“ Next-gen mobile apps thrive to reshape the future of digital mobility in a transformative way.” While humans are constantly driven to the digital landscape, the global marketplace continues to witness an expeditious surge in the emergence of aspiring appreneurs with innovative app ideas. More and more ventures are currently intending to make their mark […]
Updated 25 January 2024
Director at Appventurez
“ Next-gen mobile apps thrive to reshape the future of digital mobility in a transformative way.”
While humans are constantly driven to the digital landscape, the global marketplace continues to witness an expeditious surge in the emergence of aspiring appreneurs with innovative app ideas. More and more ventures are currently intending to make their mark in the mobility space.
Whether it’s about performing day-to-day tasks or complex things, users prefer switching to mobile apps for pinpoint reasons. The surging no. of mobile app downloads is projected to reach beyond 258 billion with an average increase of 45% by the end of the year 2022. While it is quite interesting to know that Americans are habitual to check their mobile device 47 times a day, they tend to spend 87% of their screen time on mobile app access.
The mobile app revenues are projected to witness explosive growth at a rate of 385% in 2021. It is quite obvious to say that the current year is going to be great for both existing and aspiring app owners. However, it’s going to be a bit trickier for developers at any mobile app development company to keep up with the ever-changing moods & expectations of their clients as well as potential users of the applications they will craft next. Besides brainstorming concepts and mapping the feasibility of an app idea, app creators aim to choose the best-suited technology from a pool of top-trending frameworks for hybrid app development.
With a bucket full of toolkits & methodologies to ease the development process, modern app developers count on top hybrid app frameworks to offer the best features & functionalities with the end product. A recent study reveals that more than 60% of startups and SMEs opt for hybrid app development. Here comes a big reason why the question corresponding to what are the best frameworks for cross-platform mobile development in 2021 is on the hit list.
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When all these practices seem complicated for developers, leveraging these frameworks not only simplifies their development process but also dissolves unnecessary hurdles in a way to create high-performing mobile apps.
The popularity of hybrid app frameworks with the capability to render native-like accessibility to the applications is turning millions of heads around the globe. Hence, it makes sense to bring up top hybrid app frameworks as the hot topic of discussion amongst the present-day developers in the year 2021.
Before we move further to the topic, let’s understand what is a hybrid app development framework? first.
Hybrid app developers make the most of their skills in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, & other programming languages to create feature-packed mobile apps for multiple platforms. The concept of one-time coding for multi-platform compatibility is excessively seducing developers to earn more skills in popular hybrid app development. Since hybrid apps are coded to deliver uninterrupted performance on universal platforms, they are built using a few handpicked frameworks that are equipped with exemplary features.
These frameworks are developer-friendly and loaded with wonderful nice-to-have features for building hybrid apps. The unique codebase for all major platforms plays a key role in compressing the development process with additional functionalities.
Now when it comes to frameworks, the battle b/w native apps and hybrid apps encourages us to compare these platforms so that we can go ahead with the right one.
Both native and hybrid apps are popular in demand for their notifiable performance and attributes. The accessibility of a native app is limited to a specific platform or device i.e Android and iOS while a hybrid app is designed to embrace multi-platform support with easy integration of useful APIs to integrate desirable features.
The course of native app development depends on the language, APIs, and other technical requirements resulting in more complexities & development time. Although native apps take a lead over hybrid apps in terms of performance, most developers find it less challenging to develop a hybrid app with help of the most preferred frameworks. In addition, the strengths of hybrid apps dominate the potentials of native apps in terms of cost-effectiveness and code reusability.
Upon getting a clear picture of Hybrid apps vs Native apps, their core strengths & weaknesses, it is time to get back to our topic and unveil a list of the 10 best hybrid app frameworks that will shine in 2021.
Take a deep breath and check out our list of top-rated frameworks every developer should try to achieve success with every hybrid app development project.
Wondering about what ionic framework is used for? Let’s get this question answered straight. Ionic is one of the best players in the arena of most-used frameworks for mobile app development these days. It’s been a popular choice of developers for building engaging hybrid apps with reduced efforts & costs.
Ionic first came in 2013 and garnered gradual popularity with regular updates to note. With over 5 million apps built on it, Ionic enables developers to perform seamless cross-platform app development with the flexibility to code in HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, Cordova wrapper, and other trending programming languages. Ionic is also marked as a Progressive web apps framework that simplifies the creation of PWAs.
Let us introduce you to Flutter, the next hybrid application framework that will top the popularity charts in 2021. When it comes to cross-platform app development, developers can never neglect the strengths of this framework in all aspects of quality, speed, efficiency, costs, and simplicity. If you are too dilemmatic about what are the best frameworks for developing cross-platform mobile apps then investing your time in Flutter app development won’t make you regret your decision.
Although Flutter is the latest framework, it needs no introduction to beginners, developers, and tech enthusiasts. It has earned a massive reputation in the community of developers intending to come up with creative hybrid apps. Flutter is based on Dart language which is said to be one of the big innovations of Google.
Alongside libraries and widgets, this hybrid app framework utilized Skia to craft impressive visuals in no time. A long list of tech giants including Birch Finance, Alibaba, Hamilton Music, and more used Flutter development tools over other frameworks for building their app platforms.
One more brilliant framework that deserves fame among the top 10 hybrid application frameworks in 2021 is React Native. Formerly released as a renowned web development React JS in 2013, Facebook relaunched React Native for developing cross-platform apps back in the year 2015. Today’s experts foresee React Native as a future of hybrid apps for multifarious reasons. The framework was again introduced in its full-fledged stable version in 2019 and it has been existing as a building block for many famous apps and platforms since then.
While developers favor Ionic in the context of enhanced UI and performance, they stand with React Native for its role in imparting spectacular user experiences with every click. Moreover, the framework seems to offer high stability, speed, and scalability to the app’s structure.
There is no doubt that React Native development is emerging as a game-changer for the community of developers who are constantly looking for more alternatives to boost their productivity and skills in mobile app technologies. Some top-notch brands including Facebook, Gyroscope, Instagram, 2048 Discovery VR, are already using this top hybrid app framework.
Written using C#Xamarin has been existing as one of the frontrunners in the race of best hybrid app frameworks for so long. It is owned and managed by Microsoft. It brings direct routes to use combined libraries for Java, C++, and Objective-C in one go. The most common question is what are the best tools for making a cross-platform application? and Xamarin is its clear answer. It is a modern framework with a vast set of libraries and the potentiality to cut down costs of hybrid app development.
The reason why tech minds perceive Xamarin as a concurrent rival of React Native is its ability to balance a developer’s creativity and the project’s budget. Xamarin app development is an alternative to other prominent frameworks or technologies used for crafting multi-platform mobility solutions for Android, iOS, & Windows with .Net and C#.
PhoneGap made its debut in 2005 under the banner of Nitobi Software and it was attained by Adobe later in 2011. It is ahead to secure its position on the charts of trending frameworks with the highest market share & user base for Android and iOS app development.
Is PhoneGap a hybrid app development framework? Of course! In fact, it’s the first choice of developers looking forward to launching cross-platform apps in the future. PhoneGap is often recalled with the name of Apache Cordova as it supports the Cordova framework and Adobe. Like other great frameworks discussed earlier in the list, PhoneGap offers multi-platform compatibility to apps with the flexibility to reuse codes for all major platforms.
Apps powered by PhoneGap are most likely to achieve a wider user base with impactful efficiency and accessibility across Android and iOS platforms. PhoneGap’s unparalleled adequacy in successful hybrid app development is backed by native APIs, an awesome set of UI libraries, powerful backend support, and multifarious features.
The next name in our list of the best hybrid app frameworks trusted by developers is NativeScript. It is an open-source framework written in the JavaScript programming language.
Anyone can count on this framework to program power-packed mobile apps with JavaScript, Angular, and TypeScript codes. NativeScript users can simply access APIs for iOS and Android app development with help of this framework. All APIs attached with this framework are completely native and similar to those used with Android Studio or Xcode.
Developers are free to utilize its awesome library to integrate apps with Maven, CocoaPods, and npm.js with no necessity to use a wrapper. Additionally, NativeScript runs reflections to yield information or data associated with APIs of a native platform rather than using separate binding layers between the framework & native APIs.
One big advantage of NativeScript comes with its feature that serves users to leverage reusable plugins in their apps straight from the NPM dashboard. Anyone who strives to work with WORA (Write Once, Run Anywhere) functionality can consider this easy-to-use framework with no doubts at all. H
Kendo UI grabs the next in our list of top hybrid app frameworks to use in 2021. It combines a wonderful collection of JavaScript libraries along with a set of Angular, Vue, JQuery, and React. The framework is backed by Telerik and perfect for cross-platform mobile app development. Apart from being written in HTML5 language, Kendo UI offers 70+ JQuery mobile app widgets to let users code their respective apps with limited efforts. This enables developers to integrate multiple UI components with a bunch of enhanced features & appealing components to the app’s design.
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Framework7 is yet another prominent framework available for comprehensive hybrid app development. Developers with sufficient experience and skills in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML can easily leverage this framework to implement the uses of cross-platform app development in their business strategy.
The framework can deliver a native-like appearance to an app with a combined match of compelling animations, graphics, and other UI components.
Here is one more open-source hybrid application development framework that runs in the absence of AngularJs. Onsen UI portrays a descriptive set of guidelines or documentation to learn some basics on common app architectures. The framework enables the rapid development of HTML5 hybrid apps in the shortest time frame.
Last but not least, it’s needless to say that Appcelerator Titanium is absolutely the best hybrid app framework to try in 2021. Just download Titanium Studio and you are ready to get started with this framework on the go. The framework eliminates the necessity to write multiple lines of code while building hybrid apps using this cross-platform app development framework. In addition to this, it speeds up the development process with the benefits of Titanium SDK.
Well, here comes to the end of our list of the best 10 hybrid application frameworks to learn in 2021. From Ionic to React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, & other names showcased in the article, all frameworks are predicted to take a lead in diverse areas of hybrid app development in 2021.
When the market is flooded with the best frameworks for app development, even the developers with hands-on experience in building hybrid apps hassle to pick the right framework for their big projects.
Besides having adeptness in innovating cross-platform apps, you must try these frameworks to conquer brilliance in all significant aspects of app designing & development. Also, don’t forget to keep a note on the feasibility of your app idea with complete relevance to your business requirements.
If you have got a raw app idea in your mind, you must get a squad of dedicated developers to make it live for your targeted users. Get connected to the team of innovative minds at Appventurez and strengthen your business value with our future-ready mobile app solutions.
Elevate your journey and empower your choices with our insightful guidance.
Director at Appventurez
Director and one of the Co-founders at Appventurez, Chandrapal Singh has 10+ years of experience in iOS app development. He captains client coordination and product delivery management. He also prepares preemptive requisites and guides the team for any possible issues on a given project.
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