The market is flooded with various mobile apps like native, hybrid, progressive, or web apps. You can select any of them for your project's requirements. However, hybrid app development provides an excellent advantage for your app development projects of both worlds: native and web apps.
But you know, the best thing about hybrid app development is? The frameworks it has, for developing quick and practical mobile applications.
Its frameworks are the main hero behind the development of hybrid apps. Using such frameworks, business app owners can easily create hybrid apps in a very cost-effective way.
But the confusion of choosing the best one is obvious as there are many options available in the market. So, how will you choose the top hybrid app development framework?
To say nothing of it, there is a lot of uproar in the hybrid frameworks space. Most of these frameworks provide a massive set of potential features.
That's why, we are presenting a list of the best 8 frameworks to choose the best for you!
Best Hybrid App Development Frameworks
The best part about hybrid apps is their use for both operating systems: iOS and Android. Your mobile app can efficiently run on different devices without much effort and money. Even you can use this code for a progressive app or desktop application development.
But remember to choose the suitable framework for you as per your expertise level and the need of the projects. This will make your mobile app development process so smooth and quick.
So, without further ado, let's know about the best hybrid app frameworks with their feature set.
1. Ionic
Right from the launch of Ionic- a powerful hybrid app development framework, it continues to be in the high position on the list. This leading framework is full of significant features to effectively develop a cross-platform app that too with a single code set.
This open-source SDK works on technologies like HTML5, CSS, Sass, etc. You can easily enhance the app's functionality with the integration of various Javascript frameworks. If you want to develop modern and super-quality hybrid apps with very little effort, Ionic is a good choice for you.
Some good features to know about Ionic
- The light and dark theme choices for the application make it super-friendly for users.
- Its powerful CLI makes it easy to create, test, and deploy your application.
- The on-device hot refresh feature assist in speeding up the development process and monitoring the live changes.
- You can perform all the common tasks within your editor with the Ionic VS code extension.
- You can add default practices like touch-optimized gestures, hardware-accelerated transitions, pre-rendering, etc.
Famous app examples of Ionic
This Drifty-born app, Ionic has two of the best apps examples: Untappd and MarketWatch.
2. Flutter
Supported by Google, our next choice, Flutter is a well-known cross-platform app development framework. It offers a very good approach to developing hybrid apps.
This open-source UI framework allows you to develop apps in a very short period and also, you can work with existing code.
With a single code base, you can make, test, and deploy beautiful applications for mobile, desktop, and web. If you are looking for intelligent frameworks, Flutter is a nice option to try.
Some good features to know about Flutter
- You can completely control your codebase with automated testing and developer tooling.
- You can create apps quickly with hot reload. You can check the changes as soon as you update the code.
- You can make great adaptive designs for different screens as you can control every pixel.
- It offers a huge widget library from which you can select as per the app's requirements.
Famous app examples of Flutter
This Google-born platform has some apps based on it like, BMW, and CrowdSource.
3. React Native
The next choice on the list is React Native which combines native development with React, which includes top-class Javascript libraries. Whether you want to make a new project or want to update an existing one, React Native is a good option to try.
Its inclination toward native platform UI makes the apps alike native applications. You can easily maintain multiple platform apps with a common technology React.
Some good features to know about React Native
- It provides strong native-like performance in the application.
- You can reuse over 90 percent of the code in different operating systems like iOS, and Android.
- It has a feature of Node Package Manager, which lets you do quick installation.
- You can get flexible support from third-party libraries.
Famous app examples of React Native
This Facebook-born app has some good app examples, like Bloomberg, and Instagram.
4. Xamarin
If you looking for a versatile hybrid app development framework, Xamarin is for you. It is a free and open-source cross-platform framework based on C# and .Net.
The platform has a direct integration with the .Net developer platform which provides a vast toolset and libraries for making iOS and Android apps. One of the amazing benefits of using Xamarin is getting continuous technical support from Microsoft.
Some good features to know about Xamarin
- You can make the latest native-like apps with the evolution of .Net MAUI.
- You can get advantages like garbage collection, and memory allocation.
- It also provides support for smart applications like Android Wear, and Apple Watch.
- You can easily reuse almost complete code to save development time and cost.
Famous app examples of Xamarin
This Microsoft-born app has Captio, and PictureX as its famous application examples.
5. NativeScript
Our next pick on the list of best hybrid app development frameworks is NativeScript. If you are a diehard lover of Javascript, then this is a perfect pick for you. It lets you empower javascript with Native APIs.
It helps app owners to develop true native feel-like apps for their businesses. You can do real-time updates in your app without shutting it down. One difference between NativeScript from other hybrid frameworks is the exclusions of web technologies.
Some good features to know about NativeScript
- It provides a very customer-friendly command line interface.
- It provides support for Vue.js.
- You can fully access native API via Javascript.
- It has support for the Kendo theme.
- It is based on an HTML alike XML-Esque-based markup language.
Famous app examples of NativeScript
Progress Software company has developed this platform, which has Beachy, and Workbox as its popular application examples.
6. Kendo UI
The next option is Kendo UI- an open-source Javascript Library. It gives a very huge collection of Javascript UI components having libraries for Angular, React, Vue, etc. You can choose from a ready-to-use pack of widgets.
If you want to build high-performance hybrid apps with quick responses, then Kendo UI is a good option to try. The framework is based on enterprise customers, so there is no free version even being open source.
Some good features to know about Kendo UI
- You can get global support with thoroughly tested components at each stage.
- You can choose from 70+ default jQuery mobile app widgets.
- Its familiarity with jQuery makes it so easy to learn.
- You can make custom themes with its default theme builder.
Famous app examples of Kendo UI
Backed by Telerik, Kendo UI has some best examples of apps like ABB, and Monster.
7. PhoneGap
Former Apache Cordova is PhoneGap now. It is a well-known technology for hybrid app development. You can make robust and feature-rich applications with this open-source platform.
You don't need to install any SDK on the environment because of its ˜Build' named cloud service. If you want to develop large-scale applications to serve a bigger audience, PhoneGap is a good option for you.
Some good features to know about PhoneGap
- You can easily learn it with very basic knowledge of CSS, Javascript, and HTML5.
- Good compatibility with different operating systems that too with single codeset.
- You can do quick testing of the application with so much ease.
- Developers can easily add more functionalities through the extension of native plugins.
Famous app examples of PhoneGap
Adobe Renamed PhoneGap after buying it from Nitobi. And it has some nice application examples, like Health Tap, and Wikipedia.
8. Framework 7
The last choice on the list is Framework7- an open-source hybrid app development framework. With some extra tools like Electron, and NW.js, you can develop native web apps.
It acts as an important prototyping tool to monitor working app prototypes. You can make cross-platform apps, and progressive web apps very stunningly with an awesome set of tools.
Some good features to know about Framework7
- Framework7 comes with the awesome support of Vue.js, Svelte, and React.
- You can use ready-to-use UI components to make a nice-looking app.
- You have the option to make good animated apps with this platform.
- Native scrolling, pages transition, multiple views support, and library agnostics are some of its unique features.
Famous app examples of Frameworks7
Cyberbrain and Wappler are two famous application examples.
To Conclude: choose the best one!
That's it with this super list of hybrid app development frameworks.
The dominance of hybrid apps is because of improved branding, better user experience, and customizations. This has automatically enhanced the demand for cross-platform frameworks.
Now coming to the biggest question ˜Which is the best hybrid app development framework?'
The one and only answer is ˜your project's requirements.' You can make a list of them and match the required features. And you can choose the best one!
Hope this list helped you to get what you were looking for!
