The Great Mobile Framework Debate
Choosing between Flutter and React Native is one of the most common decisions in mobile development. After building production apps with both frameworks, here's our honest, data-driven comparison.
Performance Comparison
| Metric | Flutter | React Native (New Arch) |
|---|---|---|
| Startup Time | 0.8s | 1.1s |
| Frame Rate | 60fps consistent | 60fps (improved with Fabric) |
| Memory Usage | ~80MB | ~65MB |
| App Size | ~15MB minimum | ~8MB minimum |
Developer Experience
Flutter
- Language: Dart (clean, typed, but smaller community)
- Hot Reload: Excellent, near-instant
- IDE Support: Strong in VS Code and Android Studio
- Learning Curve: Moderate (Dart + Widget system)
React Native
- Language: JavaScript/TypeScript (massive community)
- Fast Refresh: Good, with some limitations
- IDE Support: Excellent across all editors
- Learning Curve: Low for web developers
When to Choose Which
- Choose Flutter: Performance-critical apps, custom UI, new mobile teams
- Choose React Native: Web developers moving to mobile, existing React codebase, rapid prototyping
Our Recommendation
Both frameworks are production-ready. Choose based on your team's expertise and project requirements, not hype. We've shipped successful apps with both.
