React Native vs Xamarin: What to choose for cross-platform app development?

We make decisions every day, some are significant and others insignificant. Some which make an actual difference like choosing the right React Native development agency. This blog will make your life easier by helping you take the right decision between React Native vs Xamarin, as we all know the number of possibilities are growing exponentially. Hence, making the right decision is a question of concern. Choose the right framework for your mobile application development.

Nowadays, most of the brands focus on cross-platform app development, so it is very important to ensure the right platform for app development. According toStatista, mobile apps are predicted to generate $581.9 billion in global revenue by 2020. And this will happen via paid downloads and in-app advertising. Out of multiple options, we explored two most popular; Xamarin and React Native, and we will help you choose the best.

A piece of small information about two is as follows;React Nativeis an open-source and targets applications such as Android, iOS, Web and UQP. It was created by Facebook and first previewed in 2015 at ReactJS Con in aHackathon project. It is written in JavaScript and rendered in Native code. Via software declarative JavaScript and UI paradigm, react’s component allowto wrap existing native code and interact with native APIs.

Xamarinis one of the most popular platforms for the development of cross-platform apps. Founded in 2011 and later acquired by Microsoft, the engineers who developed Mono- afree and open-source net framework. It allows developers to target Android, iOS, Windows via shared or single code base.

React Native- an open-source framework

For app development, it is comparatively a newer platform.

And it has gained popularity within a limited time. Since its existence, it boasts about its strong community and support and represents a good market share. According to the statistics provided byGithub Repositoryin February 2019, 2,058 contributors have committed 19, 311 times in 108 branches with 335 releases. On Github, it is the 14th most starred repository. It is based on React Native library and uses the same fundamental UI blocks used in Android and iOS. Learn about thecommon mistakes to avoid when developing React Native apps.

Advantages of React Native

• A large community of developers
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Optimal performance through native control and modules
• Positive developer experience through a great development environment

Disadvantages of React Native

• Comparatively new
• Lack of custom modules
• Limited third-party component

Apps built using React Native

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Uber Eats
• Tesla
• Skype
• Pinterest
• Walmart

Xamarin – cross-platform for building iOS and Android apps

It is one of the most popular frameworks and used to develop apps via .Net and C#. Over time, the Xamarin community has grown to 1.4 million developers across 120 countries. It is preferred in many companies with niches such as energy, transport, healthcare, etc. It was launched in 2011, Microsoft integrated Xamarin into its Visual Studio development interface. It uses c# language as a base for app development and contains the underlying platform SDKs for both Android & iOS.

Advantages of Xamarin

• API integration and UI controls
• Allow developers to write code in C#
• Effective online applications
• Error-free and flawless code with best testing environment

Disadvantages of Xamarin

• Software overheads
• Pricing
• Community
• UI development is time-consuming and not friendly

Apps built using Xamarin

• Insightly
• Alaska Airlines
• Vanderlande
• FareBoom
• FreshDirect
• The World Bank

React Native vs Xamarin: Understand the difference.

Both can seem like the right kind of choice for cross-platform app development, but there are many differences between the two: let’s examine the difference closely

• Market share and availability

If we talk about the vote, then React Native is the most wanted framework and votes at 31%, and on the other hand, Xamarin has a 4.9% vote. Both are open-source and available for both Android and iOS platforms the availability becomes almost the same.

When it comes to availability, React Native is undeniably the winner because of open-source JavaScript framework. It is available across both iOS and Android platforms, and over the past few years, the search queries on Google about React Native have increased considerably.

Winner: React Native

• Community support

React Native is quite large and get’s very strong support from its community. Material available in React Native is plenty; however, being new, the availability of exclusive tools, tips, etcare limited.

However, Xamarin id two years younger than React Native, it does not make any difference when it comes to the support from the developer’s community. In Xamarin, there is a community of 1.4M developers; thus the availability of tips, tools, tricks, etc are easy, and Microsoft also provides a course to learn the language.

Let’s check the stats from GIT.

Winner: React Native

• Popularity

It is always important to check the popularity of technologies to ensure that there is enough interest from technical and developers. Let’s check this through google trends metrics.

React Native is much more popular than Xamarin, so we can expect more developers using this technology in the future.

Winner: React Native

• Performance

In React Native, three main factors are considered during a performance measurement: GUI, 64-bit support, and fast code execution. React Native does not support 64-bit mode on Android and shows the worst result while running the fastest code in iOS.

However, in Xamarin the framework from Microsoft supports 64 mode and allows using native tools directly and provides a faster user interface. The fastest code can be run by Xamarin users on both Android and iOS platforms.

Winner: Xamarin

• Code compilation

In React Native you need to write code in JavaScript whereas in Xamarin you need to write code in C#. Through React Native, you can formulate your code into independent blocks. This ensures flexibility and upgrade the application and also makes it easy to use. In particular, React Native uses just-in-time (JIT) compilation for app development in Android.

In comparison to React Native, in Xamarin C#, it uses JIT for Android, uses AOT (Ahead-of-time) compiler for iOS, and compiles managed codes. The AOT compiler is better than JIT; hence Xamarin is the ideal choice for both iOS and Android developers.

Winner: Xamarin

• Cost

Both frameworks are free and open-source, but Xamarin is free only for individuals and small companies. For larger companies and enterprises, licenses start at $999 and go up to $1899. Enterprise users need to pay to use Visual Studio.

Winner: React Native

Which one is better? React Native vs Xamarin

The best choice for you depends upon the various factors, but React Native is a promising choice overall. React Native has steady growth in today’s scenario, flawless code structure, brilliant and large community. If you still have doubts about what to choose for your next project, then book our consultation. Our team will get back to you soon.