Introduction
In the fast-paced environment of mobile app development, organizations are faced with a key decision: Flutter App development or Native app development – which will give you the best user experience, fastest development and the best return on your investment in the long term?
Since I’ve had the pleasure of leading various Android app development and iOS app development efforts, utilizing both conventional native technologies for them as well as Flutter, the question I frequently receive is
- Can Flutter applications stick with performance in the native space?
- Is Flutter good for enterprise mobile app development or just for MVPs?
Let’s get into how Flutter and native app development compare in 2025 across performance, cost, UX, scalability and more-so you can make the right choice for your product.
Comparing Flutter vs. Native Development
Performance is always the top priority for any app. Native apps have an edge in hardware-level optimization and are best in class especially in resource intensive use cases like gaming, AR/VR or video processing. That being said, Flutter has closed the gap significantly. Thanks to Dart’s AOT and JIT compilation and high-performance Skia rendering engine, most business apps built with Flutter today deliver near-native performance - smooth animations, responsive UIs and low startup times.
- Use Native for apps that require deep performance tuning and optimization
- Use Flutter for UI-rich, data-driven apps that require fast and responsive interfaces
Development speed & cost
With Flutter mobile development, developers can use a single codebase for Android, iOS, and even partially for web and desktop, resulting in:
- Lower development cost
- Shorter release cycles
- Easier QA and maintenance
Native development involves building and maintaining two separate codebases (one for iOS, one for android) which means double the effort and cost - but gives full control over each platform.
- For time-sensitive or budget-conscious projects, Flutter can accelerate delivery
- For platform-specific optimization or long-term ecosystem alignment, native seems to be a good bet
Bonus:
If you anticipate a web version of your app in the future, Flutter’s cross-platform development capability enables reuse of much of the codebase, saving considerable time and effort.
Is Flutter good for enterprise apps?
Today both Flutter and native platforms can power enterprise-grade mobile apps. Flutter has matured into a powerful framework for Flutter enterprise app development. It is used by companies like BMW, eBay, and Alibaba for scalable, secure, and visually appealing apps. For enterprise mobile app development specifically, Flutter delivers:
- Modular architecture
- Role-based UI
- Advanced state management
- CI/CD compatibility
Native development is still the gold standard for security-focused or compliance-intense apps-especially in finance, healthcare and logistics-due to its maturity and platform-level support.
- Flutter is viable for enterprise with scalable architecture
- Native is preferred for long-standing, regulated enterprise environments
How secure are Flutter and Native apps?
When it comes to security, native apps have an edge because built-in security features like:
- Biometric login (Face ID, fingerprint)
- Secure data storage
- Hardware-level encryption
- Support for Mobile Device Management (MDM)-used by companies to control app behaviour on work devices
While Flutter apps can also be made secure, developers often need to manually connect with native code to access some of these advanced features. It’s definitely possible-but it requires more time and expertise.
- If your app deals in sensitive data or needs enterprise-grade security, native development may be the safer choice
Localization and Global Reach
One of Flutter’s underrated strengths is its excellent flutter localization support. Flutter localization is supported by powerful tools like flutter_localizations and plugins like easy_localization to implement dynamic translation, Right-to-Left layouts and locale-based UI-all within a single shared codebase.
Native platforms have deeper OS integration for localization like language-specific system prompts, pluralisation and automatic OS-level switching.
- Use Flutter for faster multilingual rollout across platforms
- Use Native if you require tight integration with OS-level language settings
Product lifecycle & maintainability
Flutter’s shared codebase simplifies regular updates, bug fixes, and feature rollouts. For rapidly evolving products with changing requirements, this means quicker iteration and lower maintenance overhead. Native apps, though are more complex to maintain (two codebases), benefit from strong OS alignment and long-term ecosystem stability.
Here is a more comprehensive table to help you decide which one to opt for basis your preference:
| Factors | Flutter | Native |
|---|---|---|
| Update Speed | Faster | Slower (per-platform rollout) |
| Long-Term Support | Actively maintained by Google | Backed by OS vendors |
| OS Feature Adoption | Slight delay (plugin ecosystem) | Immediate access |
| Refactoring Complexity | Lower (1 codebase) | Higher (2 codebases) |
Product Lifecycle & Maintainability Comparison
UI/UX Customization & Responsiveness
Flutter provides full control over every pixel, allowing rich custom UI and animations across platforms. Apps can achieve consistent, high-performance UI with 60–120 FPS.
But native platforms deliver the most authentic look and feel, with out-of-the-box support for gestures, animations and system-level interactions that feel instantly familiar to users.
- Choose Flutter for consistent cross-platform UI
- Choose Native when UI fidelity and user expectations matter most
Integrating OS specific features
One of the challenges of cross mobile development is integrating the latest features released with new OS versions. Implementing native features like iOS live activities or those that require device hardware access like bluetooth or system level sharing , is generally easier with native development as you’re working directly with the platform SDKs.
Flutter supports many of these features through plugins or platform channels, but you may need native code for the latest or more complex integrations. Flutter is flexible, but native development gives you immediate access to the latest OS features as soon as they’re released.
| Factors | Flutter | Native |
|---|---|---|
| Live Activities (ios) | Via plugins/platform channels | Built-in |
| Foreground Services (Android) | Plugin available | Built-in |
| Bluetooth/MDM APIs | Requires native code | Fully supported |
| AR/ML/Device Policy APIs | Requires integration | Supported directly |
Operating System Specific Features Comparison
So where Native still have an edge?
There are specific scenarios where native app development is still the better fit:
- Deep platform integrations (e.g., Live Activities, Foreground Services, Siri kit, ARKit)
- Performance-intensive apps (e.g., 3D games)
- Use of niche or proprietary SDKs
- Hardware control (e.g., MDM, custom peripherals)
Native development gives you direct access to all system APIs and features without workarounds.
Current state of Flutter
Before we wrap up, let’s address a question that’s been floating around due to some recent rumors. Despite the rumors, Flutter is very much alive and kicking. Backed by Google, it has had steady releases throughout 2024–2025 and is expanding into web, desktop and embedded platforms.
Recent updates have focused on:
- DevTools improvements
- AI-assisted development (via Gemini)
- Performance enhancements (Impeller engine)
According to GoodFirms, it’s the #1 choice among cross-platform developers, with ~46% usage in 2023.
Digital One Agency reports over 2.8 million monthly developers and some 600,000 published Flutter apps as of early 2025 which clearly indicates Flutter adoption is growing, especially in enterprise and emerging markets like India and Southeast Asia.
Conclusion
Flutter is not just surviving-it’s maturing into a unified development toolkit. In 2025, for mobile app development is one of the best cross-platform frameworks. With Flutter and React Native, businesses no longer need to build and maintain two separate codebases.
To help you make a decision, here’s a quick comparison of Flutter and Native development across all the factors we discussed above. You can use this as a reference to match your tech choice with your app’s goals, timeline and complexity.
| Feature / Category | Flutter | Native |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Near-native performance with Dart AOT & Skia sufficient for most business use cases | Best-in-class performance especially for heavy graphics games and low-level processing |
| Development Speed | Fast - Single codebase for Android iOS Web and Desktop | Slower - Separate codebases longer QA & release cycles |
| Cost Efficiency | Lower overall dev cost shared resources and reduced testing | Higher cost due to dedicated teams and duplicated effort |
| Security | Secure with plugins and native bridging but needs more setup | Strong OS-level security features built-in (e.g. biometrics secure storage) |
| Enterprise Readiness | Mature tooling modular architecture used by large enterprises (e.g. BMW Alibaba) | Stable proven and often preferred in compliance-heavy sectors |
| UI/UX Customization | Full pixel-level control consistent across platforms | Native look and feel seamless interaction with OS-specific UX standards |
| Access to Native Features | Achievable via plugins or platform channels (may require native code) | Full direct access to all platform APIs and features |
| Product Lifetime & Maintainability | Easy to scale and maintain with a shared codebase | Long-term stability tightly coupled with OS updates |
| Platform Support | Mobile + Web + Desktop from a single codebase | Mobile only (unless separately developed for each platform) |
| Best Use Cases | Cross-platform B2B/B2C apps MVPs dashboards admin tools ecommerce | Performance-critical apps AR/VR games fintech hardware integration |
Flutter vs. Native pp Development: Comparison Overview
The debate of Flutter vs Native app development in 2025 doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all solution. It depends on:
- Target audience and platforms
- App’s performance and security requirements
- Team expertise, skills and timeline
- Plans for scalability or web/desktop expansion
Still not sure about what’s best for your product?
If you're exploring your mobile app development solutions and evaluating Flutter mobile app development versus traditional native stacks, our expert team at TO THE NEW can help assess your technical and business needs and choose the right path for your product’s success. Reach out to us today.