Flutter vs. React Native vs. Ionic: Modern-Day Cross-Platform App Development Tools

Flutter, React Native and Ionic are some powerful Modern-Day Cross-Platform App Development Tools  that allows us to build iOS and Android apps with one programming language and with one project codebase. The above three are probably the biggest competitors to each other. But they have differences among themselves.

Now let's see how each of these works and what differences they have among themselves based on given parameters :

Programming language :

Flutter uses Flutter framework and Dart language which is developed by Google. Dart is a object-oriented, class-based, garbage-collected language with C-style syntax, client-optimized programming language for apps on multiple platforms and it is used to build mobile, desktop, server, and web applications. Whereas React Native uses React library and JavaScript to deliver a native experience on iOS and Android. While Ionic makes the best use of web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and requires a Cordova plugin to wrap the applications in native containers.

Working and execution of code :

The major difference among these is in Flutter you get compiled native apps, so we get real native apps compiled for the target platforms. For React Native, that's pretty much the same but partly compiled here because the apps are compiled to native apps but there are also parts in our JavaScript code

which is actually not compiled but which is basically enclosed in the native app and runs as JavaScript

in the native app, instead of as compiled code and that's different for Flutter, there

all the code is compiled and runs as native machine code and for Ionic, nothing is compiled. There we actually have a web app which is wrapped inside a native app, so we still get a native

app which we can publish to the app stores but it's just a wrapper around our web app.

Performance :

This is one of the deciding parameter to choose the best tool.

Flutter uses Dart which is new and gradually improving.

If we talk about UI & UX flutter offer high-quality, native-like experiences which is preferred by the UI & UX developers. 

React Native lets us build an application that provides native look, it is compiled to the native iOS component for iOS and to the native Android components for Android, which means we have less customization possibilities.

Ionic is different than other frameworks as it uses web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create cross-platform apps. In Ionic we can use normal web technologies and if you're a web developer, it's particularly easy to create such apps and you can use all your normal web development skills to build cross-platform apps there.

Popularity :

It is very obvious that React Native is more popular than the other two as many tech giants like Facebook, Instagram, Tesla, Uber, Walmart etc. are using it for their environment.

On the other side, Ionic is very popular among web and mobile app developers. It is used by MarketWatch, Pacifica, Sworkit, Nationwide, and many more.

Flutter is comparably new but it has gained popularity in very less time. It is used by Alibaba, Hamilton Musical, Greentea, Google Ads, and so on.

Which Framework You Should Use And Why ?

Flutter is developed by Google, React Native is developed by Facebook and Ionic is developed by a company which is called Drift Co. and therefore, they all have big companies backing them, especially React Native and Flutter of course but also the Ionic is earning its money with the Ionic framework. Regarding the future, all three should be very stable and under active development for a long time, so that shouldn't influence your choice. What should influence your choice then? 

Well for Flutter, there you have the great advantage that you have real native apps, so you get great performance, no web view wrapped app which automatically has a bit worse performance because of that wrapping, instead you have machine code that gives you a great performance and because Flutter controls every pixel on the screen, you also have a high flexibility and lot of control over your app.

Ionic has a easy learning curve due to web technologies while Flutter requires developers learning Dart to build apps. Also, Ionic is not a preferable choice for intense graphical apps or game development because of wrapper plugins that cause performance issues sometimes. Flutter is new and gradually growing with the support from best developers of Google and the community.

Finally we can say that all these Modern-Day Cross-Platform App Development Tools are best at their own and will be under the active development many years.