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React Native VS date-fns

Compare React Native VS date-fns and see what are their differences

React Native logo React Native

A framework for building native apps with React

date-fns logo date-fns

date-fns provides the most comprehensive yet simple and consistent toolset for manipulating JavaScript dates in a browser & Node.js.
  • React Native Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-16
  • date-fns Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-30

React Native features and specs

  • Cross-platform development
    React Native allows developers to write code once and use it to build applications for both iOS and Android platforms, significantly reducing development time and effort.
  • Performance
    React Native uses native components under the hood, providing better performance compared to hybrid technologies like Cordova or Ionic.
  • Community support
    React Native has a large and active community, which means plenty of libraries, tools, and support are available to help developers solve problems and add features.
  • Hot reloading
    React Native supports hot reloading, enabling developers to see the results of the latest change instantly without losing the application's state.
  • Reusable components
    Developers can use React Native's component-based architecture to create reusable UI components, making code more modular and easier to maintain.
  • Strong backing
    Backed by Facebook, React Native benefits from continuous development, regular updates, and a high level of reliability and stability.

Possible disadvantages of React Native

  • Complexity for advanced features
    Implementing complex features and achieving deep integrations with native APIs may require more effort and a good understanding of native programming.
  • Performance limitations
    While React Native performs well for most use cases, it may still fall short in performance-intensive applications compared to fully native solutions.
  • Limited third-party libraries
    Some third-party libraries might not be available for React Native, or they may lack features compared to their native counterparts.
  • Platform-specific code
    Despite being cross-platform, certain features might still require platform-specific code, increasing the complexity when developing for both iOS and Android.
  • Potential for outdated documentation
    As React Native evolves quickly, some documentation or tutorials might become outdated, leading to confusion and extra effort to find up-to-date information.
  • Size of the application
    React Native applications tend to have larger file sizes compared to their native counterparts due to the inclusion of the JavaScript runtime and other dependencies.

date-fns features and specs

  • Lightweight
    date-fns is designed to be lightweight, with a modular structure that allows developers to only import the functions they need, reducing overall bundle size.
  • Modular
    The library is highly modular, which means you can include only the specific functionalities you need, leading to better optimization and faster load times for your applications.
  • Immutable
    date-fns functions operate in an immutable way, meaning they do not change the original date objects but return new date objects, avoiding potential side effects.
  • Comprehensive
    date-fns provides a comprehensive set of date-related functions, covering a wide range of use cases from simple date manipulation to complex date calculations.
  • Localization
    The library has built-in support for internationalization and localization, making it easier to format dates in various locales and languages.
  • Ease of Use
    With a consistent and straightforward API, date-fns is easy to learn and use, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced developers.
  • Well-maintained
    date-fns is actively maintained with frequent updates and a supportive community, ensuring it stays up-to-date with the latest JavaScript standards and practices.

Possible disadvantages of date-fns

  • Not as Rich as Moment.js
    Compared to Moment.js, date-fns lacks some of the more advanced date manipulation features and utilities, potentially requiring additional work for certain use cases.
  • Learning Curve
    While simpler than some alternatives, there is still a learning curve to fully understand and utilize the modular approach and various functions provided by date-fns.
  • No Time Zones Support
    Date-fns does not provide built-in support for time zones, which can be a limitation for applications that require robust time zone handling.
  • Function Overhead
    The functional approach, while flexible, can lead to a higher overhead in function calls compared to some object-oriented approaches, potentially impacting performance in heavily date-manipulation-centric applications.
  • Dependency Management
    Because of its modularity, managing imports and ensuring all necessary parts of the library are included can sometimes be cumbersome and error-prone.
  • Interoperability
    Interoperability with other date libraries is not always straightforward, and transitioning from libraries like Moment.js can require significant code changes.

Analysis of React Native

Overall verdict

  • React Native is generally a good choice for mobile app development, especially if you're looking for a cross-platform solution. Its ease of use, combined with the ability to leverage a single codebase for both iOS and Android, makes it a popular option among developers.

Why this product is good

  • React Native is considered good because it allows developers to build mobile applications using JavaScript and React, enabling code reuse between Android and iOS platforms. This can speed up development time and reduce costs. It also has a vibrant community and a strong ecosystem with numerous libraries and tools, making it easier to implement complex functionalities. Additionally, React Native provides a native-like performance for most use cases, which enhances the user experience.

Recommended for

  • Startups and small businesses looking to develop mobile apps quickly and cost-effectively.
  • Developers with a background in JavaScript and React who want to expand into mobile app development.
  • Projects that require rapid prototyping and iterative development.
  • Applications that need to maintain a shared codebase between web and mobile platforms.

Analysis of date-fns

Overall verdict

  • Yes, date-fns is a good choice for date manipulation in JavaScript applications. It is efficient, lightweight, and well-maintained, making it suitable for both small and large projects.

Why this product is good

  • Date-fns is considered a good library because it offers over 200 functions for manipulating JavaScript dates in a consistent and reliable manner. It focuses on immutability and provides a functional approach to date manipulation, which can help avoid common pitfalls associated with mutable objects. It's also modular, allowing developers to include only the functions they need, reducing the overall bundle size.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking a lightweight, modular date library.
  • Projects where tree-shaking capabilities are important to reduce bundle size.
  • Teams that prefer a functional programming approach to date manipulation.
  • Applications needing comprehensive date manipulation capabilities without the overhead of larger libraries like Moment.js.

React Native videos

React Native in 2019 & Beyond

More videos:

  • Review - What Is React Native?
  • Review - Why React Native is garbage.

date-fns videos

No date-fns videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to React Native and date-fns)
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
82 82%
18% 18
JS Library
0 0%
100% 100
JavaScript Framework
100 100%
0% 0

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare React Native and date-fns

React Native Reviews

Explore 9 Top Eclipse Alternatives for 2024
Pioneered by Meta Platforms, Inc., React Native is a remarkable JavaScript framework that merges native app development with JavaScript libraries, offering a dependable solution for creating exemplary native apps for Android, iOS, and other platforms.
Source: aircada.com
Top 10 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform App Development
Introduced in 2015 by Facebook, React Native is an open-source framework based on JavaScript. Being a developer-friendly framework, it’s a mobile-first platform that is capable of rendering mobile apps for multiple platforms, including iOS and Android.
Exploring 15 Powerful Flutter Alternatives
React Native is an open-source UI framework for writing native Android and iOS apps using JavaScript and React. React Native does deliver excellent prototyping capabilities, however. The React framework lends itself nicely to creating basic proofs of concept and experimenting with different interaction models and UI designs with little overhead. Features like Fast Refresh...
THE BEST 34 APP DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE IN 2022 LIST
Create native apps for Android and iOS using React. React Native combines the best parts of native development with React, a best-in-class JavaScript library for building user interfaces. You can use React Native in your existing Android and iOS projects or you can create a whole new app from scratch. Written in JavaScript—rendered with native code. React primitives render...
Top 10 Visual Studio Alternatives
React native is famous for enabling the users to develop the core native applications and offers the best quality. It does not compromise on providing the best customer services and support. The react-native components surround the codes that already exist and then interact with the native APIs. That, in turn, allows the developers to learn the development process and makes...

date-fns Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, React Native should be more popular than date-fns. It has been mentiond 233 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.

React Native mentions (233)

  • How I Created and Deployed An iPhone (and Android) App Without A Mac, And So Can You Too
    This course was great for me because one, it was made within the last year (at the time I took the course anyway). It seemed anything older than this had out-of-date information (using an older version of React Native) and it would throw me off when I encountered something that wasn't done using the more recent versions of React Native/Expo. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Apprendre Flutter
    React Native: Assez faile à prendre en main si on maitrise React. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Migrating from AngularJS to React
    React skills work for React Native development - Although React Native is a separate framework designed specifically for building mobile applications, many of the skills a developer gains working with the React framework are applicable here as well. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • The Mobile Development Tech Stack for 2025
    React Native (Official Documentation) allows you to create apps for both iOS and Android with a single codebase, while TypeScript adds type safety to your JavaScript, reducing bugs and improving code quality. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • React + AI Stack for 2025
    React Native is the powerhouse for cross-platform mobile development. Write once, run everywhere, get native performance when you need it, enjoy hot reloading for rapid development, tap into a huge ecosystem of libraries and tools, and integrate with native modules when you need platform-specific features. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
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date-fns mentions (77)

  • Supporting RTL language layout in your web application
    You can also choose to use a library like date-fns to handle date and time localization. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Say Goodbye to JavaScript’s DST Date Confusion
    These issues can also occur in date-time libraries such as moment.js, date-fns, Day.js, and luxon. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Day 8: D-8 🎱
    Do you know how many days left till Christmas? Well this little handy library certainly does! - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Release Radar · September 2024: Major updates from the open source community
    JavaScript seems to be the flavour of the month, and here's another JavaScript project for you. date-fns provides the most comprehensive and consistent toolset for manipulating JavaScript dates in a browser & Node.js. The latest version comes ten years after the very first release. There are no breaking changes in the release, and it comes with added time zone support, meaning you can select which time zone to... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Date Formatting: Carbon, date-fns, and Vanilla JS
    Working with dates and times is an essential part of web development. Whether you're building a blog, an e-commerce site, or a personal project, handling and formatting dates correctly can greatly enhance user experience. In this blog, we'll explore date formatting using three different methods: Carbon (PHP), date-fns (JavaScript), and Vanilla JS Date. We'll provide examples for each to help you understand how to... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing React Native and date-fns, you can also consider the following products

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

Moment.js - Parse, validate, manipulate, and display dates in JavaScript

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

Day.js - 2kB JavaScript date utility library

OpenSSL - OpenSSL is a free and open source software cryptography library that implements both the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, which are primarily used to provide secure communications between web browsers and …

Luxon - Application and Data, Libraries, and Javascript Utilities & Libraries