Introduction
Are you building an app and trying to decide between the Ionic and NativeScript frameworks? At first glance, these two frameworks may seem similar, but they have distinct differences that can significantly impact your app's native performance. In this blog post, we'll compare Ionic and NativeScript to determine which one is the better choice for building an app that performs like a native app.
Ionic
Ionic is a popular open-source framework that was released in 2013. It is built on top of Angular and uses web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic is known for its impressive library of pre-built UI components, which means developers can build cross-platform apps that look and feel native without spending a lot of time on design.
NativeScript
NativeScript is a free and open-source framework that was released in 2014. It uses JavaScript, TypeScript, or Angular to build cross-platform apps. It allows for native performance and access to native APIs, making it a popular choice for enterprise-level app development.
Performance
When compared to NativeScript, Ionic lags behind in native performance. NativeScript allows developers to access native APIs directly, whereas Ionic requires the use of plugins to access the same APIs. This difference leads to a noticeable difference in performance: NativeScript's performance is almost as good as native, while Ionic's performance is at best "good enough".
According to this benchmark report, NativeScript outperformed Ionic in various test scenarios. For example, in the startup performance benchmark, NativeScript performed significantly better than Ionic (400ms vs. 2.5s).
Development Time
While NativeScript might perform better in terms of native performance, it can take longer to develop a cross-platform app using this framework. This is due to the direct access to Native APIs that require additional coding, testing, and maintenance time.
In contrast, Ionic offers a hybrid approach, which enables faster development times. With its prebuilt components and modular structure, developers can speed up app development by up to 50%.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both frameworks have their strengths and weaknesses. If you require native performance and don't mind dedicating extra time to development and testing, NativeScript is the better choice. However, if development time is a significant consideration, and you don't require the highest level of native performance, Ionic is the clear winner.
References
Mobile Frameworks Performance 2019 – iOS & Android
Web vs. Native Mobile App Development: Which one is Better for Business?
Ionic vs. NativeScript: Which Framework to Use for Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?