When Crafted Chooses Flutter for Cross-Platform App Development

Crafted specializes in right-sizing initiatives to client needs and has a proven track record of leveraging the most efficient solution for client projects. Recently, we’ve evaluated the technical architecture of a few companies looking to modernize their mobile applications. Common choices for software to deliver mobile apps are Native code (Swift for iOS and Java/Kotlin for Android) or Cross-Platform code (e.g. React Native or Flutter). Our team has delivered a number of React Native apps in the past, but on a recent 6 month engagement we built and deployed an app in Flutter. This rest of this article lays out our decision criteria to build with Flutter, why we love it, and where it might make sense for your team to adopt Flutter for your next project.

The Rise of Cross-Platform App Development

Cross-platform development allows businesses to create mobile applications for iOS and Android using a single codebase. This approach offers significant advantages in time to market, cost efficiency, and maintenance. 

Flutter, React Native, and Native development have unique strengths and limitations. Regarding developer communities, Flutter wins out as a language of choice. One study found Flutter among developers' most used framework libraries. It was used by 9.4% of developers, to React Native’s 8.4%. Further, Flutter has shown year-over-year solid growth. In 2019, it was used by 30% of developers for cross-platform development. In 2023, it was used by 46%. In that same period, React Native’s use declined from 42% to 35%. In 2024, Devskiller conducted a study that showed that Flutter was outpacing React Native as one of the fastest-growing technology skills.

In other words, if you’re choosing technologies in 2024, Flutter is showing signs of strength as a growing skill with a larger number of developers who can support it. This makes solid business sense from a strategy perspective; however, other strengths of Flutter, compared to React Native and Native development, are driving these changes.

Find more statistics at Statista

Evaluating Cross-Platform Development Options

Through our experience building mobile applications, we’ve evaluated essential criteria to compare and contrast the leading cross-platform ecosystems. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to cross-platform development so we’ve created this table to help evaluate the right solution for each problem at hand.

Criteria	Flutter	React Native	Native iOS and Android
Performance	High, due to direct compilation to native code. Compared to React Native, superior app startup time, smoother animation performance.	Catching up to Flutter. App startup times are catching up due to implementation of Hermes and Turbo Modules.	Highest, as it’s optimized specifically for each platform.
UI Consistency	Very consistent across platforms	Can vary slightly between iOS and Android	Consistent, but requires double the work to achieve parity
Community Support	Strong and growing	Established, with a large JavaScript community	Extensive for both platforms, but separate developer communities
Developer Experience	Intuitive, especially with Flutter’s “hot reload” feature	Familiar to JavaScript developers	Separate skill sets required for each platform
Development Speed	Fast and streamlined, thanks to a rich library of pre-built widgets	Fast, but may require platform-specific tweaks	Depends on team composition because separate codebases are required for iOS and Android
Language	Dart, efficient but less widely known	JavaScript, widely known and versatile. Despite the name, React Native is a significantly different skillset than React.	Swift/Kotlin, industry standard for iOS/Android but distinct from each other
Cost of Development	Lower due to shared codebase	Lower due to shared codebase	Higher, as each platform requires a dedicated codebase
Maintenance	It’s easy, with built-in tools for version control. There is a moderate risk because of the reliance on third-party modules and a smaller talent pool.	Moderate updates can be more complex. Some risks are due to reliance on third-party modules.	High, with separate updates required for each platform. Native development benefits from ongoing updates by Apple and Google.
Best For	Quick-to-market apps with high performance and consistent UI	Apps that require native-like performance and platform-specific UI	High-performance apps with platform-specific needs

Why Crafted would Recommend Flutter

With the criteria outlined above, Crafted expects to recommend Flutter more often for startup and growth stage businesses. The balance of speed, performance, and cost-efficiency for cross-platform app development mixed with Flutter’s intuitive development experience mean we can build and deploy an app for feedback in weeks, not months. Here’s why we would recommend Flutter for a client looking to launch a new app or alleviate the risk of legacy apps with a rewrite:

• Faster Time-to-Market at Lower Cost
  Flutter’s single codebase means it’s possible to build a team around a project, minimize knowledge silos, and iterate quickly across iOS and Android. This is in contrast to native development, where separate codebases, skillsets, and knowledge silos add both cost and risk to the speed of delivery.

Cost can balloon quickly on a Native Code Project

• Superior Performance
  Flutter compiles directly to machine code, providing performance that rivals native applications. React Native, on the other hand, relies on a JavaScript bridge, which can introduce performance bottlenecks. For applications that require fast, responsive interfaces, Flutter has the upper hand.

• Consistent User Interface Across Platforms
  Flutter’s widget-based architecture enables developers to achieve a uniform look and feel across both iOS and Android, ensuring a consistent experience regardless of device. React Native relies more on native components, which can sometimes lead to subtle UI differences between platforms. Native development, while consistent, requires twice the work to create parity between iOS and Android.

• Developer-Friendly Experience
  Flutter’s intuitive framework, combined with the “hot reload” feature, makes development a breeze because of tight feedback loops. Dart, the language used in Flutter, allows developers to write stable (easily testable), clean code with fewer runtime errors. React Native, though widely accessible due to JavaScript, often has a higher learning curve than teams expect based on the projects we have used it on.

Final Thoughts

Across a number of built from scratch mobile projects, Crafted’s experience shows that Flutter is a great choice when driving quickly to get a high quality app in users’ hands. The two caveats are the development team must be ready to learn Dart and there are fewer Flutter developers on the market to hire and grow the app when it gains traction. The good news is that we can help teams ramp quickly on Dart because it’s so intuitive. And we see hiring trends changing in the next couple years as the ecosystem grows and more teams adopt Flutter.

If you’re ready to bring your app idea to life with a team that understands the full potential of Flutter, Crafted is here to help. Contact us today to discuss how we can bring your vision to reality with the latest cross-platform technology.

Sources

1. Source: Statista, 2024 via Stack Overflow n=45,841

2. Source: Statista, 2024 via JetBrains n=29,269

3. Source: Statista, 2024 via DevSkiller

4. https://www.peanutsquare.com/flutter-vs-react-native-performance-and-speed-compared/

5. https://www.peanutsquare.com/flutter-vs-react-native-performance-and-speed-compared/