React Native vs Flutter: Our Experience Building Cross-Platform Apps 

React Native vs Flutter: Our Experience Building Cross-Platform Apps 

In today’s mobile-first world, delivering seamless and high-performance apps across platforms is no longer optional—it’s expected. To meet this demand, our team at [Your Company Name] has actively developed with both React Native and Flutter for various client and internal projects. Through hands-on experience, we’ve discovered unique strengths, challenges, and use-case distinctions between the two. 

This blog unpacks our practical journey with both frameworks—what we learned, what surprised us, and which one we lean toward for different types of projects. 

 Why Cross-Platform? 

Before diving into the comparison, it’s worth briefly revisiting why cross-platform development is a cornerstone of our mobile strategy: 

• Faster time to market with a single codebase 

• Reduced development costs vs. maintaining two native apps 

• Simplified maintenance and version control 

• Consistent user experience across platforms 

React Native and Flutter are the two most prominent players in this space, each with strong community support and growing adoption. 

 Our Experience with React Native 

Familiarity and Speed of Onboarding 

React Native’s core appeal for our team was the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem. With our frontend developers already proficient in React.js, onboarding into React Native was fast and intuitive. 

Key Wins: 

• Reused code and logic from existing web apps 

• Integrated smoothly with popular JavaScript libraries 

• Built MVPs rapidly with minimal friction 

Community and Plugin Support 

React Native’s maturity has translated into a rich plugin ecosystem. Libraries like react-navigation, react-native-paper, and redux offered ready-to-use building blocks. This sped up development, especially for projects with tight deadlines. 

But there were caveats: 

• Some plugins were outdated or lacked consistent support. 

• Native module integration (like BLE or advanced camera features) often required custom bridging. 

Performance and UI Flexibility 

React Native uses native components under the hood, which generally means good performance. However, performance tuning was occasionally needed for: 

• Animations 

• Complex lists (especially on Android) 

• Deep linking and navigation state management 

We relied heavily on tools like Flipper for debugging and profiling React Native apps. 

 Our Experience with Flutter 

A Game-Changer for UI Consistency 

Flutter impressed us with its widget-based architecture and “everything is customizable” philosophy. Using Dart was initially unfamiliar, but once we got past the learning curve, it felt like a modern, expressive, and productive language. 

Flutter offered: 

• Pixel-perfect UI across platforms 

• Highly customizable animations 

• Fewer UI inconsistencies between Android and iOS 

Development Experience 

The Flutter DevTools suite and hot reload feature enhanced our developer experience. The feedback loop was faster, and it felt like we had more control over how elements rendered and behaved. 

We especially loved: 

• Built-in Material and Cupertino widgets 

• Easy implementation of complex UIs 

• Smooth transitions and UI responsiveness, even on low-end devices 

Performance Benefits 

Because Flutter renders using its own Skia graphics engine, we observed: 

• Faster UI rendering 

• Smoother animations at high frame rates 

• Less dependency on platform-specific UI components 

This architecture led to a near-native performance for apps with rich visuals. 

 React Native vs Flutter: Side-by-Side Comparison 

What We Learned From Our Projects 

Use React Native When: 

• Speed to market is a priority. 

• You have an existing React or JavaScript team. 

• You need to build MVPs or simple to moderately complex apps. 

• You’re integrating with web-based systems and want code sharing. 

Example: We used React Native for a real-time logistics app where time-to-market was critical. The JavaScript-based stack allowed for quick feature rollouts and web-mobile integration. 

Use Flutter When: 

• UI complexity and consistency is critical. 

• Performance and animations are a priority. 

• You’re building from scratch and don’t need to share code with web apps. 

• You want greater control over visuals and custom widgets. 

Example: We chose Flutter for a financial dashboard app requiring intricate charts, animations, and UI polish. It offered a superior developer experience and smoother UI rendering. 

 Challenges Faced 

No technology is without drawbacks, and both frameworks had their pain points. 

React Native Pain Points: 

• Native module bridging can be tricky 

• UI inconsistencies across platforms 

• Complex navigation setup (especially with nested tabs and modals) 

Flutter Pain Points: 

• Larger app binary size 

• Dart ecosystem still maturing compared to JS 

• Integration with certain native libraries can require more boilerplate 

 Both frameworks offer immense value and have earned a permanent place in our cross-platform development toolkit. With React Native, we harness the power of a broad ecosystem and web-to-mobile efficiency. With Flutter, we push the boundaries of design and performance. 

As the ecosystem evolves, we’ll continue experimenting, learning, and delivering the best solutions for our clients—no matter which framework we choose.