Flutter, React Native, or Ionic - Which Is The Best Choice For Your App?

Developing an app for your business can have tremendous benefits - if it is high-quality and adopted by your intended audience. High-performing apps are downloaded at a much higher rate than apps that stagger, so making sure that the app runs smoothly is essential to it being a success. Of course, there are many factors that come into play here, from speed to loading times, execution, responsiveness, and the network being used. However, the tool used to develop the app also plays an important part in this equation. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the 3 major cross-platform mobile app development tools and hopefully help you make the right choice for your app.

React Native:

React Native is an open-source JavaScript language developed by Facebook, and it covers the Android and iOS ecosystems. Here are some of its pros:

●      Short development time;

●      Third-party library support;

●      Good performance in mobile environments;

●      Installation through NPM;

●      Responsive UX/UI;

●      One codebase;

●      UI-focus;

●      Can incorporate functionality from other native apps.

Ionic

Ionic was launched in 2013, and it is a cross-platform mobile app development tool that integrates technologies such as HTML5, CSS, and Sass. Some of its pros include:

●      A framework that emulates the native development environment;

●      Powerful ecosystem;

●      Based on Apache Cordova;

●      Easy to learn;

●      Highly customizable default UI;

●      Strong community support.

Flutter

Flutter is a software development kit from Google that comes with everything you need to build an app for multiple mobile platforms - from testing and integration APIs to command-line tools, widgets, and a rendering engine. When it comes to benefits, you have:

●      The simple and effective Dart programming language designed with Java programmers in mind;

●      Great performance;

●      Instantaneous updates thanks to the hot reload function;

●      Fast UI coding through custom and ready-made widgets;

●      Accessibility and internationalization.

Making the choice

React Native and Flutter both come with component libraries that can be used when developing your app to quickly set up a foundation. Some of these components will have to be tailored to the platform you are using though. Ionic, on the other hand, has components that automatically adapt to the platform, further speeding up the development process.

In terms of performance, Flutter comes out in front, because it does not need to set up interactive bridges with native components. Ionic falls behind because it has to use Cordova in order to run JavaScript, and React Native requires extra work to provide the same performance levels on two different platforms.

When it comes down to it, if you can find the right developer for the job, you should choose Flutter for your app. The developer must be familiar with the Dart language, so make sure to browse if you do not find the right company straight away. With Flutter, you have a shorter development cycle, which means a lower production cost, and the end result performs better, which means that it will be better suited for the market or for internal use. If you would like to find out more about what developing an app with Flutter entails, contact us today!