React VS React Native – The complete guide

Are you just starting to learn about web development but confused between React and React Native? No need to worry because we got you all covered with our detailed comparative study of React vs React Native. Both these technologies have recently gained a lot of popularity among developers due to their high development speed and dynamic user experience. Let us now understand what is react and react native, then we will compare both of them to see which is better.

React	React Native
JavaScript Library	JavaScript Framework
Used for UI in web development	Used for mobile application development
Launched in 2013	Launched in 2015
React router is used for navigation purposes	Navigating is done by the Navigator library
Uses CSS for animation	Has inbuilt animation libraries
Platform independent	Not platform-independent
Uses HTML components	Does not use HTML components
Provides higher security	Provide lower security
Virtual DOM renders code	Uses its API to render code
Supports third party packages but does support native library	Supports but native party and third party packages
Used by Facebook, Netflix, Udemy	Used by Tesla, UberEats

What is React?

React is an open-source javascript library through which developers can build amazing user interfaces mainly for web applications. It is responsible for the rendering of UI components and supports frontend as well as server-side development. React is the V component of the MVC framework which means it is a javascript library used for rendering views.

What is React Native?

On the other hand, React Native is not a library but a JavaScript framework used for building native mobile applications. In React Native, React is the base of abstraction due to this the syntax used and workflow remains the same but the component used vary from that in React.

Business perspective – Advantages of the technology

Every technology has its unique features which make it stand out from the other available tech stack. Now lets us understand the features of React and React Native:

React

React.js or React is simple and easy to program with. Once you have a good grasp on the basics of this technology and its requirements then developing web projects is a piece of cake. Additionally, prior knowledge of JavaScript will help you in the long run. Here are some more reasons why currently many developers are opting for React.

1. Performance

The use of virtual DOM in React.js decreases development time thereby increasing the performance of the web application. In react when you want to make any changes, the virtual DOM will record it and update the change components and not the entire DOM.

2. Reusable Components

React.js is made up of components and each of them has its very own control and logic. One can reuse these components whenever and wherever needed. This saves development time and maintenance when working with large-scale web applications.

3. SEO- friendly

As react.js supports server-side rendering, it offers many SEO tools which help to attract more organic traffic to the web application. React.js improves the overall SEO strategy of the website thereby increasing the ranking of your web application on Google search engines.

4. Easy Structure

Using JSX, programmers can use HTML components within React.js for developing dynamic applications. Furthermore, react.js is easily readable and it has a large active community which creates a massive ecosystem of component libraries. IDES, developer tools, etc. This makes react.js fun and simple to learn because their community provides abundant resources and project guidance for everyone to use.

React Native

The application developed on React Native work on iOS as well as the Andriod system. This is possible as React Native has cross-platform availability making it easy for developers to create sustainable applications. Here are some more reasons why programmers opt for React Native.

1. Strong Performace

React Native helps to cater to all the nowadays requirements of developers who create mobile applications. It offers a framework that uses Graphic Processing Units(GPUs) to improve the mobile application’s performance.

2. Instant Reloading

One of the best features of React Native is instant reloading. Any and every change made in the program will be updated during the development procedure. All the changes done are recorded instantly and updated making sure you can see the current state of the application instantly.

3. Component reusability

Like, react.js, even react-native makes use of components. Hence programmers can reuse the components again and again. This will decrease the development time and maintenance hence making the development of the project budget-friendly.

4. Active Community

The origin of React Native was through a developer’s hackathon. This means that React Native is constantly being upgraded and supported by the community. This gives rise to an amazing ecosystem. The community helps to bind different functionality together effectively.

Conclusion

React.js as well as React Native both are highly important technologies for web and app development. They both have flexible functionality with a greatly evolving ecosystem of projects, resources, and libraries. React.js is a JavaScrtip library, while React Native is a complete framework. React.js is the heart of React Native. Every technology has its drawbacks and so do React and React Native. Hence you need to carefully curate the pros and cons of using or rejecting a particular tech stack while developing a project.