At present, the number of smartphones’ users has crossed a milestone of 5 billion. Well!! That’s actually a big number…Companies still find that there is potential business growth in making a mobile app for their business. Therefore, they try to make business apps for their mobile users, but when they see a plethora of different technologies and platforms that are used to make a mobile app, they often get confused which one to choose. React Native development and Ionic development are two of the most popular technologies these days. One of them is used to build native apps and another is used to build hybrid apps. Read React Native Vs Ionic, a fair comparison between these two in this write-up and then only make a final decision.
See What Native Vs Hybrid Apps Actually Stands For
Before we dive-in to this long discussion, let’s recollect what the native and hybrid apps actually are.
Native Apps- These mobile apps are custom developed for a particular operating system and made under the strict OS guidelines using the specific programming language like – Objective C (for iOS devices) and Java (for Android devices). In general, native apps are faster and more reliable as they can take advantages of specific operating system features at any time. These apps can interact with the software that is particularly installed on an operating system so they can directly access the in-built features and software.
Hybrid Apps- These apps are essentially web apps that are wrapped within native apps. The plus point in making a hybrid app is- its cross-platform functionality. It means that you need not to make a separate app for iOS and Android users. Using this single app, you can target both platform users. That is why even the top hybrid app development companies have started suggesting to their customers to develop their mobile applications into hybrid apps. This wise step not only ultimately saves time but also reduces a heavy development cost.
To know more about Hybrid apps and its advantages, please read our previous blog- Why Hybrid Mobile App development might be a better solution for you?
Basic Introduction to React Native and Ionic
React Native – React Native is one of the famous JavaScript frameworks that is used to make rich-featured native apps for a business. It is strongly supported by a tech community of few internet biggies like Facebook and Instagram. So you can opt this technology seeing the future aspects of your business.
Ionic – Ionic framework is the best example of cross-platform frameworks which is getting popular day by day. It is used to make hybrid apps using web technologies such as CSS, SAAS and HTML5. It is focused to give excellent UI apps based on Cordova or PhoneGap software.
React Native Vs Ionic – A Fair Comparison to Find out Which Framework Is Better Suited for Your Business
-
The language stack
React Native follows a simple mantra- “LEARN ONCE & WRITE ANYWHERE”, whereas Ionic works on philosophy- “WRITE ONCE & USE ANYWHERE”. Here, React Native is based on AngularJS which is simple to learn. So, if anyone has a knowledge of AngularJS, then he can easily write codebase to build react apps for different platforms. Whereas Ionic uses different types of web technologies like CSS, SAAS and HTML5 to make a user-friendly and interactive app.
-
Reusable Code and Development Style
In case of react native apps, you will get less pre-developed code base. Whereas, in the case of Ionic apps, you will get a stack of a pre-developed code base that can be reused by the developer. So, it is much convenient for a developer to make a quick hybrid app.
-
App Performance
If we talk about the performance of mobile app, then react native wins the app game for large-scale business apps. These apps are faster and more responsive as compare to Ionics. The reason behind Ionics’ lesser degree of performance is- It runs on UIWebView (for iOS devices) and on WebView (for Android devices) that makes it slow for the large-scale business app. Ionic apps are the best option for small and medium scale businesses.
-
Accessibility of Phone
As react native apps are built for a specific platform so there is no need for any other additional software to access your phone. React native is capable enough to fetch or interact with other features of that phone. On the other hand, Ionic uses Cordova software for this purpose.
-
Plugins & Community Support
React native has a significant background for third-party plugins as it is supported by a huge community of tech experts who belongs to Facebook and Instagram. Fixing a bug, sorting a query etc. types of technical problems can be easily resolved by React native people. Now, let’s move on to Ionic. The ionic framework has also marked its presence in the marketplace since long. Trust me, you will not find it hard to find a strong community support for this technology too, for sure.
-
Development Cost and TimeLine
While compared with Ionic apps, React native apps generally take much time and development cost. Ionic apps are cost-effective mobile apps that will take less time in completion of the whole development process. So, if you want to make a low-budget app which you want to get done quickly, then choose Ionic app development.
Conclusion
After doing React Native vs Ionic and analyzing the above comparison, you can conclude that React native and Ionic both are individually strong technologies that serve their mobile apps market well. Then million dollar question is- “which one is better?”
Well, choosing a technology is mostly dependent on the nature of your project. What cost you have fixed for it? How much development time you have set for it? How much user base you are expecting? Etc. Etc. But If time and budget is not a problem then I would personally recommend you go for react native development. Apps built with React Native generally have better performance and gives you a world-class user experience.
Are you searching for the top-class React Native App Development? Simply come with your dreamy app project and we will give wings to your imaginations.