React Native For Startups: Is It a Good Choice in 2024?

As a Saas startup, one may often need clarification about which technology to choose. It is a vital decision as the whole structure of your start-up, the development of your teams, and your clients, all depend on this small choice. At the same time, you have to be aware of end-user experience and try to thrive for it. Additionally, you have to choose a technology that can offer an efficient, robust, and secure web version as well as a mobile version for your product. All of these factors may complicate your decision if you are not fully aware of the right technologies around you.

So, is React Native a good choice for startups? If you are in that stage of your startup building where you are dilly-dallying about React Native technology, then this article is just for you. React Native is a popular choice among new entrepreneurs in the software industry. One of the reasons behind it is that it is extremely compatible with almost every cross-platform framework. It is one single coding language that can help you build a fully functional application for multiple devices/platforms without the risk of duplication or asymmetrical foundation.

What is React Native?

React Native is Facebook’s (now Meta) very own open-source Javascript toolkit which is used to create cross-platform user interfaces for web and mobile applications. When we say “cross-platform” we mean it goes with almost everything like iOS, Android, macOS, Web, Windows, etc. In 2020, React Native was one of the most popular application-building frameworks with 57% of software developers choosing it as their go-to developing language. The popularity of React Native is still astronomical as with the help of a single codebase developers can create a link between different Web UI, and OS versions of the application.

In the initial days, Facebook developed React Js and Native to build the app version of their social media platform. Later they made it an open-source framework for other companies and startups. As a result, a lot of companies, big and small picked it up as their foundational framework. Soon, React Native became immensely successful as it was a simple, easy-to-use toolkit that used JSX to not only build multi-platform UIs but also to connect them to native code and make them compatible with Android and iOS systems. React Native was a revolutionary framework in the software industry as it made application building easy without the need to have expertise in Kotlin, Objective-C, or Swift. 

What is React Native used For?

As mentioned above React Native is best used for its ability to create cross-platform applications. But apart from that there are other reasons why it is used:

• Cost Savings: One of the useful features of Native React is that it offers a lot of reusable components. It allows large amounts of code to be reused across various platforms. It leads to a massive saving of both time and money which makes React Native for web and mobile development, the top choice for developers.  
• Smooth Performance: React Native is used for app development because it converts the app into behaving like a native app across different platforms. Inevitably, that makes the different versions of the same app run smoothly, across all operating systems. So it helps boost the performance of an application.
• Support group & community: As mentioned earlier, React Native for web development or app development is quite common in the software development community. It implies that there is an availability of tech support groups and a community of developers who are constantly helping each other solve queries and problems, which is a big plus point of using this framework. 

Advantages of Using React Native For Startups

There are a lot of challenges that startups need to deal with daily like the lack of funding, lack of proper market research, expansion of target audience, getting clients onboard, meeting tight deadlines, and more. So under such pressure, having a team of a small number of developers with a simple tech framework works the best. That is where React Native steps in. 

There are several advantages of React Native as the tech framework at a startup level. They are:

#1. Faster development cycles

One of the biggest benefits of React Native is that most of its codebase is shared between iOS and Android. It leads to fast delivery of products and runs faster than most of the technologies. It is easier to find freelancers and software developers who are well-equipped in the framework as it is based on Javascript. 

#2. Cost-effectiveness

As mentioned earlier, funding is a challenge for any startup. Owing to its ease of use feature, developers can save a lot of time by not re-writing different sets of codes for different OS. It then turns into saving a lot of the company’s money. Hence, react native for desktop and mobile apps is the ideal cost-effective choice for any bootstrapped startup. 

#3. Cross-platform compatibility

It is not an easy task to release different versions of an application for different platforms, especially for a startup. React Native for cross-platform compatibility can offer an outreach across various kinds of end-users. By opting for the React Native framework you can scale up the accessibility of your product in a very short time.  

#4. Reusable components

React Native for iOS and Android comes with a lot of reusable components or code snippets that can be used multiple times. It makes the UI-building process much faster and easier The three main methods to define these reusable components are creating props by passing data, creating nesting components of an app, and creating high-order components (HOCs) for styling, state, and other uses. 

#5. Streamlined maintenance

On using React Native for mobile apps and web development, developers can access this advanced feature where the maintenance of the application is supported by the framework itself. This feature is called Hot Reloading. This feature is great for tracking the history of changes. It enables the developers to make a small update in the code of the application to implement an upgrade without having to change the codebase of the entire application. 

#6. Enhanced performance

A lot of entrepreneurs use React Native for startups because it offers an enhanced user experience. The consistency of React Native for mobile apps comes from its uniformity across iOS and Android platforms while imitating the display and the experience of native apps. It offers full-fledged responsive UIs to ensure a seamless user experience. 

#7. Access to native features

React native enables the developers as well as the users to have seamless experiences by offering access to simple native features. With the help of compiling JavaScript code to native Android or iOS native code, simple features like view, text, and image, can be directly mapped to the platform’s native UI building blocks. 

#8. Large community support

It has been listed as one of the reasons why React Native for app development is preferred worldwide. The easy access to the availability of tech support groups and a community of developers who are constantly helping each other solve queries and problems is a big advantage for the professionals working with this platform. 

#9. Simplified debugging process

Troubleshooting is another easy aspect of using this framework. It only takes a few steps to debug a module from the react-native entry file. It is seamlessly integrated into the framework of the Developer Menu. In the Developer Menu, find the “Debug JS Remotely” option to start debugging the server.

#10. Scalability opportunities 

React native for web and mobile offers a lot of scalability opportunities as well. It is by simply being compatible with third-party plugins. It is a one-stop solution for the complications involved in adding extra features or functionalities in the later stage of the development process. Hence, it offers a hassle-free option for building simple yet scalable and reliable apps for all platforms available. 

Which Startups Are Using React Native Apps in 2024?

A lot of big brands have used React Native for startups in their initial days of development. These companies are living breathing examples of how React Native for mobile development can accelerate your growth towards success. Let’s have a closer look at these brands:

#1. Facebook

One of the first startups to use React Native for web development was Facebook. Created in 2004, Facebook offered a lot of interesting and user-friendly features like hitting a like button, having a news feed, getting notifications, initiating interactions, and more. Integrating React Native for the web, enabled Facebook to scale up in a very short time, across various devices, platforms, and users. In fact, according to Facebook, they were able to reduce the “Events” screentime by half, due to the implementation of React native. 

#2. Instagram

Instagram started using React native for iOS and Android in early 2016. By integrating React Native for mobile engineering, Instagram was able to pace up its developer velocity. It led to faster feature shipping by the product team of Instagram. As a result of this experimentation, Instagram was able to deliver a lightweight interface with fast start-ups that clicked with the audience of the platform. 

#3. Pinterest

Another platform, like Instagram, that uses React Native as its framework is Pinterest. On Pinterest, a lot of people find various ideas, tips, interests, communities and so much more. Pinterest decided to switch to this particular tech stack because code sharing in React Native for cross-platform was a huge plus. React Native for iOS implementation took around 10 days while React Native for Android implementation took around 2 days. 

#4. Tesla

Tesla is a name that needs no introduction. Musk-led electric vehicle controlling mobile app for Tesla is designed in React Native to ensure that it is user-friendly across the globe. The integration of React Native for mobile development allows its users to access key features like tracking charge percentages, locating the vehicle, checking the temperature of the car, etc. The native look and feel of the app make it a hit among its users.

#5. Airbnb

Airbnb integrated React native in 2016 when the use of mobile phones was still in its infancy. In one of the blogs by Airbnb, Gabriel Peal discusses the positive impact they had owing to the easy integration of the framework. Initially, Airbnb used Native React for web development, which was quite popular and user-friendly. When there was a hike in the use of mobile phones, or rather smartphones around the 2010s, Airbnb decided to switch to mobile app development with the same framework. 

#6. Shopify

Shopify is another of the successful businesses that has been using React Native for its mobile app. The mobile app for Shopify had taken 6 years to build and had started accumulating a lot of tech debt in the codebase. For this reason, it was not serving a specific class of merchants who had hundreds of locations and thousands of products. As a solution to this, the whole team of Shopify began to migrate to React Native. It has made their platform so much faster and more convenient that before that in 2020, Shopify declared that React Native would be the future of all of Shopify’s mobile-related products. 

#7. Discord

Like Facebook, Discord is also one of the first apps to use React Native as their tech stack. According to the Discord team, React native for iOS allowed their user base to grow from zero to millions. They even suggest that startups must use the framework to develop apps for the iOS platform first and then move on to Android. It allows the team of developers to learn iOS very well while being able to manage Android, even without having a great amount of knowledge regarding the platform.

#8. Bloomberg

Another example of a successful business that uses React Native for its consumer app is Bloomberg. When Bloomberg was looking for a stable framework to develop their app, React native seemed to be the perfect fit! According to the Bloomberg team integrating React Native into their business gave them a lot of opportunity to experiment with A/B testing and push upgrades very quickly. Another benefit they enjoyed was how easy React Native was for refreshing codes at the release of a new feature.

#9. Zomato

Coming to our very own Indian startups, Zomato uses React native for its app development. The seamless browsing through different restaurants, food options, delivery of drinks & beverages, etc. is what the app stands out for! It is only possible because the app is built on the framework of React Native.  

#10. Myntra

Another worthy mention in the list of Indian Startups is Myntra. Initially, Myntra was backed by a simple monolith of PHP connected to MySQL. However, as the business scaled up, the tech team of Myntra needed to rewrite and re-construct the whole tech stack for smartphones and mobile devices. Though React native was very new at that time, they went forward with it and after three serious migrations, Myntra has reached the success that it has today!

How Much Does It Cost to Build a React Native App For Startups?

React native for desktop and mobile could be an interesting choice for startups as it is a cost-effective framework. Plus, the look and feel of native apps is something that compliments its cross-platform brilliance along with the unique features that it provides. The cost of building a Native App for Startups in India may depend on several factors, like:

• The complexity of the application: Math is simple, the more complex the app is the more costly it will get. Integrating simple features like login, log out, profile creation, texting options, etc. can cost much less than building an app that offers complex design, animation, integrations, and features. 
• Backend architecture: The user-friendliness of an app depends majorly on how efficiently the backend of the app is built. There are four main requirements of an app – server, database, API, and cloud storage. Depending on the data management, user authentication, and other such factors these requirements are built.
• Seamless design and navigation: Speaking of the backend, the front end comes in too! A simple-looking app can make a huge impact on the market if it offers seamless design and navigation for the users. Using pre-built components of React native for startups can reduce a lot of costs.
• Team of Developers: Not to mention, your team of developers will be one of your significant investments while using React Native for web or mobile development. However, if the team is based in India, the chances of saving increase drastically than hiring people abroad.

 All in all, to build simplistic apps, the cost of React Native for startups may vary from $10,000 to $25,000. For apps that are mid-level complex, the cost may vary from $20,000 to $45,000. And for extremely complex apps, the cost may go as high as $50,000 to $60,000. However, there is another way to cut down costs for building native apps using the React Native framework. That is to hire an agency like Inevitable Infotech. 

Our Experience With React Native

We at Inevitable Infotech have been housing a talent pool of the top 1% of React native developers in India. We have a record of having delivered more than 100+ projects worldwide, over a short span of 4 years. We offer several services like full-scale development, iOS/Android app development, UI/UX development, API integration, QA and testing, Support & Management, and Migration & Upgradation.

Plus, you can opt for our services in different modes like Short-term tasks (ranging from 1 week to 2 months), Recurring Projects (ranging from 3 to 12 months), Full-time contracts (ranging from 1 to 2 years), and Dedicated Team (for projects lasting over 3+ years). You can avail of all of these options, while also saving up to 50% of your app-building cost. Hire React Native developers from India, from Inevitable Infotech today!  

Conclusion

So as you can see, the React Native tech stack is actually a very good choice for your start-up, anytime. It is cost-effective, time-saving, easy to implement, and easy to upgrade and migrate, with code sharing up to 90% for both iOS and Android platforms. Since it caters to a large audience it is also very good to scale up your web app or mobile app very fast and very soon.