Flutter vs Ionic

Modern mobile application development teams commonly use mobile app-specific frameworks to design their apps due to several advantages, along with a single code for both Android & Apple apps, platform-independent, developer-friendly tools, community support, and abstract native APIs. Native and hybrid mobile frameworks are two separate categories.

Developers may construct hybrid mobile apps using mobile development frameworks like Ionic and Apache Cordova by loading online content to a native web view component. As an alternative, platform-neutral UI toolkits are provided by native mobile frameworks like Flutter and Kivy, which enable developers to create native mobile apps. With a headless-webview idea, React Native offers an alternative method to developing native apps.

For you to choose the most acceptable framework to create your next mobile application, we will present a thorough and helpful comparison between Flutter and Ionic in this post.

What is Flutter?

The open-source framework Flutter uses the Google-created Dart programming language. It is commonly referred to be a cross-platform app development toolkit that has been upgraded. It allows the creation of expressive, adaptable user interfaces with native performance. In addition, the whole flutter community and a group of Google developers support and contribute to it.

Features of Flutter

• Free & open source
• It contains a cutting-edge react style framework
• Provides for cross-platform programming using a single codebase
• Enables highly tailored user experiences
• Different operating systems are supported

Pros & Cons of Flutter

Pros of using Flutter in your tech stack are as follows:

• Hot Reloading
• In-depth Widgets
• Integrated Efficacy
• Unified Codebase
• Fast Delivery

Cons of using Flutter

• User interface
• Compatibility with various operating systems
• Materials & plugins
• Updates

Popular Apps developed using Flutter

• Google Pay
• ByteDance
• Dream 11
• CrowdSource
• eBay
• Hamilton
• Toyota

What is Ionic?

You may build hybrid cross-platform mobile applications using the open-source UI toolkit Ionic. Instead of using native device components, it leverages Webview for mobile. The JavaScript framework uses well-known JavaScript codebases like plain JavaScript, Vue, Angular, or React. Ionic also offers a variety of component presets with built-in functionality. The framework is renowned for providing adequate performance with minor DOM modification.

Features of Ionic

• The framework that is platform independent
• Interface by default
• Native-born Experience
• Uses AngularJS

Pros & Cons of Ionic

Pros of using Ionic in your tech stack

• Platform Unrestricted
• Customer Capacitor
• supportive of developers
• Scalability

Cons of using Ionic

• A system that depends on plugins
• Hot Reloading is not used
• Risks to security
• Performace

Popular apps developed using Ionic

• SworkIt
• Instant Pot
• Shipt
• Bobcat
• Southwest Airlines
• Cisco
• Panda Express

Flutter vs Ionic: Key Comparison

Now that you have an overview of each technology let’s look at the critical comparison of both.

Flutter vs Ionic: Performance

In comparison to its direct competitors, Flutter performs better. Because native components are by default available, a bridge is not necessary for communication between native modules. According to the performance test, the “hello world” software consistently rendered each frame in less than 16 milliseconds and ran at a frame rate of 60 frames per second. Fewer frames were dropped, which was a good thing. The graphics library used by Flutter, Skia, enables the user interface to be recreated each time the application view changes. Flutter can function effectively even at 60 frames per second because of this.

Best cross-platform framework accolades go to Ionic. Its popularity of it just increased in 2019. Ionic apps deliver 60FPS on mobile and desktop, which is a high level of performance. The development procedure is sped up using pre-existing plugins and a hybrid methodology. Less than 1.8 seconds of the framework are spent interactively. Despite not being a native framework, Ionic excels at offering hardware-accelerated transitions, touch-optimized gestures, and pre-rendering.

Flutter vs Ionic: Architecture Used

The architectural structure of Flutter has layers. A simple application created using this framework is built on the platform-specific elements or top-level core function. Basic widgets that communicate with the renderer and platform layers come next. The animation gestures persist beyond rendering and convey API requests to the application’s core. The C/C++ engine and platform-specific embedder that power it also goes by the name Scaffold. Flutter BLoC implementation is possible if you keep the display layer and business logic separate. By using tiny, straightforward components to build great apps, this design makes it simpler for both seasoned and novice Flutter developers.

Ionic uses the AngularJS MVC framework, a software development pattern that comprises a Model, View, and Controller, to construct intricate SPA, cross-platform apps that are optimized for mobile devices. This design enables numerous developers’ concurrent development, decreasing turnaround time and boosting output. Additionally, the method permits the establishment of various Views, protecting the program from repeated iterations.

Flutter vs Ionic: Support Complex apps

When integrating frameworks during the development lifecycle, developers are frequently drawn to those that require the least amount of labor. Flutter has a plugin mechanism that enables programs to interact with the operating system for non-UI operations. While iOS programmers create expressive interfaces with Cupertino Widgets, Android specialists employ Material Components to enhance the value of their application. All you need to do is hire Flutter developer that has Dart knowledge and can help you build complex apps with ease.

It may be challenging to incorporate elements like location-based services, image processing, and animation user interface (UI) when you try to add complex functionality to the program. It’s the best option for creating compact, straightforward apps, nevertheless.

Flutter vs Ionic: Code Maintainability

Flutter applications are simple to keep up with. The code’s clarity aids problem-solving, locating outside resources, and supporting third-party libraries. In addition, the stateful Hot Reloading function instantly fixes the current problems. It is seen as better to release updates promptly and with high-quality modifications to the program. Code maintenance is a significant difficulty with Ionic since developers frequently find themselves rewriting programs to ensure stability in their applications. The backward compatibility often breaks, which makes the situation worse and the experience more aggravating.

Flutter vs Ionic: Learning Curve

It’s not hard to learn Flutter. Dart’s peculiar syntax makes developing Flutter apps easier, even though it can be weird to write code in Dart. Simple knowledge of native Android or iOS code is all a novice needs to grasp this framework. Furthermore, developers claim that Flutter documentation runs much more smoothly than Ionic documentation. Developers with significant hands-on Angular expertise could find Ionic to be a breeze. Simply exploring the framework, particularly the CLI or Cordova plugins, is all required. A head starts in understanding this framework is also given to JavaScript programmers with expertise in decorating apps using HTML/CSS. In contrast to a rookie who would need a lot of time to comprehend Ionic.

Conclusion

Various aspects of the Flutter and Ionic frameworks have been contrasted in this post. Since frameworks are evolving quickly, specific frameworks may be used to establish a feature development methodology that is even more productive. Millions of people adore both of these solid mobile frameworks. While Ionic is acknowledged as the most effective solution for web developers to create hybrid mobile apps, Flutter unquestionably has an advantage from a performance viewpoint. You may hire dedicated developers to create dependable, slick, practical applications. Without completely rebuilding the project, there is no simple method to migrate from Ionic to Flutter or Flutter to Ionic. Therefore choose a framework wisely after thoroughly analyzing your requirements.

Author Bio

Ronak Patel is a CEO and Founder of Aglowid IT Solutions, an ever-emerging Top Web and Mobile Development company with a motto of turning clients into successful businesses. He believes that Client’s success is company’s success and so that he always makes sure that Aglowid helps their client’s business to reach to its true potential with the help of his best team with the standard development process he set up for the company.