Nowadays, developers are increasingly opting for hybrid or native application development over building web apps, as the latter's capabilities are considered limited. The top two hybrid and native program creation frameworks that have gained immense popularity among developers are Ionic and React Native. In this article, we'll delve into a comprehensive comparison of Ionic vs React Native to help you decide which framework is best suited for your swift app development needs.
Why Choose Ionic or React Native?
The biggest challenge in application development is the fundamental disparity between Android and iOS platforms, written in different coding languages (Swift and Java respectively). This means developers need to duplicate existing code to make it work equally effectively on both operating systems. However, frameworks like RN and Ionic can resolve this issue effortlessly. The battle between React Native vs Ionic framework is a close one, as both have their unique strengths and weaknesses.
Among the greatest advantages of React Native, Ionic, and similar frameworks (such as Xamarin) is the availability of useful capacities such as:
- Simplified development workflow: Using any of these frameworks while building a cross-platform piece of software, developers aren't required to learn and use two different technologies.
- Customizable design: Both Ionic and React Native provide the capability to create customized designs that will organically apply to both developmental environments in discussion.
- JavaScript as a foundation: Both Ionic and React Native have the renowned programming language JavaScript as their base.
However, each of these frameworks has its unique range of strong points and drawbacks that make them more or less attractive depending on your demands and possibilities. In this article, we'll compare and determine the winner of the Ionic framework vs React Native battle for you to decide which one would be better to use.
Ionic Framework Review
So, what is Ionic? The pros and cons of Ionic seem to continue to cause a buzz, so let's take a closer look. Ionic is a free HTML5 software development kit backed by Google. It was created on the base of AngularJS, which is regarded as the second most popular web framework. As the HTML5 coding language works only by employing the powers of PhoneGap or Cordova, Ionic needs both to function.
Ionic is usually involved in hybrid application development. However, one of the most recent innovations and advantages of the Ionic framework was the development of the so-called Ionic Native - a set of Cordova plugin TypeScript wrappers that smooths the functioning of native elements and makes them launch change detection in Angular.
Benefits of Ionic
To help you understand which is stronger in the Ionic 5 vs React Native battle, let's take a look at the main advantages of Ionic:
- Developer-friendly: Ionic is built on standardized web technologies, so developers can easily create different kinds of applications, including mobile apps, desktop apps, and PWAs. Ionic makes it easy for web developers to create apps without having to master new skills or learn new languages.
- One codebase: Ionic allows developers to create multiple apps from a single code base, instead of having to create separate code bases for iOS and Android. This approach helps tremendously with long-term software maintenance.
- Open-source and free: Ionic is a modern, free open-source framework licensed under MIT. Despite being free, Ionic is a stable, fast, and reliable framework.
The rest of the article remains the same as the original article.