Let us start by the most common confusion people encounter – Is ReactJS and React Native the same? The answer here is no, they are not the same.
ReactJS is a JavaScript library while React Native is an app framework.
ReactJS is excellent at creating complex apps and adding high functionality, while React Native is perfect for developing all the native features to your mobile apps. Now that the confusion is dusted off let us start with knowing both of these deeply by discussing their pros and cons. This will help you to make the best choice out of the two popular development technologies:
What is ReactJS?
Released in 2013, ReactJS is an open-source JavaScript library used for developing web apps and helping developers to create efficient single-page applications and excellent user interfaces. It is a library with numerous advanced features of a framework that serves many benefits as mentioned below:
Pros and Cons of Using ReactJS
Pros of ReactJS
1. Reusable Components
This feature is the show stealer and the major reason why ReactJS is so famous for web development. Developers do not need to write the code from scratch. Instead, they can reuse the components to develop similar things in their future projects. This saves time and makes the development process faster.
2. Virtual DOM (Document Object Model)
It is a virtual copy of the real DOM, and this is the main factor that is responsible for the performance and speed of ReactJS. With Virtual DOM, developers can create advanced-level applications that match up to modern technology and expectations.
So basically, the DOM includes HTML, XML, or XHTML documents that make a virtual representation of any document object model. But somehow, its initial version was insufficient to provide efficiency and versatility to the developers, so ReactJS developers started using the virtual version of the DOM, and it worked wonders! It allows developers to update the smallest components of the app without any hassle.
3. Community
ReactJS has an amazing community that solves the developers queries quickly and efficiently. Tutorials, FAQs, articles, etc., are also free sources available in the market to learn ReactJS easily. Be it the smallest bug or the major problem, developers always have an assistance source from the brilliant online community of ReactJS.
4. Easier to Learn
With the help of ReactJS development tools and community assistance, ReactJS is easier to learn than React Native. It is used by 10853 companies currently because of its versatility and its easy-to-learn approach.
5. One-Way Data Flow
Generally, frameworks use a two-way data flow which means that whenever one makes a change and wants to see the result, an entire application needs to be reloaded and changed. But with ReactJS, developers can use a one-way data flow that maintains the stability of the code. This way, one does not need to interrupt the entire app to change a particular section.
There are a lot more Pros of React JS but these five summarise them all. As a business owner, if you ever desire to change or add features in your app, then you can hire dedicated React JS developers to make the changes quickly.
Cons of ReactJS
Knowing cons is as vital as pros because it gives you a clear picture of what you are investing in and which challenges you may face. Don’t worry there is always a chance of possible solutions existing for the problems. Let us have a look at challenges one may face while developing an app in ReactJS:
1. Development Speed
This may seem weird in the con list as we have praised its developing speed in the pros list already. Well, the challenge here is the learning curve for developers, which affects the development speed. ReactJS constantly keeps evolving its libraries which demands constant learning from the developers. Learning new mechanics, techniques, etc., leads to a slow development cycle.
Here, you need to have enough experience in developing apps in ReactJS. This way, they will be able to learn the new feature updates quickly, and your app development speed will not be hampered.
2. Lack of Proper Documentation
ReatJS has numerous updates and new releases, but there is no time to write the complete documentation properly. This leaves developers with sparse guides and confuses them with half details. This also affects the overall development speed.
What is React Native?
It is an open-source, UI JavaScript development framework based on React. It is useful for creating mobile/native apps on platforms like iOS and Android. It uses the unified code for developing apps on all the OS.
Also Read: Top 10 Reasons to Use React Native for Cross Platform App Development
Pros and Cons of Using React Native
Save double the amount of money by getting apps for both iOS and Android by developing a single code. With React Native’s clever and clean features, you can save money and time. And this is the main reason why React Native apps are getting popular every day among developers and business owners. It gives almost similar features and performance as the native apps. Let us discuss some Pros of React Native below:
Pros of React Native
1. Hot Reloading
Generally, when a developer makes any changes in the existing app, the entire app takes a reload to appear changes, but that’s not the case with React Native. With the hot reload feature, only the code where the changes are made will reload, and appearance changes. This makes the testing of an app faster which ultimately makes the development process more streamlined.
Hot reload is one of the most fascinating features of React Native. It enables developers to make minor or major changes in the development code quickly and without any hassle.
2. Code Reusability
As you might be aware of the fact that React Native is cross-platform, which means that one does not need to write different or separate codes to develop iOS and Android apps. It also has pre-built JavaScript libraries that developers can use to ease the development task.
Plus, the code reusability feature saves cost & time, increases efficiency, and enhances the overall performance of the app. Here, as a business owner, you can utilize your experience in making your app quicker and more efficient.
3. Faster Development
You might know that React Native has a brilliant online support community that makes the developers’ jobs easy. How? The pre-built frameworks, unlimited FAQs, tutorials, and the community helps them to develop an app in React Native with ease. All of their doubts can be answered, which makes the development process faster.
As discussed earlier, it offers code reusability benefits. With this feature, the developers do not have to develop different codes for iOS and Android. This ensures faster development with no compromise on quality. At an initial level, developers can build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and release the first app version quickly. Later on, they can install additional advanced functionalities when required. This way, you can have an app that caters to your business needs precisely.
4. Third-party Extensions
Skip-making components from scratch because React Native enables you to reuse the components. It has a huge library of reusable components that makes the development process easier and faster. Plus, building all the components from scratch will take a lot of time, thus, one can use third-party plugins here. They are the ultimate solution to make the sync process smooth and hassle-free.
Cons of React Native
After knowing the advantages of React Native, we need to discuss its disadvantages of it too. This will help you to resolve the upcoming issues with this dynamic framework:
1. Learning Curve
Initially, React Native can be a bit challenging for beginners when it comes to learning it because the JavaScript syntax extension is a bit complicated to learn or to master. While you hire a Hire React Native developer, ensuring that they know the native app coding to integrate features like camera, videos, maps, etc., will require native coding skills and knowledge of every platform.
Otherwise, it would be challenging for them to fix any issue occurring in your app. Here, they can take help from the online community as said earlier to learn and ease their coding projects.
2. Complex UI
In React Native, it is usually observed that developers face difficulties in handling complex gestures, screen transitions, animations, etc. This is because the Android and iOS touch subsystems differ from each other, thus if the developer will use a unified API, then it may hinder the performance of the app.
Final Words
Many popular apps like Facebook, Netflix, Uber Eats, Airbnb, Whatsapp, Skype, etc., are made using ReactJS and React Native. You must carefully analyze the Pros of React JS and the Pros of React Native as both have their own advantages and disadvantages. You need to choose your ideal one by listing down your requirements and expectations from an app and then see which of these can match that list.
