Hybrid apps have become an increasingly popular choice for businesses seeking to balance development speed, cost, and scalability. Unlike native apps, which require separate codebases for iOS and Android, hybrid frameworks like React Native and Flutter enable developers to write a single codebase that runs across multiple platforms, streamlining development while maintaining an almost native experience.

As businesses navigate the evolving mobile landscape in 2025, the decision between native and cross-platform development remains crucial. Among the top cross-platform frameworks, React Native and Flutter continue to stand out, each offering efficiency, flexibility, and broad market reach.

This article provides a focused comparison of these two frameworks as they exist in 2025, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and the key factors businesses should consider when choosing the optimal technology to drive their mobile strategy and deliver engaging user experiences across both iOS and Android platforms.

History of Flutter and React Native

Flutter and React Native stand as the leading cross-platform development frameworks, each with a distinct history that has shaped the mobile app landscape. These frameworks empower developers to build applications for both iOS and Android with significant code sharing, streamlining the development process compared to building fully native apps separately.
Google unveiled Flutter in 2017, and it rapidly gained popularity due to its focus on high performance, developer ease of use, and a comprehensive suite of pre-built UI widgets. Built with the Dart programming language, Flutter also features a highly efficient ”hot reload” feature, further accelerating the development of applications across multiple platforms.

React Native, developed by Facebook (now Meta) and released in 2015, leverages the power and familiarity of JavaScript. Its core principle is to provide a native user experience by interacting with native platform components, establishing it as an efficient and widely adopted approach for building cross-platform mobile applications from a single technological base.

React Native

Built on the widely adopted and versatile JavaScript language, React Native enables the development of applications for both iOS and Android using a unified set of programming principles and a shared codebase. This strategic advantage streamlines the development process by eliminating the complexities of managing separate, platform-specific technologies and languages. The proven reliability and efficiency of React Native are highlighted by its adoption in numerous high-profile applications, such as Skype, Instagram, Uber Eats, and even parts of the Facebook app itself.

A key differentiator of React Native lies in its architectural philosophy. Rather than simply rendering web-like components within a mobile wrapper, React Native bridges the gap to leverage the native UI components and APIs of the underlying platform. This results in applications that possess a more authentically native look and feel, seamlessly integrating with the platform’s established design language and capitalizing on existing UI elements for a familiar and intuitive user experience. React Native’s mature ecosystem features a vast library of community-driven components and integrations, empowering developers to accelerate development and tap into a wealth of pre-built solutions for their multi platform targets. Its large and active community also provides robust support and a continuous flow of updates and improvements, ensuring its continued relevance and capability in the evolving mobile landscape.

Flutter

Emerging from Google’s innovation labs in 2017, Flutter is a modern, open-source UI framework engineered to empower developers to build truly cross-platform applications. It can also be used for more than just phone apps. You can easily use it to make websites, computer programs (for Windows, macOS, and Linux), and even software for small devices – all from the same project. Built upon the performance oriented Dart programming language, Flutter has rapidly gained favor among industry giants such as Alibaba, Philips Hue, and Hamilton, a testament to its capabilities and developer-friendly nature .Google actively supports Flutter with regular updates. These updates constantly make Flutter faster and add new features for all the different places it can be used.

A defining characteristic of Flutter is its unique approach to UI rendering. Unlike frameworks that rely heavily on native platform components, Flutter employs its own high-performance rendering engine, Skia (and its successor, Impeller). This fundamental difference allows Flutter to paint every pixel on the screen itself, granting developers unparalleled control over the visual presentation and ensuring a remarkably consistent look and feel across all target platforms, regardless of the underlying operating system. This independence from native UI elements also mitigates potential inconsistencies and allows for the creation of highly customized and visually rich user interfaces with predictable behavior everywhere that the application runs. Furthermore, Flutter’s ”widgets are everything” philosophy, coupled with its powerful tooling and extensive documentation, contributes to a highly productive and enjoyable developer experience, particularly for those focused on delivering visually stunning and performant applications quickly to a wide audience.

Google trends

An analysis of Google Trends data underscores the ongoing competition between Flutter and React Native. Globally, Flutter surpassed React Native in search interest around April 2020 and has maintained a higher search volume worldwide into 2025. This global trend might be attributed to Flutter’s relatively newer entry into the market, generating significant buzz and interest in its performance-focused approach and multi-platform capabilities.
However, the landscape differs in specific regions. In both Sweden and the US, the rivalry remains intense, with search interest for both frameworks fluctuating closely, particularly evident in the trend curve since January 2021, suggesting a virtual dead heat. This sustained close competition in these regions could reflect the strong established presence and large developer community already invested in React Native, particularly given its JavaScript foundation and extensive library ecosystem.

Both React Native and Flutter are designed to build fast apps, and they’ve both seen recent improvements to make them even better.

React Native and the Bridgeless New Architecture: React Native (starting with version 0.74) has introduced a significant update called the Bridgeless New Architecture. This new system gets rid of the traditional ”bridge” that used to connect the app’s JavaScript code with the phone’s native features. Instead, it uses something called JavaScript Interface (JSI). JSI allows JavaScript code to talk directly and more efficiently with the native parts of the phone. This leads to faster app responses, less delay when you interact with the app, and quicker updates to what you see on the screen. This improvement makes React Native even stronger for building smooth and responsive cross-platform apps.

Flutter’s Graphics Upgrade (Impeller): Flutter doesn’t use a bridge. Previously, it relied on its Skia graphics engine to draw the app’s user interface by turning it into native code as you used the app. Now, Flutter has moved to a new rendering engine called Impeller. Impeller is specifically designed to make better use of the phone’s graphics processing unit (GPU). This results in smoother animations, better overall performance, and lower battery usage. This change shows Flutter’s focus on using modern phone hardware to create excellent app experiences.

Real world examples

Many organizations choose React Native for their mobile app development, using its capabilities for building cross-platform solutions. Notable examples include:

• Facebook (Meta): As the creators of React Native, Facebook uses the framework within their own app to develop and maintain features like Marketplace.
• Instagram: Instagram integrated React Native to streamline the implementation of features such as push notifications, enabling faster deployment across both iOS and Android.
• Tesla: The automotive leader Tesla, utilizes React Native for its app, which provides remote vehicle management, battery status checks, and other essential functions.

Find more apps on https://reactnative.dev/showcase.

Flutter’s impressive cross-platform functionalities and strong performance have made it the go-to choice for numerous well-known organizations:

• Google Pay: For the revamped Google Pay India, Flutter’s ability to handle complex user interfaces and its cross-platform nature were key reasons for its adoption.
• Alibaba: Recognizing the potential for enhanced user experience, the e-commerce giant Alibaba integrated Flutter into parts of their application.
• BMW: The seamless integration offered by Flutter across different platforms led BMW to develop their my BMW app, providing a connected experience for their drivers.

Find more apps on https://flutter.dev/showcase.

Today, both Flutter and React Native stand as mature and reliable frameworks capable of powering significant applications. The distinctions between them have become increasingly subtle, making the selection process a more thoughtful consideration than ever before. Ultimately, whatever framework you choose, you will not make a mistake, as both are powerful tools.

React Native shines in its ability to closely emulate native platform UIs, directly utilizing existing components. However, aspects like performance optimization and long-term maintainability can require careful attention.  

Flutter, while introducing the Dart language, offers exceptional performance and a streamlined developer experience, making it particularly well-suited for rapid development and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs).

Consider React Native if:

• Your team already possesses strong JavaScript expertise.
• Your application requires deep integration with specific native platform features and APIs.
• You plan to heavily leverage a vast ecosystem of mature JavaScript and React Native community libraries.

Consider Flutter if:

• Your application features highly complex or custom user interfaces with intricate animations.
• Performance is a critical requirement, especially for graphically intensive applications.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that all cross platform frameworks have built in trade offs. So, carefully thinking about what each framework might not do well and how that could affect your project later on is key to making the best choice.