Flutter vs NativeScript
How does Flutter compare to NativeScript?
See the pros and cons of each framework, target platforms and more.
Flutter
NativeScript
About
Maintainer
GoogleInitial Release
May 12, 2017
Maintainer
OpenJS FoundationInitial Release
April 29, 2015
Community
Languages
- Dart
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
Target Platforms
- ✓ Android
- Android Auto
- Android TV
- ✓ iOS
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ macOS
- tvOS
- watchOS
- Wear Os
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Android
- Android Auto
- Android TV
- ✓ iOS
- Linux
- macOS
- tvOS
- watchOS
- Wear Os
- Windows
✅Strengths
- Cross-platform
Flutter allows developers to build apps for a wide range of platforms using a single codebase, reducing development time and costs.
- Performance
Apps built with Flutter are fairly performant as Flutter's engine and framework are optimized to take advantage of each platform's hardware.
- User Interface
Flutter has built-in UI elements for both iOS and Android, allowing developers to create a consistent interface that follows the Apple and Android design guidelines.
- Native APIs
Flutter provides a bridge between to native APIs. This means that developers can access native functionality like the camera, accelerometer and much more.
- Large Community
Flutter has a large and active developer community, which means there is plenty of documentation, tutorials, and examples available to help developers build desktop apps.
- Cross-platform
NativeScript allows developers to build mobile apps for multiple platforms, including Android and iOS, using a single codebase.
- Native APIs
NativeScript provides a bridge to all native APIs via JavaScript, without having to write anything in Swift or Kotlin. This means that developers can access native functionality such as camera, contacts, and file storage.
🛑Weaknesses
- Learning Curve
Dart is not a very popular language, so developers will have to learn a new language to build apps with Flutter.
- App Size
Flutter apps tend to be larger than native apps due to Flutter engine being bundled with them.
- Performance
NativeScript's performance is not as good as that of native apps due to the overhead introduced by the bridge between JavaScript and native APIs.
- Emerging Community
Despite being around for a while, the NativeScript is not as popular as other frameworks, which means that there is not a lot of tutorials, and examples available to help developers apps.
