What is React Native?
React Native made its first debut in the year 2015, developed, and widely supported by Facebook. It is a JavaScript framework used for building native mobile and web applications using Java as the programming language. It completely supports both Android and iOS platforms and applies designs similar to React, giving an interactive mobile user interface. However, don’t forget that React Native does not extend any support to HTML5 or hybrid apps. React Native, created by Facebook, allows developers to build mobile apps using JavaScript and React. It enables code sharing across iOS and Android, providing a native-like performance and user experience.Key Features of React Native:
- Cross-platform compatibility: Share code between iOS and Android.
- Native performance: Delivers a smooth, fast user experience.
- Strong community support: Access extensive resources and libraries.
What is Ionic?
Ionic is one of the popular open-source platforms optimized for building exceptional hybrid mobile applications. It was initially introduced in 2013 by Drifty Co. Developers with extensive knowledge of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 choose Ionic as its ideal framework. The framework utilizes Angular and Apache Cordova, which is the primary reason why developers choose this platform. Similar to React Native, it also supports cross-platform app development. The tools like SaaS and CSS, etc., additionally assist in the development process. Ionic, an open-source framework, uses web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build mobile apps. It’s known for creating hybrid apps that run on various platforms with a single codebase.Key Features of Ionic:
- Single codebase: Write once, run anywhere.
- Web-based: Utilizes familiar web technologies.
- Rich ecosystem: Offers various plugins and tools.
Pros and Cons of React Native
React Native Advantages
- You can use JavaScript, the most used programming language in the world, while developing an app in React Native. Furthermore, if required, you can also use native modules like Kotlin, Java, Swift, or Objective-C.
- Hot Reloading, one of the most important React Native features. Allows you to inject the latest version into your existing app without changing its state.
- React Native-based code gets directly complied into the native UPIs, resulting in faster app performance.
- React Native ensures good app performance by rendering components straight to native APIs
- Pract Native is open-source which means it can be used by any developer free of cost.
- React Native frameworks have many UI elements like buttons, modules, sliders, etc pre-installed which minimizes the time for an app’s UI development.
Disadvantages of React Native
- When you are developing an application in React Native, the Write-Once-Run-Anywhere approach doesn’t work. You are required to create a bespoke version of each screen for each device. Hence, the development time for React Native applications is longer.
- Learning React Native, especially for freshers, is a bit difficult.
- React Native APKs' size is larger than that of apps developed with native technologies of Java or Kotlin.
- This framework allows using modules written in native languages to perform complex computations. If you are developing a complex application, you may require cooperation with native mobile developers.
Pros and Cons of Ionic
Ionic Framework Benefits
- With plenty of UI elements available in Ionic, you can develop an application that looks native on each platform.
- You can test the code quality easily in the browser without the need for any heavy emulator loading.
- It is very easy to learn and understand the Ionic mobile framework. You only need to have the proper knowledge of Angular, React, Vue, and Apache Cordova.
- The Ionic platform provides a free Hobby Plan to create applications with a native feel and look. You can also use its Pro version which comes with bigger Ionic features.
Disadvantages of Ionic
- The performance of the Ionic app framework is slower than that of native mobile apps. Nonetheless, many of the average programmers ignore the performance gap.
- According to the developers, each Ionic version brings new potential bugs. Some of them may be updating the older plugins, moving to the latest versions, or accessing the native device functionalities.
- Since the Ionic framework is a newbie, it is still in the development stage and its supports and standards keep changing. Also, its libraries can be rewritten at any time.
How to decide between React Native and Ionic - Tabular Comparison
Criteria | React Native | Ionic |
Platform Supported | iOS, macOS, tvOS, Windows, Web, Android | iOS, Web, Android |
Tech Stack | JavaScript, React, and Native modules | HTML, CSS, JavaScript (Web Technologies) |
Functionality | Based on the dynamic runtime approach | Based on WebView Wrapper |
Development Approach | Native App Development using Native Components, JSX syntax | Hybrid App Development using WebView, Web components, Angular or React bindings |
Performance | Native performance, uses Native UI components | Web-based performance with a native wrapper |
Popularity | Very powerful, backed by Facebook, huge community support | Popular among web developers |
Code Reusability | Uses the same code to develop applications for any platform’s devices and OS. | High code reusability but with some platform-specific required changes |
Rendering | Hot reloading features allow real-time rendering | Application refreshes instantly after implementing a change |
User Interface | Uses native UI components offering a more native look | Uses web components and custom styling |
Plugins and Modules | Native modules, rich ecosystem of third-party libraries | Cordova/ Capacitor for native device access |
Access to Native APIs | Direct access to native APIs through native module | Limited, requires plugins like Cordova or Capacitor |
Performance Tuning | Easier to achieve better performance for resource-heavy apps | Requires optimization for high-performing apps |
Over-the-Air Updates | Strong support for OTA updates (through services like CodePush) | Limited support for OTA updates |
Third-party Integration | Extensive support for third-party libraries and services | Supports third-party plugins but less extensive |
Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD) | Robust CI/CD pipelines supported out-of-the-box | Basic support requires extra configuration |
Learning Curve | Moderate, easier for React developers or those with JavaScript | Easy for web developers familiar with HTML, CSS, JavaScript |
Testing Tools | Detailed testing support (unit, integration, end-to-end) | Basic testing support requires external tools |
Use Cases | Facebook, Bloomberg, Skype | MarketWatch, Pacifica, McLaren Automotive |
React Native vs Ionic - Deep Comparison of React Native and Ionic frameworks
1. Popularity and Community
When we consider the popularity factor, React Native significantly outperforms the Ionic platform on GitHub with higher stars, forks, contributors, and version releases. Though Ionic is attracting developers, it still lags with over 238 versions available. As per the developer survey from 2020, 86% of developers preferred to use Ionic SDKs for enterprise app development. While only 16% chose to use React Native SDKs. Furthermore, 72% of the developers use Ionic libraries and tools, compared to only 21% for React Native. Another 2022 Stack Overflow survey highlights this trend, showing that React Native has a popularity rate of 12.5% and Ionic still sits at 5.2% Verdict: It is clear from the facts that React Native is better than Ionic in terms of popularity.2. Performance
When it comes to App Performance comparison of React Native and Ionic, nothing can ever beat React Native. The aim is that it is recognized for its more familiar resemblance with native and relatively faster. However, the developers need to make some changes to the platform-specific element. React is also acknowledged for its stability and is suitable for developing large-scale apps. More so, creating native apps is more costly than hybrid apps. Ionic is quite slower than React Native due to WebView. It primarily uses the mobile-optimized CSS, HTML, and JavaScript components. When you want to add a hybrid factor to your native apps, you can pick Ionic App Development Company. Verdict: Although in total, React Native possesses more similar features for native app performance than Ionic; thus, it could be much better suited for use on large projects scale. Still, although the hybrid solution is relatively cheaper on Ionic, it commonly is slower as it often relies on WebView.3. Learning Curve
Reactive Native is easy to learn for those who are already familiar with React, however, beginners with no knowledge of React may find it challenging. Knowing JavaScript and mobile development principles is crucial. Ionic React is generally easier to learn for developers with experience in web technologies. Ionic gives you the flexibility to use various web frameworks which means developers can use their existing skills to develop mobile apps. Verdict: It is easy for React users, but very challenging for the newbies while Ionic React is easy for web developers while using existing experience.4. User Interface Components
React Native platforms provide a set of native components that can be used to apply a native look and feel. Specific custom components may be created for the developer's needs, which makes it possible to create an improved user experience. Ionic offers a set of UI components that all have the styling applied by CSS. It gives the ability to deliver things faster, but appearance and the look are only as excellent as the customization done Verdict: React Native outshines Ionic in that it uses native components for a truly native look. However, Ionic uses CSS-styled components that need customization.5. Development and Deployment
React Native has the feature of hot reloading. This means the developer can see changes immediately without a new rebuild of the app. There will still be a binary to use on iOS and Android for deployments.
Like React Native, Ionic also supports live reloads, which helps implement changes in the solution developed immediately. Ionic provides one code base and tools, such as Cordova or Capacitor, to enable the same code to be available across multiple devices. Deployment is much easier compared with React Native.
Verdict: Ionic takes the lead from React Native in ease of deployment. It is friendly to live reload with a single codebase. However, React Native needs separate binaries.
6. Functionality
Functionality does make frameworks vastly different. Here's a comparison of React Native and Ionic.
React Native uses a dynamic runtime approach in employing JavaScript that allows the interaction of mobile applications to directly function with native platform APIs on iOS and Android, making it possible to function like the native application in terms of performance.
Ionic, on the other hand, relies on a WebView wrapper to provide a web experience natively inside the native mobile app. It is based on Cordova and utilizes the component of WebView which is to render UI written with HTML and CSS. Cordova allows communication from WebView all down to native APIs. For example, you can use the device camera.
Verdict: Both React Native and Ionic enhance the native capabilities of an app and also give the developers easy access to the native code and APIs.
7. Technology Stack
It uses the popular JavaScript framework called React to build applications. All its UI components are written in JSX which supports all of JavaScript. Both were developed by Facebook so React was the natural choice for React Native.
Ionic, on the other hand, allows for more flexibility in terms of technology stack. It can be combined with React, Angular, or Vue and JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. Of course, Ionic does need a Cordova wrapper to access native and supports TypeScript if you want better quality code. The new Ionic 4 version easily complements any web development framework, making it even easier for those familiar with Angular to adopt.
Therefore, the winner in this competition is Ionic because it offers a steeper and more flexible learning curve than React Native.
8. OTA Updates
Microsoft CodePush library is used by React Native, thus allowing a developer to publish applications and deliver the over-the-air (OTA) updates directly to devices immediately.
Ionic gives developers flexibility for switching easily between new versions and old ones. Its Ionic Display feature has made apps' upgrading quite a simplified move and does provide on-demand updates in case of need sometimes.
Winner: Ionic. Upgrading will be quite easy for the developers.
9. Third-Party Integration
It has a lot of libraries and third-party plugins in which integration is very hard.
There is quite an extensive library provided by Ionic; hence, even plugins such as Ionic and Apache/Cordova can be easily found by developers and integrated. Creating custom modules in Ionic is also simpler than React Native, so it is very much ahead.
Winner: Ionic. The integration of third-party plugins is effortless.
10. Boot-Time
It simply states how fast an application can load. The two applications have closely similar boot times: the average of their cold boots being at 1.5 seconds and warm boots at 1 second.
11. Native Transitions
People generally tend to believe web-native apps lose the native feel when moved across between screens containing rich detail during transitions such as "push" and "pop." This, however, is more of perception than fact.
The Ionic SDK was designed to fit right into this paradigm, thus showing smoothness of transition is not only possible through native UI frameworks but is also achievable with web-based applications.
12. Platform-specific or Unified Styling
React Native uses native UI components that focus on platform-specific styling, ensuring it integrates well with iOS and Android seamlessly.
Ionic makes use of adaptive styling with a wide variety of UI toolkits. This approach to style enables applications to adapt smoothly to several different platforms and still have that native feel without complex configurations. Ionic supports OS-specific and brand-centric styling and achieves flexibility through customizable CSS variables that allow overriding standard styles.
13. CPU Usage and Battery Drain
It possesses a great difference in the CPU use between both systems. Ionic and React Native will show a serious CPU strain for apps running on React Native, leading to faster battery drainage, while Ionic is less of a CPU stressor because of the faster use of the WKWebView engine compared to React Native's JSCore.
What Sets Ionic Apart?
Ionic is cross-platform compatible with the web desktop app built with Electron, both iOS, and Android. This means developers will be able to compile the same code into all the different platforms with minimal changes.
What Makes React Native So Special?
It targets both iOS and Android, so in principle, the same codebase can be used to develop an app targeting both iOS and Android. Apart from some code reuse with React, all other things are limited.
Verdict: Ionic leaves the clear winner for performance due to cross-platform compatibility with desktop as well as web applications.
14. Architecture
Almost native and web-first are two phrases that centre the architectural gap between React Native versus Ionic applications.
React Native uses an architecture that supports multi-platform applications in mobile development. It is called "near-native" because the base application components are native iOS or Android widgets, yet the apps are actually developed in JavaScript and React. However, for such native components, a Java-Script bridge must be utilized, so it's not fully native. The abstraction of this tool allows for fine-grained control of the UI modules on the platforms, which results in an appearance and feel very close to the native apps.
Unlike this, Ionic emphasizes the creation of web, cross-platform mobile, and desktop applications from a single codebase. A wrapper that takes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to render it in a WebView is done. At runtime, the coordination relation between the WebView and the Ionic codebase is established using technologies such as Cordova or Capacitor to allow a mobile website to be turned into a mobile application.
Verdict: Apps, where native app-like features are required, will be best suited to React Native, while mobile applications that work according to web design or web frameworks would be more effective in cases of Ionic. It all depends on what one's project is and which set of software they need.
15. Running Code and Performance
React Native relies on a JavaScript Virtual Machine-JSVM to render code components to native APIs. For iOS, it comes preloaded with the JSCore, but for Android, this requires an additional VM. This is how it manages to be able to use the native modules for both platforms for extended features apart from the standard JavaScript APIs, improving performance in editing images and video playback. It requires bridge APIs to connect with native modules and can share about 90% of its JavaScript codebase. React Native employs JIT compilation for Android but interprets JS for iOS.
In comparison, Ionic simply renders apps using web technologies, which may be slow at times. It depends on Cordova to talk native APIs and to adapt to the actual platform underneath. Ionic also provides some default components, making development a bit more straightforward and quick in-browser test capabilities. While it uses JIT compilation for Android, iOS relies on WKWebView for rendering, which does permit JIT conversion of JS into machine code, which affords more performance.
Verdict: Both these frameworks will churn out awesome codes, but performance is the priority, although Ionic will take a huge backseat against React Native when the complexity and feature-richness of an application are concerned.
16. Coding, Building, and Debugging
Both React Native and Ionic offer fairly similar functionalities for coding, building, and debugging mobile applications. The most popular editors include WebStorm and Visual Studio Code, with ALM, most of which support JavaScript ES6. React Native recommends using iOS and Android emulators to simulate actual device behavior in the course of testing.
The Chrome browser tool allows you to look at and trace JavaScript code for debugging purposes. Android development requires Java JDK, Android Studio, and updated SDK tools. With iOS, however, you would need a Mac, an iOS device, and an Apple ID or paid account with Apple Developer.
The bottom line, both offer quite an assortment of tools to help develop a mobile application. Just determine which best suits your needs for an IDE or code editor, and then use emulators and browser tools to debug applications.
17. Complexity of Framework
As Ionic apps can be developed on several web frameworks, it is actually quite difficult to compare the complexity of React Native and Ionic directly. If you have a background in web development, you would easily understand Ionic, as this technology relies on standard web technologies. Conversely, if you know about JavaScript and the architecture of React, then learning React Native would also be relatively uncomplicated. Learn how our React native app development company can help you choose the best framework for mobile app development.
Verdict: Ionic and React Native are about the same level in terms of difficulties considering that they mostly use JavaScript. However, developers may feel more at ease developing with Ionic as this uses standard web technologies.
18. Documentation
Documentation is one of the cornerstones of a developer-friendly framework, thereby helping people quickly resolve most of their issues and find answers to their problems.
Both Ionic and React Native have incredible documentation. React Native offers editable code examples with outputs; in contrast, Ionic compensates by providing enormous information, such as best practices for integrating many web frameworks into it.
Verdict: Tie. Both frameworks do incredible documentation work.
19. Developer Experience
As a mobile developer, you probably will feel much more comfortable working with React Native, given that it closely resembles native app development. Web developers might even feel more at home in the Ionic environment.
Judgment: There is no definite framework for the best experiences of development since that just depends strictly on personal judgment. Both React Native and Ionic have excellent documentation and many resources to troubleshoot issues available.
20. Development cost for React Native apps vs Ionic apps
Both offer cost and time savings for any business, but Ionic is typically less expensive than React Native. Because Ionic enables hybrid apps to be built off of one code base, it is also more efficient when working on multiplatform projects. Even though React Native is free, the cost of finding high-end developers starts at about $20 per hour.
Unlike this, Ionic has options at basic ($499/month), standard ($2499/month), and enterprise ($5999/month) plans along with an open-source free version and premium support.
Verdict: Though both of them require more investment, overall, the React Native framework takes the lead as a preferable choice for the development of high-quality apps which nearly replicate native app experiences.
21. CI and CD
React Native integrates via Jenkins CI, CircleCI, Bitrise, and Travis CI in terms of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.
Ionic uses the services to a great extent. Services used range from Adobe PhoneGap Build, Semaphore CI, Jenkins CI, Travis CI, Codeship, and CircleCI for CI/CD.
Winner: Depends because both are on par with each other in relation to Continuous Integration and Deployment.
22. Ecosystem and Libraries
React Native has a very rich ecosystem with numerous libraries and third-party plugins, making it easy to extend functionalities for developers. However, some of the libraries may not be fully supported on every platform. Ionic software capitalizes on the rich ecosystem for web development and libraries. Developers can use any JavaScript library, making it extremely versatile for different use cases.
Verdict: React Native outshines Ionic in the rich ecosystem of its libraries. The latter offers versatility by using web development libraries.
23. Use Cases
React Native is best applied to heavy applications with high performance and native look and feel, social media apps, e-commerce, or simple user interfaces.
Ionic suits simpler applications, prototypes, or high-end enterprise-level apps, in which rapid development and cross-platform compatibility take the fore.
24. Enterprise Compatibility
React Native is very much compatible with enterprise-level applications and even fulfils the performance and features required for complex business functionalities that the company needs in order to meet their varying business requirements, all because it can even support integral coupling with existing native codebases.
Ionic is also suitable for enterprise apps, especially those that appreciate fast development and cross-platform compatibility. Hybrid by nature, though, might not always grant the exact access to certain native features based on the specific setup.
25. Testing
React Native includes a variety of testing frameworks, such as Jest for the unit testing of functions or components and Detox for end-to-end testing. The community also provides remarkable resources and libraries for very comprehensive testing processes.
Ionic supports testing using Jasmine and Karma. Integrates well with other testing frameworks established for web applications. The nature can help the web developer make tests more understandable.
26. User Interface
React Native helps in achieving a better native look and feel through the use of native components where it has highly customizable and interactive user interfaces which give way to a smoother and very responsive experience.
Ionic gives you a library of pre-styled UI components that are easy to use but also easily customizable. Whereby it lets you have rapid development, the interface may not always match the native aesthetic, particularly on iOS.
27. App Size
The sizes of the apps in React Native come out typically larger because they include the whole framework of React Native and native modules. The size, however, varies based on optimizations and libraries used.
Generally speaking, application size in Ionic tends to be relatively smaller, as it depends on the technologies in use by the web and may use lightweight libraries. However, bigger applications will still lead to significant dependency.
28. Development Time
The development goes relatively faster for teams familiar with React, because of hot reloading, along with a massive library ecosystem. However, some features might increase the development time due to the complexity of native modules.
Although the initial learning curve is more intense, applications built using Ionic can be developed and delivered in faster product development cycles, especially by web technology teams. The overall development time can be heavily reduced because a single codebase for multiple platforms can be built.
Key Similarities: React Native vs Ionic Framework
There is a great difference between React Native and Ionic but both these platforms also share some considerable similarities. Let’s know the similarities in brief.
For the freshers, both the platforms look quite similar from their basic descriptions. However, React Native enables you to develop a native mobile app with the ReactJs framework and Javascript.
On the contrary, with Ionic development, you can develop web, mobile, and desktop apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Choosing between React Native and Ionic - React Native vs Ionic
Consider Using React Native When:
- You have the time and resources to develop an app.
- Your team is well-versed with the role and skills of Ionic Developers
- You have already used React Native in your project.
- You are backed by sufficient funds to cover the high development cost.
- The reliance of your project on native platforms is important
Consider Using Ionic When:
- You want to develop progressive web apps (PWAs)
- You are experienced in web programming and creating an app for entrepreneurs
- You want to use web development for giving web and mobile experience
- You aim to create and expand enterprise-level, mission-critical apps
- you are looking for a framework that will deliver high performance in future.