React Native vs Ionic: Explained by the Industry Expert
The battle of React Native vs Ionic is a never-ending debate. There are many factors to consider when deciding which framework to use for your next mobile app project: performance, community support, flexibility, and more. The decision will ultimately depend on the needs of your business, as well as your developer's experience with each framework. In this blog post, we'll compare these two frameworks in detail so you can make an informed decision about react native or ionic, what solution will work best for you.
Ionic vs React Native: Summarised key differences
So, you've come up with a genius app idea that will revolutionize the way people do things. You're able to see your goals clearly and are aware of React Native vs Ionic competition as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Here we have summarised some factors that will give you a clear picture.
Which is best ionic or react native?
What is React Native
React Native is a JavaScript framework that enables developers to build mobile applications for Android
and iOS platforms natively using React. It uses the best components of native development with React,
coupled with the Javascript library to produce the best UIs. It was built in 2015 by Facebook.
React Native enables developers to build TV applications too.
What is Ionic
The Ionic Framework is a hybrid solution for developing mobile apps. It allows you to use standard
web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, in order to build high-quality cross-platform
applications using this framework. It was built in 2013 by Drifty Co.
The main idea behind this framework was to code once, and that deploy that code cross-platforms on desktop,
web, iOS, and android. The code-base can be shared on all platforms.
React Native vs Ionic: How are they similar?
If you are new to Ionic and React Native, then they might sound similar, right?
React Native enables you to build mobile apps natively using Javascript and React( javascript’s framework).
Similarly Ionic enables you to build web, desktop, and mobile apps using technologies like HTML, CSS, and JS.
This concludes that you do not need to have profound knowledge about android development or native iOS to use React Native or Ionic.
Differences between ionic and react native
React Native vs Ionic: The basic difference
React Native
React Native is Native
React Native produces cross platforms apps natively. Native App is a software app that is specific for a device platform( iOS or Android).
The beauty of React Native is that it allows you to build apps for both iOS and Android with a single code base. It's really impressive because the
entire app, from Javascript down to rendering components on each platform is all native-based. This helps give your application an unparalleled user
experience in comparison to other frameworks which use Web Views
Ionic
Ionic is hybrid
Ionic is the ultimate hybrid app for developers. It uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build apps that can be used on web browsers, desktops, or mobile devices.
Hybrid apps use a tool called Webview to create mobile apps.
Ionic apps are built using technologies that use Web views, which is why it offers full screen and full-powered browsers.
The distinguishing feature of ionic is its reusability of the code across various platforms. Hybrid
apps cannot access native features( camera, contacts, GPS, etc) so it uses the Cordova plugin to integrate these
features into your app. Because of this process performance is compromised on large apps.
When it comes to building web apps using ionic, converting them to progressive web apps is very easy and can be
easily downloaded like any other mainstream mobile app.
Bottom line:
If you're in need of a cross-platform mobile app that will work on both iOS and Android and look like a native app, your best bet is to choose React Native. If you want an elegant user interface in the form of a mobile application, then you can choose Ionic instead.
React Native vs Ionic: Technology stack
React Native
React Native’s UI pieces are written in JSX, instead of HTML. It's like a template language but with all the power that JavaScript has to offer. The reason React Native uses React is because Facebook developed and open-sourced both frameworks.
Ionic
Ionic apps can be built by Angular, Vue, or React. Ionic’s tech stack offers great flexibility, unlike React Native. With the release of Ionic 4, now you can use Ionic with your preferred web development framework.
Bottom line:
Since the updates to Ionic last year, it has become a more flexible and desirable platform. Web developers can use any web framework they want now in order to create an app.
React Native vs Ionic: Popularity
The developer survey 2020 found that:
- Ionic's SDK is the go-to choice for web developers in 2019. 86% of developers chose Ionic for extensive app development and 16% chose React Native.
- 72% of developers have used ionic tools, frameworks, and libraries while 21% chose React native for progressive web apps.
- React native has 89.1k stars on Github with 346+ version releases and 19.8k+ projects. While Ionic has 41.1k stars on Github with over 13.3k projects and 238+ version releases.
It is very clear from the fact that React Native is much more popular than Ionic.
React Native vs Ionic: Learning curve
React Native
For React developers learning React native is a piece of cake. All the concepts are the same as React so it doesn’t take much time adjusting to React native.
For newbies, the learning curve is steep because you will have to learn javascript and React first.
What is your opinion on React vs Angular? Check out the blog post to get amazing insights.
Ionic
Ionic's flexible tech stack and framework choices allow app developers to pick whichever web frameworks they're most comfortable with. For this reason, Ionic has a significantly lower
learning curve than React Native - making it the perfect choice for any professional developer looking to start developing apps quickly!
Ionic, is an easy solution for developers. With this hybrid approach, you can build web apps that also become mobile apps which is different from React
Native's native approach and thus more easily grasped by a developer.
Bottom line
The best thing about Ionic is that you can work with any framework of your choice, whereas in React Native there is no flexibility available. For a React newbie, it will take a lot of learning to grip React native.
Ionic vs React native performance
React Native
React Native is the perfect choice for apps that need to look and feel native. It provides great performance across platforms, with a sleek interface that feels like you're really using a native app
Ionic
Although Ionic is a great solution for building elegant UI and faster development, it does come with some performance issues when compared to frameworks like React Native. This could be due to the Cordova plugin that is required to access native features.
Bottom line
React Native is faster than Ionic because React Native wraps around native components which provide better performance.
Ionic vs React Native: Developer community
The GitHub stats is a good indication of how active the communities are for both these frameworks.
React Native is a popular framework with over 19k projects and over 89k stars(2020) Ionic is a framework that has over 41k stars with over 13k projects(2020)
Bottom line:
React Native's more active and engaged community could be because it builds native apps instead of web apps
Advantages of using Ionic:
- Making it easy to take your code and turn it into a Progressive Web App is as simple as adding in some steps because all the code is built-in to function in a web browser.
- Ionic uses Webview, which is a tool that web developers use every day. It lets them use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create their applications.
- Written in JavaScript, the language provides support for most modern frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue
Disadvantages of using Ionic:
- Performance is not good as native apps or cross-platform native apps.
- To use native features, APIs, and modules, Cordova plugin integration is required
- It cannot match with native apps with respect to looks and feels.
Advantages of using React Native:
- Enormous community support present, which means developers can connect with other developers for resolving problems.
- Written in a common language i.e Javascript.
- It can be integrated into native apps, it is possible to make your app function smoothly as a native app.
- Builds cross platform native apps for both iOS and Android
- The React Native app is translated to native code, which has the benefit of achieving 60 frames per second. This gives the user an impression that resembles a native app
Disadvantages of the React Native:
- React Native is still in beta, even after so many years of its creation.
- Not suitable for apps that have high-quality animations.
- Developers have to learn React before jumping to React native
When to use Ionic?
Ionic utilizes technologies like HTML, CSS, and Javascript so it is best suited for a team with no knowledge about Native.
Ionic allows you to make easy, high-quality mobile apps with native features like GPS and maps. Make your app for the Play Store or App Store with the same expertise and effort needed to build a website.
When to use React Native?
React Native is a great option for developers with prior iOS or Android experience. React's higher learning curve will be well worth the effort to learn if you're already an experienced React developer looking to break into React Native.
React Native enables your app to have a more native feel and is the perfect tool for companies looking to make their mobile application stand out.
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