Flutter VS React Native

Both of these technologies allow developers build cross-platform apps faster by using a single programming language. React Native is already a mature tool and has a huge community with lot of support, but Flutter also started getting more traction in past 2-3 years. React Native and Flutter both have their pros and cons, but Flutter came out as the winner as per this blog. Some programming experts have predicted that Flutter is the future of mobile app development and it is well managed by Google.

 React Native-

The React Native framework can be installed using the NPM. React Native on macOS, we need to have the HomeBrew package manager as well. The process of setting up the developer machine to use the new framework takes time.

It uses JavaScript to build cross-platform apps.

React Native architecture heavily relies on JavaScript runtime environment architecture, also known as JavaScript bridge(that communicates with native libs and modules). The JavaScript code is compiled into native code at runtime and the bridge results in poor performance.

Regarding UI rendering components React Native try to access most of the native modules, and it has to rely on third-party libraries. In other words React Native is too much dependent on third-party libraries

React Native has a hot reload feature which saves a lot of developer time and developers are free to use any text editor or IDE of their choice.

The tools like Jest can be used for snapshot testing. However, when it comes to integration or UI level testing, there is no official support from React Native.

 React Native allows manual deployment of Apps to stores.

 React Native doesn’t have any official documentation on setting up CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery)

Flutter

Flutter can be installed by downloading the binary for a specific platform from Github.

Also Flutter offers better documentation and CLI support for setup and configuration

It uses Dart and its syntax is easy to understand for JavaScript or Java developers.

Flutter does not require the bridge to communicate with the native modules (Dart has so many frameworks, like Material Design and Cupertino)

Flutter framework is bundled with UI rendering components, device access APIs and in addition it has material design and  Cupertino for achieving everything needed for cross platform development.

Flutter also has a hot reload feature but Dart is not a common programming language and there is a lack of support for it in many IDEs and text editors. But it will catch up very soon as the community around Flutter grows.

Flutter has great documentation and a rich set of testing features to test apps at unit, widget and integration level.

Flutter has a strong command line interface to build and deploy apps to stores.

Flutter has a great documentation on CI/CD(Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery)