Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NativeScript VS Ionicons

Compare NativeScript VS Ionicons and see what are their differences

NativeScript logo NativeScript

Build truly native apps with JavaScript

Ionicons logo Ionicons

Ionicons offers fonts for Ionic Framework.
  • NativeScript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Ionicons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-25

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.

Ionicons features and specs

  • Open Source
    Ionicons is open source, which means the icons can be freely used, modified, and shared. This provides flexibility and cost-efficiency for developers and designers.
  • Comprehensive Icon Set
    Ionicons offers a large collection of icons that cover a wide range of use cases, making it easier for developers to find appropriate icons for their applications.
  • Customization
    The icons are designed to be easily customizable in terms of size, color, and style, providing developers with the ability to tailor them to fit the specific needs of their project.
  • Compatibility with Modern Frameworks
    Ionicons is designed to work seamlessly with modern frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue, making it easier to integrate into projects using these technologies.
  • SVG and Web Font Support
    Ionicons provides both SVG and Web Font formats, offering flexibility in how icons are used and rendered across different platforms and devices.

Possible disadvantages of Ionicons

  • Limited Uniqueness
    Because Ionicons is a widely used icon set, designers seeking unique or distinctive icons might find that their project looks similar to other applications using the same icon library.
  • Size Overhead
    Including a large icon set like Ionicons can increase the overall size of a web project, which may impact load times if not managed properly.
  • Learning Curve for Beginners
    While integrating and using Ionicons is straightforward for experienced developers, beginners might face a slight learning curve understanding how to fully utilize its features.
  • Updates and Maintenance
    As with any open source project, relying on Ionicons means staying updated with the latest releases and changes to ensure ongoing compatibility with tools and frameworks.

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.

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

Ionicons videos

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

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NativeScript and Ionicons)
Development Tools
89 89%
11% 11
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
JavaScript Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Application And Data
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

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

Ionicons Reviews

The Best Free And Paid Icon Fonts - Font Awesome Alternatives
Ionicons is a product of the Ionic company, which not only creates icons for websites, but also offers users a range of products that are convenient for website developers. They allow you to create, secure, and deliver enterprise-grade applications on any platform.
Source: www.wcido.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NativeScript should be more popular than Ionicons. 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.

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
View more

Ionicons mentions (3)

  • Making a Morse Code Translator.
    I decided the top would have a Morse Code title with a typing animation and in the center of the page a form with two text area's, one where the user can input, and one that'll the output. Between them I added a switch button (to go from text to morse or morse to text again) using an icon from Ionicons and a Morse code reference button using the details and summary tags. When focused, there's a translate button in... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • 30+ Icons Resources for Developers, Product Managers, and Founders
    Ionicons Premium-designed icons for use in web, iOS, Android, and desktop apps. Support for SVG and web font. License: MIT, Free for commercial or personal use. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
  • Developer's Resume Template - made with Tailwind, Vite and Ionicons
    Ionicons - Open source icons. Lovingly hand-crafted. - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

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

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Material UI - A CSS Framework and a Set of React Components that Implement Google's Material Design

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

Ant Design - An enterprise-class UI design language and React implementation with a set of high-quality React components, one of best React UI library for enterprises

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

DevExtreme - HTML5 Widgets & SPA Framework for Desktop and Mobile