React Native vs Native Development: What's Best for Your App?

What is React Native?

React Native is a cross-platform framework that lets you write one JavaScript/TypeScript codebase that runs on both iOS and Android. It's maintained by Meta (Facebook) and powers apps like Instagram, Facebook, Discord, and Shopify.

What is Native Development?

Native development means building separate apps using each platform's official tools: Swift with Xcode for iOS, and Kotlin with Android Studio for Android. This approach gives you maximum performance and access to every platform feature, but requires maintaining two completely separate codebases.

When React Native Makes Sense

Choose React Native if budget matters (one codebase means less development time), you need both iOS and Android (why build everything twice?), or your app is content-heavy like social platforms, news apps, or e-commerce.

It's also ideal if you have JavaScript/TypeScript developers on your team who can jump into mobile development, or if you need fast iteration—React Native's hot reload makes development significantly faster than native.

When Native Makes Sense

Choose native development if performance is absolutely critical—think games, video editing, AR/VR, or complex animations. Native also wins when you're heavily using device hardware like camera processing, Bluetooth, or sensors.

Go native if you need cutting-edge platform features on day one, you're only targeting one platform anyway, or your team already knows Swift and Kotlin inside and out.

Real Performance Comparison

React Native is fast enough for 95% of apps. The UI runs at 60fps, navigation is smooth, and most users can't tell the difference. But native will always be slightly faster because there's no JavaScript bridge.

Bottom line: If Instagram and Facebook use React Native, your app probably can too.

Cost Comparison

Building native iOS + Android apps typically costs 1.5-2x more than React Native because you're essentially building two apps. For a $7,000 React Native app, native versions would run $10,000-$14,000.

Maintenance & Updates

With React Native, you maintain one codebase. Bug fixes apply to both platforms automatically, and new features ship to iOS and Android simultaneously.

With native development, you're maintaining two separate codebases. Every feature and bug fix gets built twice, which means more time and ongoing cost for updates.

Developer Availability

JavaScript/TypeScript developers far outnumber native mobile developers. This means React Native developers are easier to find, typically charge lower hourly rates, and your existing web team can contribute to mobile development.

What We Recommend

For 90% of business apps—restaurant apps, fitness apps, e-commerce, social platforms, booking systems—React Native is the smarter choice. You get both iOS and Android for the price of one, faster development, cheaper maintenance, and professional, performant apps that users love. It's proven at scale: Instagram, Discord, and Shopify all use React Native.

Only go native if you have specific performance needs or are building something hardware-intensive like AR, video editing, or mobile gaming.

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