Xamarin or Ionic - Which one should you opt for?

Choosing the best Mobile App development framework among the competing ones is an expedient and perplexing job for any organization. Now-a-days, most enterprises prefer cross-platform frameworks instead of developing mobile apps differently for different platforms. However, depending on the desired end-product, audience, timeline, and budget, they may opt to go native. There are many development frameworks available in the market of which Xamarin and Ionic are the best ones. Both are powerful & effective frameworks to develop interactive & intuitive mobile applications. However, here is the quick evaluation of these frameworks in terms of ramp up time, user experience, development speed, architectural pattern, etc., to choose one for the mobile app development needs.

• User Experience: Xamarin gives the best, fastest and most authentic experience for its users. It takes a user to another level in terms of user experience among its competitors. Ionic in turn, gives an average user experience. To face the competition, one needs to overly upgrade Ionic to continue using and sustain the competition.
• Works Best in Complex Projects: Xamarin is the best framework for long term projects. If there are many features in an app, it can easily be maintained by Xamarin for future. Whereas, for Ionic, it will be difficult to maintain complex app with many lines of codes.
• Microsoft Advantage: Xamarin is C# based which is best suited for .Net developers. The Microsoft advantage is icing on the cake for Xamarin. Ionic is ideally based on JavaScript that is not complied on code C# or .Net.

• Ramp-Up Time: In terms of ramp up time, Xamarin when compared to Ionic is little better as there is minimum memory issues and no complex language mixtures. Whereas, Ionic deals with a lot of memory management issues that results in poor performance & high ramp up time.
• 64-bit Support: Xamarin supports 64-bit application mode, which can also be forced to compile to a 32-bit target if required. When talking about Ionic, it supports 64-bit mode only on iOS. It does not support 64-bit mode on Android as per the latest update.
• Architectural Pattern: Xamarin supports only MVVM pattern as it is Microsoft prejudiced. Ionic on the other hand offers flexibility by supporting MV pattern (MVC+MVP+MVVM).
• Fast Development: Xamarin is time taking where patience will be required to debug or test codes. Whereas, Ionic is fast because of ripple emulator. Ionic helps in making your app ready within stipulated time-period.
• Cost of App Development: To use Xamarin, one needs to pay $1000/Dev/Year but there is no cost for using Ionic as such. Developers’ flexibility with programming languages is the only need in case of Ionic.

The decision for the best framework ultimately depends on an enterprise. All the frameworks have their own pros and cons. But if you aim for an app with greater user experience and high quality, then Xamarin development framework is the best. On the other hand, if you want an app with less development costs and time involved, then you can go for Ionic framework. Now the decision lies with you whether to choose a high-quality framework or a cost-effective platform. Which one would you prefer?

As a demonstrated success story, check how a leading global Telecom Network provider optimizes its field-mobility operations at real-time with Mobile apps developed using Xamarin development framework. Enterprises are opting to go mobile with Xamarin and strategically managing their mobile app development to quickly ingress into the app market.