Apache Cordova vs NativeScript vs React Native

Overview

Apache Cordova

Stacks686

Followers892

Votes218

GitHub Stars955

Forks345

NativeScript

Stacks533

Followers1.1K

Votes516

GitHub Stars25.3K

Forks1.7K

React Native

Stacks34.4K

Followers29.5K

Votes1.2K

GitHub Stars124.4K

Forks24.9K

Apache Cordova vs NativeScript vs React Native: What are the differences?

Introduction

In the world of mobile app development, Apache Cordova, NativeScript, and React Native are popular platforms that allow developers to create cross-platform applications. Understanding the key differences between these frameworks is crucial for developers to make informed choices when selecting the right tool for their projects.

Programming Language: Apache Cordova allows developers to build apps using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the other hand, NativeScript supports JavaScript, TypeScript, and Angular for development. React Native, developed by Facebook, uses JavaScript and React for building mobile applications. Each platform provides unique possibilities for developers to leverage their preferred programming languages and frameworks.
UI Components: NativeScript provides a wide range of native UI components that can be directly accessed from the framework, ensuring a truly native look and feel for the app. In contrast, React Native and Apache Cordova may lack some native components, impacting the overall user experience. Developers need to consider the availability and quality of UI components when choosing a framework for their projects.
Performance: When it comes to performance, NativeScript tends to have an edge over React Native and Apache Cordova due to its direct access to native APIs and UI components. Apps built with NativeScript can deliver faster response times and smoother animations compared to those developed with React Native and Cordova. Performance considerations are critical for high-demand applications or gaming apps.
Native Access: NativeScript offers direct access to native APIs without the need for additional plugins, allowing developers to create more complex functionalities seamlessly. In contrast, both React Native and Apache Cordova may require plugins to access native features, potentially adding complexity to the development process. Access to native functionalities can play a significant role in the capabilities of the final application.
Community and Ecosystem: React Native boasts a large, active community supported by Facebook and a vast array of third-party libraries and plugins that enhance productivity. NativeScript also has a robust community backing, but its ecosystem may not be as extensive as React Native. Apache Cordova, being one of the older frameworks, has a mature ecosystem with numerous plugins available, but it may not be as actively maintained as the other two platforms. The strength of the community and ecosystem can influence the availability of resources and support for developers.
Learning Curve: The learning curve for each framework varies, with Apache Cordova offering a more straightforward development process for web developers familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. NativeScript and React Native may require developers to learn additional concepts such as TypeScript or React, potentially increasing the learning curve. Consideration of existing skills and resources is crucial when choosing a framework to minimize the learning curve for the development team.

In Summary, understanding the key differences between Apache Cordova, NativeScript, and React Native is crucial for developers to make informed decisions based on programming language compatibility, performance, native access, community support, ecosystem, and the learning curve.

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Advice on Apache Cordova, NativeScript, React Native

Nick

CTO at Pickio

Jun 2, 2020

Decided

We built the first version of our app with RN and it turned out a mess in a while. A lot of bugs along with poor performance out of the box for a fairly large app. Many things, that native platform has, cannot be done with existing solutions for RN. For instance, large titles on iOS are not fully implemented in any of existing navigations libraries. Also there's painfully slow JSON bridge and many other small, yet annoying things. On the other hand Flutter became a really powerful and easy-to-use tool. A bit of a learning curve, of course, because of Dart, but it worth learning. Flutter offers TONS of built-in features, no JSON-bridge, AOT compilation for iOS.

491k views491k

Comments

Andrea

May 26, 2020

Needs adviceon

Vue.js

Vue Native

React

I'm a huge fan of Vue.js and I'm pretty comfortable with it. I need to build a mobile app for my company and I was now wondering whether I could make use of VueJS with Vue Native instead of switching to React. I know Vue Native builds on top of RN. My question is whether I'd have as much freedom with Vue Native over RN and whether you feel like Vue Native is "production ready" or not. Not sure of which shortcomings I may find using Vue Native... Thanks a lot!!!

336k views336k

Comments

Furqan

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

React Native

Hello guys, I am new here. So, if I posted without specific guidelines, please ignore.

Basically, I am an iOS developer and developing native apps for the last three years. Recently, I started learning React Native to develop apps for both platforms. If anyone out there knows any useful resources that will become a better react native developer.

@{#newbie}|topic:null|

325k views325k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Apache Cordova	NativeScript	React Native
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.	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.	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.
Cross-platform (CLI) workflow;Platform-centered workflow;Hundreds of plugins	100% Access to Native Platform API;NativeScript is free of charge as an open source project;Code with JavaScript. Style with CSS;Cross-platform UI abstractions;Shared business logic and data models	Native iOS Components;Asynchronous Execution;Touch Handling;Flexbox and Styling; Polyfills
Statistics
GitHub Stars 955	GitHub Stars 25.3K	GitHub Stars 124.4K
GitHub Forks 345	GitHub Forks 1.7K	GitHub Forks 24.9K
Stacks 686	Stacks 533	Stacks 34.4K
Followers 892	Followers 1.1K	Followers 29.5K
Votes 218	Votes 516	Votes 1.2K
Pros & Cons
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	Pros 75 Access to the entire native api 47 Support for native ios and android libraries 46 Support for javascript libraries 46 Angular 2.0 support 44 Native ux and performance Cons 5 Lack of promotion 1 Slower Performance compared to competitors	Pros 214 Learn once write everywhere 174 Cross platform 169 Javascript 122 Native ios components 69 Built by facebook Cons 23 Javascript 19 Built by facebook 12 Cant use CSS 4 30 FPS Limit 2 Some compenents not truly native

What are some alternatives to Apache Cordova, NativeScript, React Native?

Ionic

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.

Flutter

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

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.

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.

PhoneGap

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.

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 NativeScript vs React Native: What are the differences?

Introduction

Programming Language: Apache Cordova allows developers to build apps using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the other hand, NativeScript supports JavaScript, TypeScript, and Angular for development. React Native, developed by Facebook, uses JavaScript and React for building mobile applications. Each platform provides unique possibilities for developers to leverage their preferred programming languages and frameworks.
UI Components: NativeScript provides a wide range of native UI components that can be directly accessed from the framework, ensuring a truly native look and feel for the app. In contrast, React Native and Apache Cordova may lack some native components, impacting the overall user experience. Developers need to consider the availability and quality of UI components when choosing a framework for their projects.
Performance: When it comes to performance, NativeScript tends to have an edge over React Native and Apache Cordova due to its direct access to native APIs and UI components. Apps built with NativeScript can deliver faster response times and smoother animations compared to those developed with React Native and Cordova. Performance considerations are critical for high-demand applications or gaming apps.
Native Access: NativeScript offers direct access to native APIs without the need for additional plugins, allowing developers to create more complex functionalities seamlessly. In contrast, both React Native and Apache Cordova may require plugins to access native features, potentially adding complexity to the development process. Access to native functionalities can play a significant role in the capabilities of the final application.
Community and Ecosystem: React Native boasts a large, active community supported by Facebook and a vast array of third-party libraries and plugins that enhance productivity. NativeScript also has a robust community backing, but its ecosystem may not be as extensive as React Native. Apache Cordova, being one of the older frameworks, has a mature ecosystem with numerous plugins available, but it may not be as actively maintained as the other two platforms. The strength of the community and ecosystem can influence the availability of resources and support for developers.
Learning Curve: The learning curve for each framework varies, with Apache Cordova offering a more straightforward development process for web developers familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. NativeScript and React Native may require developers to learn additional concepts such as TypeScript or React, potentially increasing the learning curve. Consideration of existing skills and resources is crucial when choosing a framework to minimize the learning curve for the development team.

Apache Cordova vs NativeScript vs React Native

Overview

Apache Cordova vs NativeScript vs React Native: What are the differences?