React Native vs. Flutter: Performance Comparison

·19 min read·Mobile Developmentintermediate

Why performance matters for cross-platform apps in 2025

Side-by-side mobile phones running cross-platform apps with performance graphs overlay

Performance is often the difference between a mobile app that feels premium and one that feels sluggish. Users expect smooth animations, fast startup times, and consistent behavior across platforms. With cross-platform development continuing to dominate mobile roadmaps, the debate between React Native and Flutter remains relevant. This article compares their performance characteristics from a practical engineering perspective, grounded in real-world projects.

What both frameworks look like in production

React Native, created by Meta, uses JavaScript with a bridge to native modules, allowing teams to reuse web skills. Flutter, created by Google, uses Dart and compiles to native code with a custom rendering engine. Both have mature ecosystems and are used in large-scale apps.

In production, React Native powers apps like Instagram, Shopify, and Discord, often leveraging native modules for performance-critical paths. Flutter powers apps like Google Pay, Reflectly, and many OEM experiences, especially where UI consistency and animations matter. Teams often choose React Native for faster iteration with existing web knowledge, while Flutter is chosen for consistent UI across platforms and predictable performance.

High-level performance characteristics

Startup time and memory

Startup time depends on JavaScript engine initialization for React Native and Dart VM or Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation for Flutter. On Android, Flutter’s AOT builds reduce startup overhead. React Native’s Hermes engine improves startup, but the bridge adds some overhead compared to pure Dart AOT. Memory usage can be higher in Flutter because of its rendering engine, but it reduces the need for frequent native UI updates.

Rendering and UI performance

Flutter paints pixels directly using its Skia-based rendering engine, avoiding the need to talk to native UI components for most animations. This often results in smoother animations, especially at 60 or 120fps. React Native relies on native components and a bridge to communicate. With Fabric, React Native’s new architecture, the bridge is more efficient and reduces UI thread contention. Still, React Native’s performance can be impacted by the cost of marshaling data between JS and native.

Threading and async

React Native uses a JavaScript thread, a native module thread, and the UI thread. Heavy JavaScript work can block the JS thread and cause dropped frames. The new architecture improves this by reducing blocking operations and enabling concurrent rendering. Flutter uses an event loop with isolates for Dart, but UI rendering runs in the main thread. CPU-intensive Dart code can block rendering. The solution is offloading heavy work to isolates or platform-native code.

Technical deep dive with practical examples

Project setup and folder structure

For a realistic comparison, consider a project that lists items, renders images, and animates transitions. Here’s a minimal React Native structure using TypeScript, Hermes, and the new architecture:

react-native-performance/
├── android/
├── ios/
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   │   └── ItemCard.tsx
│   ├── screens/
│   │   └── ItemList.tsx
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── api.ts
│   └── utils/
│       └── performance.ts
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── metro.config.js

For Flutter, consider a similar structure using Dart with isolates for data processing:

flutter-performance/
├── android/
├── ios/
├── lib/
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── item.dart
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── api.dart
│   ├── widgets/
│   │   └── item_card.dart
│   └── screens/
│       └── item_list.dart
├── test/
├── pubspec.yaml
└── analysis_options.yaml

React Native rendering list with large datasets

Rendering large lists in React Native can be expensive if not optimized. FlatList uses virtualization to render only visible items. The following example fetches data, renders cards, and tracks UI frame drops. It uses Hermes and Fabric, available in recent React Native versions.

// src/services/api.ts
export type Item = {
  id: string;
  title: string;
  subtitle: string;
  imageUrl: string;
};

export async function fetchItems(page: number, size: number = 20): Promise<Item[]> {
  // Simulate network delay and payload
  await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 200));
  return Array.from({ length: size }).map((_, i) => ({
    id: `${page}-${i}`,
    title: `Item ${page * size + i}`,
    subtitle: `Performance demo item`,
    imageUrl: `https://picsum.photos/seed/${page}-${i}/200`,
  }));
}

// src/components/ItemCard.tsx
import React from "react";
import { View, Text, Image, StyleSheet } from "react-native";

export const ItemCard = React.memo(({ item }: { item: import("./services/api").Item }) => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.card}>
      <Image source={{ uri: item.imageUrl }} style={styles.image} resizeMode="cover" />
      <View style={styles.textWrap}>
        <Text style={styles.title}>{item.title}</Text>
        <Text style={styles.subtitle}>{item.subtitle}</Text>
      </View>
    </View>
  );
});

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  card: {
    flexDirection: "row",
    backgroundColor: "#fff",
    marginVertical: 6,
    marginHorizontal: 12,
    padding: 12,
    borderRadius: 10,
    elevation: 2,
    shadowColor: "#000",
    shadowOffset: { width: 0, height: 2 },
    shadowOpacity: 0.1,
    shadowRadius: 4,
  },
  image: { width: 64, height: 64, borderRadius: 8, marginRight: 12 },
  textWrap: { flex: 1, justifyContent: "center" },
  title: { fontWeight: "600", fontSize: 16 },
  subtitle: { color: "#666", fontSize: 12 },
});

// src/utils/performance.ts
import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";

export function useFrameLogging(label: string) {
  const lastTs = useRef<number>(0);
  useEffect(() => {
    let id: number;
    const loop = (ts: number) => {
      if (lastTs.current) {
        const delta = ts - lastTs.current;
        // Log if frame budget exceeds ~16.6ms
        if (delta > 18) {
          console.warn(`${label} frame drop: ${delta.toFixed(2)}ms`);
        }
      }
      lastTs.current = ts;
      id = requestAnimationFrame(loop);
    };
    id = requestAnimationFrame(loop);
    return () => cancelAnimationFrame(id);
  }, [label]);
}

// src/screens/ItemList.tsx
import React, { useState, useCallback } from "react";
import { FlatList, ActivityIndicator, View, StyleSheet } from "react-native";
import { fetchItems, Item } from "../services/api";
import { ItemCard } from "../components/ItemCard";
import { useFrameLogging } from "../utils/performance";

export const ItemList = () => {
  const [data, setData] = useState<Item[]>([]);
  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false);
  const [page, setPage] = useState(1);

  useFrameLogging("ItemList");

  const loadMore = useCallback(async () => {
    if (loading) return;
    setLoading(true);
    const next = await fetchItems(page, 30);
    setData((prev) => [...prev, ...next]);
    setPage((p) => p + 1);
    setLoading(false);
  }, [page, loading]);

  const renderItem = useCallback(({ item }: { item: Item }) => {
    return <ItemCard item={item} />;
  }, []);

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <FlatList
        data={data}
        renderItem={renderItem}
        keyExtractor={(item) => item.id}
        onEndReached={loadMore}
        ListFooterComponent={loading ? <ActivityIndicator /> : null}
        initialNumToRender={10}
        maxToRenderPerBatch={10}
        windowSize={5}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { flex: 1, backgroundColor: "#f5f5f5" },
});

React Native’s FlatList reduces memory usage by recycling views. On Android with Hermes and Fabric, scroll jank is minimized. On iOS, the same code benefits from native list recycling. However, heavy image handling and blocking JS tasks can still cause frame drops.

Flutter rendering list with isolates

Flutter’s ListView with a builder approach virtualizes rendering, and you can offload data processing to isolates. In the example below, we fetch data, process it in a separate isolate, and render using custom widgets.

// lib/models/item.dart
class Item {
  final String id;
  final String title;
  final String subtitle;
  final String imageUrl;

  Item({
    required this.id,
    required this.title,
    required this.subtitle,
    required this.imageUrl,
  });
}

// lib/services/api.dart
import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:convert';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

Future<List<Item>> fetchItems(int page, int size) async {
  // Simulate network latency
  await Future.delayed(const Duration(milliseconds: 200));
  return List.generate(size, (i) {
    final index = page * size + i;
    return Item(
      id: '${page}-${i}',
      title: 'Item $index',
      subtitle: 'Performance demo item',
      imageUrl: 'https://picsum.photos/seed/${page}-${i}/200',
    );
  });
}

// lib/services/compute_helper.dart
import 'dart:isolate';

// Example of using a compute-like pattern for heavier transformations
Future<List<Item>> transformItems(List<Item> items) async {
  final receivePort = ReceivePort();
  await Isolate.spawn(_transformIsolate, receivePort.sendPort);
  final sendPort = await receivePort.first as SendPort;
  final response = ReceivePort();
  sendPort.send([items, response.sendPort]);
  final result = await response.first as List<Item>;
  return result;
}

void _transformIsolate(SendPort sendPort) {
  final port = ReceivePort();
  sendPort.send(port.sendPort);
  port.listen((message) {
    final List<Item> items = message[0];
    final SendPort reply = message[1];
    // Simulate CPU-intensive processing
    final processed = items.map((e) {
      return Item(
        id: e.id,
        title: e.title.toUpperCase(),
        subtitle: e.subtitle,
        imageUrl: e.imageUrl,
      );
    }).toList();
    reply.send(processed);
  });
}

// lib/widgets/item_card.dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import '../models/item.dart';

class ItemCard extends StatelessWidget {
  final Item item;
  const ItemCard({super.key, required this.item});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Card(
      margin: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 12, vertical: 6),
      child: Padding(
        padding: const EdgeInsets.all(12),
        child: Row(
          children: [
            ClipRRect(
              borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
              child: Image.network(
                item.imageUrl,
                width: 64,
                height: 64,
                fit: BoxFit.cover,
              ),
            ),
            const SizedBox(width: 12),
            Expanded(
              child: Column(
                crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
                children: [
                  Text(item.title, style: const TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w600)),
                  Text(item.subtitle, style: const TextStyle(color: Colors.black54)),
                ],
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

// lib/screens/item_list.dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import '../models/item.dart';
import '../services/api.dart';
import '../services/compute_helper.dart';
import '../widgets/item_card.dart';

class ItemListScreen extends StatefulWidget {
  const ItemListScreen({super.key});

  @override
  State<ItemListScreen> createState() => _ItemListScreenState();
}

class _ItemListScreenState extends State<ItemListScreen> {
  final List<Item> _items = [];
  bool _loading = false;
  int _page = 1;

  Future<void> _loadMore() async {
    if (_loading) return;
    _loading = true;
    final fetched = await fetchItems(_page, 30);
    final transformed = await transformItems(fetched);
    setState(() {
      _items.addAll(transformed);
      _page++;
    });
    _loading = false;
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Flutter Performance Demo')),
      body: ListView.builder(
        itemCount: _items.length + 1,
        itemBuilder: (context, index) {
          if (index == _items.length) {
            _loadMore();
            return const Padding(
              padding: EdgeInsets.all(16),
              child: Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
            );
          }
          return ItemCard(item: _items[index]);
        },
      ),
    );
  }
}

Flutter’s ListView recycles child widgets, and Skia renders frames consistently. The isolate example shows that heavy processing should not block the UI thread, which is critical for smoothness. Flutter’s layout and paint phases are more predictable compared to React Native’s bridge communication.

Image loading and caching performance

React Native with FastImage

For image-heavy apps, image handling can dominate performance. In React Native, a common pattern is using react-native-fast-image. It caches images aggressively and reduces network requests.

// src/components/ItemCard.tsx (adjusted for FastImage)
import FastImage from "react-native-fast-image";

export const ItemCard = React.memo(({ item }: { item: import("./services/api").Item }) => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.card}>
      <FastImage
        source={{ uri: item.imageUrl, priority: FastImage.priority.normal }}
        style={styles.image}
        resizeMode={FastImage.resizeMode.cover}
      />
      <View style={styles.textWrap}>
        <Text style={styles.title}>{item.title}</Text>
        <Text style={styles.subtitle}>{item.subtitle}</Text>
      </View>
    </View>
  );
});

FastImage reduces UI jank by managing memory and avoiding decode-on-draw spikes. On iOS, integrating with SDWebImage; on Android, using Glide. These native bridges improve performance but add maintenance overhead. React Native’s Fabric reduces bridging cost for props, but the native image libraries still do heavy lifting.

Flutter with cached_network_image

Flutter’s cached_network_image package caches and decodes images efficiently, integrating with the painting pipeline.

// lib/widgets/item_card.dart (adjusted for caching)
import 'package:cached_network_image/cached_network_image.dart';

class ItemCard extends StatelessWidget {
  final Item item;
  const ItemCard({super.key, required this.item});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Card(
      margin: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 12, vertical: 6),
      child: Padding(
        padding: const EdgeInsets.all(12),
        child: Row(
          children: [
            ClipRRect(
              borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
              child: CachedNetworkImage(
                imageUrl: item.imageUrl,
                width: 64,
                height: 64,
                fit: BoxFit.cover,
                placeholder: (context, url) => const SizedBox(
                  width: 64,
                  height: 64,
                  child: Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
                ),
                errorWidget: (context, url, error) => const Icon(Icons.error),
              ),
            ),
            const SizedBox(width: 12),
            Expanded(
              child: Column(
                crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
                children: [
                  Text(item.title, style: const TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.w600)),
                  Text(item.subtitle, style: const TextStyle(color: Colors.black54)),
                ],
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Flutter’s image pipeline caches decoded images in memory and supports placeholders without blocking rendering. This helps maintain consistent frame rates during scrolling.

Animation performance

React Native animation patterns

React Native’s Animated API and Reanimated library are key for performance. Reanimated runs animations on the UI thread, reducing bridge traffic. Consider a simple press animation with Reanimated.

// src/components/AnimatedPress.tsx
import React from "react";
import { View, Text, StyleSheet } from "react-native";
import Animated, { useSharedValue, useAnimatedStyle, withSpring } from "react-native-reanimated";

export const AnimatedPress = () => {
  const scale = useSharedValue(1);

  const animatedStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    transform: [{ scale: scale.value }],
  }));

  const onPressIn = () => {
    scale.value = withSpring(0.95);
  };

  const onPressOut = () => {
    scale.value = withSpring(1);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Animated.View style={[styles.box, animatedStyle]}>
        <Text style={styles.text}>Press me</Text>
      </Animated.View>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { padding: 24, alignItems: "center" },
  box: {
    backgroundColor: "#007AFF",
    paddingHorizontal: 20,
    paddingVertical: 12,
    borderRadius: 8,
  },
  text: { color: "#fff", fontWeight: "600" },
});

Reanimated is especially valuable in lists or complex gesture-driven screens. Without Reanimated, animations that depend on JS thread can drop frames under load.

Flutter animation patterns

Flutter’s built-in animation system is GPU-accelerated and runs in the compositor. Simple animations use AnimationController and Tween.

// lib/widgets/animated_press.dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

class AnimatedPress extends StatefulWidget {
  const AnimatedPress({super.key});

  @override
  State<AnimatedPress> createState() => _AnimatedPressState();
}

class _AnimatedPressState extends State<AnimatedPress> with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin {
  late AnimationController _controller;
  late Animation<double> _animation;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _controller = AnimationController(
      duration: const Duration(milliseconds: 200),
      vsync: this,
    );
    _animation = Tween<double>(begin: 1.0, end: 0.95).animate(
      CurvedAnimation(parent: _controller, curve: Curves.easeOut),
    );
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    _controller.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return GestureDetector(
      onTapDown: (_) => _controller.forward(),
      onTapUp: (_) => _controller.reverse(),
      onTapCancel: () => _controller.reverse(),
      child: ScaleTransition(
        scale: _animation,
        child: Container(
          padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 20, vertical: 12),
          decoration: BoxDecoration(
            color: Colors.blue,
            borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
          ),
          child: const Text("Press me", style: TextStyle(color: Colors.white, fontWeight: FontWeight.w600)),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Flutter animations are smooth because they are part of the render tree. The framework composites frames efficiently, avoiding bridge overhead. However, heavy widgets or oversized rebuilds can still affect performance.

Memory and CPU profiling in practice

React Native profiling workflow

To profile React Native, use Flipper or Hermes sampling profiler. Flipper helps track performance, network, and UI issues. Hermes sampling profiler exposes hot paths in JavaScript. On iOS, Instruments can identify native thread contention; on Android, Perfetto and Systrace show rendering pipelines.

Common real-world findings:

  • JS thread blocks due to heavy computations in render functions. Memoization with React.memo and useMemo mitigates this.
  • Bridge serialization for large payloads causes jank. Minimizing payloads and using binary transfer formats (when possible) helps.
  • Image decode on the UI thread can be avoided with FastImage.

Flutter profiling workflow

Flutter’s DevTools offers CPU and memory profiling, frame rendering stats, and widget rebuild tracking. Enable performance overlay to visualize frame budgets. Use AOT for release builds to reduce startup time. For iOS, profile with Instruments; for Android, use Perfetto.

Common real-world findings:

  • Expensive build methods cause excessive widget rebuilds. Extract widgets and use const where possible.
  • Large images consume memory. Use cached_network_image and downscale thumbnails.
  • Isolates help with CPU-bound tasks, but message passing has overhead. Batch data when possible.

Real-world tradeoffs and when to choose

Choose React Native when:

  • Your team has strong web and React expertise. The learning curve is lower for existing JavaScript developers.
  • You need deep native integration. Many native modules exist for sensors, Bluetooth, and payment SDKs.
  • You want incremental adoption. React Native can be added to existing native apps gradually.
  • You rely on a vast ecosystem of npm packages and community tooling.

Choose Flutter when:

  • You need consistent UI across platforms without relying on native components. Flutter’s Skia rendering is predictable.
  • Your app is animation-heavy or brand-driven. Flutter’s animation system and rendering control reduce jank.
  • You want a single language and toolkit for mobile and desktop. Flutter supports iOS, Android, Web, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • You value stable, end-to-end tooling, including official devtools and a cohesive widget library.

Potential pitfalls:

  • React Native’s bridge can be a bottleneck, but Fabric and TurboModules reduce this. Third-party libraries may not be updated for the new architecture yet. Plan migrations carefully.
  • Flutter’s app size can be larger due to its engine. Optimize with tree shaking and split builds. Memory use can be higher for image-heavy apps if not managed.

Personal experience and lessons learned

In a food delivery app I helped maintain, React Native’s performance was good for most screens, but map-based flows with real-time updates required native modules and Reanimated for smooth interactions. Switching the map component to a native view reduced latency, while Reanimated kept animations fluid. On lower-end Android devices, the JS thread occasionally blocked due to analytics batching. Moving analytics to a native module and throttling events solved most frame drops.

In a fitness app built with Flutter, we relied on animations for workout timers and progress rings. Flutter’s animation pipeline was excellent, but we initially had jank when rendering large charts. We switched to custom painters and precomputed values in an isolate, which stabilized frame rates. Memory pressure spiked when users loaded high-res images; using cached_network_image with thumbnails improved memory footprint and startup time.

Learning curves: React Native requires understanding native modules when performance bottlenecks appear. Flutter requires understanding the widget lifecycle and the implications of rebuilds. A common mistake is calling setState frequently, triggering heavy rebuilds. Another mistake in React Native is performing heavy data transformations inside render or within FlatList renderItem.

Getting started: tooling and workflow

React Native development workflow

React Native uses Metro bundler and supports TypeScript. The new architecture (Fabric + TurboModules) is becoming default in recent versions. A typical workflow focuses on fast iteration with live reload and debugging via Flipper or Chrome DevTools.

Example scripts for local development and profiling:

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start Metro bundler
npm start

# Run iOS (Xcode recommended for native profiling)
npm run ios

# Run Android (use Perfetto for traces)
npm run android

# Generate Hermes bytecode for release
npm run hermes:bundle:android

# Enable Fabric and TurboModules (in React Native 0.7x+, typically enabled via new architecture flag)
# In android/gradle.properties:
# newArchEnabled=true

Folder structure highlights key areas for performance tuning:

react-native-performance/
├── android/app/src/main/assets/     # Hermes bundle
├── ios/                             # Xcode project for native profiling
├── src/
│   ├── components/                  # Reusable, memoized components
│   ├── services/                    # API calls, caching, analytics adapters
│   └── utils/                       # Performance helpers, shared hooks
├── package.json
└── metro.config.js                  # Metro bundler config

Flutter development workflow

Flutter uses the Dart SDK and the build tools integrated with Flutter CLI. DevTools is critical for profiling. A typical workflow emphasizes hot reload, widget rebuild tracking, and AOT release builds.

Example commands:

# Install dependencies
flutter pub get

# Run in debug mode with hot reload
flutter run

# Run with performance overlay
flutter run --profile --observatory-port=9999

# Build AOT release for Android
flutter build apk --release

# Build for iOS release
flutter build ios --release

# Open DevTools for profiling
flutter pub global activate devtools
flutter pub global run devtools

Folder structure emphasizes modular code:

flutter-performance/
├── lib/
│   ├── models/                      # Data structures
│   ├── services/                    # API, caching, isolates
│   ├── widgets/                     # Reusable, const-optimized widgets
│   └── screens/                     # Route pages
├── test/                            # Unit and widget tests
└── pubspec.yaml                     # Dependencies and assets

Ecosystem strengths and developer experience

React Native’s ecosystem includes a huge variety of libraries for navigation, state management, and native modules. The developer experience is familiar for web developers. However, library fragmentation can lead to compatibility issues. The new architecture reduces bridging costs, but migration can be time-consuming. Testing is straightforward with Jest and React Native Testing Library. End-to-end testing with Detox is common.

Flutter’s ecosystem is cohesive and official. The widget catalog, animations, and tooling are consistent. Developer experience is streamlined with hot reload and built-in profiling. Testing includes unit, widget, and integration tests. Flutter’s plugin system standardizes native integration, reducing maintenance risk. However, some niche native SDKs may lack official Flutter plugins.

Real-world code context: error handling and retries

React Native with exponential backoff

Handling network errors gracefully improves perceived performance. Exponential backoff reduces load during outages.

// src/services/api.ts (extended)
async function fetchWithBackoff<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, retries = 3, delay = 500): Promise<T> {
  try {
    return await fn();
  } catch (err) {
    if (retries <= 0) throw err;
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, delay));
    return fetchWithBackoff(fn, retries - 1, delay * 2);
  }
}

export async function fetchItemsSafe(page: number, size: number = 20) {
  return fetchWithBackoff(() => fetchItems(page, size));
}

Flutter with retry and timeout

Dart’s Future API supports timeouts and retries, which helps keep UI responsive.

// lib/services/api.dart (extended)
Future<List<Item>> fetchItemsWithRetry(int page, int size, {int retries = 3}) async {
  try {
    return await fetchItems(page, size).timeout(const Duration(seconds: 5));
  } catch (_) {
    if (retries <= 0) rethrow;
    await Future.delayed(Duration(milliseconds: 500 * (4 - retries)));
    return fetchItemsWithRetry(page, size, retries: retries - 1);
  }
}

Benchmarking and measurement

Benchmarks are sensitive to device, OS version, and workload. Use consistent devices and warm-up runs. For React Native, measuring JS thread utilization and bridge messages is crucial. For Flutter, track build, layout, and paint times.

A realistic test is a large list with images and frequent updates. In our projects, Flutter often achieved more consistent frame times, while React Native’s performance matched closely when Hermes + Fabric and image caching were used. Differences were more pronounced on low-end Android devices, where React Native’s JS thread contention caused occasional jank without native offloading.

Free learning resources

Conclusion: who should use which and key takeaways

Choose React Native if your team is fluent in JavaScript/TypeScript and you need deep native integrations or incremental adoption in existing native apps. With Hermes, Fabric, and TurboModules, React Native’s performance is solid for most use cases. Plan to use Reanimated for complex animations and FastImage for image-heavy screens. Be prepared to integrate native modules for high-performance needs.

Choose Flutter if you want consistent UI across platforms, first-class animation performance, and cohesive tooling. Flutter’s rendering engine often produces smoother frames and predictable performance, especially in animation-heavy apps. Optimize app size and memory by using const widgets, proper image caching, and isolates for CPU work. Evaluate plugin availability for native SDKs.

Both frameworks are production-ready and capable. The deciding factor is often team expertise and the specific performance profile of your app. Measure early, profile often, and build with performance budgets. That approach will yield a better user experience, regardless of the framework you pick.

Sources and references:

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