Flutter vs React Native performance
What exactly is Flutter?
A cross-platform framework is a collection of tools that allows you to create a single app that works on both iOS and Android. At the same time, the major drawbacks of most cross-platform frameworks are poor UX and low performance. However, it does not refer to Flutter.
Flutter is a popular cross-platform framework that uses the Dart programming language and has a single code base. Flutter, which was released by Google in 2018, has proven to be a useful toolkit for creating animations and high-quality UI components. Despite being Google's new cross-platform approach, Flutter features smooth animations and user-friendly interface elements. Flutter allows you to create high-quality, high-performance apps that look like native iOS and Android apps.
What exactly are native technologies?
Native application development, as opposed to cross-platform tools, is platform-specific to either Android or iOS. Native apps are written in languages supported by the device's operating system vendor:
- Android languages include Kotlin and Java. Android Studio is the development environment.
- Swift and Objective-C are iOS languages. Xcode is the development environment.
Native apps, on the whole, have few drawbacks, and their users can take full advantage of sophisticated features such as an accelerometer, camera, GPS, and so on. Users can download native apps from major app stores like Google Play and App Store.
Simultaneously, the development and support of native apps necessitate substantial investments. This is due to the fact that two distinct development teams are required for two distinct platforms. In addition, they must adapt business logic, duplicate interface logic, and layout to the capabilities of each platform.
Because Flutter requires only one development team, the working process is much simpler and faster. As a result, when compared to native technologies, low-budget Flutter is becoming more popular with hi-tech businesses, as illustrated by the figure below.
Flutter vs. native application
The rate of development
Flutter allows developers to write a single piece of code for two different platforms, significantly reducing development time and cost. Flutter codes are simpler to write than native codes. When it comes to native technologies, developers must write two sets of code for Android and iOS, which inevitably takes more time.
Flutter development, according to Surf experts, is 20-50 percent faster than creating two native apps. However, the speed is also affected by the complexity of the interface and the expected functions.
App efficiency
When Google first released Flutter in 2017, it had some performance and FPS issues. With the advancement of technology, all of these issues have been resolved, and Flutter now provides the same performance as native apps.
According to Surf team experience, the native app uses less CPU than the Flutter app. React Native applications, on the other hand, consume even more CPU resources.
In terms of memory consumption, native apps are the most efficient. Flutter requires more memory than native, and React Native performs even worse.
Maintenance of the Code
Supporting a native application takes more time in most cases. To begin with, maintaining two codebases requires significant effort. Second, developers must create unique updates for each platform while also identifying bugs. Third, as the number of OS-supported devices increases, so do the maintenance efforts.
Maintaining a Flutter app is much easier because there is only one codebase for two applications. The straightforward code allows developers to detect issues quickly, support third-party libraries, and source external tools. Furthermore, Flutter's Hot Reload feature aids in the immediate resolution of issues in the application.
Dart is used to create Flutter apps. Dart has a strong infrastructure after three years of use, including utility Dart Code Metrics, test coverage tools, and a static analyzer. It allows us to track and visualize problems in the code base. Using these tools on our projects has a significant impact on code maintenance.
Availability of app developers
The labor market for Flutter technology was quite scarce two or three years ago, and most developers were new to Flutter. The main reason for this was a global lack of Flutter projects. As a result, assembling a strong team of more than 5 Flutter developers took some time.
The situation has changed today. Many developers have gained valuable experience working on large projects over the last few years. Google claims that over 500.000 Flutter apps have already been released.
Flutter teams' professional experience has also grown in sophistication. Learning Dart and writing a few samples is not enough to launch a full-fledged Flutter project. Most teams have gained experience in full-scale projects by now. As a result, forming a qualified team for your Flutter project is easier now than it was three years ago.
When should you use native technologies?
In some cases, the use of more expensive native technologies is unassailable. The most common use of native apps is to create advanced top-performance apps with more sophisticated features, as illustrated in the table below. At the same time, if investors want to reduce development and maintenance costs, they should avoid native technologies.
When should you use Flutter?
Surf teams have worked on several large Flutter projects in Russia, including business mobile banking, pharmacy retail apps, a major video streaming platform, and a corporate mobile app for KFC. Flutter is recommended by surf experts for various retail, banks and fintech, franchisees, and large organizations.
The use of Flutter may be especially appealing to the banking industry. Flutter may even be safer than native apps because its source code is compiled into native code, making human reading impossible.
Furthermore, Flutter applications can use the banking platform's own security technologies, such as Touch ID, Face ID, or a fingerprint scanner. Nubank, the world's largest digital bank (with over 20 million customers outside of Asia), has already shared a successful case of integrating Flutter into a mobile application.
In terms of Flutter vs. native iOS and Flutter vs. native Android, we've come to the following conclusions:
- Neither Flutter nor native technologies will wave a magic wand over your specific projects and business requirements; each case is unique.
- In terms of development speed and budget reduction, Flutter is a very promising cross-platform framework.
- In 2-3 months, it is possible to create MVP applications on Flutter. Full-fledged development on Flutter is typically 30% less expensive than developing two native apps.
- Native technologies are better suited for sophisticated niche applications with advanced features like GPS or rich animation.
According to surf experts, crisis conditions will inevitably drive more businesses to select Flutter as an excellent opportunity to move quickly online and expand their influence on electronic platforms.
If you want to quickly develop an app for iOS and Android without sacrificing quality or budget, give Flutter a try and get in touch with Surf.