Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Expo Sketch VS NativeScript

Compare Expo Sketch VS NativeScript and see what are their differences

Expo Sketch logo Expo Sketch

Prototype and deploy React Native code faster than ever

NativeScript logo NativeScript

Build truly native apps with JavaScript
  • Expo Sketch Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-29
  • NativeScript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21

Expo Sketch features and specs

  • Rapid Prototyping
    Expo Sketch allows developers to quickly prototype and experiment with React Native code without the need for a full development environment.
  • Web-Based Accessibility
    Being a web-based tool, it offers convenience and accessibility as developers can access it from any device with internet connectivity.
  • Sharing and Collaboration
    It provides features for easy sharing of sketches, enabling collaboration between team members or seeking peer feedback seamlessly.
  • Real-Time Previews
    Offers real-time feedback and previews of changes, enhancing the interactive development experience.

Possible disadvantages of Expo Sketch

  • Limited Features
    Compared to a full-fledged development environment, Expo Sketch might lack some advanced features and capabilities that experienced developers might require.
  • Performance Constraints
    Being a web-based tool, it might face performance limitations, particularly with complex React Native codebases.
  • Dependency on Internet
    Requires an internet connection to access, which could be a limitation in scenarios with unreliable internet access.
  • Integration Challenges
    May not integrate seamlessly with other development tools and environments, which might affect workflow for some development teams.

NativeScript features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    NativeScript allows developers to write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms, including iOS and Android, which saves time and resources.
  • Native Performance
    Since NativeScript directly uses native components, it delivers high performance comparable to native applications, unlike some other cross-platform solutions.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    NativeScript offers a rich ecosystem of plugins and modules, making it easy to extend functionalities and integrate with various services.
  • Single Codebase
    Maintaining a single codebase for both iOS and Android reduces development and debugging efforts.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, NativeScript has strong community support and continuous improvements driven by developers around the world.
  • Access to Native APIs
    NativeScript allows direct access to native APIs, giving developers more flexibility and control over platform-specific features.

Possible disadvantages of NativeScript

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The framework requires an understanding of native development concepts, which can be complex for new developers or those not familiar with mobile development.
  • Lack of Third-Party Components
    Compared to more mature frameworks, NativeScript has a limited number of third-party libraries and UI components available.
  • Performance Overhead
    Despite high performance, there is still some overhead compared to fully native applications due to the abstraction layer.
  • Limited Community Support
    Although the community is growing, it is still smaller compared to mainstream frameworks like React Native or Flutter, which might result in slower issue resolution and fewer resources.
  • Maintenance and Updates
    Keeping the framework and its plugins up to date with the latest iOS and Android releases can be challenging and resource-intensive.

Analysis of NativeScript

Overall verdict

  • NativeScript is considered a good choice for developers seeking to create cross-platform mobile applications with a native look and feel while using web technologies they are already familiar with. It balances the flexibility of web development with the performance and capability of native apps.

Why this product is good

  • NativeScript is a popular open-source framework for building native mobile applications using JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, Vue.js, or Svelte. It allows developers to write and maintain a single codebase for both iOS and Android, which can significantly reduce development time and effort. NativeScript provides access to native APIs, ensuring that apps can leverage device capabilities to deliver a truly native user experience. Additionally, the community and plugin ecosystem offer resources and tools to enhance app functionality and streamline development processes.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking to leverage their existing skills to build mobile apps.
  • Teams that need to maintain a single codebase for multiple platforms.
  • Projects that require deep integration with native device features.
  • Developers familiar with frameworks like Angular, Vue.js, or Svelte who want to build mobile applications.

Expo Sketch videos

No Expo Sketch videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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NativeScript videos

NativeScript VS React Native 2019 | performance | community | plugins

More videos:

  • Review - Which one is best for you? Flutter, React Native, Ionic or NativeScript?
  • Review - 7 Things to Know When Learning NativeScript

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Expo Sketch and NativeScript)
Developer Tools
27 27%
73% 73
Development Tools
8 8%
92% 92
JavaScript Framework
0 0%
100% 100
Design Collaboration
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Expo Sketch and NativeScript

Expo Sketch Reviews

We have no reviews of Expo Sketch yet.
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NativeScript Reviews

Top 10 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform App Development
With the framework, developers get the option to craft a completely native experience even without interfering with the user interface. Those who are familiar with JavaScript can leverage NativeScript to its fullest.
Top 5 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform Development
NativeScript is a powerful framework that empowers developers to build Web, iOS, Android, and Vision Pro apps on a single codebase. If you’re comfortable with web development, especially Angular or VueJS, you’ll find NativeScript accessible.
Source: www.miquido.com
10 Best Open Source Firebase Alternatives
The native apps you develop use the richness of the mobile platform and offer the performance you need for mobile devices. NativeScript uses native APIs and controls to render, allowing you to create more sophisticated apps compared to using a hybrid approach.
10 Best Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps 
NativeScript doesn’t require Angular or Vue.js but works better when used together for cross-platform app development. This runtime framework implements JavaScript, its superset TypeScript and Angular Native, and can render a variety of apps, be they gaming, streaming, geolocation, or chat apps. The user interface is in XML and CSS. A single, reusable codebase can be applied...
Top JavaScript Frameworks For Mobile App Development
NativeScript is an open-source, cross-platform, free mobile framework that assists in the creation of a truly native Android and iOS mobile apps. These apps can be built with JavaScript, Angular, Vue.js or TypeScript. Programming using NativeScript reduces the development time and lines of code, to a large extent. Many organizations globally have been implementing it because...
Source: medium.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NativeScript seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 20 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Expo Sketch mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Expo Sketch yet. Tracking of Expo Sketch recommendations started around Mar 2021.

NativeScript mentions (20)

  • What are JavaScript Engines?
    NativeScript is a good example of a runtime built specifically for cross-platform native mobile application development built using JavaScript. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Gio UI – Cross-Platform GUI for Go
    A long time ago, nativescript[1] seemed to be a strong alternative to reactnative. Is that still the case? [1] https://nativescript.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Flutter or React Native?
    I'm curious about this topic as well. I would also add NativeScript[1] in the comparison. [1] https://nativescript.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Svelte Native: The Svelte Mobile Development Experience
    This is not so much the Svelte equivalent of React Native as it is just NativeScript (https://nativescript.org). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Mobile App Development for both iOS and Andriod
    There is also https://nativescript.org/ which would allow you to use Vue (or several other frameworks) to build a mobile app. Used it myself a while back for an iPad app using Vue 2 and it was pretty straightforward. It seems like there have been quite a few improvements since then so might be worth a look. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Expo Sketch and NativeScript, you can also consider the following products

CodePush - CodePush is a cloud service that enables Cordova and React Native developers to deploy mobile app updates directly to their users' devices. 

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

React Navigation - Description will go into a meta tag in <head />

Apache Cordova - Platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript

TeaCode - Write your code the smart way. Super fast 🚀

Ionic - Ionic is a cross-platform mobile development stack for building performant apps on all platforms with open web technologies.