Updated May 3, 2023
Difference Between React Native vs NativeScript
React Native vs NativeScript is a framework used to develop native applications for both iOS and Android. React native was created by Facebook with the prime focus of learn once and use it anywhere. React Native integrates the best parts of native development with React, and the best library of JavaScript helps to build great user interferences. React Native can easily be used on the existing Android and iOS applications. JavaScript and JSX are used to write the code for React Native and because of the use of JavaScript, React Native is very fast in nature. React Native is the most popularly used framework for the development of mobile applications. With the help of React Native, one can create high-performance Native applications with a good user experience.
NativeScript is an open-sourced framework for building truly native mobile applications with Angular, Vue.js, TypeScript, or JavaScript. NativeScript was developed by Progress, and its prime focus is on modern business applications. With the help of NativeScript, one can develop elegant, cross-platform native mobile applications. NativeScript is designed with the focus to give developers the advantage of code reuse for any platform. As the next generation of business applications will be intelligent, connected, and adaptive, so NativeScript has some advanced features which help you to deliver such rich user experiences on mobile devices. NativeScript supports integration with Visual Studio Code officially, and a community effort provides integration using Webstorm/IntelliJ. There is enterprise support for NativeScript where one can deliver projects on time within budget and support mission-critical deployments with support provided by Progress, backed by the core NativeScript team.
Head to Head Comparison between React Native vs NativeScript (Infographics)
Below are the top 8 differences between React Native vs NativeScript:
Key Differences between React Native vs NativeScript
Let us discuss some of the major key differences between React Native vs NativeScript:
- React Native is much more popular as compared to NativeScript, according to the State of JavaScript 2018 survey.
- NativeScript has an official marketplace of plugins that is being actively expanded and updated, and this is the major feature that Reacts Native lags because it has to rely on third-party plugins and libraries.
- React Native has a very basic set of API modules that help the developers access the native device functionalities. Because of this, React Native developers have to turn to third-party modules. At the same time, NativeScript injects all iOS and Android APIs into the JavaScript Virtual Machines. It results in easy access to native APIs and doesn’t require any platform-specific language expertise.
- The styling of components for every individual platform is more emphasized in React Native, while in NativeScript, developers have to write code once, and they can run it anywhere because of this, it has more code sharing.
- React Native framework is used by many globally recognizable brands and companies like Facebook, Instagram, Tesla, while NativeScript is less popular in the mobile app development and the popular brands that had to build their applications using NativeScript are PUMA, Deloitte Digital, and Sennheiser.
- To build up a cross-platform mobile application with complex business logic, React Native turns out to be the best choice, while for the same task, if NativeScript is used, it results in quite large in size applications.
- NativeScript uses Angular and TypeScript for programming, while React Native uses JSX.
- React Native is faster than NativeScript because React Native uses VirtuaDOM, which allows the developers to easily render dynamic elements that can be commonly found in applications written using native SDKs.
- React works on creating a single file while NativeScript keeps every component divided.
React Native vs NativeScript Comparison Table
Let’s discuss the top comparison between React Native vs NativeScript:
| Feature | React Native | NativeScript |
| Popularity | According to the State of JavaScript 2018 survey React Native is the most popular, which makes it a commonly used Framework. |
NativeScript is not popular that much popular. |
| Performance | React Native is faster because it uses VirtualDOM, which helps it to work on a Single file. | NativeScript is slower because it keeps every component divided. |
| Programming Language Used | JSX is used for programming to React Native. | NativeScript uses TypeScript, Angular and JavaScript for programming. |
| Size of Application | React Native turns out to be the best platform to create cross-platform mobile application with complex business logic, as it makes applications that are very smaller in size. | NativeScript makes applications that are large in size for cross-platform mobile applications with complex business logic. |
| Code Sharing | React Native emphasis more on styling the components individually for each platform, which decreases the chance of code sharing. |
In NativeScript, developers have to write code once, and they can run it anywhere because of this, it has more code sharing. |
| Integration with Native APIs | React Native developers have to turn to third-party modules because it has a very basic set of API modules. |
NativeScript doesn’t require any platform-specific language expertise because of it. NativeScript injects all iOS and Android APIs into the JavaScript Virtual Machines and it results in easy access to native APIs. |
| Plugin Marketplace | React Native doesn’t have any official marketplace because it has to rely on third-party plugins and libraries. | NativeScript has an official marketplace of plugins that are being actively expanded and updated. |
| Application Size for Complex Business Logic | Very compact in size. | Very huge in size. |
Conclusion
On the basis of the above discussion, we got to know that both of the frameworks can be used by business-based mobile applications with extensive capabilities. It purely depends on the requirements of the project that which framework to be used. When we look through the performance perspective, React Native is a winner, and also it is a popular and very preferred business choice around the world, while NativeScript is used when we require styling of individual components and a huge expanded and updated marketplace for the plugin. To build small-size applications for cross-platform mobile applications with complex business logic, React Native turns out to be the best choice. The applications build using React Native are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest while NativeScript is used to build mobile applications like PUMA, Deloitte Digital, and Sennheiser, which clearly shows the popularity of React Native for the development of business-based mobile applications.
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