Here’s a big-picture comparison of Flutter vs React Native vs Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) as of 2025: where they each excel, where they lag, and which use-cases they are best suited for. I’ll cover performance, ecosystem & tooling, adoption & trend data, and then some recommendations.
1. What they are, their architectures & philosophies
| Framework | Architecture / Philosophy | What kind of code you share | How the UI is rendered |
|---|---|---|---|
| React Native | JavaScript / React layer bridging to native components. Lately moving toward “new architecture” (Fabric, TurboModules, Hermes, etc.) to reduce bridge overhead. | You share UI + logic (mostly), much code reuse with JS/TS; some platform-specific modules needed. | Uses native UI components; rendering is more “native feel” but the JS-to-native bridge can be a bottleneck with many UI updates or heavy animations. |
| Flutter | UI-first, renders its own widgets (via Skia / its rendering engine). Uses Dart. Google has been investing in improving rendering (e.g. Impeller) and cross-platform support (web, desktop). | Logic + UI shared completely; one codebase for multiple platforms. | Everything drawn by Flutter’s engine; you get consistent UI across OSes, high performance for many UI/animation scenarios. |
| Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP / KMM) | Share non-UI code (business logic, data, networking) in Kotlin; UI can be native (Compose on Android, SwiftUI/UIKit on iOS) or share some UI via Compose Multiplatform. Emphasis on keeping the platform feel, performance, and leveraging native capabilities. | Non-UI code is shared; more recently, UI sharing via Compose multiplatform is becoming more stable. | Native UI or shared UI via Kotlin / Compose; thus more “native look & feel” when using native UI, with lower overhead. |
2. Performance & technical trade-offs
Here’s how they compare in terms of performance, resource usage, startup, etc.
| Area | React Native | Flutter | Kotlin Multiplatform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startup time & binary size / memory footprint | Improved: new architecture (bridgeless, Hermes, etc.) has cut overheads. Still JS engine + bridging tends to cost more in memory & startup time than fully native or render-engine approaches. | Strong; Flutter’s rendering engine + improvements (Impeller, raster cache, shader warm-up) have reduced frame jank, improved battery use etc. Binary size tends to be larger than minimal native, but acceptable. | Very good: sharing logic doesn’t force a non-native UI; using native UI means you get near-native performance on UI layer. Also, KMP improvements in memory (GC, pause times) are real. |
| UI / animation / rendering performance | Decent, especially for “standard” UI. Heavy animations or complex UI trees can show latency / jank unless optimized and native modules used. | Among the best: consistent frame rates, less jank, since rendering is managed more directly. For rich UIs, custom animations, or visually intensive apps, Flutter tends to shine. | Very good when UI is native; Compose Multiplatform is improving for shared UI, but might still lag slightly compared to Flutter in some animation/rendering heavy scenarios. However, the gap is narrowing. |
| Cross-platform reach & support (platforms, maturity) | Strong in mobile; web support via “React Native Web”. Many libraries/plugins. But sometimes plugins lag behind for newer OS features or native ones. | Very good: mobile, web, desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), embedded in some cases. The support for desktop/web is improving, though not always as polished or performant as mobile. | Expanding: the common logic works across many platforms, and Compose Multiplatform is stabilizing. But compared to Flutter & React Native, the tooling / plugin ecosystem for UI sharing or non-logic tasks is somewhat smaller. |
3. Ecosystem, developer experience & productivity
| Factor | React Native | Flutter | Kotlin Multiplatform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning curve & hiring / talent | Strong advantage if you have JS/React skills already. JavaScript/TypeScript is widespread. Many developers with web-background can transition relatively easily. | You need to learn Dart / Flutter paradigms, but many find it intuitive. UI-first paradigm might require mindset shift if coming from native or JS. Over time, tooling has matured, hot reload etc. helps productivity. | For teams already using Kotlin (e.g. Android dev), switching logic code sharing is more natural. But for teams with no Kotlin/U-native background, there is more ramp-up; also tooling for UI sharing is newer. |
| Tooling, libraries, plugins | Very mature; many third-party libraries, plugins. Some fragmentation / quality issues. Some gaps for bleeding-edge/native OS features until someone builds a module. | Good ecosystem; many packages for UI, animations, etc. Flutter’s packages tend to be high quality because of tighter control. Challenges remain for specific native integrations, desktop/web edge cases. | Growing. Shared logic libraries (networking, storage, domain logic) are solid. UI sharing (Compose multiplatform) is improving, but fewer “battle-tested” UI libraries/plugins compared to Flutter or React Native. Also needs strong interop for native parts. |
| Developer productivity / maintainability | JS / React codebases can get messy with many platform-specific exceptions. Avoiding performance pitfalls takes care. But good for fast iteration, existing JS knowledge helps. | High productivity especially when UI consistency matters; hot reload etc. Come with cost of learning, but maintainability tends to be better when UI code is centralized. Cross-platform consistency means fewer platform-specific bugs. | Very good for maintainability in logic layers. Because logic is shared and UI is native (or partially shared), updates in business logic or data logic apply to all targets. For UI, you might still have two codebases unless using shared UI; so some duplication or divergence risk. Tooling is improving to help that. |
4. Adoption trends & market share in 2025
What the data suggests about how widely each is being used, and how fast they are growing:
- Flutter seems to have overtaken React Native (or is very close) in terms of popularity among developers. Some surveys show Flutter at ~42-46% usage/popularity, React Native in the mid-30s or high 30s.
- React Native still has a large installed base, especially in companies with existing React/JS ecosystems, and many job postings. Because of that inertia, it remains strong.
- Kotlin Multiplatform is gaining fast, especially for projects valuing native performance and sharing logic. Some sources claim big jumps in adoption: from ~12% to ~20-23% over recent 1-2 years.
- The ecosystem for KMP is maturing—UI sharing via Compose Multiplatform is getting more attention, and improvements in tooling are helping. But it’s still behind the maturity of Flutter and React Native in many respects.
5. Strengths & Weaknesses Summary
Here are where each shines/weaknesses in 2025.
| Framework | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| React Native | – Huge JS/React talent pool → faster hiring, ramp up. – Mature plugin ecosystem, lots of integrations. – Good for teams aiming to reuse web + mobile logic or UI patterns. – Rapid prototyping is strong. | – Performance penalties under heavy UI / animation / frequent native bridging. – Larger binary size / higher memory usage vs native in some cases. – UI consistency across platforms can require extra work. – Older architecture (bridge) has inherent limitations, though being mitigated. |
| Flutter | – Very strong UI rendering, consistent behavior across platforms. – Hot reload, good dev experience. – Multi-platform support (mobile, web, desktop) improving. – Growing community and popularity momentum. | – Larger app size in some cases. – Need to learn Dart + Flutter paradigms. – Some gaps for platform-specific integrations, especially for newer OS features. – Web / desktop support not yet as mature in all cases. |
| Kotlin Multiplatform | – “Native first” UI capabilities; near-native performance. – Shared logic reduces duplication, helps maintainability. – Great fit where performance, platform feel, or deep native integration are priorities. – Enterprises or apps with complex business logic benefit. | – UI sharing is improving, but still less mature than Flutter’s UI stack. – Smaller community & fewer UI-framework plugins. – Steeper learning curve if team not familiar with Kotlin/native. – Sometimes more work initially setting up cross-platform CI/CD, especially for multiple UI stacks. |
6. What “dominates” depends heavily on use-case
There’s no one winner for all cases. Here’s a breakdown of which framework tends to dominate under which conditions:
| Scenario | Best Choice |
|---|---|
| Visual/UI-rich app, needing custom animations, consistent design across platforms (including desktop/web) | Flutter tends to excel. |
| Team already strong in React/JavaScript/TypeScript; want to move fast; target mainly mobile, perhaps reuse some web logic | React Native is strong here. |
| Need highest performance, deep native integrations, want to share business logic, but still want a “native feel” UI; enterprise apps; possibly multiple platforms including future desktop/web | Kotlin Multiplatform is increasingly compelling. |
7. Where the trends seem to be going
From what I’ve seen in 2025:
- Kotlin Multiplatform is closing gaps: especially around UI sharing (Compose Multiplatform), tooling, and stable release pipelines. It’s no longer just about sharing logic—it’s becoming more of an end-to-end solution in some contexts.
- Flutter continues strong momentum. It’s growing not just in mobile, but for web and desktop usage, and companies are using it for “product UI excellence”. Google is investing to keep its render engine, performance, ecosystem up-to-date.
- React Native is maintaining relevance via its huge ecosystem and incremental improvements. The new architecture (bridgeless, faster modules) reduces some of its historic disadvantages. But some perception remains that for “extreme UI performance”, it lags.
8. Verdict: Which “dominates” in 2025?
If I had to pick a “winner” generalized across many types of projects in 2025, it would be:
Flutter is the safest bet for most new cross-platform applications, especially if UI/UX is important and you want fast iteration + multi-platform reach.
But, “dominates” really depends on what you care most about:
- If performance and native feel + logic sharing matter most, Kotlin Multiplatform is increasingly the smart choice, and in many upcoming enterprise-grade apps it may surpass Flutter in certain contexts.
- If speed of hiring, reusing web/JS/React skills, large existing codebases, or budget constraints are big, React Native still has strong advantages.