20 Top App Development Frameworks to Discover in 2024

The world of mobile app development has seen exponential growth in recent years. Mobile app development companies are confronted with as many possibilities. But, the sheer number of options can be a bit overwhelming. It could take some time to identify the most suitable mobile framework for developing apps for a particular project. To help you make this choice, we’ve created an overview of the best 20 app development frameworks in 2024. The following guide can help locate the ideal tool for your next project. From the most popular open-source platforms to cross-platform development tools, we’ve included everything as per the top mobile app development company in USA.

 

All About App Development Frameworks

 

Some key stats for mobile app growth are:

 

• As per reports, over 25 billion apps have been downloaded globally from app stores as of 2023, driven majorly by top app development frameworks.
• Research shows that the global app economy market is projected to reach $11.75 trillion by 2027.
• It is estimated that over 80% of all mobile apps are created using cross platform mobile app development frameworks as they enable building apps for different OS with the same codebase.
• Popular frameworks like Flutter, React Native, Xamarin and Ionic together power more mobile apps than all other native technologies combined.
• According to surveys, companies that use mobile app development frameworks can develop apps 3-4 times faster than those on native development. This translates to huge time and cost saving.
• Leading app development markets develop 95% of their mobile apps using frameworks to meet tight deadlines.
• Most top best framework for mobile app development communities, code samples, documentation and plugins/integrations, thereby empowering developers and reducing development efforts.

 

How To Choose App Development Frameworks?

 

With so many options available, choosing the right app development framework can be an overwhelming task. Here are some key factors to consider when selecting frameworks as per the top mobile app development companies in USA:

 

Platform Support

Evaluate if the framework supports developing apps for different mobile platforms like Android, iOS or desktop. Frameworks like Flutter, React Native and Xamarin enable developing apps that run natively on multiple platforms.

 

Programming Language

Check the programming languages supported as this impacts ease of development and finding developers. Popular choices are Java, Kotlin, Swift, JavaScript etc. Frameworks like Flutter app development services, React Native, Ionic support multi-languages.

 

Features and Functionality

Assess if the framework meets the technical and feature requirements of the intended app. For instance, compare UI components, support for gestures, database integration, camera/maps etc. Leading frameworks offer abundant features.

 

Learning Curve

Consider how steep is the learning curve for the framework. Beginner-friendly frameworks like React Native, Flutter, PhoneGap have gentle learning curves compared to others like NativeScript etc.

 

Development Speed

Frameworks touted for speedy development are Flutter and React Native app development services, helping build cross-platform apps 2-3x faster than native development.

 

Maintenance and Support

Check the framework’s maintenance and support cycle. Active frameworks like Flutter and React Native receive frequent updates from their developer community managed by Google and Facebook respectively.

 

Costs Involved

Compare initial setup and development costs. Free and open-source frameworks have no licensing fees while closed source ones may have a price for enterprise-level features.

 

Performance & Compatibility

Native frameworks provide best performance and compatibility while hybrid frameworks are relatively lower. Test framework compatibility with third party plugins too as per the custom mobile app development services expert.

 

Developer Ecosystem

A strong community and numerous code samples determine how easy it is to fix issues. Most mature frameworks have large support ecosystems and third party addons.

 

Trends and Future

Analyze surveys about framework adoption trends and predictions for the future from analyst reports. Frameworks with growing mobile app development trends are attractive long term investments.

 

 

20 Top App Development Frameworks to Discover in 2024

Here are some of the top app development frameworks that you need to keep in mind:

 

Best Frameworks for iOS App Development

 

Flutter

Flutter provides a robust UI toolkit called ‘widgets’ that help in building beautiful user interfaces for apps. These pre-built, customizable widgets help developers in building app UIs comfortably and faster without having to write code from scratch. The framework uses the Skia rendering engine for developing the visuals of the application which provides great performance.

Some key benefits of using Flutter as  the best mobile app development framework include its ability to build attractive and native-like user interfaces faster. As it is based on a single runtime, developers have to write code only once which can then be compiled for iOS as well as Android. This cross-platform capability helps in reducing development costs significantly. Flutter app development companies in USA also ensure that apps built using it have native-like performance as everything is rendered using GPU. Its widgets and robust debugging tools make development smooth and intuitive.

 

React Native

One of the biggest benefits of React Native is code reusability. As JavaScript is used for development, developers can reuse code across mobile (iOS and Android), web, and even virtual reality platforms. This significantly boosts development productivity. Apps built with React Native render natively on each platform, resulting in smooth and high-quality user experiences.

React Native offers thousands of third-party plugins and modules that allows adding extra functionality to mobile applications. Large companies like Instagram, Walmart, Bloomberg etc are already using React Native to build their commercial mobile applications. Its active community also makes it easy for developers to find help online as and when required. Overall React Native is the best web app development framework for teams looking to build native experiences on multiple platforms simultaneously.

 

Xamarin Platform

It is the best mobile app development frameworks in 2024 that allows building native and high-performance applications for Android, iOS, Android using shared code. Xamarin app development services uses C#, which is easy to learn for .NET developers, and shared code reduces errors and bugs compared to writing platform-specific code separately. The unified codebase also helps in faster development with the best cross platform mobile app development framework. Additionally, the UI builder tools allow dragging and dropping UI components without writing a lot of code. Overall, for enterprises looking for consistent experience and rapid development, Xamarin is one of the best app development frameworks.

 

Some key highlights of the Xamarin platform are:

 

• It enables building graphical and truly native UIs using the shared C# and .NET code.
• Supports cross-platform data access with a unified approach across platforms.
• Allows leveraging existing C# and .NET skills to build apps for iOS and Android.
• Provides a complete IDE (Visual Studio) for IDE debugging experiences across iOS and Android.
• Helps manage platform specific code so that platforms don’t clash.
• Huge ecosystem of open source libraries and support from Microsoft.

 

Ionic Framework

 

As Ionic uses web technologies like AngularJS, web developers can build mobile experiences easily without having to learn new languages. The huge ecosystem of plugins also allows accessing native features. As code is reusable, development time and cost are less. The no-coding prototyping also helps in iterating ideas quickly.

 

Some key aspects of Ionic Framework are:

 

• Mobile-optimized HTML, CSS and JS tools to build applications.
• Plugins to access native device features using Cordova/PhoneGap.
• Ready-made, customizable UI elements to build interfaces faster.
• Support for popular frameworks like Angular, React, Vue etc.
• Building Progressive Web Apps using the same codebase for multiple experiences.
• Easy to setup & get started with Ionic and free to use.

 

Adobe PhoneGap

 

PhoneGap streamlines app development process through its cross-platform capabilities and plugins. It is ideal for companies wanting to leverage existing web development skills or experiment with mobile without learning new languages. The framework is also useful for basic app concepts needing minimum code or budget

 

Some of the key advantages of using PhoneGap include:

 

• Building apps using common web development skills like HTML, CSS, JavaScript.
• Compiling code to native apps for various platforms like iOS, Android etc.
• Accessing native device capabilities like camera, contacts etc through plugins.
• Large ecosystem of community plugins for extra functionality.
• Cross-platform deployment of apps through a common codebase.
• Regular updates and expansions made easier through online services.

 

Solar 2D

 

Solar2D is an open-source, cross-platform framework for building 2D games, interactive books, educational apps and more using Lua scripting language. The core framework is written in C++ for high performance while Lua provides simplicity and flexibility for building game logic and scripting.

 

Some notable benefits of Solar 2D include:

 

• Provision to build immersive 2D game experiences across platforms.
• Support for 10+ platforms including desktop, mobile web and consoles.
• Uses Lua for rapid iteration which is 10x faster than other frameworks.
• Provides tools and plugins to build native and rich UIs.
• Open-source and free to use for any purpose.
• Active support community for help and resources.

As a 2D game focused framework, Solar 2D streamlines building interactive experiences through its optimized pipelines, powerful editors and APIs. It helps indie developers produce complex 2D games faster while keeping native performance intact. The cross-platform support also allows building once and deploying games across devices. Overall, Solar2D is a great fit for creating 2D digital content on multiple screens.

 

Best Android App Development Frameworks

 

Mobile Angular UI

 

Mobile Angular UI is an open-source front-end framework that helps developers build responsive web applications optimized for any screen size (mobile, tablet, desktop). It is an extension of AngularJS that builds on top of Bootstrap and UI Bootstrap to add features like touch optimization, toggles, swipes, cascading dropdowns that are needed to develop compelling mobile web experiences.

 

Some advantages of Mobile Angular UI include:

 

• Builds on popular, stable libraries like AngularJS, Bootstrap and jQuery.
• Adds pinch, swipe, toggles to make interfaces responsive and mobile-friendly.
• Follows Angular’s MVC approach for structural code.
• Responsive components not tied to specific screen sizes.
• Actively maintained by developers with regular updates.
• Large ecosystem of plugins and code samples available.

Overall, Mobile Angular UI is ideal for companies seeking to leverage existing web competencies to build interfaces customized for any screen. The well-organized architecture and responsive designs make interfaces nimble for different form factors. It is an advanced option for serious mobile web development programs.

 

Ktor

 

Ktor is a popular open source multiplatform development framework for creating web applications and services by JetBrains. It allows building web servers, clients, and more using a single, simple and modern asynchronous API across JVM and JavaScript.

 

Some of the advantages of using Ktor framework are:

 

• Develop web services, web clients, server applications using a single API with Kotlin.
• Asynchronous and non-blocking by design for high throughput and performance.
• Provides server side support for common web protocols like HTTP, WebSockets etc.
• Supports both JVM and JavaScript for Kotlin Multi Platform development.
• Integrates with common web tooling like Spring and Jackson ecosystems.
• Actively maintained by JetBrains with regular updates and support community.
• Lightweight, simple and modular framework for rapid development.

 

NativeScript

 

Backed by Bulgarian software company Telerik, NativeScript is an open-source, cross-platform native mobile app development framework. The apps developed using NativeScript share the same API as Xcode and Android Studio. The official website continuously provides various learning tutorials and resources of the Framework. The Framework is empowered with Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, CSS, and Vue.js. NativeScript allows developers to write native mobile apps in JavaScript and share code across iOS and Android platforms. It is well suited for organisations that want to target multiple platforms within an effective budget and in less time. With NativeScript, developers have direct access to native iOS and Android APIs which allows them to build fully native mobile applications and offers a native user experience and interaction model. Some key advantages of using NativeScript for mobile app development include native user interface, direct access to iOS and android APIs, strong backend support from Telerik and ability to reuse codes across platforms.

 

jQuery Mobile

 

jQuery Mobile is an HTML5 based open source cross-platform app development framework. With the mantra of “write less, do more”, jQuery mobile allows developers to write a single code for a web or mobile app, and then use the same across all other platforms. The apps developed using jQuery Mobile are progressive web apps that can be deployed across various platforms without needing any installation. jQuery Mobile leverages web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript for building responsive and adaptive web experiences across all mobile browsers and platforms. The ThemeRoller feature of jQuery Mobile allows dragging and dropping of colors and downloading custom themes to create perfect user interfaces as per brands.

 

Appcelerator Titanium

 

Appcelerator Titanium (now Axway Appcelerator) is a cross-platform, open-source native mobile app development framework that uses JavaScript, CSS and HTML for building apps. The growing Appcelerator Titanium community comes very handy whenever developers are stuck or want to explore something new. Some key advantages of Appcelerator Titanium include- it allows rapid prototyping and is very flexible, easy to learn and develop apps, code modules helps in boosting development speed and large community assists developers. Titanium studio also provides various tools, SDKs, simulators and services for developing robust cross-platform mobile and web applications using a single codebase.

 

Framework7

 

Framework7 has easy and similar jQuery syntax which makes it very easy for developers to get started without any learning curve. It comes with over 70 UI components, 120+ plugins and many features out of the box like smooth page transitions, touch events, gestures, swipe panels etc. Framework7 has responsive grid system, scss support, 3200+ icons and provides 3 different view modes (Material, iOS and MD). Developers can create fully featured iOS and Android apps using this framework. Framework7 is also server-side framework agnostic and works with any backend. Some advantages of using Framework7 include a very easy learning curve, pre-styled widgets and components, built-in libraries as helpers and faster development via Bower.

 

Sencha Ext JS

 

With Ext JS, developers get out of the box highly customizable UI widgets, a flexible layout manager to arrange display of data and content. It follows MVC architecture pattern making the code highly readable and maintainable. Some advantages of using Sencha Ext JS include customizable UI widgets, flexible layout manager for responsive views, reduced cost of app development and codes are highly readable. Sencha Ext JS seamlessly scales from small single page apps to the largest data-driven web and mobile applications with blazing fast performance.

 

Oracle Mobile Application Framework

 

Oracle Mobile Application Framework (Oracle MAF) is an HTML5 hybrid mobile app development platform that enables building of single-source mobile applications which can then be deployed across platforms like iOS, Android, Web, Windows etc. MAF leverages technologies like Java, HTML5, JavaScript for developing robust cross-platform enterprise mobile applications in an agile and cost-effective manner. With Oracle MAF, developers can develop richer and interactive user interfaces using over 80 built-in UI components. Some key features and advantages of Oracle MAF include – access to native mobile platform services, integration of on-demand web interfaces, end-to-end encryption for security, easy development of animations and gestures-based interactions. MAF significantly reduces costs by facilitating creation and maintenance of a single codebase targeting multiple mobile operating systems and platforms.

 

Onsen UI

 

According to the Android app development agency, Onsen UI is an open-source, cross-platform framework for building hybrid mobile apps. It provides custom elements and UI components for Web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript offering native-like performance. Onsen UI leverages frameworks like Angular and React for building user interfaces. It focuses on front-end development and offers various UI elements like lists, buttons, slides, tabs etc to build fully-functional cross-platform mobile applications with native-like experiences. Some key advantages of Onsen UI include – ready to use UI components for auto-styling apps, optimization for high performance on mobile, powerful Theme Editor, integration with build tools like Cordova and support for popular frameworks like Angular and React. Onsen UI helps reduce app development time by offering over 140 native-styled UI components out of the box.

 

 

Best Cross Platform App Development Frameworks

 

Monaca

 

Monaca supports various frameworks like jQueryMobile, Ionic, OnsenUI, Phoenix etc and offers a unified interface for hybrid app development. Some advantages of Monaca for cross platform app development services include being framework agnostic, powerful cloud-based IDE, ability to mix and match themes and UI, live cross-browser mobile app testing services, infinite hosting and integrated services like push notifications, analytics etc. Monaca streamlines the entire mobile app development process offering local development, debugging tools, emulators, cloud builds and cross-platform deployment across major app stores. It eliminates the need to manage hosting infrastructure and backend providing an all-in-one solution.

 

Quasar

 

Quasar is a Vue-based lightweight, performance-oriented and responsive UI framework focussed on providing developers with reusable, standards-compliant and beautiful UI components. It is a high performance and minimalistic framework built on Material Design 2 and offers UI components like cards, buttons, menus, forms etc. Some key advantages of Quasar include- effective and clean documentation, increased app performance for mobile devices, integration with Vue plugins, support for Stylus CSS variations out of box and intuitive API. Quasar speeds up front-end development and helps buildPWAs and hybrid/native mobile apps using the same Vue codebase.

 

Aurelia

 

Aurelia uses plain JavaScript/Typescript for developing intuitive and interactive interfaces. It supports offline apps, includes sophisticated tooling and leverages modern frontend web standards. Some advantages of Aurelia are that it has no dependencies, uses simple conventions to simplify development, is standards compliant and is very easy to learn. Aurelia CLI helps automate build setup, bundling, transpilation and streamlines workflows. With its lightweight conventions, Aurelia helps developers build robust feature-rich applications.

 

BeeWare

 

BeeWare is an open-source Python framework focused on building cross-platform mobile applications that can be deployed on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows and more. This apps look and feel native on each platform. It offers native styling to match each OS while still having Python code shared among platforms. Some advantages of BeeWare include native widgets and functions, rich supporting libraries and tools, beginner friendly, provides access to native device capabilities and full Python power. Apps developed using BeeWare gain benefits of Python like rapid development, code reuse, rich ecosystems of libraries while also having native experiences across platforms.

 

Kivy

 

As per the top custom mobile application development company, Kivy leverages OpenGL ES 2 for graphics acceleration offering high FPS. Some advantages of using Kivy for app development are: it is built on Python and thus very powerful, code needs to be written only once to target multiple platforms, offers multi-touch support to create rich widgets and games and provides better performance than HTML5 based frameworks. Kivy also supports software game controllers and various input methods on mobile platforms.

 

Conclusion

 

Overall, for companies adopting a “mobile-first” approach, investing early in iOS and Android app development frameworks that support both teams of developers as well as business needs can result in long-term cost savings and competitive advantages. Understanding capabilities, suitability for diverse projects and evaluating technology roadmaps should be factored into selections. Additionally, getting guidance by discussing requirements directly with an established mobile application consulting services or ios app development agency can lead to optimal implementation decisions to scale thriving digital strategies.

 

 

FAQs

 

Q1. What are the key differences between native, hybrid and PWA approaches for app development?

 

Developing truly native mobile applications requires writing platform-specific code using tools like Xcode for iOS or Android Studio for Android. This provides deepest integration, best performance and access to all native device features. However, development is slower and separate codebases need maintaining. Hybrid applications develop using web technologies like HTML/CSS wrapped in a native container through frameworks like Cordova, Ionic or PhoneGap. They offer write-once-run-anywhere ability but performance and integration depth is limited. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) deliver web experiences through a browser that act like regular mobile apps. Being online-first, they optimize for network availability and the app-shell model makes launching faster from cache. Overall, hybrid and PWA routes ease cross-platform releases at the cost of native-like behaviour.

 

Q2. How do low-code/no-code frameworks compare for developing mobile apps?

 

Low-code/no-code app development frameworks abstract away code complexities and equip non-developers to build applications through visual drag-and-drop interfaces. They accelerate prototyping but come with certain limitations. Features are restricted by pre-built components and deep customisations requiring code. Performance may also suffer due to abstraction layers. Native tooling like Xcode and Android Studio empower developers fully. However, low-code is suitable for simple internal tools by business teams, rapid concept validation or when developer resources aren’t available. Overall, low-code aids speedier iterations at the cost of flexibility while native frameworks provide fuller control for complex customized solutions.

 

Q3. What factors should be considered for selecting a cross platform framework?

 

Key factors in selecting cross platform app development frameworks include- platform support (iOS, Android, Web), programming language used, performance capabilities, integration depth with native features, community size, regular updates, robustness of architecture, ease of use, developer skills availability, total cost of ownership and long term roadmap alignment with business goals. Additionally, aspects like documentation quality, Debugging/profiling tools, plugin/library ecosystem and framework limitations in certain use cases need evaluating. Trialing top options through prototypes helps understand real capabilities better before commitments. Taking inputs from top mobile application consulting services ensures the framework selected fits current and future business and technical requirements optimally.

 

Q4. How does choosing a framework impact project development timeline and costs?

 

The enterprise app development company’s top framework impacts timelines and cost to develop an app in multitude ways. Truly native development requires the longest due to separate codebases but can pay off for complex solutions requiring deep integrations. Cross-platform options aid speedier delivery through shared code while hybrids are quickest but limited. Low-code needs minimal ramp-up. Initial learning curves affect.