The key to success in the world of mobile apps is to try and reach maximum number of people irrespective of their devices and operating systems.There are two popular ways to go about developing a successful mobile app - native development and cross platform development.
While native applications are all about high performance and developed for specific platforms, cross platform development is all about developing mobile applications using a single code base to run on multiple platforms.
In this blog, we will be discussing the similarities as well as differences between Flutter and Ionic - two major cross platform frameworks!
Flutter & Ionic - Shared Vision
Both Flutter and Ionic framework have unique approach as compared to all the other development frameworks. They share the vision of crafting a UI framework that not only looks beautiful but works and delivers great performance everywhere.
Other cross platform frameworks focus mostly on mobile but Ionic and Flutter focus on mobile, desktop as well as the web.
However, the key difference between them lies in the means to achieve this shared vision and the extent to which they can deliver results.
Opposite Philosophies of Flutter & Ionic
The core philosophy of both these frameworks cannot be more different.
The guiding principle of Ionic is to “use the platform” by using open web standards and capabilities whenever possible. When you choose Ionic, you are not really betting on the framework, you are betting on the web which is the most time tested universal runtime in the world. All the Ionic framework and tooling are based on open web technologies right from the languages used to build Ionic apps (HTML, CSS & Javascript) to UI components in the app.
On the other hand, Flutter has created an entirely new and self contained ecosystem from scratch. Beginning from Dart - the non standard language used to develop Flutter apps to its custom rendering engine, almost everything about Flutter app development is based on its own set of standards.
As you can see these absolutely opposing philosophies have a great effect of what you can do with each of them and the end result achieved by using them.
Now, that you know the shared vision and opposing philosophies of Flutter and Ionic, let’s do a head to head comparison between them!
Performance
Performance is one of the crucial factors in deciding which framework to choose for your project. Performance also depends on the developers’ efficiency to write the code but here we are talking from the runtime perspective.
Ionic is different from other frameworks as it uses web app programming languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript to develop hybrid cross platform apps. In Ionic app development, plugins and third party packages are required to wrap an application in native cover.
On the other hand, Flutter makes use of Dart and developers need to learn it for working on a mobile app development project. Flutter is a step ahead of Ionic as there are no native transitions or bridges to connect with the native environment. Although Flutter is fast growing, it has to still achieve a lot.
If we talk about Flutter vs Ionic performance in terms of user interface design or front end environment, both the frameworks provide high quality and native app like experiences loved by the developers’ community.
Architecture and Code Execution
Developers have a significant benefit of code reusability with Ionic’s single codebase on any platform approach. Its powerful features and strong community support enables developers to build highly interactive applications quickly. Moreover, Ionic can be used with Angular, React, Vue or JavaScript.
On the contrary, Flutter provides high performance as it uses an advanced, compatible and comprehensive language - Dart. The Flutter engine connects with platform specific SDKs which provides the Flutter developers with a modern, rich and reactive set of features to create beautiful mobile experiences.
Platforms & Popularity
Ionic is a popular choice among the mobile app and web developers because of its easy learning curve. Some of the popular names that have used Ionic are MarketWatch, Sworkit, Pacifica, Nationwide and may more.
Although Flutter has just entered the market, it has gained substantial popularity in a very short time. The popular industry houses using Flutter are Alibaba, Greentea, Hamilton Musical, Google Ads and the list goes on.
Both the frameworks are quite popular in their own respect and definitely have a bright future ahead with loads of improvements.
Future Proof
The last but the important thing to consider is the market life of your product and the freedom and flexibility you will have as the application matures.
For Flutter developers it is like investing their everything in a single option. It means if Google decides to kill the project, the developers will be left with a skillset that is actually homeless.
As mentioned earlier, in the case of Ionic you are betting on the web. So, even if you choose to build on other platforms in the future, everything will be based on the open web standards. As Ionic relies on Web Components, it can be used with any JavaScript framework. With Ionic, you get the freedom of taking advantage of future trends.
That’s A Wrap on the Ionic vs Flutter Debate!
We hope that this blog has managed to clear the differences and similarities between Ionic and Flutter so that you can make an informed decision about your project.
However, to sum up, it can be said that Flutter and Ionic share the common vision of crafting beautiful and high performance apps that run everywhere seamlessly. The difference lies in their core philosophy.
The guiding principle of Ionic is to use the web platform and make use of the open standards whenever possible. In contrast, Flutter chose to create a self contained ecosystem which is at odds with common tools, languages and standards found in the development world.
At the end, your choice of framework should align with your project requirements and where and how you are planning to deploy your application.
Jatin Patel
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