Cross-platform app development has become the go-to choice for startups and businesses. And in 2025, two frameworks dominate the industry: Flutter and React Native.
Both allow you to build apps for Android and iOS with a single codebase — but they work differently, perform differently, and suit different kinds of projects.
Let’s break it down.
Flutter is Google’s UI framework for building high-performance apps using the Dart programming language.
Fast performance (almost like native)
Beautiful UI with Material & Cupertino widgets
Hot reload for quick development
Same UI across Android & iOS
Strong community and rapid updates
Startups needing fast development
Apps requiring beautiful UI
High-performance apps
Complex animations
React Native is Meta’s cross-platform framework built using JavaScript and React.
Uses React + JavaScript
Native-like performance
Huge library ecosystem
Easy integration with web technologies
Strong community
Teams already using React
Apps that share logic with web
Faster prototyping
Large-scale applications
| Feature | Flutter | React Native |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Dart | JavaScript |
| Performance | Slightly better | Very close |
| UI | Custom UI engine | Uses native components |
| Learning Curve | Medium | Easy (for JS devs) |
| Community | Growing fast | Very large |
| App Size | Larger | Smaller |
| Best For | Beautiful, high-performance apps | Apps tied to JS/React ecosystem |
Uses its own rendering engine
Smooth UI at 60–120 FPS
Great for animations & heavy graphics
Bridges JavaScript to native components
Great for standard apps
Can lag with extremely heavy UIs unless optimized
Both are fast, but:
Hot reload
UI consistency
Fewer device-specific bugs
Faster for teams already using React
Huge NPM library support
✔ You want the best UI and animation
✔ You want consistent design across devices
✔ You prefer Google’s ecosystem
✔ You’re building a modern, visually rich app
✔ You already know React or JS
✔ You want to share logic with your web app
✔ You prefer a huge plugin ecosystem
✔ You want flexible native integrations
Both Flutter and React Native are excellent in 2025.
Flutter wins for UI, performance, and smooth animations.
React Native wins for JavaScript developers and teams using React on the web.
If you want beautiful UI + performance, choose Flutter.
If you want familiar JS + fast development, choose React Native.