Xamarin vs Flutter
This is a comprehensive analysis of two frameworks that cross platforms and have distinct specialties: Xamarin and. Flutter. One is known for its rich back-end support for native experiences for mobile apps; the other is prepared to give you custom widgets that can create native user interfaces in a short time. Let’s look at the key features of both frameworks, such as performance, the ability to create complex applications, the availability of developers, and a lot more. We’ve got another in-depth comparison of cross-platform frameworks, and this time, it’s Xamarin and. Flutter. As companies seek to speed up development with more sleek UIs and native interfaces, developers have additional open-source frameworks to add to the list.
We already had Xamarin with modern back-end service and top-of-the-line developer tools to develop native mobile applications that run on Android, iOS, and other platforms. We’ve also got another framework that is still in its infancy called Flutter.
Flutter comes with custom-designed widgets that create native interfaces in a matter of minutes, offer high-speed rendering, and can even match native performance.
It’s not easy for CTOs to select the best choice from a variety of alternatives that have so many useful functions. But this comparison seeks to show the capabilities of each framework in the development of mobile apps that include more native capabilities.
What is Xamarin?
It is a well-known cross-platform development framework that is used by developers to create native-like, efficient apps. It was launched in 2011 and was bought by Microsoft in the year 2016. Following the acquisition, the Xamarin SDK was released as open source and made accessible for free in Microsoft Visual Studio. The framework is being utilized by over 15,000 companies around the world, representing a variety of sectors such as transportation, energy, and healthcare.
Xamarin makes use of one programming language, which is C#, and the .NET framework to build mobile applications for a variety of platforms and demands. It also makes use of XAML which is an XML markup and data binding application language. Xamarin is an abstraction layer that facilitates the exchange of shared code between platforms. You can write your own applications and then build them into native application packages (.apk to Android or .ipa to iOS).
Here are some amazing statistics on the market usage of Xamarin:
Xamarin has a market position of 0.6 percent of the many frameworks for software that are on the market.
The three top industries that utilize the Xamarin platform to develop mobile apps are software development, web development, and business intelligence.
There are over 13,000 applications created using Xamarin and more than 2 billion downloads across the globe.
Use cases of Xamarin
- Efficient cross-platform apps
- Applications that perform natively
- Apps that have access to native APIs
- Apps that use components that can be reused
- An app that utilizes hardware acceleration
What popular apps are made with Xamarin?
The World Bank: Launched an app called Survey Solutions, which stems from their experience using C#, to launch their survey tools on mobile platforms.
UPS: Eliminated more than half of the code that was used to create platform-specific versions, by adding Xamarin in the mix.
Aggreko: Use Visual Studio for Aggreko Technician App which is utilized by over five hundred field officers across the globe.
Alaska Airlines: Created mobile-friendly customer experiences using C# that provided relevant information to the most relevant person at the appropriate moment.
HCL: They have embraced Xamarin along with Microsoft Visual Studio to synchronize their teams that are geographically dispersed.
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences: Xamarin played an integral role in the Academy’s move from DVDs, paper and postal mail to digital media.
What is Flutter?
Flutter, an open-source platform that operates using a language known as Dart developed by Google. It’s commonly referred to as an improved UI toolkit, which is designed to create cross-platform apps using a single source code base. It lets developers create dynamic and flexible UIs that perform natively. It is also developed and supported by a group of Google developers as well as the whole Flutter community.
Here are some cool stats for the market usage of Flutter
- Flutter is the sixth most popular cross-platform framework in 2022 and has 12.64 percent.
- Flutter is adored by 68.03 percent of developers across the globe.
- There are over 26,000 applications created using Flutter, and over 13 billion downloads in the world.
Use cases of Flutter
MVP mobile applications
Apps that use material design
Applications that use OS-level features.
Advanced OS plugins with simple logic
High-performance applications with Skia rendering engine
Flexible UI using high-level widgets
Reactivate apps that have a large data integration
What popular apps are made with Flutter?
Google Ads:Packages that leverage Dart, Firebase admob plugins, and static utility classes from Flutter to offer a portable user with a seamless experience on iOS as well as Android.
Tencent:Created a shared and connected device experience among users, with multi-platform support and less than five developers.
Alibaba:Created the single-tap navigation experience available for all apps with high FPS and one codebase.
eBay:Utilized complex and custom edge-powered AI features that integrate Flutter as well as Firebase to build autoML to be used by eBay Motors.
BMW:The development of high-performance user interfaces was done through the use of flutter_bloc to manage.
Reflectly:Migration between React Native to Flutter and creating high-quality data events using the StreamBuilder widget, which helps improve the synchronization of data.
Xamarin vs Flutter—Pros and Cons
Pros of Xamarin
Faster development
It reduces development time since it utilizes a single technology stack and shared codebase. Developers are required to make minor changes to their apps before they can be released across various platforms
Native user experience
Utilizes native APIs and toolkits that cater to native app performance and design. Because it utilizes hardware-specific and system-specific APIs it’s almost impossible to differentiate between a Xamarin application and native apps.
Single technological stack
Develops applications for a variety of mobile platforms with one language. They don’t require switching between different environments as everything can be created using Visual Studio.
Convenient prototyping
Xamarin.forms provide developers with the UI toolkit for creating an interface that can be used on any device, leading to reuse of code.
Easy on the pocket
Create, test and then deploy applications for various mobile platforms without having to employ several teams. Testing and deployment could be managed with the help of the one team giving greater flexibility to budgets.
Simpler maintenance
Changes to the source file, and they are reflected across all apps.
Cons of Xamarin
Larger app size
Adds 3-5 megabytes for the release and 20 megabytes for debug builds, increasing the app size
Not suited for heavy graphics
Xamarin isn’t very good at incorporating rich graphic elements and animations. It is therefore not the best choice for gaming and other apps involving advanced graphics.
Delayed updates
Updates for latest iOS and Android releases take 1-3 days to get integrated into the ecosystem.
Pros of Flutter
Hot-reloading
Stateful Hot Reloading feature allows you to reflect changes instantly without losing the state of the application.
Rich-widgets
Rich widgets that conform to these guidelines for Cupertino (iOS) along with Material Design (Android).
Seamless integration
It is not necessary to write code because it can be easily integrated into Java on Android as well as Swift and Objective C for iOS.
Quick shipping
Provides fast iteration cycles and reduces time spent building as testing is only needed in one codebase.
Codesharing
Coding can be done and distributed across multiple platforms much easier and quicker, making it ideal in MVP development.
Cons of Flutter
Tools and Plugins
The libraries and tools are amazing but they’re not as comprehensive as React Native.
User interface
Support for animation and vector graphics aren’t rendering properly in plugins in a timely manner.
Operating platform
Not compatible for developing applications for tvOS, Android Auto, CarPlay, or watchOS.
Updates
Inability to immediately push patches or updates to applications without going through the normal release process.
Xamarin vs Flutter— Performance Comparison
Tests run by a tech consulting agency found a stark difference in performance between two of the most popular Xamarin environments -the Xamarin.Forms as well as Xamarin Native.
Xamarin.Forms
Although Xamarin.Forms offers 90% reusability of code, the performance of the application often is not as great as native apps. For common functions of mobile applications such as booting, processing API requests, serialization/deserialization, and image loading/saving, Xamarin.Forms’ apps showed weaker metrics compared to native apps. But, many developers and organizations are willing to sacrifice some performance to maximize the operational viability and cost-effectiveness they gain in the end.
Xamarin Native
The apps developed in this framework for Android proved to be equivalent to native ones in regards to performance. Incredibly, there were few instances such as SQL BulkInsert operation, where Xamarin.Android appeared to perform more efficiently than native programs. Therefore, it’s safe to affirm that Xamarin.Android is an excellent alternative to native applications.
Xamarin.iOS apps, however did not perform as well as the performance of native iOS applications, like Xamarin.Android however, this is an everyday occurrence in cross-platform application development. There are many elements that affect the performance of apps, including performance on the backend as well as Xamarin Native allows you to create applications that aren’t able to be distinguished from natively developed apps.
How does Flutter stand out in terms of performance?
Flutter is comparable to its performance than its rivals. It doesn’t require a bridge to connect with native modules because of the standard availability of native components. The test for performance indicated that the “hello world” app always was running in sixty FPS in addition to the duration it takes to render each frame will not exceed 16 milliseconds. The amount of frames deleted was less. Flutter makes use of Skia, a Skia graphics library that lets for the UI to be refreshed every time there is a change in the view of the application. This is the reason why Flutter is able to run efficiently at 60 FPS.
What kind of architecture does Xamarin support?
The Xamarin framework allows for a variety of architectural designs and isn’t tied to a specific design as is the case with numerous frameworks. There are however certain patterns that are proven to be more beneficial when compared to the others. Model-View-Presenter (MVP) is the preferred way to go when creating native mobile apps using Xamarin. Similarly, you’d want to build Xamarin.Forms apps on the Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) pattern to make the most out of Xamarin’s offerings. Other patterns that are useful to work with the Xamarin ecosystem include Command, Publish/Subscribe and Singleton.
What kind of architecture does Flutter support?
The Flutter architecture is multi-layered. The structure of a simple application built with this framework begins with the top-level root function or, more precisely, specific widgets for platforms. Then, there are the basic widgets that communicate with the platform and render layers. In addition to the layer for rendering, there are the animation gestures that transmit API commands to the base layer of the application. Also known as Scaffold which is operated by an engine written in C/C++ and an embedded deer specific to the platform. If you are looking to segregate your presentation and the business logic, you should look into using Flutter BLoC. This makes it much easier for experienced and junior developers of Flutter to design complex applications using small and easy components.
Is Xamarin suitable for building complex apps?
Xamarin is natively built which makes it among the top cross-platform development tools to build efficient apps that appear and feel as native applications. The sound functionality is the outcome of the combination C# and native libraries that are under the .NET framework. In addition, Xamarin utilizes the capabilities of native platforms by using APIs that allow developers to add complicated functions to applications. The fact that you are able to create UIs that are specific to platforms is a plus for creating complex applications using the framework. Xamarin is also able to support apps for wearable devices like smartwatches.
Is Flutter suitable for building complex apps?
As of the writing time of this piece, Flutter doesn’t have enough power for more complicated projects. However, startups could think of Flutter as a viable option to build a Minimal Valuable Product (MVP). It is a great option for creating more rapid prototypes if you are most likely to play with the idea and reduce costs to test your ideas. The plan is to create two distinct versions (iOS as well as Android) using Flutter and evaluate the results on the marketplace. Then, you can spend more money and expand your ideas from simple to more complicated ones.
How easier is it to test a Xamarin app?
With Xamarin you can quickly test the various features of the app on hundreds of devices to eliminate bugs prior to the app’s release and cut down on the development time. It also allows the automated and stern UI testing that eliminates every flaw in the application by reproducing user behavior. From swipes, taps and rotations or the waiting time until UI components are loaded, all of it is possible when testing using Xamarin. It’s not just convenient testing with Xamarin, it’s easy as you receive results from extensive tests within a few minutes prior to application deployment.
How easier is it to test a Flutter app?
Flutter provides a wide range of support to automate testing since it works using dart. It not only offers an array of tests to test applications at the unit widget, unit, or integration level, but it also has a wealth of comprehensive documentation pertaining to the application. Additionally, Flutter provides robust documentation for the development and release of Android and iOS apps to both the Play Store as well as the App store, respectively. Additionally the deployment procedure is documented in a formal manner as well.
How big is the community around Xamarin?
According to Statista, 11% of developers worldwide use Xamarin for cross-platform app development. The community consists of close to 1.4 million developers spread across 120 countries. These are some healthy numbers considering the stiff competition in the cross-development framework ecosystem. This open-source framework has more than 60,000 contributors that hail from 37,000 different companies. You can easily get in touch with active Xamarin community members on platforms like Xamarin Blog, Stack Overflow, Xamarin Q&A, Reddit, etc.
How big is the community around Flutter?
Since its introduction at the end of 2017, it has become apparent that the Flutter user community has gained a greater popularity over React Native. However, the number of professional contributors is only 662+ which is considerably less than React Native. However, the number of live projects that are forked by the community is approximately 13.7k which means that anyone can get help with development. There are several popular platforms to connect with the world-wide Flutter community include:
- Slack
- Discord
- Gitter
- Flutterday
- Stack Overflow
Does Xamarin support modularity?
Yes, in a word. It is possible to utilize Prism as a powerful tool for introducing modularity to your Xamarin application. There are also several libraries like ReactorUI which allow you to follow the principle of a component-based approach. But, modularity isn’t an inherent feature of Xamarin as it is with other frameworks for cross-platform development. With the use of specific tools and libraries that simplify complicated projects and reap the benefits of modularity.
Does Flutter support modularity?
Flutter gives you better access to teams and the ability to divide projects into multiple modules using the pub packages system. Your team can quickly create various modules using the plug-in capability and easily edit or modify a codebase. In the Droidcon NYC conference 2019, BMW architects discussed the ways they allowed teams with different skills to seamlessly work using Flutter.
Xamarin’s ability to give the best user experience
In Xamarin it is possible to create specific UIs for each platform and use all native APIs, like Bluetooth SDKs, Xamarin, etc. for bringing apps to life. Because Xamarin utilizes the native UI controls to incorporate hardware acceleration to the screen and make apps perform better than those that rely on the code analysis in running time. Developers are also able to add beautiful themes, diagrams , UI control elements, as well as images from the Xamarin component store. Additionally is that you can leverage the material design tools to create customized applications.
Flutter’s ability to give the best user experience
Flutter gives users a full user experience, with simple elements, tools as well as custom-designed widgets. The garbage collection feature that is generational is also part of Dart which assists in the creation of UI frames for objects that could be temporary. It is a feature that Dart assigns objects to a single pointer bump which helps to eliminate UI garbage, clutter, and shutter delays during the development process.
Xamarin vs Flutter— Code Maintainability
How convenient is it to maintain code on Xamarin apps?
One of the most difficult issues when developing cross-platform apps is maintaining code. The numerous variations makes it difficult to make a change across different platforms. However, this isn’t the case using the Xamarin platform. All you have to do is edit the source file to the source file and they’ll be automatically reflected across all applications. This allows for corrections, updates as well as adding new features easily with Xamarin.
How convenient is it to maintain code in Flutter apps?
Maintaining an Flutter application is simple. The simple code structure lets developers identify issues and source external tools and also support third-party libraries. Additionally React Native’s state-of-the art Hot Reloading feature is able to resolve issues immediately on the horizon. The time it takes to release high-quality updates and make quick modifications to the application is thought to be superior to the hot reloading capabilities provided by React Native.
What is the minimum application size in Xamarin?
The Hello World app could be as big in size as 15.6Mb in Xamarin.Forms and as little as 3.6Mb in Xamarin.iOS. In contrast, the Xamarin environment creates a substantial cost, leading to a larger app size. The smaller size of files of native applications is the consequence of Xamarin Libraries Mono runtime and Base class library assemblies which are utilized in Xamarin.
Size of the application in Flutter
A standard hello world application created using Flutter was 7.5 Megabytes. With Flutter the size of the app is determined through the Virtual Machine of Dart and the C/C engine. But, Flutter is able to self-contain all assets and codes to prevent size issues. Additionally, using an additional tag such as -split debug-info can help reduce the size of code.
How good is the learning curve of Xamarin for developers?
To be proficient with Xamarin, it is necessary to be knowledgeable about C#, mobile development, and architecture. Because C# is quite a well-known programming language, the majority of developers are quick to adjust to the new environment. However, this doesn’t mean that those with less familiarity with the Microsoft ecosystem shouldn’t need some time to learn about the framework. Fortunately, Microsoft offers learning resources for developers to help them become acquainted with the various components that comprise the Xamarin framework.
How good is the learning curve of Flutter for developers?
There are more openings for Xamarin than developers on employment. That’s the reason why locating the best Xamarin developer may be difficult for you. While the cost to hire an Xamarin developer can vary based on the location and the nature of projects, you could expect to pay from $20 to $50 an hour. In the US the average salary for an Xamarin developer is $7700-$10,000. If, however, you already have a skilled team of C# developers, then the introduction to Xamarin could make sense at all. Many companies have already embraced Xamarin for this reason, and it’s a good idea for you
How convenient is it to hire Xamarin developers?
There are more openings for Xamarin than developers on employment. That’s the reason why locating the best Xamarin developer may be difficult for you. While the cost to hire an Xamarin developer can vary based on the location and the nature of projects, you could expect to pay from $20 to $50 an hour. In the US the average salary for an Xamarin developer is $7700-$10,000. If, however, you already have a skilled team of C# developers, then introduction to Xamarin could make sense at all. Many companies have already embraced Xamarin for this reason, and it’s a good idea for you.
How convenient is it to hire Flutter developers?
The typical cost for hiring a Flutter developer is $20-$100 per hour. It took no more than 5 Flutter developers for major players such as Alibaba, BMW, Watermania, PostMuse among others to create their applications using Flutter. Not only does it enable developers to write code with ease but it’s also much easier for novice developers to comprehend these codes. Because the cost of training for both Flutter and Dart is affordable for novice developers, they are able to learn quickly and there is no need to employ multiple developers with experience.