React Native Vs. Swift: A Side-by-Side Comparison to Choose the Best One

1) React Native Vs Swift: An Overview

Before we jump into the comparison part, there are a few basic things that you should know. Both technologies are used for iOS app development, though they come with a few differences. For example, Swift is for iOS native app development, and React Native is used for cross-platform app development. In simple terms, Swift is native technology while React Native is hybrid technology. Let’s explore;

What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source framework created by Meta Platforms, Inc. for cross-platform app development. It’s the most used framework nowadays as it is used not just for creating mobile applications for cross platform but React Native for Web most trending term in tech arena now. The framework is best used for creating UI/UX for both iOS and Android applications.

So, the one question arises here;

Can React Native is used for iOS Native Apps?

Well, React Native is a JavaScript-based programming language that is used for creating applications for both iOS and Android platforms. However, it renders the app on a native platform UI using the React primitives. That means the app will use the same APIs that other native app use.

Rect Native from Market Perspective

React native is a comparatively new technology in the tech arena, albeit one of the most popular cross-platform development frameworks so far.

According to Statista, it is the second most popular cross-platform mobile framework and the 8th most popular “ most used framework and libraries among all” worldwide.

Popularity of Cross Platform Mobile Application Development Framework

Find more statistics at Statista

React Native is the 8th most popular framework with 12.57% among all web and mobile frameworks.

The popularity of React Native is growing day in and day out and Stackoverflow reports that around 58.5% of developing community love using the framework.

Leading Apps Built Using React Native Framework

From established Fortune 500 companies to new startups, React Native is popular among thousands of apps of all sizes and genres.

What is Swift?

Developed by Apple Inc. in 2014, Swift is the most popular general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language for iOS app development. It’s open source and can be used for creating apps for iPhone, iPad, iWatch, Apple TV, macOS, and more.

So, there should not be a question if Swift can be used to build Native iOS applications for iPhone, iPad, MacBook, or others. The answer is always affirmative.

Swift from Market Perspective

Swift is comparatively new to the tech arena and has achieved phenomenal success in a relatively short period of time. The programming language is the 20th most-used programming language among developers in 2022. The comparison is among only the top programming languages. Let’s take a look at the image below;

Find more statistics at Statista

Whereas, a report from Stackoverflow states that more than 59.5% of developers loved using Swift as compared to 57.9% of developers for React Native.

Top Apps Built Using Swift

Swift is a compiled programming language created by Apple Inc. to build native iOS applications for iPhone, iPad, and other devices. Flexibility, simplicity, and conciseness are something that makes the programming language popular among all. Some of the top apps powered by Swift include;

2) Pros and Cons: Swift VS React Native

Before we discuss the core technical details of Swift vs. React Native, we need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of Swift and React Native. Both technologies have pros and cons which differentiate them for a particular project —when you connect with your app development partner, they will help you decide. But, let’s explore the pros and cons so you can take active participation while having discussions with your engineers.

Pros of Using Swift

Swift, as we have already discussed, is a new technology, albeit popular among the developers’ community. With rich features and functionality, the technology has completely replaced the traditional Objective C. Let’s explore the top benefits or advantages of using Swift.

Open Source: Swift is open source which means anyone can download and use the programming language for building iOS applications.

Easy to Maintain and Manage:With robust typing and strong error-handling features, Swift is easy to manage and maintain.

Easier to Read: allowed developers to get rid of legacy conventions, remove semicolons to end lines, and introduce the industry-standard comma-separated list of parameters.

Secure Programming Language: choosing any programming language, we choose technology that provides better performance and safety. Swift is said to provide 40% better performance and project security.

Easy to Scale: is developed to replace the legacy Objective C and hence it is a future-proof programming language, allowing developers to add new features and functionality to apps.

Excellent User Experience: have Swift developers in-house who often praise the technologies for two main reasons —it takes less time to install and is lightweight, resulting in less memory consumption on the device. Besides, as Swift is primarily designed for creating native iOS applications it offers developers enhanced native features, enabling the apps to perform faster across iOS devices.

Cons of Swift

Nothing is perfect, there’s always room for improvement and Swift is no different. It has some drawbacks, albeit these loopholes are fixable. In fact, many of them have been and are being fixed. But, as we are comparing Swift vs React Native, you should know what these technologies are good and bad for. So, let’s explore the loopholes.

Limited Resources/ Talent Pool:As the technology is new in the tech arena, you have a limited number of developers working on this technology Hence, you may have to work harder to find the right talent.

Comparatively New In Tech Arena: Swift is the replacement for Objective C and hence was released in mid-2014. There’s a lot that has been done and plenty of other things to be done or this technology. For example, Apple Inc. has updated the Swift programming language with ABI stability, backward compatibility, and renewed documentation to make the technology mature. However, frequent updates and changes often keep developers suspicious thinking if their code will remain compatible with the previous code or the future upgrades.

Compatibility Issues: Swift is not cross-platform compatible —that means apps built using Swift programming language will only work on iOS devices, not on Android. Hence, you need to build two separate native applications if you want to build apps for iOS and Android together.

Small Community: Even though Swift programming language has been in the tech arena since 2014, mostly native iOS developers are associated and using Swift. Still, when we compare this with iOS Native vs React Native, the latter has a wider community.

Lack of Hot-Reloading: It can be one of the cons when we discuss SwiftUI vs React Native. Comparatively, it takes time when any changes occur in code.

Debugging Issue: As Swift uses LLDB service (a command line tool), it works great to interact with iOS application in runtime, but sometimes fails to debug compiler error.

Pros of React Native

Compared to Swift, React Native is young in the tech arena. It was released in 2015, and still, it has created a lot of buzz in the tech community, industry leaders and among developers who considering if they should learn React Native or Swift. It is considered one of the best cross-platform app development frameworks. But, this technology also comes with strengths and weaknesses. You need to identify the advantages and disadvantages of React Native so you can add better talents to your development team.

Time efficiency: With cross-platform and operating system independency, React Native saves development time significantly. Besides, React Native application takes a shorter time to market as developers need to write single code while the code can be deployed across cross platforms —iOS and Android.

Cross-platform development: React Native is widely popular among developers and clients for two reasons: it significantly reduces the development cycle and you do not need to hire separate developers for building iOS and Android applications. Second, it’s one of the top rated cross platform application development frameworks. If you are building cross-platform applications, a single full-stack developer can help you serve all your purposes.

Rich library support: According to some reports online, React Native has nearly 33,000 libraries, and packages, though React Native Directory shows around 1172 libraries. It’s huge as compared to Swift with 3800, though having a rich library does not prove Swift is better than React Native. React Native, however, ensures that developers have enough options to build feature-rich mobile applications for Android and iOS.

Hot Reloading: To make cross-platform app development easier and more productive, the Hot reloading feature brings proper code visualization of code written on React Native platform. Developers find it easy to keep the app running while injecting new files. That means no state is lost even while tweaking UI.

Easy to Integrate: React Native performs well when starting a new mobile app development from scratch, though it equally works great when you integrate a single view, such as GPS, Camera, touchscreen, etc. in the existing native applications.

Less Debugging: With Shake Gesture, developers can easily monitor bugs and debug without wasting a lot of time.

Highly Reliable and Safe: As React Native meets all rules created by the operating system, it is a secure and safe platform to build apps for iOS and Android. The apps build using React Native are easily deployed on App Stores.

Cons of React Native

React Native is no immune to loopholes. However, just like Swift, the Meta developers community works tirelessly to deliver the best result. Still, a few loopholes continue to prevail; they include;

Sluggish Performance: React Native application lacks performance and there’s a reason for it. For example, React Native creates cross-platform solutions and hence it cannot deliver performance like native applications.

Complex Testing Process: React Native app development is significantly fast, though testing is comparatively slow. Single code sources ensure faster development while errors appearing on both platforms make it slow to test.

3) Swift Vs. React Native: Side By Side Comparision

4) Swift Vs React Native: Quick Summary

5) React Native Vs. Swift: Cost of Hiring iOS App Developers

The cost of hiring iOS app developers will vary on various factors. For example;

These factors will impact hiring costs.

For example, if you want to hire React Native developers, the cost of hiring will be less as compared to hiring iOS developers.

Similarly, the cost of hiring freelance developers and dedicated developers differs. For you example, you may hire freelance developers at $10 to $20 /hr from the countries, like India. However, many clients do not praise the merit of hiring freelance developers as they face plenty of issues, like;

Hiring dedicated Swift or React Native developers will be a little costly affair, though it will help you save good bucks in the long run.

Again, the cost of hiring iOS developers or Android developers will widely differ based on the location you choose to hire. For example, if you hire local developers, then you may have to pay $150/hr to $300 /hr depending on the expertise and experience. However, if you choose to outsource or hire remote developers, you can save a big bang on your bank. For example, you can hire developers from India for $15 to $80 /hr.

However, you need to brainstorm a lot to find a reliable tech partner and you must know how to select the right mobile app development company to hire developers from. For your convenience, we have added the cost of hiring iOS developers on different parameters.

These cost assumptions are based on data grabbed from review sites, like Indeed and others, though they are not the final cost of hiring iOS developers or React Native developers. The actual cost of hiring React Native developers will vary depending on the software development company you choose. For example, we at Codzgarage offer React Native Developers to hire starting from $15 /hr, depending on the project you approach with.

6) React Native vs Swift: Best Used For

Both technologies are good for mobile app development. If you are looking for iOS app development, you can choose Swift, albeit React Native can be a good option if you want to cross-platform applications for both Android and iOS. Let’s explore the top use cases of these two technologies. We have listed out the ways in which you can explore the use cases of these two technologies through.

If you have;

When to Use React Native Framework

When you have requirements like;

7) React Native Vs Swift: Which One to Choose For the Next Project

Well, when it comes to selecting the particular technologies from React Native vs Swift, you need to rely on your requirements. For example, there are apps for which React Native is the right fit while for others Swift will be the best choice.

For example, if you have a project that requires intensive computational work, Swift is a good choice. However, if you want to develop cross platform applications to run across iOS and Android devices, then React Native is a better choice. Similarly, Swift is also best suited for Native iOS development, though you cannot run the app on the Android platform and you need to hire dedicated Android developers to build an Android app. So, the choice is yours.

Note:We suggest you take expert advice if you are overwhelmed with different thoughts. Or, You can connect with us for consultancy, it’s free.

8) Final Thoughts

We hope this Swift vs. React Native comparison clears all your doubts and improves your understanding related to React Native and Swift. We have tried to answer all the questions that we often receive from our clients. Choose your technology from iOS development to React Native development based on your project requirement. Still, if you have any questions related to these mobile app development technologies or you want to build an iOS application for your business, you can directly approach us using your preferred contact options.