Native vs hybrid vs cross-platform: Resolving the trilemma

Any company planning to build a mobile app encounters a fundamental choice – what development method to choose? But unless you have extensive mobile development experience, choosing between native, hybrid, and cross-platform approaches, the most common ones nowadays, is a challenging task. This is because the approaches differ significantly in complexity and app development timelines and cost, so you should understand all these differences clearly to determine one that can better suit your project’s needs.

What are native apps?

Native mobile applications are compatible with one operating system, predominantly Android or iOS. Native apps only use programming languages supported by their respective target platforms, such as Kotlin/Java for Android and Swift/Objective-C for iOS.

Pros

Extensive access to hardware

Native apps can deeply integrate with the device’s software and hardware, fully accessing all device functionalities (GPS, camera, storage, etc.), which helps ensure superb app performance, as well as more dynamic and engaging experiences for users.

Recognizable look and feel

Native apps are inherently tailored to the look and feel of a target operating system so they provide users, already accustomed to the platform’s UI, with more intuitive experiences and make them feel more comfortable.

Cons

Limited user reach

As a native app is only compatible with one operating system, its potential user base is limited to this particular platform, which can hinder a business’s ability to achieve quick business growth.

Increased development time and costs

If a company wants to reach a broader audience beyond one operating system, it will have to develop several native apps for each operating system, which requires extensive time and investment.

What are hybrid apps?

Hybrid applications are built using web technologies and run inside a native app wrapper. Although hybrid apps are essentially web apps, the native shell enables them to provide native-like experiences to users across different platforms.

Pros

Cost and time efficiency

Hybrid apps reuse a single web codebase written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript among multiple mobile operating systems, which can significantly reduce development time and costs for companies targeting broader audiences.

Extensive developer pool

As hybrid apps leverage web technologies, which are generally considered more common and widely adopted among developers, a company can find the required engineering talent easier, avoiding hiring and training additional IT staff.

Cons

Limited hardware access

Hybrid apps can face limitations related to integration with the device’s native capabilities, which can hinder their interaction with platform-specific functionalities and result in lower performance and less seamless user experiences.

Security concerns

As hybrid apps use web technologies, which are typically more exposed to potential hacker attacks, they can be more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, so a company should be ready to implement additional security measures.

Lack of offline functionality

As hybrid apps blend capabilities of native and web apps, they typically require internet connectivity to function, unlike native and cross-platform apps which can provide offline functionality and work well even when internet connectivity is poor or unavailable.

What are cross-platform apps?

Cross-platform apps are inherently compatible with both Android and iOS operating systems, meaning a single app can seamlessly run on multiple platforms.

Pros

Quick and cost-effective development

Although cross-platform apps can require platform-specific optimizations, which makes them harder to develop compared to hybrid apps, this approach also enables teams to use a single codebase, resulting in increased development speed and cost-efficiency compared to native apps.

Native-like look and feel

While no application can match a native app in terms of UI, cross-platform apps still look, feel, and operate very much like native apps, ensuring optimal user experiences across devices. In this regard, cross-platform apps are superior to hybrid apps, as they do not rely on web technologies, which can lead to inconsistencies across the UI when an app is viewed on a mobile device.

Cons

The need for broader developer expertise

As mentioned earlier, cross-platform apps often need additional optimizations regarding design, performance, or functionality, which means a company may need developers experienced in various platforms and programming languages.

Extensive app size

Cross-platform apps are often larger compared to native and hybrid apps, as they can include runtime and libraries required for cross-platform frameworks to operate, which can negatively impact user experience due to increased load time.

How to choose between native, hybrid, and cross-platform?

To understand which approach better suits your unique project requirements, consider the following factors:

User experience

If you want to provide users with the most seamless and engaging experiences possible, consider native app development, as it outperforms other approaches in this regard. But if you target a broad audience and building multiple native apps seems too costly, consider cross-platform development as an alternative.

Project budget

Since all three options vary in complexity and cost, you should also consider your budget constraints when making the decision. If you want to provide mobile apps for multiple operating systems but your budget is strictly limited and you are unlikely to afford native development, consider cross-platform or hybrid approaches.

Time to market

Hybrid app development generally takes less time than native and cross-platform development. So, if the time to market is your highest priority (for example, if you are launching a startup and want to test an app idea), opt for building a hybrid app.

Team expertise

Last but not least, you should also evaluate the technical knowledge and development skills of your team, as it can shed light on which approach to choose. For example, if your team excels at using frameworks like React Native and Flutter, cross-platform development may be a more feasible option. However, if your team is primarily composed of experienced web developers, hybrid development is your top choice.

Final thoughts 

Native, hybrid, and cross-platform development are three distinct approaches to building mobile apps, each having different purposes, strengths, and downsides. You can refer to the information featured in this article to understand the differences and better comprehend the applications of each approach, which is crucial for making an informed choice.