Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NativeScript VS Zepto.js

Compare NativeScript VS Zepto.js and see what are their differences

NativeScript logo NativeScript

Build truly native apps with JavaScript

Zepto.js logo Zepto.js

Zepto is a minimalist JavaScript library for modern browsers with a largely jQuery-compatible API.
  • NativeScript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Zepto.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

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.

Zepto.js features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Zepto.js is extremely lightweight, with a file size significantly smaller than jQuery. This reduces load times and improves performance on webpages, particularly important for mobile users with limited bandwidth.
  • jQuery Compatibility
    Zepto.js aims to offer a jQuery-compatible syntax, making it easy for developers familiar with jQuery to adopt Zepto.js without a steep learning curve.
  • Optimized for Modern Browsers
    Zepto.js is optimized for modern browsers and takes advantage of advanced features like CSS3 and HTML5, which can lead to improved performance and more elegant solutions.
  • Modular Design
    Zepto.js has a modular architecture, allowing developers to include only the features they need. This can further reduce the size of the library and improve page load times.

Possible disadvantages of Zepto.js

  • Limited Legacy Browser Support
    Zepto.js does not support older versions of Internet Explorer (like IE8 and below), which may be a limitation for projects needing to cater to a wide audience with deprecated browser support.
  • Fewer Features than jQuery
    Although Zepto.js is similar to jQuery, it lacks some of the more advanced features and plugins available in jQuery, which might require additional solutions for certain tasks.
  • Small Community
    Zepto.js has a smaller user base and community compared to jQuery, which may result in less community support, fewer tutorials, and limited plugin options.
  • Limited Official Documentation
    The official documentation for Zepto.js is not as extensive as that for jQuery, which may require developers to spend extra time understanding and troubleshooting code.

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

Zepto.js videos

Data-binding Techniques | CSS Techniques | Zepto.js | The Treehouse Show Episode 97

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NativeScript and Zepto.js)
Development Tools
83 83%
17% 17
Javascript UI Libraries
62 62%
38% 38
JavaScript Framework
83 83%
17% 17
JS Library
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 Zepto.js

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

Zepto.js Reviews

We have no reviews of Zepto.js yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

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

Zepto.js mentions (4)

  • TinyJS – Shorten JavaScript QuerySelect with $ and $$
    jQuery II: The Quickening! If anybody's interested in a more minimalist jQuery-like tool check out Zepto [1]. I built a toy Golang SSR project using it and felt like I was 17 again. Also of note is that "Highlander II" takes place in the year 2024 [2]. It's a sign! Everything old is new again! `$` is immortal! [1] http://zeptojs.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_II:_The_Quickening. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • jQuery v4.0.0 Beta
    > I've always thought there should be a modern, lightweight jQuery alternative like this. Have you heard of Zepto? https://zeptojs.com. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Discovered a 63kb tiddlywiki like self saving HTML+JS wiki and its looking cool
    I once made a very crude and simple TiddlyWiki work-alike I called "HulloWurld" https://github.com/calroc/HulloWurld It's 143 KB, but it includes copies of Knockout, Underscore, Zepto, and the "Marked" markdown parser... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ( Good stuff BTW: http://knockoutjs.com/ http://underscorejs.org/ https://zeptojs.com/ https://github.com/chjj/marked ) Probably the only interesting bit is the code to save the page:... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Replacing jQuery (110kb) With UmbrellaJS (8kb)
    I think zepto.js is a better choice. It's slightly bigger than cash but much closer to jquery (for example it has $.ajax) https://zeptojs.com. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NativeScript and Zepto.js, you can also consider the following products

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

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

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

AngularJS - AngularJS lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your application. The resulting environment is extraordinarily expressive, readable, and quick to develop.

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

ExpressJS - Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple