Ask HN: Flutter vs. React Native – which one do you prefer?

• compose-multiplatform

  96 14,626 9.6 Kotlin

  Compose Multiplatform, a modern UI framework for Kotlin that makes building performant and beautiful user interfaces easy and enjoyable.

  

• compose-samples

  101 18,713 9.0 Kotlin

  Official Jetpack Compose samples.

  

• WorkOS

  workos.com sponsored

  The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.

  

• flutter-elinux

  3 386 7.6 Dart

  Flutter tools for embedded Linux (eLinux)

  

Flutter, for sure. It feels like a much more thoughtful system overall. I'm not as impressed with the Dart ecosystem as I am with the Flutter one, mostly because the Dart ecosystem lacks widely used/supported frameworks for server-side development. I would LOVE to completely remove Javascript from my life and if there were a solid server-side framework for Dart, I could use it literally everywhere.

Re your problems:

1. Yeah, break widgets down. Yes, it's more work, but it's necessary in the same way that breaking code down into smaller functions is necessary. You don't just cram everything into one file and you shouldn't expect that a mega-widget will be the right way either.

2. Flutter for web is still very early on. You should know that there are two renderers (one that uses canvas and one that uses real dom elements), but they're both just "okay" at this point. They have been rapidly improving however -- the difference between now and this time last year is significant. It'll keep getting better and in the mean time, it's usable enough. The download sizes are huge and sometimes rendering can be a little janky, but again: it'll get better. For me, the promise of a unified system for desktop, web, mobile, and even some limited 3rd party embedded Linux support (https://github.com/sony/flutter-elinux) is really appealing.

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