14 Best Mobile App Development Platforms

What's the mobile app market growth rate? Many reputed companies say the same thing in their reports: the mobile app market is growing. How fast? They predict it will have a 13% compound annual growth rate until 2030. [1 2 3]

Experts attribute this growth to an increase in mobile app users in the coming years. By 2025, there will be around 5.81 billion unique mobile phone users, as per DataReportal. Over and above that, businesses across different sectors are actively making their services mobile-friendly.

AI is another emerging force breaking the mold of traditional app development. We can see an influx of non-technical individuals (or citizen devs) attempting to break into mobile app development. As AI, LCNC (low-code no-code) platforms, and cross-platform frameworks cut down on development efforts, timelines, and costs, what once required a team of expert devs and a massive price tag is now within easy reach for startups, small teams, and even solo builders.

1. No-code and low-code platforms can reduce app development time by up to 90%. By 2025, it's expected that 70% of new business applications will be built using these technologies.
2. In 2021, the low-code platform market was valued at $7.61 billion and is projected to grow to $36.43 billion by 2027.
3. No-code platforms require 70% fewer resources compared to traditional app development methods.
4. 85% of workers report that no-code tools add value to their work. [Source: Kissflow]

However, if we look at it from another angle, the playground for mobile app development is evolving into a crowded space, and many businesses may feel lost in an endless list of frameworks (or tools).

When there are very few options to choose from or an abundance of tools, it can lead to feeling uncertain and overwhelmed. Therefore, it is harder for many to find the right tool.

In this guide, we will take you through the best mobile app development platforms, whether you want to build a personal project or create a new SaaS project. One of these will make app development a breeze and bring you to the finish line faster.

How Mobile App Development Is Changing

Mobile app development can take multiple paths: through full coding, minimal code, or even no code at all. When we look at app development platforms, we can sort them into frameworks and Low Code/No Code (LCNC) tools. While frameworks cut down on coding efforts, developers can develop apps faster. On the other hand, LCNC platforms are utilized to eliminate coding.

Frameworks such as React Native and Flutter have been used by the world's largest companies, including Google, Meta, Pinterest, and Discord. Meanwhile, the LCNC platforms are gaining traction among small and medium-sized businesses.

1. The LCNC market is expected to surpass $200 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.8%.
2. Gartner reports that LCNC platforms will account for over 65% of app development activities by 2025.
3. 70% of new business apps will rely on these technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020. [Source: Kissflow]

A Short Take on Mobile Frameworks and LCNC Tools

Mobile development has undergone several transformations. Mobile frameworks are hardly a decade-back innovation, opening the door to a more flexible and smooth development. Modern frameworks comprise built-in software, tools, libraries, debugging tools, pre-written code, resources, and many other things to speed up development.

Subsequently, they empower developers from different backgrounds to build apps without picking up native development. They make available everything a developer may need to build a mobile app with minimal effort. Here's a quick look at the frameworks we've found most useful in mobile app development.

A Short Take on Mobile Frameworks and LCNC Tools

Mobile development has undergone several transformations. Mobile frameworks are hardly a decade-back innovation, opening the door to a more flexible and smooth development. Modern frameworks comprise built-in software, tools, libraries, debugging tools, pre-written code, resources, and many other things to speed up development.

Subsequently, they empower developers from different backgrounds to build apps without picking up native development. They make available everything a developer may need to build a mobile app with minimal effort.

Best Mobile App Development Platforms

Here's a quick look at the frameworks we've found most useful in mobile app development.

1. Flutter

Flutter, developed at Google, is an open-source, one of the best mobile app development platforms (with more than 45% of developers found to be using it in 2023). It is an ultra-modern development framework that comes up with widgets, a rendering engine, testing, and integrating APIs to build and deploy mobile apps in record time.

2. React Native

React Native, initially developed by Meta as an internal tool for mobile app development, was later used by Meta to address challenges in their products. As an open-source and Meta-backed framework, React Native is one of the most celebrated frameworks among cross-platform mobile app developers.

Over the last few years, React Native's growth has been superseded by the rise of Google Flutter, yet it continues to be the preferred framework for more than 1/3rd of cross-platform mobile app developers worldwide, according to Statisa's 2023 survey.

most popular cross platform frameworks

Its architecture contains a JavaScript bridge that manipulates native components instead of the web view. Hermes engine, a recent addition, makes it one of the finest choices for apps to run on low-end devices.

The best part of React Native development is that professionals coming from a JavaScript background can easily learn it. It provides all the essentials to build features such as animations, authentication, and push notifications. While Flutter is most popular in terms of community support, React Native takes the lead.

1. Over 50,000 developers actively use React Native worldwide.
2. React Native has 24,000+ forks on GitHub.
3. The framework powers apps with millions of active users.
4. Teams of 1-5 developers make up the majority using React Native.
5. React Native ranks 2nd after Flutter in cross-platform mobile framework popularity.
6. The community contributes to thousands of open-source libraries and tools.

3. Xamarin (.NET MAUI)

Microsoft, in its blog, reports that in 2020, over 1.4 million developers were using Xamarin across 120 countries. It has been adopted in the development of well-known apps such as UPS, Alaska Airlines, BBC, and Siemens. A professional (or team) with expertise in C# and .NET frameworks can use this framework.

It is the best choice for the enterprise system built on .NET technologies. Due to its cross-platform nature, it is popular among SMBs as an alternative to React and Flutter. It was started as an experimental open-source project named Mono to develop a version of .NET for Linux. Later, it was renamed to Xamarin, which supported Android and iOS development. In February 2015, Microsoft acquired it.

For developers, it provides a rich suite of APIs to build features such as geolocation, sensors, and device information. If you love dependency injection and fan or modular writing, it has DI support.

For app structuring, it provides Xamarin.Forms Shell enables professionals to build an app with less coding. It has hot reload features so that developers can see the impact of their changes in real time. When you add new code, you will see the changes in the UI.

1. it holds ~11% of Android framework market share (alongside Unity) [Statista]
2. C#-based UI logic with access to native APIs.
3. No official updates or security patches since May 2024.
4. It is likely blocked by April 2025 (Xcode 15/iOS 17 SDKs unsupported.
5. Limited hot reload (slows UI iteration).

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