React Native vs. Flutter: Which is Better in 2025?

Both React Native and Flutter are mature cross‑platform frameworks with thriving ecosystems in 2025. The "right" choice depends on your team skills, platform needs, and non‑functional requirements like performance, animation fidelity, and long‑term maintainability.

How they work

• React Native uses a JavaScript/TypeScript bridge to communicate with native views. Many components are native; business logic runs in JS.
• Flutter compiles Dart ahead‑of‑time and renders UI via Skia. UI is fully custom, consistent across platforms.

Performance in 2025

Flutter still has an edge in heavy animation and graphics because it controls rendering. React Native has narrowed the gap with the New Architecture (Fabric, TurboModules) and JSI. For data‑driven apps and typical CRUD workflows, both deliver 60fps with proper engineering.

Developer experience and hiring

• React Native: Massive talent pool (web React devs can onboard quickly), rich npm ecosystem, TypeScript support, and reuse of web tooling and patterns.
• Flutter: Cohesive toolkit, great docs, consistent UI on iOS/Android, and hot reload. Fewer developers than React, but superb velocity once the team is fluent.

Native integrations

Both support deep native modules. If you rely on third‑party native SDKs (payments, media, sensors), check library maturity first. React Native often has more community wrappers; Flutter has strong first‑party packages and quality federated plugins.

UI fidelity and design systems

• Flutter excels when you need custom, identical design across platforms and complex animations.
• React Native blends better with platform conventions and feels more "native" out of the box.

Total cost of ownership

TCO is influenced by hiring, build times, CI/CD setup, and library upkeep. React Native can be cheaper if you reuse a TypeScript/React codebase and team. Flutter can be cheaper if your app is design‑heavy with fewer native dependencies.

Tooling and ecosystem health

• React Native benefits from a vast npm ecosystem and web tooling familiarity; Expo has matured to cover most production needs.
• Flutter offers cohesive first‑party tooling, strong UI libraries, and excellent docs; package quality is generally consistent.

Testing and reliability

Both support unit, widget/component, and end‑to‑end testing. Flutter's rendering control can make pixel‑accurate tests simpler. React Native integrates smoothly with web‑oriented testing stacks if your team already uses them.

When to pick React Native

• You already have a React/TypeScript team and web code to share.
• Your app is data‑ and form‑heavy with standard mobile interactions.
• You want broad library availability and fast hiring.

When to pick Flutter

• Pixel‑perfect, brand‑driven UI with advanced motion and graphics.
• You target iOS, Android, and possibly desktop/web with a unified look.
• You prefer a cohesive SDK where UI and tooling are tightly integrated.

Recommendation

There is no universal winner. Optimize for your team and product: React Native for React shops and rapid hiring; Flutter for high‑fidelity multiplatform UI and predictable rendering. If unsure, run a 2‑week spike implementing one complex view, one API flow, and your hardest native integration—measure bundle size, performance, and dev velocity.