Flutter vs. React Native vs. native

What AppJoy uses where

Flutter is our default for mobile-first products: WhatDaFit, HoldMyBeer, Grifas, caberQU, DreamSenseMemory and the IG Lebenszyklus Bau Library are all Flutter apps for iOS and Android.

React Native with Expo is our choice when a product needs a website and an app that share code. HighratedHotels, a hotel booking platform, runs as an Expo app and a Next.js website in one monorepo.

Fully native is what we chose for Momento, AppJoy's own app. It has a separate SwiftUI implementation for iOS and a separate Kotlin and Jetpack Compose implementation for Android.

When Flutter is the better fit

• You want a pixel-identical, custom-designed interface on iOS and Android. Flutter draws its own UI, so it looks the same everywhere.
• The app is the product and a website is secondary or not needed.
• You need hardware access such as Bluetooth Low Energy, or heavy animation and video, as in caberQU and HoldMyBeer.
• You want one language and one toolchain for the whole client (Dart).

When React Native is the better fit

• You also need a search-engine-optimised website and want to share logic and components between web and app, for example with Expo and Next.js.
• Your team already writes TypeScript and React.
• You want the platform's native look and controls by default.
• You rely on the large JavaScript package ecosystem.

When native is the better fit

The classic argument for cross-platform frameworks is one codebase instead of two. AI-assisted development weakens it, because writing code is now much faster, and a second implementation that follows a finished first one is the kind of task AI tools handle well. The cost of a second native app is a fraction of what it used to be.

Momento shows how this plays out. It started as a Flutter app. Its core depends on platform features that cannot be shared anyway: the Screen Time API on iOS and an accessibility service on Android. AppJoy rewrote it as a SwiftUI app and a Kotlin app with Jetpack Compose. The iOS app is the reference and the Android app follows it feature by feature.

• Your product relies on deep platform features such as Screen Time, widgets, Live Activities or accessibility services.
• You want each platform's native design, performance and newest APIs from day one.
• You are fine maintaining two codebases, which AI-assisted development has made cheaper.

What is the same

Flutter and React Native both reach iOS and Android from one codebase, and both can call native code when a feature needs it. For most business apps the cost difference between the two is small. The bigger cost drivers are scope, integrations and design, as the cost guide explains.