Which Cross-Platform App Development Framework Should You Choose in 2024?

With the growing popularity of cross-platform mobile development technologies, several new tools and frameworks have emerged on the market. With so many alternatives available, choosing the one that best meets your needs might be difficult.

We've collected a list of the best cross-platform app development frameworks to help you find the best fit for your needs. Node.js, React Native, Flutter, and PhoneGap, among others, are some of these fantastic frameworks that we’re going to see in detail.

But, before we discuss the top cross-platform frameworks and how they might help your development process, let's define cross-platform app development.

What is a Cross-Platform App Development?

In simple terms, cross-platform mobile app development is an approach that allows you to build a single mobile application that runs smoothly on several operating systems, i.e., Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, etc.

The applications developed using a cross-platform framework don’t require separate coding for each platform; instead, coding once will create the foundation for the app to run as efficiently on all platforms.

Today, cross-platform app development is one of the most popular methods in the domain, and almost all the best Android app development companies and iPhone app development companies are leveraging it.

These cross-platform app development companies create versatile and efficient mobile applications that work smoothly across multiple platforms.

Moreover, these IT companies use advanced cross-platform app development frameworks and tools to reduce development time and costs while ensuring a consistent user experience across all platforms and giving businesses a competitive advantage.

Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Frameworks

Since cross-platform app development eliminates the need to make different applications for different platforms, developers can simultaneously build and publish the applications on multiple app stores.

This means businesses can reach their audience on Android, iOS, or Windows simultaneously and faster.

On that note, let’s have a look at some of the main benefits of mobile app development with cross-platform frameworks:

1. Reusable Code

One of the main advantages of a cross-platform app development framework is that the code can be used repeatedly.

A shared code-based approach removes repetitive coding tasks, making the Python mobile app development process faster than building separate platform-specific apps.

Developers don’t have to write native code for each OS and learn numerous development tools to support every mobile device.

Moreover, a reusable code base allows developers to fix bugs and add new features on all features simultaneously rather than doing it separately for each platform.

Resuing the code source minimizes the development effort and e-commerce app development cost.

2. Lower Costs

For native app development, you need multiple teams with different skill sets, and that means committing a substantial amount of money and time to hire highly skilled app developers and train them for your project.

However, with cross-platform app development, your team shares standard tools, making it less expensive and more efficient to build two apps simultaneously.

Creating a cross-platform app requires a single and more minor team, significantly cutting development costs at least by half.

So, cross-platform app development can be cost-effective if you want to test the market and see which platform gives you the best results, helping you make better business decisions.

3. Rapid Time-to-Market

As cross-platform mobile app development relies on a shared code base, it can accelerate product development and time to market.

Many cross-platform app development frameworks can help you build and deploy your application quickly, reducing the development lifecycle.

Shorter development times mean rapid market time, and you can focus more on customer feedback and market trends. Cross-platform applications also make maintenance and support more efficient.

You can arrange updates and push them to all devices at once, regardless of the operating system—no need for separate support teams for each operating system.

4. Greater Brand Consistency

Creating distinct iOS and Android applications increases the effort required to establish a consistent look and feel for your brand and product.

However, a cross-platform development approach allows you to quickly and easily build a consistent brand image and customer experience.

Because of platform variations, navigation will differ between operating systems, but the overall interaction and brand image will remain compatible and predictable.

By maintaining brand consistency, you indirectly communicate to customers that your company is genuine and trustworthy.

5. Easy Integration with Cloud

Cross-platform mobile applications are interoperable and can use various plugins that are integrated with the cloud settings.

In other words, the single source code is supplemented by many plugins and extensions to increase the application's scalability and use.

Also Read: Top 7 Cloud Development Platforms to Consider for Your Project in 2024

6. Broader Market Reach

Cross-platform app development enables you to launch an app on both Android and iOS, increasing your market reach to more than 98% of the mobile device market.

This reach enhances your company's earnings substantially more than OS-specific software.

There are about 5.2 billion smartphone users worldwide. As of January 2021, 28% were iOS users and 72% were Android users. However, these statistics differ greatly by country; as of 2022 Q2, 48% of US smartphone users were on the iOS platform.

It may appear strategically advantageous to concentrate your development efforts on the Android OS because it is the most popular operating system overall.

However, you would lose nearly one-third of global users and nearly half of those in the United States.

Cross-platform mobile development allows you to expand your new business idea's revenue prospects by serving both groups. You may broaden your consumer base to increase brand engagement, market presence, and profitability.

What are the Best Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks?

So, now that you know why considering cross-platform development frameworks is beneficial and how it can help you increase your business revenue and market presence, it’s finally time to get into some of the best cross-platform app development frameworks that you can choose when developing a mobile app for your business:

1. Ionic

Ionic is one of the most popular cross-platform app frameworks based on AngulurJS. It enables developers to use a combination of top programming languages such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and Cordova wrapper to access native platform controllers.

This cross-platform framework allows developers to create a flawlessly creative user interface and add user-friendly features to the app. Mobile apps developed with this framework are highly interactive and native-like, making Ionic a perfect candidate for PWA development.

It’s also one of the top choices for Android app development frameworks.

Features

• Ionic is an open-source front-end framework that allows changes in the code structure, is suitable for each developer, and saves a lot of time.
• This is based on a SAAS UI framework explicitly designed for mobile operating systems. It offers numerous UI components for developing solid applications.
• One of the most appreciated features of Ionic is that it is based on AngularJS, which makes it easy to offer extensions to HTML’s syntax and core functionalities to imbibe functional yet attractive features and components into the app.
• This cross-platform framework uses Cordova plugins, which give access to devices’ built-in features, including camera, GPS, and audio recorder, which are significant benefits of cross-platform development tools.
• One of the best parts that makes Ionic a favorite framework of developers is its native-like feel to the apps. It helps create cross-platform apps and allows them to perform perfectly on various platforms.

2. React Native

The list of top cross-platform app development frameworks will be incomplete without adding React Native.

It is a framework based on JavaScript that is used to write actual code and provide a native-like feel to mobile applications that work both on Android and iOS.

Due to its remarkable characteristics, it is a popular choice for developers and businesses that trust React Native as the right platform for their mobile app development.

It integrated the benefits of JavaScript and React.JS, offering developers the advantage of writing modules in Objective-C, Swift, or Java languages.

Moreover, by using the native modules and libraries in the React Native cross-platform apps, developers can also perform heavy operations such as image editing, video processing, and other operations part of the framework APIs.

React Native has excellent community support, and several code editors are available for the framework to help you modify your apps in the future.

Features

• React Native is an open-source, cross-platform app framework. Because of this, it has a large community to support and improve it by fixing bugs, improvising,, and introducing features.
• One of the advantages of cross-platform development is that it requires one-time coding (WORA) to develop apps for platforms as diverse as Android and iOS. This solves one of the biggest challenges of other frameworks – needing developers to code separately twice for the same app on different platforms.
• One-time coding significantly reduces the app's development time, keeping the React Native app development cost at its lowest.
• React Native is also highly compatible with third-party plugins like Google Maps.
• The framework dramatically focuses on UI, rendering a highly responsive interface. This means that the React Native environment eliminates the time it takes to load and delivers a smooth interface to the applications.

Also Read: Why is Swift Programming Language Best for iOS App Development?

3. Flutter

In 2017, Google introduced an impressive cross-platform mobile application development framework named Flutter. It is a software development kit designed to help developers speed up Android and iOS app development.

Flutter allows developers to create apps that quickly and effectively run on multiple platforms with uniformity and dynamicity. The following are some remarkable features that make Flutter an ideal cross-platform developer framework.

Features

• Flutterframwork promotes portable GPU, which renders UI power, allowing it to work on the latest interfaces.
• The framework does not require updating the UI contents manually, as it possesses a reactive framework. Developers only need to update the variables; the UI changes will be visible afterward.
• Flutter's cross-platform app framework is a perfect choice for developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as it initiates an expeditious and cost-efficient development process.
• Flutter has an inbuilt graphic engine. Along these lines, the developers would not need to make separate interfaces for Android and iOS.

4. Xamarin

Xarmarin is a unique type of cross-platform app development framework used to develop Android, Windows, and iOS apps with the help of C# and .Net instead of JS libraries and HTML. It allows developers to use 90% of the code to build three platforms.

Developers using Xamarin can build applications with aesthetics like a native app with the help of its amazing APIs, something which makes the decision-making a lot harder between Xamarin and. React Native.

The following are some of Xamarin's features explaining why it is one of the best cross-platform app development frameworks for mobile app development:

Features

• One of the unique features of Xamarin is that the apps developed using this framework are built using C# – a modern cross-platform app development language with leverage over Objective-C and Java.
• Xamarin allows developers to give native-level app functionality. It minimizes hardware compatibility problems to a great extent with the help of plugins and specific APIs that work with standard device functionality.
• It also encourages linking with native libraries, allowing customization and native-level functionality. The feature alone makes it one of the top Android app development frameworks.
• Xamarin promotes a direct inclusion of Objective-C, Java, and C++ libraries. This enables developers to reuse many third-party codebases encrypted in Java, Objective-C, or C++, making it one of the best cross-platform frameworks.
• The framework reduces the time and cost of building scalable apps like the best UPI payment app, for it supports the WORA ( Write Once, Run Anywhere) and has a humongous collection of class libraries.
• Xamarin provides robust compile-time checking. Because of this facility, developers witness fewer run-time errors and get well-functioning apps.
• Xamarin comes with an astounding native user interface and controls that assist and allow developers to design a native-like app.

5. NativeScript

NativeScript is free and one of the best cross-platform frameworks based on JavaScript. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that NativeScript is a top choice for developers looking for WORA functionality.

It also offers all native APIs, allowing developers to reuse existing plugins straight from NPM into the projects.

Features

• NativeScript provides beautiful, accessible, and platform-native UI, and that too without the WebViews. Developers must only define it once and let NativeScript adapt to run everywhere. They can even customize the UI to specific devices and screens.
• Unlike React Native, NativeScript gives developers a complete web resource with plugins for all solutions. This inevitably eliminates the need for third-party solutions.
• NativeScript allows developers to use Android and iOS APIs easily, meaning developers don’t need additional knowledge of native development languages, making it one of the best technologies for mobile app development.
• NativeScript uses Angular and TypeScript for programming purposes.
• It also supports segments like Cocoapods and AndroidArsenal and calls local strategies from libraries.

Must Read: What is the Importance of Java Programming Language in 2024?

6. Node.js

Node.js is a fantastic framework used to develop cross-platform applications. It is a JavaScript runtime framework built on the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine.

Moreover, it’s an open-source environment that helps develop server-side and scalable networking applications.

Many iPhone app development companies in India use the Node.js framework to create inherently highly efficient and responsive apps.

The framework is capable of handling several concurrent connections together. It also comes loaded with a rich library of numerous JavaScript modules that help simplify web application development.

Features

• All Node.js APIs are asynchronous, implying that they are non-blocking, meaning that Node.JS servers do not essentially wait for API data. Instead, after calling one API, it instantly continues to the next. A notification mechanism in Node.js allows the server to get a response from the previous API call.
• The Node.js library, based on Chrome's V8 engine, executes code exceptionally quickly, one of the reasons why it is one of the top cross-platform app development frameworks.
• Node.js cross-platform applications do not buffer data; instead, they emit it in chunks.
• Node.js uses a single-threaded model with event looping to create seamless and flawless apps. This event method allows the server to respond non-blocking, making it scalable.
• The apps built using Node.js lessen reaction time for slow requests, and every developer can execute all the information inquiries at the same time.

7. Appcelerator Titanium

Appcelerator is one of the cross-platform app development tools app developers use to help with smoother and easier mobile app development.

It allows developers to develop cross-platform apps with a single code base. Appcelerator mainly focuses on streamlining the app development process with the help of native components present in JaveScript code.

Features

• Appcelerator comes with various tools for speedy application development. This means that a prototype can be created with much less time and effort to evaluate user interaction with UI.
• It has ArrowDB,  a schema-less data store that allows developers to deploy data models with no additional setup effort.
• Appcelerator allows the integration of continuous delivery systems such as SCM solutions and more.
• It has pre-built connectors available for MS Azure, MS SQL, Salesforce, and Box- the list is tediously long.

Interesting Reading: What are the Best Programming Languages for App Development Project?

8. PhoneGap

Phone Gap (Cordova) is one of the impeccable cross-platform app development frameworks that uses CSS, JavaScript, and HTML5.

This cross-platform framework offers a cloud solution to developers, allowing them to share the app during the development process for feedback from other developers.

PhoneGap is used to develop impressive apps by leveraging existing web technologies. Another benefit of this framework is that it completely supports built-in features such as GPS, Camera, Phonebook, Storage, andetceatures.

Features

• PhoneGap is considered one of the ideal cross-platform frameworks as it enables developers to create cross-platform apps using existing web technologies such as HTML 5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
• PhoneGap, as a cross-platform framework, supports using a single code base to create apps for different platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc.
• It follows a plugin-able architecture, meaning it is possible to extend access to native device APIs modularly.

9. Sencha Touch

Another popular cross-platform development framework is Sencha Touch, introduced nearly a decade ago; today, it is used to develop web-based cross-platform applications and is often used to create efficient apps that use hardware acceleration techniques.

Using Sencha Touch, developers can create well-tested, securely integrated UI components and libraries.

In fact, with this framework, it is possible to develop large business mobile applications such as travel app development and e-commerce app development and maintain them effectively and efficiently. Some of the remarkable features of it are:

Features

• Sencha Touch is a famous framework that provides built-in native-looking themes for all major platforms like Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, etc.
• It has an effective agnostic backend data package for working with data sources.
• One of the most loved features of Sencha Touch is that it supports Cordova integration for native API access along with the packaging.
• Sencha Touch provides code compatibility between new and old ones.
• The framework comes with customizable and 50+ built-in UI widgets. It also has a collection of rich UI like lists, carousels, forms, menus, toolbars, etc., created specifically for mobile platforms.

10. Corona SDK

As one of the widely popular cross-platform app development frameworks, Corona SDK allows programmers to develop 2D mobile apps for all the big platforms, including Kindle and Windows.

Corona SDK provides 10X faster mobile and game app development.

The framework delivers remarkable results at the back of its backend framework’s reliability on Lua, which is a lightweight and multi-paradigm programming language, making it one of the best cross-platform frameworks for mobile development today,

It primarily focuses on the development's main elements: speed, portability, extensibility, accessibility, and convenience. Moreover, it is a free-of-cost framework working both on Mac OS X and Windows while supporting real-time testing.

Features

• Corona SDK has over 1000 APIs that allow developers to sprite animations, audio, and music, Box2D physics, object tweening, texture management, native elements, and data- the list can go on for pages.
• The framework responds to the code changes almost instantly while giving a real-time preview of the app’s performance as it would on an actual device.
• Corona SDK supports almost 200 plugins, including in-app advertising, analytics, media, and hardware features.
• It depends on the Lua programming language, which makes the framework quick and powerful.

Read Next: Which Programming Language is Best for the Future?

How to Choose the Best Cross-Platform App Development Framework For Your Project?

What cross-platform app development framework you choose determines the success of your project; it impacts development speed, cost, user experience, and how well your app reaches users across different platforms.

The idea framework aligns with your app’s complexity, target audience, and development team’s skills. But the question is, how would you find the right one when there are endless options available?

To help you, below are some of the critical factors that you need to consider when you’re looking for the best cross-platform application development framework:

Project Requirements

Understanding the requirements of your project is the first step to finding the proper mobile app development framework. Consider the type of app you’re developing, the features you need to add, and the level of UI/UX design sophistication required.

For instance, complex animations and hardware-intensive operations may fare better with specific frameworks over others.

Performance Needs

Assess how important performance is for your application. If your mobile app requires high responsiveness and a native feel, it’s best to choose frameworks known for close-to-native performance, such as Flutter or React Native.

Community and Support

Check the size and activity of the framework’s community. An active community indicates better support, more readily available plugins, and frequent updates, which can help during development and troubleshooting.

Cost Efficiency

Evaluate the cost implications of the cross-platform framework. Choosing the best cross-platform app development frameworks can minimize development time and costs due to their “write once, run anywhere” capabilities. In contrast, others might incur additional costs due to the need for specialized skills or more extended development periods.

Read Next: How Much Does Food Delivery App Development Cost in India

Final Thoughts

After discussing all of the top frameworks available in the cross-platform app development area, all that remains is to wait and see how these frameworks compete with one another to remain competitive in the market and how well they stand against the new choices that enter the market.

If you want to rapidly build and publish your app using cross-platform mobile app development.

Contact our expert mobile app developers!

Arramton Infotech, one of the most reputable mobile app development companies, has a team of cross-platform app developers with experience producing world-class apps and creating multiple apps that have set new standards.

As a top provider of cross-platform mobile app development services, we can dramatically improve the efficacy and reach of your mobile applications.

Our expertise allows businesses to ensure that their apps work effortlessly across several devices and provide a consistent and engaging user experience suited to their specific requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is cross-platform in app development?

Ans. Cross-platform in-app development allows developers to create a single codebase that functions on multiple mobile operating systems, like iOS and Android, saving time and resources.

Q. Which framework can be used to develop cross-platform applications?

Ans. Some popular frameworks that can be used to develop cross-platform applications include React Native, Flutter, Ionic, Xamarin, and NativeScript. Each offers unique advantages.

Q. What is the most used framework for apps?

Ans. The popularity of frameworks is shifting, but React Nat, live, and Flutter are strong contenders due to their capabilities and large communities.

Q. What is the best language for cross-platform apps?

Ans. There's no single best language. Popular options include JavaScript (React Native), Dart (Flutter), C# (Xamarin), and Kotlin (Kotlin Multiplatform).

Q. What is the best cross-platform mobile app development framework?

Ans. The "best" framework depends on your project's needs, developer skills, and target platforms. When choosing, consider factors like app complexity, target audience, and desired user experience.