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Leaflet VS Apache Cordova

Compare Leaflet VS Apache Cordova and see what are their differences

Leaflet logo Leaflet

Leaflet is a modern, lightweight open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps.

Apache Cordova logo Apache Cordova

Platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • Leaflet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13
  • Apache Cordova Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-17

Leaflet features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Leaflet is designed to be easy on resources, making it fast to load and suitable for performance-critical applications.
  • Ease of Use
    The API is straightforward and well-documented, which makes it accessible for developers of all experience levels.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source means it is free to use and has a collaborative community contributing to its improvement.
  • Extensible
    Leaflet supports a wide range of plugins for additional functionality, allowing for customization and extension based on specific requirements.
  • Support for Mobile
    Leaflet is optimized for mobile browsers and touch devices, including multi-touch support.
  • Customizable
    It allows for extensive customization with a variety of map projections, tile layers, and interactive overlays.

Possible disadvantages of Leaflet

  • Limited Built-in Features
    Compared to some other mapping libraries, Leaflet has fewer built-in features out of the box.
  • Performance with Large Data Sets
    Rendering large data sets (such as many markers or complex geometries) can impact performance.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Customization
    While basic use is straightforward, more advanced customizations can be challenging and may require deeper knowledge of JavaScript and Leaflet's architecture.
  • Limited 3D Support
    Leaflet is primarily designed for 2D maps, and doesn't natively support 3D visualizations, which may be a limitation for some applications.
  • Dependence on Third-party Services
    For certain functionalities like tile layers, geocoding, and routing, you may need to rely on third-party services, which can involve additional costs and dependencies.

Apache Cordova features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    Apache Cordova enables developers to build applications for multiple platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, etc.) using a single codebase, which saves time and resources.
  • Use of Web Technologies
    Cordova allows the use of standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making it accessible for web developers to create mobile applications without needing to learn platform-specific languages.
  • Extensive Plugin Ecosystem
    Cordova provides a wide range of plugins that enable access to native device functionalities (such as the camera, accelerometer, GPS, etc.), allowing for more versatile app development.
  • Cost Effective
    By reducing the need for multiple native developers and leveraging a single web development team, Cordova can significantly cut down the costs of application development.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Apache Cordova benefits from community support and contributions, leading to continuous improvements and a wealth of shared knowledge and code.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Cordova

  • Performance Issues
    Applications built with Cordova may experience performance issues, especially with complex graphical or computational tasks, as they are essentially web applications wrapped in a native container.
  • Limited Native Functionality
    Although Cordova provides many plugins, accessing the latest native features often requires custom development, which can be complicated and time-consuming.
  • Dependency on Plugins
    Developers often rely heavily on third-party plugins to access native features. If these plugins are not well-maintained, they can introduce compatibility issues and bugs.
  • User Experience
    The user experience of Cordova-based apps may not be as smooth or responsive as fully native applications, potentially leading to lower user satisfaction.
  • Security Concerns
    Using multiple plugins and technologies can increase the surface area for security vulnerabilities. Also, web-based applications can be more susceptible to common web security issues.

Leaflet videos

leaflet review

More videos:

  • Review - Labour Party Leaflet Review
  • Demo - Liberal Democrats Party Leaflet Review

Apache Cordova videos

Apache Cordova - Hello World from Android and iOS

More videos:

  • Review - What’s Your View on Apache Cordova?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Leaflet and Apache Cordova)
Maps
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
37 37%
63% 63
Web Mapping
100 100%
0% 0
JavaScript Framework
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Leaflet and Apache Cordova. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Leaflet and Apache Cordova

Leaflet Reviews

Top 15 Price Monitoring Tools For E-Commerce In 2022
Leaflet.js is the most popular open-source JavaScript library for providing mobile-friendly interactive maps. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it is the perfect solution for all of your data management needs. It operates well right out of the box on all major platforms and devices. The platform offers the following services:
Source: adscale.com
Top 5 Open-Source Google Maps Alternatives in 2022
The Leaflet is another open source interactive maps software that comes with self-hosting capabilities. This map application is lightweight and easy to use. Above all, it is available for all desktop and mobile platforms such as Android, IOS, and web. Further, this offline maps app is highly extensible and offers a well-documented API for third-party integrations. This open...
The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
Leaflet leverages OpenStreetMap data and adds HTML5/CSS3 visualizations and interactivity on top to ensure everything is responsive and mobile ready. Its extensive plugin repository lets you add heatmaps , masks and animated markers. Leaflet is open source JavaScript library designed for creating interactive mobile-friendly maps and ships at only 33kb. This Javascript...
Source: improvado.io
Farewell, Google Maps
On a positive note we were impressed by the quality of open source code for operating maps (Leaflet). Some advanced functions which we had implement ourselves on Google side were readily available in Leaflet.
Survey of the Best Online Mapping Tools for Web Developers: The Roadmap to Roadmaps
It is safe to say that Leaflet was born as a reaction to OpenLayers’ bloat, clutter and complexity. Vladimir Agafonkin was asked to build a wrapper around OpenLayers, but he instead created a simple and lightweight OpenLayers alternative, and in May 2011 Leaflet was born. Vladimir focused on simplicity, performance and usability for this online map tool. The core library...
Source: www.toptal.com

Apache Cordova Reviews

Top 10 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform App Development
Developed by Apache Cordova, PhoneGap is used extensively for developing cross-platform mobile with the use of several web technologies. It lets developers write code by using HTML, CSS & JavaScript and package it as a native app. Being a simple framework, it includes the largest collection of plugins that extend its wide functionality.
Top 5 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform Development
Apache Cordova is an open-source mobile development framework that lets you create cross-platform apps using standard web technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Like NativeScript, Apache Cordova is more accessible to developers comfortable with web development, especially Angular or VueJS.
Source: www.miquido.com
Exploring 15 Powerful Flutter Alternatives
Oracle Mobile Application Framework (MAF) offers cross-platform development using standards like HTML5 and JavaScript containerized via Apache Cordova. Oracle MAF delivers excellent offline support capabilities matching the needs of field service teams and remote inspectors. With tools like Oracle Database and middleware, MAF apps cache relevant data subsets locally while...
Top 10 Android Studio Alternatives For App Development
Apache Cordova is used for building mobile applications with the help of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It is an open-source mobile application development framework that was created by Nitobi.
10 Best Android Studio Alternatives For App Development
Apache Cordova is a tool to develop Android App Development. It enables software engineers to build apps for Android mobile phones. Using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript instead of relying on platform-specific APIs. Like those in Android, iOS or Windows phones. When you are using Apache Cordova APIs, an app can be developed without any native code (like Java, objective-C, etc.) from...
Source: techdator.net

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Leaflet should be more popular than Apache Cordova. It has been mentiond 134 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.

Leaflet mentions (134)

  • Building a Location-Based App with Appwrite
    React Leaflet because we’re using React and Leaflet is an open source mobile friendly maps library with lots of plugins. - Source: dev.to / 1 day ago
  • Understanding Mapbox API Integration: A Deep Dive
    Leaflet with OpenStreetMap: Cost-effective open-source solution with no vendor lock-in, lightweight JavaScript library perfect for basic mapping needs, though lacking some advanced features found in commercial options. - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
  • Data viz library built with Apache ECharts, Leaflet, and shadcn
    This is a terrible title. Info on what leaflet.js is here: https://leafletjs.com/. Took me a lot longer than I'd like to find that, and I'm still not sure what it has to do with the majority of those examples. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Show HN: Leaflet.pub a web app for delightful documents
    Just as an FYI: "leaflet" is the name of a popular web mapping JS library. https://leafletjs.com/ May or may not be relevant for you, but if you're releasing client libraries of any sort, it might be good to be aware of. Either way, looks nifty!! - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • The Tools and APIs That Made My GeoGuessr 🌍 Project Possible
    For the map interface, I chose Leaflet.js. It’s an open-source JavaScript library for interactive maps. I liked it because it’s lightweight and easy to use. With Leaflet, I could display the map, add markers, and let users interact with it seamlessly. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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Apache Cordova mentions (44)

  • Show HN: I Made a Web App to Bring Children's Drawings to Life
    This is truly amazing. Is there a 'How it Works' a 'Potentials' section? I work with things that push to inspire creativity and learning to foster the passion behind creativity and authentic works where otherwise we'd see how 'AI copies our work' and now we can see how AI can bring works to life and make them more fun. Over-all would you like to see schools adopting your project? I didn't see a contact form but... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • PWAs wont replace native iOS apps
    Anyone have experience with/opinions on Apache Cordova? [1] It seems like it would solve most of the PWA issues. Although I vaguely recall reading that Apple is not too fond of apps that are basically just wrapped web views. [1] https://cordova.apache.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • What's the latest way of submitting pwas to the app stores?
    Has anyone tried pwa builder?[2] Thank you for any insights! [0]https://cordova.apache.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Why does everyone "suddenly" hate Single Page Apps?
    A little over a decade ago, I worked on the open-source project Apache Cordova/Adobe PhoneGap, first at IBM and later at Adobe. Apache Cordova enables you to build mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript while targeting multiple platforms with one code base. In today’s technology landscape, mobile is dominated by iOS and Android. In the early 2010’s we were awash in mobile platforms from BlackBerry,... - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • The right way to build multi platform apps in 2023 using web tech. ?
    There are layers that offer access to native APIs like capacitor, cordova and nativescript. Apparently sometimes multiple of them should be used, but I didn't understand what are the differences even after reading the announcement. These seem to be frontend agnostic technologies and Capacitor is apparently the more modern choice at the moment. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Leaflet and Apache Cordova, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

PhoneGap - Easily create apps using the web technologies you know and love: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

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

Composer - Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.