Flutter vs React Native in 2024: Analysis for Businesses
If you feel like you’re stuck in a maze trying to choose the right cross-platform framework for mobile app development—especially between Flutter and React Native in 2024 for your business—trust me, you’re not alone in this boat.
Clients often ask us, “Which one’s best for my business?” And, after working on 100+ projects with both frameworks, we’re here to spill the beans. So, this isn’t just another comparison of Flutter vs. React Native in 2024—this is real talk from real projects, experience, and expertise.
Here’s what’s on the table:
- A simple intro to both frameworks—no fluff
- An in-depth analysis of Flutter vs. React Native
- Market trends & popularity in 2024
- The Future outlook
- Decision-making guidance and
- Our recommendations for startups and brands.
So, whether you’re tech-savvy or not, by the end, you’ll have the insights to make the right decision for your next project.
What are Flutter and React Native?
Before diving into which framework is best for your business, let’s first understand what Flutter and React Native bring to the table.
Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit launched in 2017, using the Dart programming language. It is like having a turbo engine for your app ideas. It’s all about speed: rapid development, instant updates, lightning-fast performance, and the ability to create visually rich, native-like apps from a single codebase. Giants like BMW and Alibaba are already on board.
On the other hand, React Native, developed by Meta in 2015, relies on the JavaScript ecosystem. It is your seasoned co-founder in the app world and speaks the language of web developers (JavaScript) but delivers native mobile experiences. It’s backed by industry titans like Instagram and Airbnb.
In short, both promise the holy grail for businesses: code once and run everywhere. This means faster time-to-market and more bang for your development buck. But which one will fuel your startup’s rocket to success?
That’s why we’re sharing this blog, drawing on over 14 years of experience, working with 500+ clients and building 1,000+ apps, to help you make strategic decisions that keep you competitive and adaptable in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.
Flutter vs React Native in 2024: A Detailed Comparison
So, let’s break down the hands-on experience and inside scoop that we’ve got using both technologies extensively in different projects.
1. Performance:
Whether you’re building an app for speed, scalability, or seamless user experiences, performance plays a big role in determining which framework is better suited to your business.
Flutter: Flutter’s performance has consistently impressed us. Here’s what we’ve found:
- Smooth animations: Flutter apps run at 60fps out of the box.
- Fast load times: We’ve seen Flutter apps start up in milliseconds.
- Efficient memory usage: Flutter’s memory footprint is generally smaller.
In one of our projects, we successfully used Flutter to handle real-time updates for a data-heavy app called Kredily, designed to handle human resources and payroll processes. The client was thrilled with the smooth user experience.
React Native: React Native’s performance is solid but with some caveats:
- Generally fast: Most React Native apps we’ve built perform well.
- Occasional hiccups: Complex UI can sometimes cause frame drops.
- Bridge overhead: The JavaScript bridge can slow things down in data-intensive apps.
Our verdict: Flutter has a slight edge in performance, especially for animation-heavy apps and this makes it particularly appealing for businesses where visual design is key.
But, if you partner with the right React Native app development company, it doesn’t have to be as complicated or costly as it was when we developed the Aiko & Egor app for See Beneath, a California-based nonprofit.
Aiko & Egor features simplified animations and engaging underwater characters, designed for children with autism and their families.
So, if you’re looking to create animation-heavy apps with cost efficiency using React Native, partner with us for top performance!
2. Development Speed & Cost:
In the business world, time is money. So, we closely track development times to maintain our schedule, stay as the best app development company in this competitive world, and reduce costs for our partners.
Time to Market: Our first-hand experience with Flutter reveals that it speeds up development significantly for apps with intricate UI requirements. Flutter’s Hot Reload feature allows our developers to instantly see the impact of code changes, making the iteration process faster.
But, React Native offers a similar feature called Fast Refresh, and when paired with the vast JavaScript ecosystem, React Native excels at rapid deployment. If your business relies on getting an MVP to market as quickly as possible, our experience shows that React Native has an edge for projects with simpler UI requirements.
Cost-Efficiency: From a cost perspective, Flutter allows businesses to save by using a single codebase for both iOS and Android. Startups that want to minimize development costs often find this appealing. Additionally, our projects show that Flutter’s detailed documentation and strong community support reduce the need for extensive troubleshooting, further keeping costs down.
With React Native, businesses benefit from a huge pool of JavaScript developers, which can reduce hiring costs. However, based on our experience, React Native apps might incur higher long-term maintenance costs, especially if performance optimizations are needed down the line.
Our verdict: It’s a close call. Flutter is faster for new projects, but React Native wins if you need a web-focused team or have an existing web app and want to port it to mobile in record time.
3. User Interface and Design
I hope you also agree that the look and feel of an app can make or break its success.
Flutter shines in UI development:
- Consistent across platforms: Our designers love the pixel-perfect consistency.
- Custom designs: We can easily create unique, branded experiences.
- Rich animation support: Complex animations are a breeze in Flutter.
React Native takes a different approach:
- Platform-specific look: Apps feel more native on each platform.
- Easier to match platform guidelines: We can easily follow iOS and Android design standards.
- Third-party UI kits: We often use libraries like React Native Paper for quick UI development.
For a business app, our React Native version felt right at home on both iOS and Android devices.
Our verdict: Choose Flutter for unique, consistent designs. Pick React Native for a more platform-native feel.
4. Integration & Compatibility: Backend, APIs, and 3rd-Party Services
For startups, integrating with existing backend services and APIs is a key requirement. Whether you’re using Firebase, AWS, or other third-party services, the ability to smoothly integrate these into your app can make or break your development process.
Backend Compatibility: Our projects have shown that Flutter integrates exceptionally well with Firebase, particularly when building apps that require real-time data syncs or cloud-based services. Flutter’s compatibility with Firebase allows for fast development cycles and reduces complexity for startups.
React Native, built on JavaScript, has an advantage in integrating with virtually any web-based API or service. In our experience, this makes it a great choice for businesses that already have an established web presence and want to expand into mobile without reworking their backend systems.
API Integration: When it comes to integrating third-party APIs, React Native shines due to its access to the Node.js ecosystem. This is especially useful for startups that require frequent interaction with external APIs or need to leverage multiple services in one app.
Flutter, while slightly more limited in terms of third-party integrations, has been catching up quickly. With the rise of new plugins and libraries in 2024, Flutter now supports a wide range of APIs that can be integrated with ease.
5. Security & Stability: Ensuring Business Safety
Security and stability are top priorities for any business, particularly startups that handle sensitive user data. As you evaluate Flutter vs React Native in 2024, these factors could play a decisive role in your decision.
Flutter offers built-in security features like Dart’s type safety, which helps prevent vulnerabilities such as SQL injections and XSS attacks. Additionally, its ability to compile to native code adds an extra layer of security by limiting direct access to codebases.
React Native, while also secure, but may require additional effort to implement best practices, particularly around authentication and encryption. From our experience, React Native apps may be slightly more vulnerable to certain web-based attacks, especially if proper security measures aren’t taken.
In terms of stability, Flutter‘s performance remains stable even under heavy loads, and its widget-based system ensures apps remain responsive as features are added. Our experience with Flutter projects shows a reduced risk of crashes, particularly for complex apps.
React Native has made significant strides in stability, but its reliance on the JavaScript bridge can sometimes lead to performance hiccups, especially when scaling to larger user bases or adding heavy features.
6. Community Support and Ecosystem
A strong community can be a lifesaver during development. We’ve relied on both ecosystems extensively.
Flutter‘s community is growing rapidly:
- Official packages: We trust Flutter’s first-party packages for core functionality.
- Growing third-party support: We’re finding more Flutter solutions every day.
- Comprehensive documentation: Flutter’s docs have saved us countless hours.
Recently, we found a Flutter package that solved a complex geolocation issue in just a few lines of code.
React Native‘s ecosystem is mature and vast:
- Huge number of packages: We rarely need to build features from scratch.
- Active community: Stack Overflow always has answers to our React Native questions.
- Battle-tested solutions: Many packages have been around for years.
When building a chat app, we used a well-maintained React Native package that saved us weeks of development time.
Our verdict: React Native still has a larger ecosystem, but Flutter is catching up fast.
7. Cross-platform Capabilities
Writing once and running everywhere is the dream. Here’s how these frameworks deliver on that promise.
Flutter truly shines in cross-platform development:
- Web and desktop support: We’ve deployed Flutter apps to mobile, web, and desktop.
- Consistent performance: Our Flutter apps perform similarly across platforms.
- Single codebase: We rarely need platform-specific code.
React Native is mobile-first but expanding:
- Excellent on mobile: Our React Native apps work great on iOS and Android.
- Web support improving: We’re watching React Native for Web closely.
- Some platform-specific code: We often need to write platform-specific modules.
React Native was perfect. Adding web support later required more work.
Our verdict: Flutter wins for true cross-platform development but React Native is best if mobile is your primary focus.
In summary, Flutter often has an edge in performance and true cross-platform development. But, React Native’s mature ecosystem and familiarity for web developers can’t be overlooked.
So, to help you make the right choice, we’ll start by exploring current trends, then analyze future developments, and finally guide you on how to apply these insights to your business with our recommendations.
Market Trends & Popularity in 2024
In 2024, the battle between Flutter and React Native for mobile app supremacy continues, but the stakes have changed.
Flutter was adopted by over 46% of developers globally as of 2023, largely due to its seamless design capabilities and backing from Google.
React Native, with its deep integration into the JavaScript ecosystem, holds a solid 35% market share as of 2023, particularly popular among developers with prior web development experience.
If you examine the Google Trends data from the past 12 months, it suggests that Flutter fluctuates between 45% to 50%, while React Native ranges from 35% to 40%.
Accwhile React Native’s has been decreasing among cross-platform mobiording to Statista, since 2021, Flutter’s popularity has been increasing, le frameworks used by software developers worldwide.
But, when comparing country-specific popularity between these two frameworks only, in the USA, Flutter holds just 3% while React Native dominates with 97%. Globally, Flutter has a 87% share, compared to React Native’s 11%. The most popular regions for Flutter are Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, while Vietnam, India, and Brazil lead in React Native adoption.
Now if we talk about the number, in 2021, 79,000 new apps and games were developed using React Native. But, this number decreased to 45,000 in 2022(Appfigures). And as of January 2023, there are over 700,000 apps in the Play Store built with Flutter(Very Good Ventures), with one in five new apps on the platform using Flutter—surpassing all other cross-platform frameworks combined.
Thus, data shows both frameworks are keeping pace with the demands of modern startups, but as the trends suggest, each has carved out its niche.
The Future Outlook of Flutter and React Native
So, if we look ahead, Flutter and React Native are poised to continue shaping the mobile app development landscape, but each framework is evolving in distinct ways.
Flutter’s Trajectory
Flutter is growing at a rapid pace, with Google continuing to invest(Google I/O 2024) heavily in its development. In 2024 and beyond, we foresee Flutter expanding its capabilities across more platforms beyond iOS and Android, including web and desktop applications.
This “write once, run anywhere” philosophy is becoming more achievable, making it a future-proof choice for startups that want to scale across multiple platforms.
Additionally, Flutter’s Fuchsia OS integration is one of the most exciting developments to watch. As Google’s next-gen operating system gains traction, its tight integration with Fuchsia could give businesses early access to the platform and a head start on developing cutting-edge apps.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are also likely to play a larger role in Flutter’s ecosystem, with new libraries and tools expected to make it easier to integrate advanced AI features into apps. So, this trend will be particularly beneficial for startups focused on innovation in areas like personalization, automation, and data-driven insights.
React Native’s Evolution
React Native remains a leader for businesses looking to leverage the massive JavaScript ecosystem, but its evolution in 2024 is focused on refining the performance and stability issues that have historically held it back. Meta has been working on React Native’s new architecture, which is expected to close the gap between JavaScript-based and native app performance.
By leveraging Fabric, a new rendering engine for React Native, and TurboModules, the framework will soon allow for faster communication between the JavaScript code and native components. These updates are game-changers for startups looking to push the limits of app performance and reduce load times.
Thus, React Native is also aligning more closely with web development trends, positioning itself as the go-to solution for startups that want to deliver seamless experiences across mobile and web.
In short, both Flutter and React Native are well-suited for the rising demand in areas like IoT, wearables, and AR/VR applications.
Hence, the race between Flutter and React Native will remain close, but each framework is solidifying its niche—Flutter as the go-to for seamless, high-performance, cross-platform development, and React Native as the ideal choice for businesses with existing JavaScript expertise and a need for rapid scaling.
But…
How to Make the Right Choice for Your Business?
Choosing between Flutter and React Native isn’t just a technical decision—it’s a strategic one that can significantly impact your business trajectory. After working with 400+ startups and seeing both successes and stumbles, we’ve developed a framework to help you make the right choice.
1. Assess Your Project Requirements:
First things first: what does your app need to do? We’ve found that different app types tend to favor one framework over the other.
Complex, Animation-Heavy Apps: If you’re building a game, a highly interactive user interface, or an app with complex animations, Flutter might be your best bet. We’ve consistently seen Flutter outperform in these scenarios.
Data-Driven Apps: For apps that primarily display and manipulate data, both frameworks perform well. However, React Native’s vast ecosystem of data management libraries can give it an edge.
Our experience: When we developed the IRTH app, featured by Apple, React Native’s robust charting libraries saved us weeks of development time.
2. Cross-Platform Consistency:
If your brand values flexibility with a native feel on both iOS and Android, React Native is a strong contender.
While Flutter excels in pixel-perfect consistency, React Native offers the advantage of seamlessly integrating with native modules, making it easier to create a familiar user experience across platforms while maintaining performance. We’ve found React Native’s cross-platform capabilities efficient for many of our projects like Aiko & Egor.
3. Consider Your Team’s Expertise:
Your team’s skills and experience should play a vital role in your decision.
If your team has a web development background, especially with React, React Native offers a smoother transition, leveraging familiar tools and skills.
For mobile-first teams with native development experience, Flutter can be an exciting option, offering high performance and cross-platform capabilities.
However, many native developers have reported experiencing greater satisfaction and faster development with React Native once they have adapted to its framework. If you don’t have a team, you can take advantage of our staff augmentation services, which are suitable for teams of any size and can be aligned with the appropriate framework to drive success.
4. Time-to-Market Pressures:
In the startup world, speed is often of the essence. Your choice should align with your launch timeline.
Need for Speed: If you need to get to market quickly with an MVP, Flutter often has the edge. Its hot reload feature and comprehensive widget library can significantly speed up development.
Long-Term Development: For projects with a longer development runway, both frameworks are viable. React Native’s larger ecosystem might provide more ready-made solutions, potentially saving time in the long run.
Launch Success & Scaling Story: We developed the “Jyotish for All” app, a tele-astrology consulting platform with live astrologer video, audio, and chat features, using React Native and Node.js. The app includes real-time billing through Stripe and global video calls powered by Agora.
We successfully launched the app in just 14 weeks, and within less than a year of its release, it began serving 100k customers. The app is now expanding beyond the U.S. and India, with support from celebrity investors.
5. Budget Considerations
Your budget constraints can influence your framework choice. Right?
So, for startups on a shoestring budget needing a quick turnaround, we often recommend Flutter. Its efficiency in development can translate to cost savings.
For long-term scalability, either framework can work with more resources. However, React Native’s performance benefits can lead to lower server costs as your user base grows and is easy to scale.
6. Future-Proofing Your App
Think about where you want your app to be in 3-5 years. Both Flutter and React Native are excellent choices for future-proofing.
If you plan to expand beyond mobile to web or desktop, Flutter’s multi-platform support could save time and resources.
React Native, with its strong ties to Facebook, is evolving rapidly and excels in integrating native features across platforms. While Flutter may have an edge with Google’s tools like ML Kit for AI and AR, React Native’s vast ecosystem and growing support for web and desktop also make it a strong contender for long-term scalability.
Okay, now that we have known all the factors, how do we make the final call?
Making the Final Decision
Our tried-and-true approach:
- List Your Non-Negotiables: What are the must-haves for your app? Performance? Cross-platform consistency? Specific features?
- Weigh Your Priorities: Rank your considerations. Is time-to-market more important than perfect platform-specific design?
- Consider Your Resources: Look at your team’s skills, your budget, and your timeline realistically.
- Think Long-Term: Don’t just focus on immediate needs. Consider where you want your app to be in 2-3 years.
- Build a Prototype: If possible, build a small prototype in both frameworks. This hands-on experience can be invaluable.
Remember, there’s no universally “right” choice. We’ve seen successful apps built with both frameworks. The key is aligning your choice with your specific business needs, resources, and goals.
Whichever framework you choose, focus on building an app that solves real problems for your users. That’s what truly determines success in the long run.
Our Recommendations for Your Business
But before leaving, if you are a startup owner, it might be a little harder to decide between Flutter and React Native that align with your business goals.
Which Framework Is Best for Your Startup in 2024 & Beyond?
Based on our extensive work with both frameworks for startups, here’s our take on which is best suited for different types of startups.
Flutter: Best for Design-Centric, Performance-Oriented Startups
If your business prioritizes creating highly customized, visually stunning apps, Flutter is likely the better choice. Startups in industries like finance, healthcare, and e-commerce—where delivering a smooth, polished user experience is key—will benefit from Flutter’s powerful rendering engine and native-like performance.
Flutter is also ideal if you’re looking to scale across multiple platforms, as it already supports iOS, Android, web, and desktop apps with a single codebase.
So, if your startup needs to deliver a uniform experience across all platforms while maintaining a strong focus on design and performance, Flutter is the future-proof option.
Key Industries for Flutter:
- Fintech (due to its performance capabilities and security features)
- E-commerce (thanks to its customizable UIs)
- Design-heavy applications (where pixel-perfect design is a priority)
React Native: Best for Fast-Moving, Web-Centric Startups
Screenshot of a web-centric app
For startups looking to build quickly and rely on JavaScript expertise, React Native is a solid choice. Our first-hand experience shows that React Native is particularly valuable for businesses with existing web platforms that want to expand into mobile without starting from scratch.
React Native’s speed of development is unmatched, especially for MVPs and apps that don’t require heavy, customized UI work.
So, if you need to launch an app fast, React Native’s vast ecosystem of third-party libraries will help you get there. Plus, with the updates, Meta is pushing forward in 2024 and beyond, React Native is closing the performance gap, making it a strong contender for both short-term and long-term projects.
Key Industries for React Native:
- Social media and content platforms
- Startups needing fast deployment (e.g., MVPs)
- Businesses looking for seamless web and mobile integration
Final Verdict
I want to emphasize that the choice between Flutter and React Native in 2024 depends on your startup’s goals, budget, and technical needs. Both frameworks offer significant advantages, but it’s important to conduct a thorough analysis using the points and factors we’ve discussed to ensure that the best fit aligns with your business’s long-term vision.
As mentioned, our team has extensive experience with both technologies. So, if you need guidance on choosing between Flutter and React Native or want to learn more about how these frameworks could work for your business, our team is here to help you make the most informed decision for 2024 and beyond.
