Ionic vs React Native: Which One is best for Development

Nowadays, many frameworks are available for web development. Ionic and React Native both are most trending frameworks let take a look on both frameworks.

Ionic

The basic Ionic was built on top of Apache Cordova and Angular. It released in 2013. Ionic allows developing hybrid apps with the help of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with a single and reusable code base.

For building beautiful and fully functional apps, Ionic has a set of User Interface Components and functions. However, you will need both Cordova and PhoneGap for Ionic to function.

If you have some experience with Angular, you will find app development with Ionic an easy task since the second version of Ionic is similar to Angular regarding the structure and design. Moreover, it’s TypeScript ready, so you will be able to use your current Angular 2 components.

This framework has some pre-developed components for UI. As a result, this can significantly simplify your work, write code once and run it everywhere.

One feature of Ionic is adaptability (according to this specific platform). In case you are using tabs, their position will depend on the platform of the application.

Ionic provides a considerable amount of inexpensive plugins that allow you to forget about employing third-party solutions. Additionally, you can always take a look at Cordova plugins if you cannot find what you want. The integration of Cordova plugins with software based on the initial framework is beautiful.

Pros of Iconic

• No matter whether it is HTML, CSS, JS, or Angular- it is platform independent.
• Cordova and PhoneGap wrap it
• It works on UIWebView if it is iOS or WebView if it is Android.
• It allows creating default mobile app User Interface functionalities efficiently and effectively.
• You can use TypeScript for developing apps for all platforms.

Cons of Ionic

• Performance issues when using too many call-backs to the native code
• The development of advanced interactive or graphics transitions can turn out to be really difficult.
• The necessity to know RxJS that may significantly reduce the learning curve.

React Native

React Native framework was built and announced by Facebook in 2015, applying the React architecture to native iOS, Android, and Universal Windows platform apps.

It has a neat feature that allows building cross-platform applications, which are hard to distinguish from the native ones. This is like typing a phrase in google translate that automatically provides you a translation. Put just, the process is the same, you write code in React components. Then after, this code will be rendered as native UI components in your mobile application. Since WebViews or browsers are not used, your apps will be able to execute faster.

The development process is based on JavaScript. That is why programmers can share their code across various platforms. Nevertheless, you won’t be able to use a single toolbar for various platforms. So if you decided to choose to react, be ready to use components as close to the native behavior of the platform as possible.

Pros of React Native

• You can reuse existing code, which increases the development speed.
• Huge developers’ community so you won’t have to be afraid of any challenges. This allows solving challenges related to React Native within the shortest amount of time.
• Since the code is independent of platforms iOS or android it can be used across both platforms.

Cons of React Native

• Since it is created for iOS, components for Android may require some efforts from you.
• It’s meant for more complicated apps. Consequently, they may need more resources and a higher budget.

Comparison between Ionic and React Native

One of the main difference is that using ionic, you will be able to develop hybrid apps. These apps will be using UIWebView for iOS and WebView for Android.

Moreover, using React Native, you can develop applications with the standard User Interface blocks. React Native uses the native rendering APIs in Java for Android and Objective-c for iOS.

1. Performance

Hybrid applications, which are built with Ionic, are slower than apps built with React Native.

2. Testing

This time Ionic gets point because the testing process can be performed in any browser. While you will need a device or an emulator for React Native.

3. Simplicity

Ionic and React Native both are considered to be highly functional as they can be “recycled”, if necessary. There are several scenarios when code can be rewritten one more time. Additionally,  if the code written in Ionic can be used anywhere after the initial launch, the React Native’s one will have to be rewritten on the new platform.

4. Features

Ionic’s documentation is much lucid. Another benefit is a variety of pre-design set of styles. React Native, in its turn, has an excellent feature, which is also known as Hot Reload feature. This function allows debugging and updating the running application without completely rebuilding it.

5. Developer Community

React Native is one of the most famous frameworks on Github. Its community is continuously growing. If you are a part of this community, you can easily find an answer to any question as well as getting access to a significant number of third-party libraries, which were created by developers from the community. When it comes to Ionic, it doesn’t have such a large audience but it has been growing gradually.

Final thoughts,

So which framework is better? Choice differs. This depends upon projects too because they differ according to complexity, deadlines and even skills of your programmers.