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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Frameworks
  4. Cross Platform Mobile Development
  5. Capacitor vs Expo

Capacitor vs Expo

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Expo
Expo
Stacks811
Followers693
Votes66
Capacitor
Capacitor
Stacks287
Followers326
Votes2
GitHub Stars14.2K
Forks1.1K

Capacitor vs Expo: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this markdown, we will discuss the key differences between Capacitor and Expo, which are two popular frameworks used for building mobile applications.

  1. Project Structure and Language Support: Capacitor is a framework that allows developers to build mobile apps using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It provides a native container that hosts the web application. On the other hand, Expo is a framework that enables developers to build mobile apps using JavaScript and React. Expo provides a set of pre-built UI components and APIs to simplify the development process.

  2. Native API Access: Capacitor provides direct access to native device functionality through plugins. It allows developers to write custom native code and expose it to their web application. Expo, on the other hand, offers a curated set of APIs that provide access to common device features. If a specific functionality is not available in Expo's API, developers have to eject the Expo project to gain access to the native code.

  3. Device Compatibility: Capacitor is designed to work with any frontend framework and can be used in both new and existing projects. It supports building apps for iOS, Android, and Electron platforms. Expo, on the other hand, is primarily focused on React Native development and is limited to iOS and Android platforms. It provides a seamless development experience for these platforms but may not be suitable for other types of projects.

  4. Development Workflow: With Capacitor, developers have the freedom to choose their own development workflow and tooling. They can use any code editor, build tool, or continuous integration systems. Expo, on the other hand, provides a unified development workflow and toolchain. It offers a command-line interface (CLI) that simplifies the development process by abstracting away the complexities of native app development.

  5. Third-Party Libraries and Code: Capacitor allows developers to use any JavaScript library or npm package in their mobile app. They can easily integrate third-party libraries and leverage the existing web ecosystem. Expo, on the other hand, has a curated set of dependencies and restricts direct access to the underlying native code. Although Expo provides a wide range of pre-built components and APIs, developers may face limitations when it comes to using certain libraries or accessing low-level device features.

  6. Build and Deployment Process: Capacitor provides a flexible and customizable build process, allowing developers to have full control over the app's deployment. It supports native code compilation during the build process to optimize performance. Expo, on the other hand, simplifies the build and deployment process by providing a hosted build service. Developers can easily build and deploy their app using the Expo CLI and don't need to worry about the complexities of native code compilation and signing.

In summary, Capacitor provides more flexibility and customization options in terms of project structure, native API access, device compatibility, development workflow, third-party libraries, and build process. Expo, on the other hand, offers a curated development experience, providing a simplified workflow and a wide range of pre-built components and APIs.

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Advice on Expo, Capacitor

Furqan
Furqan

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceonReact NativeReact 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

Expo
Expo
Capacitor
Capacitor

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.

Invoke Native SDKs on iOS, Android, Electron, and the Web with one code base. Optimized for Ionic Framework apps, or use with any web app framework.`

-
Build web apps that run equally well on iOS, Android, Electron, and as Progressive Web Apps; Access the full Native SDK on each platform, and easily deploy to App Stores (and the web!); It provides native functionality for web apps, and is optimized for Ionic Framework; Build apps with standardized web technologies that will work for decades, and easily reach users on the app stores and the mobile web; Easily add custom native functionality with a simple Plugin API, or use existing Cordova plugins with our compatibility layer; Open source
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
14.2K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
1.1K
Stacks
811
Stacks
287
Followers
693
Followers
326
Votes
66
Votes
2
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 15
    Free
  • 13
    Hot Reload
  • 9
    Common ios and android app setup
  • 9
    Easy to learn
  • 6
    Streamlined
Pros
  • 1
    Full compatible with ios
  • 1
    Modern
Integrations
React Native
React Native
Electron
Electron
Apache Cordova
Apache Cordova
Ionic
Ionic
iOS
iOS
Android OS
Android OS

What are some alternatives to Expo, Capacitor?

Ionic

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

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

React Native

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

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

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.

Apache Cordova

Apache Cordova

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.

Framework7

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

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

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.

Vue Native

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.

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