React Native VS Ionic: An In-Depth Comparison For Hybrid App Development
We are in a generation of hybrid and progressive application development where the age-old programming language is no longer relevant. The latest generation uses advanced platforms like React Native and Ionic for application development.
React-Native is a cross-platform solution for building mobile applications for both iOS and Android, with native performance. Written in JavaScript, this is an open-source platform introduced in 2015 by Facebook. It has gained immense popularity among the developers since its introduction. When you hire onsite developers from leading app development companies, they can serve high-scale performance beyond their clients’ expectations.
If you are looking for a hybrid application, Consult Ionic App Development Company India to build a high-quality solution. Ionic allows using standard web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML to create cross-platform applications.
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Ionic vs. React Native 2021
If you are a beginner and learning about React Native and Ionic, you must have a clear vision. Ionic uses traditional web technologies for mobile, desktop, and web pages. React Native also allows you to build native applications with JavaScript. It means you can simply hire Ionic developers India to offer native-like performance for all devices.
Ionic vs. React Native Performance
- React Native
Native application refers to a specific programming language for different platforms. Native iOS applications are built-in Swift or Objective-C, whereas native android applications are written in Java. The best part of React Native is it has underlying widgets with all native components.
-> The presence of native-like components allows developers to provide Seamless performance.
-> Similarly, as developers build applications with a single codebase, it reduces the development time without compromising with quality.
-> It is impressive if the code is written on JavaScript and rendering all the benefits. It is the reason, React Native offers a much more superior experience.
- Ionic
Ionic is used to develop hybrid applications, even though it uses similar languages as React does, it can be used on Web, desktop, and mobile applications. Hybrid applications are typically called Web View mobile applications.
-> The idea behind building a hybrid application is to reuse the codes across multiple platforms. Therefore, the hybrid application does not have native features, and that reduces its performance in comparison to React.
-> Native features like camera, GPS, would not be available with Ionic. However, Ionic app development companies use Cordova plugins for integrating native features. Therefore, it renders the graphic elements through a browser, which takes a few steps to begin with, the steps.
-> Building web applications with hybrid technologies like Ionic is easy to compile with progressive web applications.
Therefore in terms of performance, React is a clear winner. If the project is entirely a mobile application and needs to work on both platforms, you must go wReact. Similarly, if you are looking for an excellent user interface, it matches the website in the form of a mobile application and then considers using Ionic.
Learning Curve
- React Native
Learning React Native is relatively easy. The concepts of codes are similar to React. Components like <div>, <p> are different, as React Native use components like <view>.
But what if one does not have a clear concept of JavaScript and React. The learning curve would be considered steep for someone without any knowledge of React Knowledge.
- Ionic
Ionic tech-stack is quite flexible as you are going to use common coding knowledge like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML with your choice of frameworks. You can either choose Angular, React, KnokOut, VUE, etc., to add more value to your brand. It means developers adopt Ionic frameworks very easily. Hence the learning curve is smooth here.
With ionic, developers can build progressive web applications that can also be compatible with different mobile platforms. This hybrid approach in application development is different from React Native.
Technology Stack
- React Native
React Native is built on Javascript with the popular framework, React. The UI structure is scripted in JSX rather than HTML. Though JSX appears like any template or language, however, it does not have the power of JavaScript. This is the reason, React Native use different frameworks to enhance its performance and facilitates the development process.
- Ionic
If you have a clear idea of Angular, Vue, or even React, Ionic is a simple game for you. Nonetheless, the Ionic tech stack is very much flexible as compared to React Native. The latest update Ionic 4 is a better version than any web development framework.
Until last year, React Native had been in the first row in terms of its technology stack. However, the latest version of the category has changed the whole structure. As Ionic applications built only using angular, there were many restrictions. However, the recent update opened up new avenues for Ionic.
Community Support
- React Native
The GitHub Stats reported that there is a clear indication that the developers’ community of both these frameworks has gone way above than it used to be a few years back. React Native has 78k stars with more than 1900 contributors to work on the framework.
- Ionic
Similarly, Ionic also has gone a long way to building strong community support. Ionic has about 38k stars and 330 contributors to develop the framework. It means the number is less than one-fifth of the contributors as compared with React Native.
To Conclude
Analyzing all the aspects of React Native and Ionic, you cannot come to a clear conclusion that one of these frameworks is the right choice. In terms of the project requirement, you can choose your ideal framework. Both these frameworks come with their pros and cons; therefore, you cannot choose a clear winner here. It takes a careful evaluation to pick one of the frameworks for your project.
