React vs React Native: Key Differences, Which Is Best for Your Project & Why?

Not sure whether to go with React or React Native? Wondering which one’s better for your next project? You're not alone—this is one of the most common dilemmas in the development world. Both sound similar, both are developed by Meta, and yet, they serve very different purposes.

And let’s be honest—we’ve all been there.

From mixing up front-end and back-end frameworks to Googling “What is Vue vs Angular vs Node?”—​​technical terminology can be a maze..

Throw in names like React and React Native, and suddenly everything sounds like a remix of the same tune.

Here’s the truth:

React is used for building powerful web applications.

React Native is your go-to for building mobile apps that work seamlessly on both Android and iOS.

But what makes them different? When should you choose one over the other? And is React Native just a mobile version of React?

If these questions are popping into your head, you’re in the right place.

In this blog, we’ll dive deep into the differences, use cases, pros, and cons of React and React Native. By the end, you’ll know exactly which one fits your project goals.

Let’s untangle the confusion and find your perfect tech match.

Introduction: React vs React Native?

React and React Native—both developed by Meta (formerly Facebook)—have rapidly become go-to technologies for building modern applications. While they share the same core philosophy and syntax, they are designed for different platforms and purposes.

React JS, commonly referred to simply as React, is a powerful JavaScript library used to build dynamic and responsive user interfaces for single-page web applications. It relies on a virtual DOM and combines HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to deliver fast and efficient front-end experiences.

On the other hand, React Native is a framework built on top of React that allows developers to create native mobile applications for iOS, Android, and even Windows using JavaScript. Instead of rendering to the browser's DOM, React Native uses native UI components and APIs, giving the app a real mobile feel.

In essence:

• React is ideal for creating the UI of web applications, while
• React Native is best suited for developing mobile applications using shared code and reusable components.

React’s steep learning curve comes from needing to understand tools like Redux or Next.js, while React Native can be picked up more easily by those already familiar with React and JavaScript.

Both tools dominate the development landscape—React powering responsive websites and dashboards, and React Native enabling rich mobile apps with cross-platform capabilities. Knowing the difference between React JS and React Native will help you choose the best tool for your business needs, whether you're building a web interface or a mobile experience.

What is React JS?

GitHub: 177k Stars and 35.7k Fork

React: A Front-end Development Library

React JS, commonly referred to as React, is an open-source JavaScript library developed by Meta (formerly Facebook). It is primarily used for building fast, interactive, and dynamic user interfaces for web applications. React introduced a component-based architecture that allows developers to create encapsulated UI components that manage their own state, making it easier to build and maintain large-scale web applications.

One of React’s defining features is the Virtual DOM, which significantly enhances performance by updating only the parts of the actual DOM that have changed, rather than re-rendering the entire page.

React is widely adopted for building single-page applications (SPAs), where users experience a smooth, app-like interaction within their browsers.

Key Features of React JS:

• Works seamlessly with HTML and CSS for structured UI development
• Uses a Virtual DOM for efficient and optimized rendering
• Encourages a component-based architecture for code reusability and scalability
• Has a rich ecosystem, including tools like Redux (for state management), React Router (for routing), and Next.js (for server-side rendering and SEO)
• Ideal for building modern, dynamic, and high-performing web applications

If your project demands a robust and responsive web interface with a focus on speed and user experience, React JS is a solid choice.

What is React Native?

GitHub: 98.9k Stars and 21.4k Fork

React Native: A Native Mobile Development Library

React Native is an open-source framework, also developed by Meta, that allows developers to build native mobile applications for iOS and Android using JavaScript and React. While it shares the same syntax and principles as React JS, React Native is designed for mobile platforms and does not use HTML or the web browser DOM.

Instead, React Native components are compiled to their respective native components, delivering the look and feel of a truly native app. It provides a bridge between JavaScript and native APIs, allowing mobile apps to access features like the camera, GPS, and push notifications.

The ability to share a significant portion of code between platforms means faster development, reduced costs, and consistent user experiences across devices.

Key Features of React Native:

• Enables cross-platform development with a shared JavaScript codebase
• Renders native UI components for optimal performance and native look-and-feel
• Provides access to device features such as camera, location, and storage
• Allows integration with native modules for platform-specific capabilities
• Speeds up development compared to writing separate native apps in Swift or Kotlin

React Native is particularly useful for startups and businesses aiming to launch mobile apps quickly without compromising on performance or design quality.

React Native vs ReactJS: How Do They Work?

Both React JS and React Native have fundamentally similar approaches to building applications, but they function differently depending on the platform they target. Understanding how React and React Native work will help you appreciate the differences in their underlying technologies and the type of development they cater to.

How React JS Works:

React JS is a JavaScript library designed primarily for building user interfaces (UI) for web applications. At its core, React works by creating components that can be reused across different parts of the UI. These components are built using a combination of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

When you build an app with React, you create components, which are then rendered to the browser using a virtual DOM (Document Object Model). The virtual DOM allows React to efficiently update the user interface by comparing the current state with the previous state, only re-rendering the parts of the interface that have changed. This makes React web apps highly interactive and fast.

React JS is typically used for web apps, and it can be integrated with other libraries and frameworks to manage state (like Redux) or handle routing (like React Router). React’s declarative approach and component-based architecture make it easier to build dynamic web applications.

How React Native Works:

React Native, on the other hand, is a framework built on top of React but designed for creating native mobile applications. Instead of rendering HTML elements to the browser, React Native renders native mobile UI components. These components are drawn directly from the platform’s native APIs, which means React Native apps have a look and feel similar to native apps.

React Native uses JavaScript and React components, but the key difference is that it does not run in the browser. Instead, it compiles to native code for both iOS and Android platforms. This allows developers to write apps for both mobile operating systems using a single codebase, significantly reducing development time and effort. React Native also provides access to device-specific APIs, such as GPS, camera, and push notifications, allowing for deeper integration with mobile devices.

The beauty of React Native lies in its cross-platform capability. By writing your app once, you can deploy it to both iOS and Android with minimal adjustments, enabling faster time-to-market and reduced costs compared to building separate native apps for each platform.

Key Differences in How They Work:

• React JS renders UI components using a virtual DOM in the browser, designed for building web applications.
• React Native uses native UI components and interacts directly with the mobile device's APIs, creating mobile apps that feel native to iOS and Android.
• React JS is ideal for creating interactive websites and web apps, while React Native targets mobile development with cross-platform support.

Difference Between React and React Native

As technologies built on the same core principles, React and React Native have more similarities than differences. However, there are key distinctions that make each suitable for different types of applications. Let’s break down these differences to understand how they work:

1. Installation Process

• React: React is a JavaScript library. To use it, all you need to do is integrate the React library into your HTML page with a simple <script> tag. You can use bundlers like Webpack if working on larger projects, but for small-scale projects, just linking the React files is enough to get started.
• React Native: React Native requires a more complex setup. You need to install development tools like Node, React Native CLI, Android Studio, and Xcode. Once the environment is set up, you can create a new React Native project, run it on a mobile emulator or device, and start developing.

2. Efficiency

• React: React allows efficient rendering with its virtual DOM. It provides developers with the flexibility to create dynamic, responsive UIs on the web. React’s component-based architecture helps in improving developer efficiency and makes managing the app’s state easy.
• React Native: React Native focuses on native mobile app development and uses native components for rendering. Its key advantage is that developers can create apps that look and feel like native applications for iOS and Android using reusable components. Additionally, React Native allows integration with native code (e.g., Swift, Java, or Objective-C) for additional functionality.

3. Technology Base

• React: React is purely JavaScript-based and uses libraries such as JSX (JavaScript XML) for building UI components. All you need to master to become proficient in React is JavaScript, making it easier to get started.
• React Native: React Native is a framework built on top of React. While it uses React’s component-based approach, React Native goes beyond JavaScript and includes native mobile technologies like Java, Objective-C, and Swift. You’ll need to learn additional technologies for mobile-specific development, making React Native more complex than React JS.

4. Feasibility

• React: React is designed for creating web UIs and offers robust tools for integrating CSS. With React, you can effectively handle CSS issues like global namespace and variable scope isolation.
• React Native: React Native allows you to add native mobile components to your existing apps. It’s easy to enhance existing hybrid apps built with frameworks like Ionic, and it facilitates integration with plugins to reuse code effectively across platforms.

5. Compatibility

• React: React was built with SEO in mind and allows for server-side rendering, which is essential for search engines to crawl and index your web app efficiently.
• React Native: React Native does not handle SEO as it’s primarily designed for mobile app development. The goal of React Native is to create a native experience on mobile devices, not web pages, so SEO optimization isn't a concern here.

6. Syntax

• React: In React, you use JSX to write HTML-like syntax in JavaScript. This allows developers to create dynamic and interactive UI elements using tags like <div>, <p>, and <h1>.
• React Native: React Native uses native components, so instead of HTML tags like <div>, React Native uses <View>, <Text>, and <Image> to render components. These components are then translated into native mobile UI components during runtime.

7. Components

• React: React is component-based, which allows for reusable, modular UI elements. React offers class components and function components for building components.
• React Native: React Native also follows a component-based structure but uses native components like <View>, <Text>, and <Image>, which are translated into platform-specific UI elements. Additionally, developers can use Native Modules to extend functionality beyond React Native's capabilities.

8. Navigation

• React: For navigation in React, developers rely on the React Router library, which helps manage routing in web applications by allowing navigation between different pages.
• React Native: React Native uses Navigator or third-party libraries like React Native Navigation for managing transitions between screens. React Native doesn't support React Router as it’s primarily for web navigation.

9. Storage

• React: React uses local storage or other browser-based storage methods like cookies and sessionStorage to store data persistently across sessions.
• React Native: React Native uses AsyncStorage by default for local data storage. It also supports other storage options like SQLite, Realm, or using libraries like redux-persist to manage application state.

10. Search Engine-Friendliness (SEO)

• React: SEO is a key consideration in React. You can use libraries like React Helmet to control the metadata of your web pages for better SEO optimization, ensuring that Google and other search engines can crawl and index your content.
• React Native: Since React Native is for mobile apps, it doesn’t directly impact SEO. App stores (like Google Play and the Apple App Store) handle app indexing, but there are no specific SEO optimizations for native mobile apps.

React Native and React JS Difference: Use Case Comparison

Here’s how to decide between React JS and React Native based on your project needs:

Choose React JS if:

• Your goal is to develop a web-based solution such as a website, dashboard, or admin interface.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) is a high priority.
• Your primary users access your platform via desktop or browser.
• You need fast iteration and flexibility in your user interface.

Choose React Native if:

• You are building a mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms.
• Your audience is mobile-first and expects a native-like experience.
• You want to cut down on development time and cost by reusing code.
• Your application requires access to device-specific hardware or APIs, such as geolocation, camera, or push notifications.

ReactJS vs Native Performance

When considering performance in the ReactJS vs Native comparison, both technologies offer strong capabilities—but with different trade-offs.

React JS applications run inside the browser and are inherently limited by browser performance. However, they still provide a smooth user experience for the majority of standard web apps, especially when optimized with techniques like lazy loading and server-side rendering.

React Native, on the other hand, compiles JavaScript code into native mobile code. This gives it a performance edge on mobile devices, often delivering an experience close to that of fully native apps. It’s well-suited for most commercial applications where native-like performance is required but without the need to build separate codebases for each platform.

That said, for apps that are highly performance-intensive—such as real-time gaming, AR/VR applications, or those requiring extensive background processing—traditional native development using Swift for iOS or Kotlin for Android might still be the better route.

Advantages and Disadvantages: React Native vs React

React and React Native are both widely used for building user interfaces (UIs), but they cater to different needs. Here's a breakdown of the key advantages of each:

Advantages of React (React JS):

1. Cross-Platform Web Compatibility:

• React is a powerful JavaScript library designed for building interactive user interfaces for web applications. It allows for smooth integration with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which makes it highly compatible for web-based projects. React can be integrated with other libraries or frameworks like Next.js, Gatsby, or Create React App to improve performance and streamline development processes.

2. Large Community and Ecosystem:

• React has a vast and active community, making it easier to find tutorials, documentation, and third-party libraries to accelerate development. This huge ecosystem also includes tools like React DevTools, React Router, and Redux, which make managing state and navigation easier.

3. Declarative UI Design:

• React’s declarative nature allows developers to describe the state of the UI at any point in time, and React will update the UI efficiently when the data changes. This reduces the complexity and amount of code you need to write.

4. Component Reusability:

• React’s component-based architecture allows for reusability of code. This modularity allows developers to create reusable UI components, which makes the development process more efficient and reduces code duplication.

5. Virtual DOM for Performance Optimization:

• React’s Virtual DOM enables faster UI updates. When a change is made to the state or props, React updates the Virtual DOM first and then makes minimal changes to the actual DOM, ensuring better performance.

6. SEO-Friendly:

• React applications can be rendered on the server side using frameworks like Next.js, which makes them SEO-friendly. This is crucial for businesses that rely on search engine visibility for traffic.

7. Rich Ecosystem and Tooling:

• React has numerous tools and libraries to aid with routing (React Router), state management (Redux, Context API), testing (Jest, React Testing Library), and bundling (Webpack, Babel). These tools make it easier to develop large-scale web applications.

Disadvantages of React JS

1. Not a Full Framework

• Issue: React is a library focused on the UI layer only.
• Impact: Developers often need to integrate other tools for routing (like React Router), state management (Redux, MobX), and backend logic, making the setup more complex.

2. Learning Curve with JSX

• Issue: JSX (JavaScript XML) mixes HTML with JavaScript.
• Impact: It may be confusing for beginners and increases the initial learning curve, especially for developers coming from a pure HTML/CSS/JS background.

3. SEO Limitations (without SSR)

• Issue: React apps are single-page applications (SPAs) by default.
• Impact: Without server-side rendering (using frameworks like Next.js), SEO performance can be poor because search engines may not index JavaScript-heavy content properly.

4. Frequent Changes

• Issue: React's ecosystem evolves rapidly.
• Impact: Developers often need to stay updated with breaking changes, deprecated methods, and shifting best practices, which can lead to maintenance challenges.

5. Boilerplate and Configuration Overhead

• Issue: While flexible, React often needs additional configuration for tools like Babel, Webpack, or ESLint.
• Impact: This can be time-consuming for beginners or small teams without DevOps support.

Advantages of React Native:

1. Native Mobile Performance:

• React Native allows developers to write mobile applications using JavaScript and React, but unlike traditional web apps, React Native apps are rendered using native components (via a bridge to the native mobile platform). This gives mobile apps the performance and responsiveness of native apps, without sacrificing the ease of development that React provides.

2. Cross-Platform Development:

• React Native allows developers to create cross-platform mobile applications for both Android and iOS using a single codebase. This dramatically reduces the development time and cost when compared to developing separate native apps for each platform.

3. Rich Set of Native Components:

• React Native offers a rich set of pre-built components like Text, View, Button, Image, etc., that render as native widgets on iOS and Android. This ensures a native look and feel, offering a seamless user experience.

4. Hot Reloading:

• React Native offers hot reloading, which enables developers to see changes in real-time without having to recompile the entire app. This speeds up the development process, making it much more efficient, especially during testing and debugging.

5. Code Sharing Between Platforms:

• Although there may be some platform-specific code, React Native allows for a significant amount of code sharing between Android and iOS applications. This drastically reduces the amount of effort needed to create separate apps for both platforms.

6. Large Community and Ecosystem:

• Just like React for the web, React Native has a large and active community. This means developers can easily find resources, open-source libraries, and solutions to common problems. Many third-party libraries and plugins are available for handling native functionality like camera access, geolocation, etc.

7. Access to Native Code:

• React Native allows developers to access native APIs and code when necessary. If you need to use platform-specific features or optimize performance, you can write custom native modules in Java, Swift, or Objective-C and seamlessly integrate them into your React Native app.

8. Cost-Effective Development:

• Since React Native allows for code sharing across platforms, it lowers development costs. It reduces the need for a large team of developers working separately on Android and iOS apps.

9. Better Developer Experience with JavaScript:

• React Native allows developers to build native apps using JavaScript, one of the most popular programming languages. This makes it easier for web developers to transition to mobile app development, reducing the learning curve.

10. Integration with Native Modules:

• React Native allows easy integration of native code (Java, Swift, Objective-C), which means you can access the full power of the device's hardware and platform-specific features, such as push notifications, camera, geolocation, etc.

Disadvantages of React Native

1. Performance Limitations

• Issue: React Native apps are not truly native; they rely on a bridge between JavaScript and native code.
• Impact: For graphics-heavy apps (like games or complex animations), performance can lag behind fully native apps.

2. Limited Third-Party Support

• Issue: Some native features or third-party modules may be missing, outdated, or unstable.
• Impact: Developers may have to build custom native modules using Java, Swift, or Objective-C—which can be challenging.

3. Complex Debugging

• Issue: React Native introduces an extra layer between JS and native code.
• Impact: Debugging issues related to native modules or the bridge can be more difficult compared to pure native development.

4. UI Consistency Across Platforms

• Issue: Components may behave slightly differently on Android and iOS.
• Impact: Developers often need to add platform-specific logic or styling, which increases development effort and reduces the "write once, run everywhere" benefit.

5. Large App Size

• Issue: React Native includes JavaScript runtimes and dependencies.
• Impact: Even simple apps tend to have larger APK/IPA sizes compared to pure native apps.

6. Dependency on Native Developers

• Issue: For advanced features or performance optimization, native development skills are often required.
• Impact: Teams might still need Android/iOS developers to handle platform-specific code.

Which One to Choose?

• Choose React if you're building a web application and need a fast, efficient way to create complex user interfaces. It’s great for building responsive UIs for websites, especially when SEO is a concern.
• Choose React Native if you're building a mobile application and want to leverage the power of native performance while using JavaScript. It's the ideal choice for developing cross-platform mobile apps, as you get the best of both worlds: native performance with the ease of JavaScript development.
• Both React and React Native offer powerful features, so the choice depends on whether your focus is web development or mobile app development.

FAB Builder Helps You Choose Smarter

At FAB Builder, we work with both React JS and React Native to develop responsive web platforms and scalable mobile applications. With our code generation/low-code platform, you can:

• Build production-ready apps using modern frameworks
• Use AI assistance in code generation
• Customize UI components without writing from scratch
• Deploy faster with reusable templates and backend integrations
• Save time and reduce errors across web and mobile projects

Whether you're building a sleek marketing website or a mobile e-commerce app, we help you choose the right tech stack for your business goals.

Conclusion: Which Is Best for Your Project?

React and React Native are powerful, flexible tools that cater to different development needs while sharing a common foundation. React JS is best suited for building fast, responsive, and scalable web applications, whereas React Native shines in creating performant, cross-platform mobile apps with a native feel.

When it comes to React Native and React JS differences, here’s the takeaway:

• Choose React JS for web apps, dashboards, or SEO-friendly sites.
• Choose React Native for cross-platform mobile apps with native performance.

Still undecided between React JS vs React Native?

FAB Builder can evaluate your idea, project scope, and goals to recommend the most cost-effective and scalable solution.

Ready to Start? Let FAB Builder help you build high-performance web or mobile apps using React technologies. Get in touch now!