Cordova and React Native are both excellent projects that considerably aid in the creation of mobile apps. They do, however, have differences and each has elements where one outperforms the other and vice versa. That is, whichever framework developers or a react native app development company use, it is entirely dependent on their preferred technology and app development method.
In this article, we compare Cordova with React Native and provide an in-depth study of their benefits and drawbacks. This guarantees that you make the appropriate decision and identify software professionals who are a good fit for your desired mobile development projects.
Before delving into the complexities of these frameworks, let’s define some working definitions and become acquainted with them briefly.
What Exactly is Cordova?
Cordova is an additional open-source and free mobile development platform. Cross-platform applications are built using standard web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript, among others.
Normally, web apps lack native functionalities such as accelerometers, cameras, GPS and so on, but with Cordova, you can bundle web applications according to the device format. This platform is typically used by developers who do not want to limit themselves to a single application.
What Exactly is React Native?
For those who are unfamiliar, React Native is a JavaScript framework that allows you to construct iOS and Android applications at the same time. You only need to write code once, and it will be used on both platforms, saving you time and effort. This framework was created by Facebook and currently has a large market and support.
Cordova vs. React Native Comparison
- Coding Speed
In terms of speed, cross-platform compatibility is a disadvantage for hybrid programs. Yes, hybrid app performance may be slightly slower due to Cordova’s cross-compilation capability. When compared to a standard native application, Cordova takes longer to render. Because JavaScript is an interpreted language, this is the case. HTML and CSS are used to create the application’s visual presentation.
React Native’s UI components, on the other hand, are similar to native UI views, resulting in speedier rendering times as compared to Cordova, which uses web-based frameworks. Despite the fact that the application’s functionality is written in JavaScript, React Native employs multi-threading technologies.
- Performance
Cordova generates fewer build packages and most technology developers agree that it outperforms React Native in terms of build performance, with or without caching. Cordova provides two API layers that can be used to communicate with a Cordova-enabled WebView in order to render it, as well as the WebView in order to communicate with the Cordova plugins. When compiling Cordova apps, you only use plugins that you add.
The developer has more time to create react native app and the build package is larger. React Native supports native functionality, whereas Cordova requires plugins.
- Popularity
Many developers are already familiar with React as a JavaScript framework, making learning React Native a breeze. As a result, React Native is used by a bigger percentage of web developers than Cordova.
A brief check of the share of responses in 2021 reveals that React Native has 38%, whereas Cordova has 16% for the same year.
- Community
Cordova’s community is active, accounting for 16% of the whole dev community. It contains a virtual marketplace that sells all of the plugins, making it easier for developers to handle bugs and add new features. The React Native community is now at 38%. It is also heavily supported by Facebook and has a big number of plugins available in NPM. React Native offers a plugin that may be used in conjunction with the Cordova plugins.
- Development Costs
Cordova is completely free to use. The only expense to bear is the cost of enrolling in specific mobile platform developer programs in order to launch your apps on those platforms. The cost of React Native varies depending on design, maintenance, app complexity and so on.
What is The Purpose of Cordova?
Cordova is ideal for creating apps that can run on different platforms. When it comes to adding platforms, starting a project, building and delivering apps, the setup is quite straightforward. It’s ideal for hybrid applications. If you currently have web application code and want to reuse it, Cordova is the best solution.
What is The Purpose of React Native?
This framework is ideal for mobile applications. It is significantly faster and less expensive. It’s an excellent solution if you require high-performance, multi-threading and native UI rendering. Because it is built on JavaScript, your developers or react native app development company will not need as much time to learn it. It can be utilised in an existing Android or iOS project or it can be used to create a whole new app from the ground up. React Native enables developers to share the application’s logic layer between Android and iOS. This means that if your project requires the use of both platforms, you won’t require two separate development teams.
Conclusion
Each framework has advantages and disadvantages. Those who work with Cordova do it primarily to reduce development costs and time. Developers who create react native app, on the other hand, do it primarily to create a native-looking app or to achieve a specific degree of expert performance. In the end, both are excellent choices for developing and debugging cross-platform apps.
