Cross-platform development frameworks for the development of hybrid mobile applications: Implementations and comparative analysis

Abstract

As the number of mobile applications grows exponentially, new alternatives to the traditional native developments are presented. These are the cross-platform developments, developments that allow having a common code base to deploy the application on multiple platforms.

This study aims to dispel doubts when choosing a cross-platform development. For this, the most used cross-platform frameworks in the software development industry (React Native, Ionic, Flutter and Weex) have been compared in terms of execution times and code quality, offering an objective comparison between them. This comparison has been made through the development of four benchmark applications, one in each of the frameworks and the measurement of metrics in them for the subsequent contrast of the data obtained.

After this, it has been concluded that, despite the difference in performance, cross-platform development is an alternative to bear in mind when making a mobile development due to the great advantages it offers in versatility and costs.