Cross-platform Mobile Tools Compared

The following compares three "native" cross-platform mobile development tools: Appcelerator Titanium, Telerik NativeScript, and Facebook ReactNative. Each of these tools promises the features needed to let you build a native, cross-platform mobile app with JavaScript.

It is not:

• a comprehensive review of these tools.
• a comparison of all tools available.
• an endorsement of any one tool vs another.
• a tutorial.
• a comparison of web wrapper (e.g. Cordova-type) tools.

Comparison Table

Key:

• ✅ - yes, supports
• ❎ = mostly yes, some missing features
• ⛔ - mostly no
• ❌ - no / not at all
• ❓ - unknown
• ❗ - yes, warning

Footnotes

• 🄰 - Just released and somewhat at an alpha state
• 🄱 - "Coming soon" per their web site
• 🄲 - Meaning, a single means for creating basic UI components that masks basic differences in the native APIs
• 🄳 - LiveView (from Appcelerator) and TiShadow (community) offers whole-app-reload rather than live reload of the "current screen"
• 🄴 - Eclipsed-based IDE available to subscribers only; community-created options to support Sublime, Atom, TextMate, etc.
• 🄵 - Telerik offers plug-ins for Visual Studio and Sublime. They also offer an online code editor and build tools.
• 🄶 - Atom-based IDE is reported to be in development; community-created plug-ins available.
• 🄷 - In essence, ReactNative is just the "V" of MVC

Support mechanisms

Discrepancies? Missing Info?

Submit a pull request!

More info / references

• Most of this info comes from the vendor sites, GitHub repos, blogs, and other vendor-provided resources
• Josh Jensen's Connect.js 2015 - Building Native Mobile Applications with Javascript slide deck compares the three frameworks
• http://mobilejs.io/ is a reference ToDo app in all three frameworks, from Josh Jensen
• http://jolicode.com/blog/crossing-the-native-bridge-to-build-apps-with-javascript
• react-titanium custom React renderer for Titanium

Disclosure

I used to work for Appcelerator (as lead trainer and later as an engineer). Since then, I've dabbled with NativeScript and React Native though I've used neither for a production app. The info here is as unbiased as I can make it, given my background. It is not meant to endorse or promote any of these tools over another. Please make your own informed choice.