Ionic vs React Native: Which is Better for Mobile App Development

Thanks to mobile applications, our daily lives have undergone a significant transformation as the world’s smartphone users grow. The development of mobile technology over the past ten years has enabled developers to create fantastic apps. You don’t need to be an expert in a tricky programming language to develop a mobile app development. If you want to create an app for iOS and Android, there are numerous frameworks accessible. It suffices to be familiar with web-based programming languages like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Modern frameworks have several benefits, including speed, efficiency, and a bug-free environment. The framework executes code using pre-built tools, including toolkits, compilers, and debugging software.

These application frameworks, which can lessen the frequent issues while developing applications, are used by corporations when they engage developers. Application frameworks facilitate the creation of graphical user interfaces and web-based applications (GUIs). Native apps, web apps, and hybrid apps are the main uses for these app development frameworks. Several well-known frameworks include React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, Ionic, and Apache Cordova. We have evaluated the pros and cons of Ionic and React Native, two of the top frameworks for building hybrid mobile applications.

Why Do Developers Use React Native and Ionic?

Ionic

Ionic developers can make apps for Android, iOS, and the web. Additionally, Ionic provides cross-platform UI components and native APIs that can be utilized to create incredible mobile apps for all platforms.

Features of Ionic –

• Using the free and open-source Ionic framework, the team can create mobile apps.

• AngularJS and Apache Cordova were used in its construction.

• The Ionic Framework comes with a command-line interface (CLI) that enables developers to build and test apps for any platform.

• Cordova enables developers to create apps for various OSes because it offers all the functionality supplied by native app development SDKs.

• Ionic-based app development is required to distribute apps across the Android, iOS, and Windows operating systems.

• Develop apps with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.

• When developing apps using Ionic, the UI is prioritized to improve the user experience.

React Native

By providing native UI components independent of the platform, React Native aids developers in building cross-platform applications. And the finest native mobile app development services framework makes it simple to transfer these native components into the native UI building blocks.

Features of React Native –

• Because it can be reused on Android and iOS, it cuts down on development time and expenses.

• The support for virtual DOM makes real-time viewing of updates possible.

Developers of React native make up a substantial portion.

• Code developed by one developer is easy for other engineers to read, study, comprehend, and enhance.

• After being written, the code can be used to build apps using react-native on iOS and Android devices.

• Issues with React Native apps on iOS or Android can be quickly fixed.

• It gets better and better with each new version, making the process of creating apps more exciting and valuable.

Ionic vs React Native: Which is More Popular Among Developers?

• According to a survey by AppBrain, there are over 32K apps built using React Native and over 26K apps built with the Ionic framework.

• Ionic has a 3.72% market share, while React Native has a 4.67% share.

• React Native makes up 6.38 percent of the top applications, while Ionic makes up only 0.21%.

• React Native is the sixth most popular technology globally, but Ionic did not make the top technologies list in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021.

• According to Statista, React Native is the second-most popular cross-platform mobile framework, with a 38% market share. In contrast, Ionic is the fourth most well-liked cross-platform mobile framework, with a 16% market share.

• Ionic has 47k stars and 13.7k forks, whereas React Native has 102k stars and 22k forks, according to Github.

When Should I Develop a Mobile App Using Ionic?

Ionic provides a familiar, trying-to-cut web development experience for developers with previous experience in the field. It extensively uses Progressive Web App APIs, contemporary JavaScript and TypeScript, and sophisticated web APIs like web components. It is a cutting-edge online platform for creating native mobile apps. Ionic is functional, write-once code.

It not only significantly reduces the amount of time needed to target your audience, but it also probably goes far faster than developing a single conventional native app. With over a hundred extendable and well-designed components, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, Ionic makes it easier than nearly any other method to create a working app quickly. Ionic has been known to accomplish the unthinkable and deploy an app ahead of schedule for teams attempting to meet arbitrary deadlines, even while competing with other cross-platform technologies.

Ionic is a superpower that assists teams trying to launch their hazardous new product or company and gain momentum in reaching the broadest audience on day one (across iOS, Android, and the web). Ionic, designed to be incredibly useful, does this better than any other platform.

When Should I Develop a Mobile App Using React Native?

React is a front-end platform, but it may be integrated with many different back-end technologies because it is flexible. React operates more like a healthy ecosystem of tools and techniques in this regard. Fortunately, the fact that Facebook developed React and extensively used it to address its challenges only improves the library’s quality and effectiveness in addressing issues of a similar nature encountered on other projects. React is made to help developers create dependable component-centric applications. React is flexible and can be coupled with several different back-end technologies despite being a front-end technology. It may be used for creating desktop apps, VR apps, mobile apps, static sites, web apps (which is where it all began), and even VR apps.

Ionic vs React Native differences and advantages

Pros of Ionic

Web developers can create mobile apps because Ionic is built on standardized web technologies.

It’s adaptable – Ionic’s foundation in standardized web technologies makes it incredibly versatile.

Ionic allows for the creation of many apps from a single codebase.

Tools that are compatible with native platforms: Ionic provides a library of plugins and components that includes front-end building blocks, UI components, standard app icons, and more.

Ionic seems like a native application because of its extensive collection of UI components and easy prototyping.

Cons of Ionic

Performance on older smartphones can be a problem because it is slower than on more recent devices.

Security measures – Security issues will always arise during the creation of any mobile application.

Pros of React Native

The availability of a sizable team of enthusiastic native and JS developers who are eager to share their knowledge and expertise with publicly available components is one of the many benefits of a community-driven ecosystem.

Maximum code reuse and cost savings – React Native enables the simultaneous release of the same code for iOS and Android. As a result, development saves a lot of money and time.

You can instantly view the outcome of the most recent change you have made to the code thanks to the “hot reload” feature, sometimes known as the “live reload” tool.

Cons of React Native

Lack of native libraries – If the app has many features, React Native can slow down the development process because it relies on external, third-party libraries rather than native libraries.

React Native is a loosely held abstraction layer framework that allows developers to access JavaScript code, HTML tags, and CSS stylesheets.

Initializes more slowly – React Native could take longer since the JavaScript thread needs time to start.

Lots of native workarounds are necessary – If a particular capability is not available in React Native, developers have two options: ask a native developer to provide it or write native modules in Swift/Objective-C and Java.

Due to Facebook’s ownership of React Native, license and patenting issues continue to exist.

Comparison of Ionic and React Native based on Architecture and Performance Similarities and Dissimilarities –

Ionic vs React Native Similarities

Ionic and React Native apps have both full native access and capabilities because both technologies produce actual native app files and binaries.

Ionic (through Capacitor or Cordova) as well as React Native both execute JavaScript in runtime rather than before it has been pre-compiled.

Both methods make enhancing an app’s native capabilities simple, so developers shouldn’t have any issues employing either technique.

Running native code and gaining access to Native APIs are virtually equally supported by Ionic React and React Native.

Ionic vs React Native Architecture –

There are four main parts to the React Native architecture:

The developer’s written React code.

The final result of the developer’s code being interpreted is JavaScript.

A group of elements together referred to as The Bridge.

Native Americans.

Ionic vs React Native: performance –

WebView is incorporated into the Ionic codebase at runtime using Capacitor or Cordova. To put it simply, a mobile-based website presented on a mobile application is what the Ionic app is.

Famous websites made with Ionic and Reacted Native as examples –

• Ionic
• Diesel

There is a Diesel Ionic app. The Ionic framework gives the app good performance and a high-quality UI that gives it a native app-like appearance and feel.

McDonald’s Turkey

McDonald’s worked hard to establish a reliable online presence. They chose Ionic for their Turkish food ordering app because of this.

Crypto change

A bitcoin tracker app called Crypto changed and used the ionic framework. Over 100 different cryptocurrencies are tracked by it.

InstantPot

To search recipes, bookmark favorites, make notes, and even create grocery lists, use the InstantPot Ionic app. This Ionic framework-created application is highly regarded for its iOS and Android design.

Sworkit

The developers worked hard to ensure that the Ionic app was as inclusive as possible. As a result, it has a massive variety of training films and activities.

React Native

Facebook

In 2015, Facebook introduced React Native. They used the React Native framework to create Facebook ads and had great success.

Instagram

With the aid of React Native, Instagram developers were able to produce the product much more quickly and share 85% to 99% of the code between the apps for Android and iOS.

Airbnb

To immediately enter the market, Airbnb, an online rental marketplace, had to accelerate its development process. They used React Natural to help them create an environment that felt native.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg provides news on international business and finance. Users receive a streamlined, interactive experience across all platforms with React Native, which speeds up the introduction of new product features.

UberEats

Popular food delivery service UberEats needs to improve the functionality of its dashboard for restaurants. They improved the RN framework by using React Native.

Ionic and React Native’s ability to lower development costs and save money

Ionic offers 1.5x faster performance than Ionic 3 and facilitates speedier development. Notably, most of the built-in tools and capabilities that accelerate growth are available to Ionic developers. Ionic 4 has seen some of the most significant updates that have accelerated development.

React Native is more affordable, giving you more room to expand your functionality, scalability, and results options. Cross-platform mobile app development is one such economic strategy. This method aims to create software or applications for several platforms. To support several platforms, one cycle of code is written. This approach decreases the overall cost and the time needed to produce apps.

Some Advice to Help You Choose Between React Native and Ionic

There is ample room to build a hybrid mobile ecosystem with Ionic and React Native. The capacitor is a beautiful illustration, giving Ionic devs tooling on par with React Native and resolving many of Cordova’s problems. Whether to use React Native vs. Ionic frequently depends on the project’s primary goal. React Native is the way to go if you want to create an experience that largely depends on enhancing the design of native features.

Other helpful articles-
1-Swift vs React Native
2-Java vs Python

Conclusion

So, in the end, try both Ionic and React Native. Make no decisions based on the idea that one framework is better than another. You can choose a suitable framework for your project by analyzing your business needs. You can contact us to receive assistance from our skilled professionals. We have 20 years of expertise offering IT solutions and are a level 3 accredited CMMI organization. We have a particular virtual model that makes it easier for us and our clients to work together as partners, and all of our processes are clearly defined and transparent. We assist our clients by assimilating into their DNA and providing them with support from the Clarion family.