Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Wars: Xamarin vs Ionic

A widening array of cross-platform development frameworks is available to simplify mobile app development, but only a handful stand out as offering an acceptable balance between productivity and app quality. Among these, there are the Xamarin and Ionic frameworks.

Xamarin has long been a cross-platform favorite with enterprises and development companies, while Ionic, a flexible and capable hybrid app framework, is hailed as one of the best tools to capitalize on web development technology and repurpose it for building low-cost mobile apps.

In the following Xamarin vs Ionic comparison, we offer some insights into two of those standouts by pitting them head-to-head.

If you're comparing Xamarin vs Ionic for a specific mobile-app development project, your choice will be determined by the characteristics of each framework.

For example, if you're planning a complex business app that will be integrated with existing enterprise applications and architecture, Ionic probably won't be your best option. Xamarin fares much better in this regard because it uses C#, enabling code and business logic to be shared between the client and the server.

Xamarin is also the most suitable framework for building apps that take advantage of native device features, as Ionic's support for native APIs is limited. A further issue with Ionic is its tendency to make life difficult for developers when creating complex apps with many lines of code.

On the other hand, if your project requires development of relatively simple apps, without a great deal of customization and with a somewhat native appearance, Ionic is a good option, especially if your development team is skilled in the use of web technology. Ionic is also a bit more flexible in terms of architectural patterns than the MVVM-only Xamarin framework, as Ionic supports MVVM, MVC, and MVP.

App performance is a big part of user experience, and here Xamarin tends to outperform not only Ionic, but also most of the other hybrid and quasi-native development frameworks like React Native and Titanium. For example, one developer, writing for ZeoMag, states that Xamarin apps typically load 25% quicker, use 50% less memory, and 76% less CPU resource than those created with any HTML hybrid framework.

Conversely, a decision whether or not to use Ionic can pose quite a dilemma if you have an interest in developing high-performance apps. This framework's reliance on web technology doesn't lend itself well to app performance, although when used in conjunction with Angular JS, some performance elements can be enhanced to a degree.

The problem is this: if you're developing an app that will need to compete with others, such as a consumer app, Ionic performance will be more of a handicap than an advantage.

Similarly, if your app will only be for internal use (within an enterprise for example), Ionic probably won't give you the performance you need to boost workforce productivity or engagement. In summary then, Ionic just can't hold a candle to Xamarin when app performance is priority number one.

In the hands of skilled engineers, Ionic and Xamarin are both exceptional cross-platform development assets, which, compared with building native apps for two or more platforms, will save your business both time and money. Any decision about which one to use, though, should be subject to rigorous assessment of your needs, budget, and development objectives.

If app quality is a priority, you're integrating with a lot of preexisting .NET architecture, and/or you need to build apps for a wide variety of platforms and versions, Xamarin will almost certainly be the best fit.

For smaller or less frequent projects on restricted budgets, Ionic will provide you with a fast and effective route to functional if unspectacular mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

Depending on your resources, and whether you will develop apps in-house or with the help from external development companies, you might even wish to utilize both of these popular frameworks. Neither one is particularly costly to implement, especially since Microsoft started bundling Xamarin for free with the Visual Studio Community edition and Xamarin Studio (for Mac).