React Native vs Flutter: Which for Your Mobile App?
Shared React skills versus a polished standalone toolkit.
Both React Native and Flutter are good ways to build one app that runs on iOS and Android, and you can ship a great product in either. They are close enough on quality that the deciding factor is rarely the framework itself, it is what your team and codebase already know. React Native uses React, JavaScript and TypeScript; Flutter uses Dart and its own widget system.
Here is how the two compare for a team that also builds on the web, and why React Native is our pick.
| React Native | Flutter | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | JavaScript and TypeScript, like the web | Dart, learned for Flutter |
| Shared skills | Same React stack as your web app | Separate skill set and team |
| Code and logic reuse | Share types and logic with the web | Mobile-only by default |
| Performance | Very good for most apps | Excellent, compiles to native |
| UI system | Native components, flexible | Polished, consistent widget system |
| Ecosystem | Huge, shared with React and npm | Strong and growing, Dart-specific |
| Best for | Teams already invested in React and the web | Mobile-first teams with no web stack |
When React Native makes sense
Choose React Native when you already build on the web with React, JavaScript and TypeScript. One team can cover web and mobile, you share types and business logic across both, and you hire from a single large talent pool. For a team with a React web stack, this is the efficient choice, and it is the one we build on.
When Flutter is a good fit
Flutter is a strong pick when you have no existing web or React investment to share, and you want a single polished toolkit with an excellent widget system and consistent rendering across platforms. Its performance is excellent and its UI is tidy out of the box. Starting fresh and mobile-only, it is hard to fault.
Our honest take
Both build great apps, so the decision comes down to your existing stack. If you have no web or React investment, Flutter is a fine, polished choice. If you already build on React, React Native lets one team and one set of skills cover web and mobile, sharing logic across both, and that is exactly how we work. Tell us what you have and we will recommend the fit.
Common questions
Can React Native really share code with our web app?
Meaningfully, yes. You will not share the UI components, but you can share TypeScript types, validation, API clients and business logic across web and mobile. That shared core, plus one team that knows the whole stack, is the real saving.
Is React Native's performance good enough for our app?
For the vast majority of apps, yes. Flutter has an edge on the most graphics-heavy cases, but for typical product apps React Native is plenty fast, and the gap rarely matters next to the benefit of sharing your React stack.
Still weighing it up? Tell us your situation and we will show you the fastest path to a product you are proud of, and how we would build it.
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