Apache Cordova vs Ionic vs PhoneGap

Overview

PhoneGap

Stacks578

Followers685

Votes94

GitHub Stars4.0K

Forks889

Ionic

Stacks9.5K

Followers8.6K

Votes1.8K

Apache Cordova

Stacks686

Followers892

Votes218

GitHub Stars955

Forks345

Apache Cordova vs Ionic vs PhoneGap: What are the differences?

Development Frameworks: Apache Cordova is a platform that provides a set of APIs for building mobile applications, while Ionic is a complete open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development based on AngularJS. PhoneGap, on the other hand, is a distribution of Apache Cordova with additional tools and services provided by Adobe.
User Interface Components: Ionic offers a rich set of pre-designed UI components and themes specifically for mobile apps, making it easier and faster to create visually appealing interfaces. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap do not offer as many out-of-the-box UI components and require more customization.
Performance Optimization: Ionic is optimized for performance by using web technologies like HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript along with hardware acceleration. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap can also achieve good performance but may require additional tweaking and optimization for complex apps.
Community Support: Ionic has a strong community support with regular updates, plugins, and documentation, making it easier for developers to find solutions to their problems. Apache Cordova also has a large community, while PhoneGap may have slightly fewer resources due to its commercial backing by Adobe.
Development Environment: Ionic comes with its own command-line interface (CLI) for easier project setup, building, and deployment. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap also provide CLI tools, but Ionic's CLI is specifically tailored for its framework, offering more features and streamlined workflows.
Learning Curve: Ionic abstracts complex functionalities into reusable components, making it easier for developers to learn and master. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap may require a deeper understanding of native mobile development concepts, which can result in a steeper learning curve.

In Summary, Apache Cordova, Ionic, and PhoneGap offer different approaches to developing hybrid mobile applications, with Ionic focusing on providing a robust framework with enhanced UI components and performance optimization, while Apache Cordova and PhoneGap offer more flexibility but may require additional customization and optimization.

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Advice on PhoneGap, Ionic, Apache Cordova

Anonymous

CEO at ME!

Jun 7, 2020

Decided

While with Ionic it is possible to make mobile applications with only web technologies, Flutter is more performant and is easy to use if you are willing to learn Dart, which is a fun language. Plus, it has awesome documentation and, while its ecosystem isn't near as big as JavaScript's is, it has a good package manager called Pub and its packages are generally high quality.

403k views403k

Comments

Saber

Senior software engineer at Shortcut

Jun 28, 2021

Needs adviceon

Ionic

React Native

JavaScript

Greetings!

I have been searching lately for frameworks to build mobile apps.

We are trying to make something like a quiz app as a way for customers to contact us. I considered Ionic and React Native because we use JavaScript most of the time in websites, e.g., Vue.js/Nuxt.js. But Flutter seems a decent choice as well, especially since you can use Android/iOS-like components. We are looking for something that works in the long term, something that's time and cost-effective, especially when paired with backend services like Firebase or a GraphQL server. I would like to know your opinions and recommendations. Thank you!

281k views281k

Comments

Thuan

FE Lead at SOLID ENGINEER

Jun 16, 2020

Decided

Javascripts is the most populated language in the world.
Easy to learn & deployed production
Fast development
Strong community
Completed Documents
Native performance with lower RAM used.
Easy to handle native issues by using native code like Java / Objective C
Powered by Facebook.

666k views666k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

PhoneGap	Ionic	Apache Cordova
PhoneGap is a web platform that exposes native mobile device apis and data to JavaScript. PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. PhoneGap allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language. Applications execute within wrappers targeted to each platform, and rely on standards-compliant API bindings to access each device's sensors, data, and network status.	Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.	Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Android;Blackberry;iOS;Windows Phone;Windows8	Performance obsessed;Utilizes Angular and React;Native focused;Beautifully designed;Based on Web Components;	Cross-platform (CLI) workflow;Platform-centered workflow;Hundreds of plugins
Statistics
GitHub Stars 4.0K	GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 955
GitHub Forks 889	GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 345
Stacks 578	Stacks 9.5K	Stacks 686
Followers 685	Followers 8.6K	Followers 892
Votes 94	Votes 1.8K	Votes 218
Pros & Cons
Pros 46 Javascript 13 Backed by Adobe 11 Free 9 Easy and developer friendly 6 Support more platforms Cons 2 Never as good as a native app 1 Poor user experience 1 Hard to see 1 Created for web pages, not for complex Apps 1 Not build for high performance	Pros 248 Allows for rapid prototyping 228 Hybrid mobile 208 It's angularjs 186 Free 179 It's javascript, html, and css Cons 20 Not suitable for high performance or UI intensive apps 15 Not meant for game development 2 Not a native app	Pros 48 Lots of plugins 35 JavaScript 26 Great community 25 Easy Development 18 Easy to learn Cons 2 No native performance 1 Hard to install 0 Hard to install

What are some alternatives to PhoneGap, Ionic, Apache Cordova?

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Framework7

It is a free and open source mobile HTML framework to develop hybrid mobile apps or web apps with iOS native look and feel. All you need to make it work is a simple HTML layout and attached framework's CSS and JS files.

Qt

Qt, a leading cross-platform application and UI framework. With Qt, you can develop applications once and deploy to leading desktop, embedded & mobile targets.

Expo

It is a framework and a platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services built around React Native and native platforms that help you develop, build, deploy, and quickly iterate on iOS, Android, and web apps.

Vue Native

Vue Native is a mobile framework to build truly native mobile app using Vue.js. Its is designed to connect React Native and Vue.js. Vue Native is a wrapper around React Native APIs, which allows you to use Vue.js and compose rich mobile User Interface.

Shoutem UI

Shoutem UI is a set of styleable components that enables you to build beautiful React Native applications for iOS and Android. All of our components are built to be both composable and customizable.

Sencha Touch

Sencha Touch 2, a high-performance HTML5 mobile application framework, is the cornerstone of the Sencha HTML5 platform. Built for enabling world-class user experiences, Sencha Touch 2 is the only framework that enables developers to build fast and impressive apps that work on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle Fire, and more.

Related Comparisons

Apache Cordova vs Ionic vs PhoneGap: What are the differences?

Development Frameworks: Apache Cordova is a platform that provides a set of APIs for building mobile applications, while Ionic is a complete open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development based on AngularJS. PhoneGap, on the other hand, is a distribution of Apache Cordova with additional tools and services provided by Adobe.
User Interface Components: Ionic offers a rich set of pre-designed UI components and themes specifically for mobile apps, making it easier and faster to create visually appealing interfaces. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap do not offer as many out-of-the-box UI components and require more customization.
Performance Optimization: Ionic is optimized for performance by using web technologies like HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript along with hardware acceleration. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap can also achieve good performance but may require additional tweaking and optimization for complex apps.
Community Support: Ionic has a strong community support with regular updates, plugins, and documentation, making it easier for developers to find solutions to their problems. Apache Cordova also has a large community, while PhoneGap may have slightly fewer resources due to its commercial backing by Adobe.
Development Environment: Ionic comes with its own command-line interface (CLI) for easier project setup, building, and deployment. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap also provide CLI tools, but Ionic's CLI is specifically tailored for its framework, offering more features and streamlined workflows.
Learning Curve: Ionic abstracts complex functionalities into reusable components, making it easier for developers to learn and master. Apache Cordova and PhoneGap may require a deeper understanding of native mobile development concepts, which can result in a steeper learning curve.

Apache Cordova vs Ionic vs PhoneGap

Overview