Flutter vs React Native vs KMP: Which one is the Best Framework for 2025?

Business wants apps to be able to run seamlessly across various platforms without increasing the development costs. Cross-platform development fits perfectly into that vision. Here, instead of making separate apps for iOS and Android, a developer uses one codebase for the deployment of several platforms at the same time and saves precious time and resources. But, in the numerous options available, which one is correct? Let’s break down three of the top choices: Flutter, React Native, and Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM).



What Is Cross-Platform Development?

Cross-platform development enables developers to write in one codebase that runs across all these operating systems. Traditionally, apps have been separately developed for iOS and Android using Java/Kotlin. It increased the development cost and time. Cross-platform frameworks have solved this by enabling developers to write once and deploy everywhere, keeping near-native performance and user experience.
The top players in the cross-platform space are:
• Flutter (by Google)
• React Native (by Meta)
• Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM) (from JetBrains)
Now, let’s compare them.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a Google-developed, open-source kit for creating a user interface in software that was released in 2018. It supports building cross-platform applications for many different platforms and operating systems based on a single codebase. This is quite unlike traditional frameworks since Flutter draws everything using its graphics engine called Skia rather than native components to ensure uniform appearance across different devices. This is built on the Dart language, which was specifically optimized to deliver fast code and smooth animation; therefore, it’s perfect for developers seeking fast performance as well as high UI flexibility.

Advantages of Flutter

  • Hot Reload – Instantly view changes without restarting the app, speeding up the development process.
  • One codebase: Write once, deploy anywhere to iOS, Android, web, and desktop, saving time and money.
  • Customizable Widgets – A rich set of built-in and customizable widgets helps to create beautiful and consistent UIs.
  • Performance – Flutter generates native ARM code, which then results in perfect animations and good execution.
  • Strong Community & Documentation – Backed by Google, Flutter has comprehensive documentation and an active developer community.

Disadvantages of Flutter

  • Learning Curve – Developers just coming to Dart might take a little time getting accustomed to the language and the Flutter widget-based structure.
  • Limited third-party libraries, although growing much faster than it was a while ago, smaller than React Native’s.
  • Higher app size: With the integrated rendering engine, Flutter-based applications are more likely to be larger in file size, which may be a disadvantage for people concerned about storing the applications.


What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source framework created by Facebook, now Meta, and first released in 2015. This allows developers to create mobile applications for iOS, Android, and web desktop platforms from a single codebase using JavaScript and React. This differs from other frameworks since React Native combines JavaScript with native components to provide an experience that closely rivals native applications but maintains reusability. With strong community support and a deep ecosystem, React Native has been the first preference for developers wanting to create effective cross-platform applications while utilizing existing JavaScript skills.

Advantages of React Native

  • Large Developer Community – backported by Meta and associated with React, which has an enormous developer community, allowing easy access to resources, tutorials, and third-party libraries.
  • Live Reloading – Similar to Flutter’s hot reload, React Native allows developers to see changes in real-time without restarting the entire application.
  • Code Reusability-Code can be reused across web and mobile applications, thus saving more time and efforts.
  • Familiar to React Developers Since React Native runs on the same principles as in React, Web developers familiar with React can jump into mobile with ease.
  • Native Rendering – React Native uses native components, so it feels much more authentic than other web-based frameworks, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Disadvantages of React Native

  • Performance Limitations – Although React Native performs adequately, complex animations and heavy data operations may bottleneck when compared with full native applications.
  • No Seamless Over-the-Air Updates – Unlike Flutter, React Native requires users to download the full app update rather than allowing instantaneous, over the air updates.
  • Limited Native API Access – Although React Native provides many native APIs, there are some advanced functionalities that need to be written in platform-specific code or rely on third-party solutions.
  • Debugging Complexity—Debugging will be painful. Developers need to move around different places-Javascript, native modules, and other platform specific areas

What is KMP?

Kotlin Multiplatform is an SDK by JetBrains that lets developers write shared business logic code for multiple platforms while maintaining native capabilities where necessary. Unlike the traditional cross-platform frameworks, KMP does not force a single codebase for everything; rather, developers have the choice to decide which parts of their application to share and which to maintain natively. It supports development for Android, iOS, web, and desktop and integrates smoothly with Java, Swift, and Objective-C. A subset of KMP is Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, that focuses on the sharing of logic between Android and iOS.

Advantages of Kotlin Multiplatform

  • Selective code sharing allows the developers to selectively share just their chosen logic leaving the native UI elements in an untouched manner ensuring consistency within native designs.
  • Augments Existing Native Apps – KMP can be added to existing projects without having to rewrite the entire code, so teams can incrementally introduce shared code.
  • Faster Development & Cost Savings – Through the reuse of code across platforms, development time is reduced by 30-50%, leading to lower costs than building separate native apps.
  • Better Team Collaboration – A shared codebase improves coordination between iOS and Android teams, ensuring architectural consistency and reducing duplication.
  • Growth in Adoption and Community Support – With Google actively promoting Kotlin as the recommended Android language, the KMP gains more acceptance while its ecosystem remains on the way to expansion.

Disadvantages of Kotlin Multiplatform

  • Limited Third-Party Libraries – While improving, KMP’s library ecosystem is not as mature as Flutter’s or React Native’s, requiring developers to build custom wrappers for some features.
  • No UI Layer Shared Cross-platform frameworks as KMP would not share cross-platform UI so that developers develop UI separately utilizing native tools on their respective end such as swift UI or jetpack compose.
  • iOS Development: The translation of Kotlin to Objective-C code can sometimes be unpredictable and very time-consuming to debug as Swift is very limited.

Conclusion

The choice of cross-platform framework depends on the specific needs of your project and the expertise of your team. Flutter is the best choice for applications that are rich in graphics and have customizable UI, along with seamless performance from a single codebase. For teams that have experience in web development, React Native, based on JavaScript, is the best choice as it offers a balance between flexibility and performance. KMM is growing in popularity but still allows native UI with shared business logic, making it the best option for projects prioritizing platform-specific performance. The best framework is one that fits your goals, budget, and long-term maintenance strategy.

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