Page Title

Flutter is Google’s open-source SDK for creating superior-quality apps for Android and iOS using single codebase.

On December 4th, Google hosted Flutter Live event to celebrate Google’s new mobile SDK, Flutter and its first stable version.

They also announced Google Hummingbird project that allows developers to build an app once and then run it everywhere.

As mentioned above, this open-source and free SDK is backed by Google and used to develop applications for Android and iOS.

It is based on Dart language and provides captivating graphics library. The major features of this platform are:

Platform-specific SDKs
Design-specific widgets
Fully customized environment
Native performance
Stateful Hot Reload feature for faster app development

It was introduced by Google and community in May 2017 following stable release on December 4, 2018. There’s one more thing you should consider: Flutter can be used to create applications for Google Fuchsia, a capability-based operating system from Google.

Stateful Hot Reload Feature Of Flutter: Developers Just Loved It

This feature lets developers build UIs more quickly and easily. It injects updated code into running Dart Virtual Machine, enabling quick reflection of the changes and fixing of bugs.

Alibaba, world’s biggest eCommerce giant used Flutter to create a beautiful experience on their Xianyu app
Reflecting, an attractive journal app is built with Flutter
Hamilton Musical, official app of Broadway Musical is created using Flutter
Google Greentea, internal customer management app uses Flutter in its development environment
JD Finance, a leading FinTech company makes use of Flutter
Abbey Road Studios app is built with Flutter

On the other side, React Native is also thriving with superior app performances on both the platforms, iOS, and Android. As of now, React Native is one of the top open source projects on GitHub according to this React Native Blog.

Facebook majorly uses React Native for its several important projects.

Facebook and React Native Community are working on a large-scale re-architecture of the framework to make it more flexible and better.

Both Are Designed For Cross Platform App Development

React Native and Flutter, both offer superior, rapid, and high-quality app performances on multiple platforms including Android, iOS, and UWP.

Both Frameworks Are Backed By Giant Tech Communities

React Native is offered by Facebook and Flutter is Google’s open-source SDK for mobile app development. Both have strong developers’ community which is again a common factor between them.

Open-Source, Free, And Fast

React Native and Flutter are open-source and free SDKs that let developers create amazing apps quickly due to their native performances.

Up-to-Date And Detailed Documentation

The communities of both these frameworks are putting extra efforts to keep documentation up-to-date with API references and comprehensive resources.

Excellent UI Support And Native Experience

React Native uses fundamental UI building elements as you use in Android/iOS to deliver the native experience. Flutter also makes use of rich widgets to provide remarkable native experience on Android and iOS platform.

Hot Reloading And Quick Modifications

React Native supports “Hot Reloading” that enables simultaneously running new code and keeping hold of application state, instead of recompiling. This makes development faster, instant, and efficient.

Flutter is not left behind. Introducing “Stateful Hot Reloading” as explained above, Flutter supports immediate reflection of changes without restart or in case of loss of application state.

The Key Difference of Programming Language

Flutter uses Dart.

React Native lets you develop an app using JavaScript. JavaScript doesn’t need any introduction. Needless to say, it has received enormous popularity be it a mobile, web, or server-specific code.

On the other side, Dart is quite new to the developers. It uses modern features of several languages to code beautiful native apps. Again, keep in mind that there isn’t any JavaScript components and styling. Also, there is no separation of templates, style, and data files. Dart is easy-to-use for the people who have experience developing an app in OOP languages such as C++ and Java.

Stability And Flexibility

In terms of stability, there isn’t any significant difference as both are managed by well-established tech communities.

Talking about flexibility and customization, Flutter offers a rich set of customized widgets to build attractive experiences. React Native, on the other side, offers seamless user experience via directly communicating with the native platforms.

Flutter is still trying to make its position in the market due to the recent stable release, and React Native is enjoying the first position in the list of cross-platform app development tools in the market.

Development Time Of An App

Leveraging cross-platform, companies already save time that generally occupies in coding apps in multiple languages.

In addition to that, React Native and Flutter both are committed to providing faster time-to-market of an app. You can use third-party libraries and ready-to-use components to build an app. A customized and high-quality range of widgets helps build an app in lesser time than native app development.

Performance: Who Wins?

Flutter certainly wins over here due to its simplicity.

However, React Native is popular for delivering excellent user experience on both the platforms.

Flutter has the extra advantage of reusing the code while React Native is less suitable due to its architecture.

Flutter also has one more advantage of JavaScript layer that makes communication with the native components easier.

Both are reliable choices when you choose cross-platform but, Flutter has competitive advantages of its simplicity and Dart platform.

IDE And Ease of Coding:

Flutter is new and supported by Android Studio/IntelliJ, Visual Studio Code at present. As React Native has passed 3 years since its launch, it is supported well by almost all leading IDEs.

React Native offers easy learning curve due to the use of JavaScript. Flutter requires learning Dart to craft an app. However, Dart is a plus point for C++ and Java developers.

Advantages Of Flutter

Clean, clear, and smooth documentation
Google’s support and strong community
The reliably faster speed of development
Amazing native app performances
A wide range of expressive and flexible UI components
Stateful Hot Reloading for faster change implementation
Accessibility of native SDKs and their features
Modern, enhanced, and flexible approach to the coding
API support for 2D effects, animation, and gestures

Disadvantages Of Flutter:

Although Dart is an easy-to-use programming language, Flutter requires learning Dart
Difficulties in styling the components as there is no use of JavaScript
Complex lifecycle management compared to React Native
As it’s been a year since Flutter’s launch, it isn’t mature like React Native

Choose Flutter when you want cross-platform, highly-attractive UI, excellent native performance, quicker time-to-market, and competitive advantage of using Dart in your programming environment.

Choose React Native when you want to leverage the support from the stronger and mature community, native app performance, and popular JavaScript in developing cross-platform apps.

Flutter Vs. React Native