The advent of cross-platform applications has been a game-changer in the domain of mobile app development. Gone are the days when you needed separate development teams and resources to run your business app on multiple platforms. Today, with robust cross-platform technology, you can craft intuitive applications compatible with various platforms using a single codebase.
Apart from this, developing a cross-platform application is rather simple and cost-effective than native app development. This could be an important point of consideration for businesses, especially for the ones who have just stepped right into the industry. No doubt, native apps are known for high performance and scalability, but with the right cross-platform framework, you can achieve the same results.
Well, the market is already flooded with a plethora of cross-platform app development tools having their own good and bad. However, with its standout features, Flutter has become one of the prominent go-to options lately. There are reasons why it has become the first choice among developers, and one needs to dive into the details to know about them.
A Brief Introduction to Flutter App Development
Developed by Google and working on Dart Programming language, Flutter is one of the widely used cross-platform app development frameworks. It is a highly convenient and efficient toolkit with which users can easily create top-notch UI components and animations. Although it made its initial release just six years ago, it has proven itself as a sought-after option in the app development space.
What Makes Flutter a Preferred Choice Over Native App Development Frameworks?
Native applications provide users with a smooth performance and enriched experience. However, it requires a massive investment of resources as well. That’s why developers and businesses worldwide are shifting to Flutter app development for rapid buildout while keeping the budget in mind. Here are the top advantages of Flutter that make it a considerable choice over native app development frameworks:
Flutter is Way Faster Than Many Other App Development Frameworks
The first and foremost advantage of Flutter is its code capabilities that help accelerate the app development process. The framework offers developers a single codebase that can be used to develop applications for two or more different platforms. Since you no longer need to write codes for two separate mobile platforms, the development costs and time reduces significantly.
Also, creating codes for Flutter app development is way easier than coding for native apps. In fact, over 90% of the codebase in Flutter could be reused for multiple platforms, offering developers an edge to deliver apps quickly. Consequently, users get exceptional mobile apps with high rendering speed and a flexible layout system, creating an immersive user experience.
Flutter Provides Users with Native-like App Performance
Well, it is crystal clear that native apps show the best performance among all the types of applications. However, with top-notch performance comes high app-building expenses as well. That’s where Flutter can be a perfect go-to option, especially for startups and SMEs.
Although being a cross-platform app development framework, it does not work based on interpretations or intermediate code representations. Instead, it focuses on building apps directly into machine code, significantly removing bugs often found during the interpretation process. Due to this reason, Flutter provides users with almost similar performance as the native apps are known for.
Also, one of the crucial factors that determine the app’s success is how interactive and engaging its user interface is. Flutter relies on the Material Design approach to create UIs, making the app looks natural and visually appealing.
Code Maintenance Is Easier in Flutter
One of the challenging things about native applications is supporting and maintaining them. Reasons? Well, the first reason is that it takes additional time and resources to maintain two different codebases. Secondly, bug identification and the creation of updates for multiple platforms is a tricky process. Third, as the number of specific OS-supported devices grows, the maintenance efforts extend as well.
That’s not the case with Flutter mobile app development as you only need to maintain a single codebase for different platforms. With low code complexities, detecting issues and sourcing external third-party libraries to resolve them becomes easy. Besides this, the Hot Reload feature in Flutter allows you to quickly experiment with the app and complete the development process in no time.
Low App Development Cost Gives Flutter a Business Advantage
As already mentioned in the earlier sections of this blog, one of the major drawbacks of native app development is its cost aspect. For two different platforms, you will need two separate development teams, more time, additional efforts, and added functionalities. All these factors significantly increase the cost of native app development.
However, by using Flutter for your app development project, businesses can save around 15% to 50% of their budget, depending on the project requirements. This is because Flutter developers leverage its cross-platform functionalities with which the same set of tools can develop an application for multiple platforms.
Flutter Has a Massive App Developers Community
Lately, Flutter has been the top pick both for developers and businesses on a global level. It is often regarded as one of the most popular cross-platform app development frameworks since 2021. Globally, over 42% of software developers prefer Flutter for mobile app development. In fact, around 500,000 Flutter-based applications are already in the market. This list includes mobile apps of companies like Tencent, BMW, and Alibaba as well.
All these figures and facts show how consistent and exponential the growth of the Flutter community has been. It also means that choosing Flutter can be profitable considering how powerfully it is backed by its massive community.
Wrapping Up
If you made it to this point, it might be clear that Flutter, with no doubt, is a robust framework in terms of cost-effectiveness and development speed. Its unparalleled benefits can act as an avant-garde for your business. Though native applications have their own advantages, Flutter leads the way when it comes to top-grade performance with extensive cost savings.