Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

NativeScript

538
1.1K
+ 1
516
Onsen UI

40
136
+ 1
11
Add tool

NativeScript vs Onsen UI: What are the differences?

## Introduction
NativeScript and Onsen UI are two popular choices for building cross-platform mobile applications. While both frameworks serve a similar purpose, they differ in several key aspects.

1. **Application Architecture**: NativeScript allows developers to build truly native mobile applications using a single codebase, providing direct access to all native APIs and components. On the other hand, Onsen UI is a hybrid mobile app framework that uses web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create cross-platform apps with a native look and feel.

2. **Performance**: Due to its direct access to native APIs, NativeScript apps typically offer better performance compared to hybrid apps built using Onsen UI. This can be crucial for applications that require a high level of responsiveness and speed.

3. **Community Support**: NativeScript has a larger and more active community compared to Onsen UI, which means developers can easily find resources, plugins, and support when working with the framework. Onsen UI, while still popular, may have slightly fewer resources available.

4. **Development Environment**: NativeScript offers more flexibility in terms of development environment choices, allowing developers to work in their preferred IDEs or editors. On the other hand, Onsen UI has a more structured development environment, which can be preferable for some developers.

5. **Supported Platforms**: NativeScript supports building applications for both iOS and Android, as well as offering support for other platforms like Windows and web. Onsen UI, while primarily focused on iOS and Android, also offers support for Windows and progressive web apps.

6. **Learning Curve**: NativeScript may have a steeper learning curve for developers who are new to mobile app development, especially those unfamiliar with TypeScript. Onsen UI, being a web-focused framework, may be more familiar and easier to grasp for developers with experience in web development.

In Summary, NativeScript offers a more native development experience with better performance and a larger community, while Onsen UI provides a simpler, web-based approach to cross-platform mobile app development with support for additional platforms.
Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of NativeScript
Pros of Onsen UI
  • 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
  • 37
    Typescript support
  • 35
    Backed up by google and telerik
  • 29
    Css support
  • 27
    Cross-platform declarative ui and code
  • 25
    Fully open source under apache 2.0 license
  • 11
    Vuejs support
  • 9
    60fps performance
  • 6
    Powerful data visualization with native UI
  • 5
    VS Code integration
  • 5
    Angular, typescript and javascript support
  • 5
    No need for Mac to build iOS apps in Telerik Platform
  • 4
    Extended CLI support
  • 4
    Cloud builds as part of Telerik PLatform
  • 4
    Truly Object-Oriented with Typescript
  • 4
    On-device debugging
  • 4
    Extensibility
  • 3
    Access to entire native api
  • 3
    Live reload
  • 3
    Easiest of all other frameworks
  • 3
    Easy to learn
  • 3
    Backed by google
  • 3
    0 day support for new OS updates
  • 3
    Publishing modules to NPM
  • 2
    Vue.js support out of the box
  • 2
    VueJS support
  • 2
    Svelte support
  • 2
    Powerfull mobile services as part of Telerik Platform
  • 2
    Native ui with angular
  • 2
    Vue support
  • 1
    Playground
  • 1
    Hot Reload
  • 1
    HMR via webpack
  • 1
    Very small app size
  • 1
    Write once, use anywhere
  • 1
    Easy to use, support for almost all npm packages
  • 1
    Rich ecosystem
  • 1
    Compile to Apple/Google Stores via CloudCompiler
  • 1
    Has CSS ;-)
  • 1
    It works with Angular
  • 1
    Code reuse with your website
  • 0
    Dart
  • 3
    Hybrid mobile
  • 3
    Works with any JavaScript framework
  • 3
    Allows for rapid prototyping
  • 2
    Free

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of NativeScript
Cons of Onsen UI
  • 5
    Lack of promotion
  • 1
    Slower Performance compared to competitors
    Be the first to leave a con

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    What is 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.

    What is Onsen UI?

    Onsen UI helps you develop both hybrid and web apps. If developing hybrid apps, you can use it with the Cordova / PhoneGap command line, or with Monaca tools (CLI, Monaca IDE - cloud-based IDE for Cordova, Localkit - desktop GUI).

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use NativeScript?
    What companies use Onsen UI?
    See which teams inside your own company are using NativeScript or Onsen UI.
    Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

    Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

    What tools integrate with NativeScript?
    What tools integrate with Onsen UI?
      No integrations found

      Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

      What are some alternatives to NativeScript and Onsen UI?
      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.
      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.
      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.
      React
      Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
      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.
      See all alternatives