React Native and Xamarin both offer their own sets of pros and cons when it comes to cross-platform app development. Which one is right for you?
Today, React Native and Xamarin are among the most popular tools used for cross-platform app development. But how do you know which one is the right choice for your project?
Using the right tools is critical for app developers because it affects the usability and success of the app. Especially for apps that are to be available on both iOS and Android, seamless functioning on both platforms can be achieved with the right tool.
To help you make the right choice, we compare React Native and Xamarin on various criteria below:
Availability
React Native is completely free, even for businesses. It is an open-source JavaScript-based framework. It also has a very large developer community compared to Xamarin.
Xamarin is also open-source. However, despite there being a free version, you need to spend for enterprise-level applications because the free version doesn’t do much.
Market share
React Native is widely used by tons of top graphic designing companies as well as corporations worldwide, including Fortune500 companies. The Guardian, Skype, Facebook, Walmart, and Tesla are just a few of the companies that use React Native.
For the past six years, Xamarin has been used by tens of thousands of companies everywhere, right from startups to huge corporations. Notable apps such as CA Mobile and Story have been developed using Xamarin. Top UX design firms have built many successful apps and websites using this tool.
Code compilation
For developing apps for Android, React Native uses JIT (Just-in-time) compilation. However, this is not applicable for iOS apps as Apple does not allow dynamically generated codes to be executed on its devices. So, React Native has no option but to interpret the JavaScript code.
When it comes to code compilation, a top app design agency would prefer Xamarin. This is because it uses C# as its codebase, which uses JIT compilation for Android apps while using AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation for iOS apps. Thus, compiling managed codes is much easier.
Development environment
React Native allows developers to use an IDE and text editor that they are comfortable with. It also has a Live Reload feature, whereby developers can see the effects of the changes they have made in real-time.
Xamarin is a winner here because of how user-friendly it is, allowing developers to write code on both Windows and iPhone app. The code can be later compiled on a Mac after writing on Windows.
