Nowadays, people are looking to develop apps more quickly at less cost where extremely searching which framework fits their app idea. Choosing a framework with extreme features, understandable architecture at a manageable size is not as easy as it seems. Making a choice between Flutter vs NativeScript is hard to decide because both are fundamentally strong frameworks that provide an excellent native user experience. In this article, you can know the difference between Flutter and NativeScript.

Native apps take advantage of specific features to an operating system of a device, unlike other cross-platform applications. Further, this functionality is beneficial for native mobile app projects as it uses the full potential of the device features. Flutter is a framework developed by Google, to build native apps it offers pre-configured widgets and modules.

On the other hand, NativeScript is a javascript based framework that offers complete native-like functionality with multi-platform compatibility options. Apps that are built by using this framework are coded with Vue, Angular, and Typescript. So you may wonder which frameworks are best to adapt, economical, or expensive?

In some aspects NativeScript and Flutter are similar, but they are different in terms of architecture, system components, size, cost of development, and more. Here you can know about the difference between Flutter and NativeScript and decide which framework suits your project expectations and expectations.

Overview: what is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source framework made by Google. It functions with a language called Dart. Its enhanced toolkit used to build cross-platform applications. It is accessible to develop expressive and flexible UI with native performance. Additionally, it is supported by a team of Google developers and the community.

Here are some stats for the market usage of Flutter:

• In worldwide 39% of the populations use Flutter to build cross-platform mobile applications
• Developing community loves to use Flutter by 68.8%
• 7.2% of the community choose Flutter for its libraries and tools

Use cases of Flutter

• MVP mobile applications
• Advanced OS plugins with simple logic
• Apps with material design
• Apps that function with OS-level features
• Reactivate apps with vast data integration
• Flexible UI with high-level widgets
• High-performance apps with Skia rendering engine

Flutter – popular apps

• Google ads
• Tencent
• Alibaba
• eBay
• BMW
• Reflectly

Overview – What is NativeScript?

NativeScript is an open-source framework that builds cross-platform applications with Typescript, JavaScript, Vue, js, or Angular. From a single codebase, you can develop native mobile applications of IOS as well as an android.

NativeScript market usage

• Today for cross-platform application development 5% to 11% of developers use NativeScript.
• The number of NativeScript downloads increased to more than 812,575 between 2019 and 2020.
• For more than a year, 28% of the developers are dedicatedly using NativeScript

Use cases of NativeScript

• Apps with massive server connectivity
• Real-time applications
• Simple gaming apps
• Geolocation apps
• Make sure that your developed Apps function with the default Apps of the device
• Music or video streaming apps

NativeScript –  popular apps

• Sennheiser
• PUMA
• Airbnb Design
• MDBootstrap
• Portable North Pole
• SAP

Pros Flutter vs NativeScript

Pros of Flutter

• Hot-reloading: This feature changes the application state immediately  without losing
• Rich-widgets: By following the guidelines of Cupertino and Material Design it provides rich widgets
• Seamless integration: It integrates with Java for Android and Swift or Objective C for IOS, so re-writing code is not necessary
• Quick shipping: Testing is required only for one single codebase where it offers quick iterations cycles that saves time.
• Codesharing: Across platforms, codes can be written and shared easier and faster that makes it perfect for MVP development.

Pros of NativeScript

• Cross-technology compatibility: It allows convenient data binding and more component reusability by using Angular, TypeScript, or JavaScript.
• Native functionality: Through native components with the native performance, it accesses Native device API
• Programming language: It develops applications with customized features by using an XML-Esque-based markup language like HTML
• Extensibility: To all kinds of IOS and Android APIs, it gives complete and direct access. It offers accessibility and allows the reuse of free plugins, Android SDKs, and CocoaPods.
• Developer-friendly CLI: It allows developers from adding a platform to deploying apps to a specific platform or device. In this, the installation of plugins and app debugging is quicker and more comfortable.

Flutter vs NativeScript: performance comparison

Performance is extremely important to consider when building complex and large projects. In terms of performance, let’s compare Flutter and NativeScript.

Performance of Flutter

Flutter offers better performance than its arch-rivals. Due to the default availability of native components, it does not require a bridge to communicate between the native modules. The hello world app performed at 60 FPS where its performance test indicates that the time taken to render each frame does not take longer than  16 milliseconds. Fewer the number of frames that got dropped. Flutter uses the Skia graphics library, it allows the UI to change each time when it is time to redraw. So, this is the way the Flutter performs efficiently even at 60 FPS.

Performance of NativeScript

You can expect that NativeScript performance is neither high nor low. Without any difficulty, animation built with NativeScript performs well at 60 FPS. In addition to that, to maintain a balanced frontend speed for fast performance this framework provides the ability to offload certain types of long-running processes. Through the multiple-threading model, the ability to offload in NativeScript is achieved. Framework performance improvement depends on the use of specific best practices. To optimize performance and tracing of execution time within an application some of these practices include merging manual tool instrumentation.

Flutter vs NativeScript – Architecture

Firstly, whenever you are choosing a framework to develop an app, it’s important to choose flexibility. Secondly, you should avoid any strict enforcement of architecture and guidelines. Besides, you should always treat a framework as a guide and not as methods and standards. Flutter and NativeScript are flexible in terms of architecture.

What kind of architecture does Flutter support?

Flutter’s architecture framework hierarchy starts with a top-level root function or platform-specific widgets. In addition, it interacts with the platform and rendering layers and is followed by basic widgets.

The animation gestures beyond the rendering layer transfer API calls to the foundation of the application. It is run by a C/C++ engine and a platform-specific embedder, also known as Scaffold. If you want to separate business logic from the presentation layer, you should implement Flutter BLoC. Also, this architecture helps junior Flutter developers to create a complex application with small and simple components.

What kind of architectures does NativeScript support?

Know that NativeScript follows the MVC or MVMM architecture pattern. Its framework is widely used on modules, CLI, and plugins. To enable a set of features its structure of NativeScript is composed of multiple modules.

Root Module and Page Module are the two essential ones that make up the architecture. These modules together form an application module comprising actual business logic, CSS style code, and XML logic-based UI codes. Moreover, this framework MVC friendliness efficiently manages Module dialogs.

Testing – Flutter vs NativeScript

Your application development project should be able to work without a glitch under continuous, high load, and growing market expectations. To ensure compliance with the UI standards, compatibility, and usability your project needs to grow through a series of tests. When compared with testing, here is how Flutter vs NativeScript stands out.

How easy to test a Flutter app?

Flutter functions with Dart; it offers extensive support for automated testing. It not only offers a number of testing features but also boasts detailed documentation of it. Respectively, Flutter’s robust help to build and release Android and IOS apps on the Play Store and App Store. In addition, there is an official document.

How easy is it to test a NativeScript app?

NativeScript’s new release of version 2.5 enhances an application’s default testing capacities by following its own QA workflow. It directly integrates unit testing into the default CLI to support testing tools such as Mocha, Jasmine, and QUnit.

Summing up

It may be any of the platforms like Flutter or NativeScript. From a different perspective, both app developments are the best tool. Its different features show efficiency in their own way.

Both are good frameworks to develop the app. However, some people predict that Flutter is the right platform that will rule the industry in the upcoming years. Obviously, the success of the frameworks depends on the needs of the apps and the convenience of the app developer. When you are working, analyze and choose the platform which is best for your project

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