asked on

React Native vs Xamarin

I've been researching which is better for native cross platform development React native or Xamarin? my research has led me to the following

User React native when

your team is made up of web developers
you are only building for tablet/phone IOS or Driod (No IOT support??)
you want a free tool

Use Xamarin when

Your team is made up of c# developers
you want to target IOS, droid, windows as well as IOT devices for platforms
You have money to spend, the free version of xamarin is lacking for enterprise

i've also read that React Native is buggier and that xamarin is more performent how ever i'm skeptical that these may have been the results of individuals and not a reflection of the tools/platforms.

anyway i'd really like it if someone could confirm or challenge my findings

SOLUTION

Ryan Chong

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

SOLUTION

Jackie Man

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Paweł

ASKER

@Jackie man

I don't know about apples to oranges; more like oranges to grapefruit; from a technological perspective they solve the same problem but in different ways; Xamarin as you said compiles into native packages that for the most part are indistinguishable from packages that where written in their native counterparts. however i'm not clear on what React native compiles to?

React native implies from the name alone that it is native; however from my research it leverages something that RN refers to as a "JavaScript bridge" which just seems like a message queue for javascript commands to run on a native thread. which makes me believe that React native has more in common with a hybrid approach similar to ionic and apache cordova.

if you have experience with React native i'd really like to hear you're opinion on the matter.

@Ryan Chong
could you elaborate on Xamarin's buggyness? what kind of problems did you encounter? how do you resolve them?

Odds are i'll use both tools; i'm just trying to identify which one is appropriate for which scenario. so far i'm leaning towards

Xamarin

the team is familiar with C# and XAML
Target IOT devices
Performance is a must & the use of location services, camera, etc is high
Windows is a required platform

React Native

The team is familiar with Javascript css3 html5
Target devices are Driod phones/pads or IOS phones/pads
performance is required, but user is willing to wait 1s or 2s; low use of native api's such as camera or location.

right now that's where my research has led me; feel free to add or challenge any of my points.

Amandeep Singh Bhullar

Hi,

Xamarin is very powerful as compared other. Its fun to use Xamarin with VS 2017. Debugging and coding is very easy.

Regards
Aman Bhullar

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Paweł

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Ryan Chong

I go this site occasionally to learn skills required for mobile development, you may join it for free:

https://mva.microsoft.com/training-topics/mobile-app-development

could you elaborate on Xamarin's buggyness? what kind of problems did you encounter? how do you resolve them?

well, that's my personal experience when i was trying to create some projects. anyway, i guess Xamarin will be a better platform for mobile development in future.

Paweł

ASKER

The article explains exactly the conclusions I've come to after investigating numerous technologies and speaking with multiple personnel. whereas most of the answers i got where i work with xamarin and thus it's good.