the web and native environments.

Is Flutter going to replace React Native?

Both frameworks have their own advantages and will likely coexist for the foreseeable future. The choice between Flutter and React Native often depends on the specific needs of the project, the expertise of the development team, and long-term maintenance considerations. Flutter is unlikely to completely replace React Native, but it will continue to be a strong contender in the cross-platform development space.

Special thanks to Alex Dani for co-authoring and bringing his valuable insights on Flutter to this topic.