Top 8 Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks in 2025

Statista reports there are 322 million internet users in the United States. They use smartphones, laptops, or desktop computers to access the internet. If an application is compatible with only one type of device, it means a business misses a significant part of its potential users. Cross-platform app development is the solution to this problem. It allows companies to address their clients through multiple platforms and as a result increase their profit. What are the best cross-platform app development frameworks that developers choose in 2025 and how to make the right choice? To answer these questions, our cross-app development experts comprised this comprehensive overview. The goal is to offer you new perspectives and highlight different ways you can get the most out of the frameworks.

What is a cross-platform app development framework?

Cross-platform apps run on multiple devices and computing platforms, such as iOS, Windows, Android, etc. Developers create an app only once and make it compatible with any environment. Such an approach is convenient, cost-efficient, and customer-oriented. To build these apps, IT engineers use frameworks that contain necessary elements, such as modular UI components, business logic layers, data persistence modules, integration layers, etc. They select the components that meet their needs and use them as bricks to build the application.

Best cross-platform app development frameworks in 2025

Choosing the right foundation for your app in 2025 can make all the difference between niche success and global impact. Here’s a look at the top-tier cross-platform frameworks that offer the power and flexibility modern projects demand.

Unity

Unity is a cross-platform game engine released in 2005. It supports creating 2D, 3D, AR, and VR experiences with a focus on real-time rendering and interactive content. It builds native apps for iOS and Android by compiling customers’ projects into native Xcode and Android Studio projects.

Languages: C++, C#

Application domains and examples: product configurators, training simulators, virtual tour solutions, industrial visualizations, interactive advertising (Pokemon Go, Hearthstone, Super Mario Run).

Key features:

• The “Unity as a Library” feature allows developers to integrate Unity’s runtime and rendering capabilities as a module inside existing native iOS or Android apps. This means you can embed Unity-powered features (AR, 3D model interactions, or mini-games) into a native app written in Objective-C, Swift, or Java/Kotlin. This integration requires a solid understanding of native platform development because you have to manage the lifecycle of both the native app and the Unity runtime carefully.
• Unity as a Library currently supports only full-screen rendering, partial screen embedding is limited.
• You can’t load multiple Unity runtime instances simultaneously in the same app process.

Flutter

This is an open-source app framework from Google. It was released in 2017. In 2023, it was the most popular cross-platform mobile framework, according to Statista. Software experts still consider it to be the best cross-platform mobile development tool. Developers use it to create apps for Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, macOS, and Fuchsia*. Flutter comes with its own rendering engine that draws everything directly on the screen, pixel by pixel. This is different from most other UI frameworks, which rely on the device’s built-in tools to display the app. Because Flutter controls the entire rendering process itself, it can make sure the app looks and behaves the same way on any supported platform.

Languages: С, C++, Dart

Application domains and examples: high-performance, visually rich mobile, web, and desktop apps (Google Earth, Google Pay, Alibaba, Birch Finance).

Key features:

• Flutter’s hot reload lets developers see changes instantly without restarting the app. It accelerates debugging and iteration. A reactive cross-platform framework does not require developers to manually update the UI contents.
• Flutter offers a vast library of built-in widgets (Material Design for Android, Cupertino for iOS) plus the ability to create custom widgets. This helps build unique, brand-consistent interfaces that meet customer expectations.
• A portable Flutter GPU allows for smooth, high-performance visuals and animations by offloading intensive graphics work to the GPU instead of the CPU, which improves overall app responsiveness and reduces power consumption.

Xamarin

Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned cross-platform framework released in 2011 for building native mobile apps using C# and .NET. Software developers use Xamarin for Android, iOS app development, and Windows apps that run on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Xamarin allows developers to create solutions similar to native apps. The components of the framework are compatible with third-party plugins like Google Maps.

Languages: C#, F#

Application domains and examples: enterprise apps, business productivity tools, healthcare, finance, IoT interfaces (Alaska Airlines, The World Bank, BBC Good Food).

Key features:

• Xamarin compiles to native binaries, delivering performance comparable to fully native apps. It reduces hardware compatibility issues and allows for applying native libraries. As a result, developers receive native-level functionality.
• Software experts include Objective-C, Java, and C++ libraries when they work with Xamarin. They create bindings or wrappers, enabling the reuse of native components and improving development efficiency.
• Xamarin provides developers with compile-time checking. It means Xamarin detects certain types of errors in the code and user interface markup before the app even runs.
• Xamarin integrates with Visual Studio IDE with debugging, profiling, and software testing tools.

React Native

React Native is an open-source framework developed by Facebook and released in 2015. It allows developers to build mobile apps for iOS and Android using JavaScript and React. React Native renders UI components using native platform APIs, providing a native look and feel while sharing a single codebase across platforms.

Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript

Application domains and examples: consumer apps, e-commerce, social media, enterprise apps, real-time collaboration tools (Facebook Ads Manager, Discord, Uber Eats).

Key features:

• Developers perform image editing and video processing with the help of native modules and libraries. The modules are reusable, which improves scalability and maintainability, good for dApp development services.
• The JavaScript bridge communicates between JavaScript code and native modules allowing for access to device APIs and native functionality.
• The code changes appear instantly without the necessity to restart the app.
• The framework supports over-the-air updates, i.e., the updates go directly to users without app store approval delays. This happens due to tools like Microsoft CodePush.

Ionic

Ionic is an open-source framework released in 2013 for building hybrid mobile and web apps using web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). It uses web views to render UI and can be combined with Angular, React, or Vue. Apps that engineers create with Ionic are interactive and native-like.

Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS

Application domains and examples: Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), enterprise apps, MVPs, cross-platform web and mobile apps (MarketWatch, Diesel).

Key features:

• Ionic uses standard web technologies to build apps that run inside a native container (via Capacitor or Cordova).
• The UI component library contains a large set of pre-designed, customizable UI components that mimic native look and feel.
• Through Capacitor or Cordova plugins, Ionic apps can access camera, GPS, file system, audio recorder, and more.
• AngularJS which lies inside Ionic makes it easy to develop extensions to HTML’s syntax and add attractive functionality to the apps.
• Ionic is grounded on a SAAS UI framework which makes it one of the best cross-platform mobile development toolkits.
• Developers prefer Ionic to build PWAs that run in browsers with offline capabilities and app-like behavior. Besides, they use it for fast MVP development and apps that do not require heavy native performance.

Kotlin Multiplatform

Kotlin Multiplatform was developed by JetBrains and launched in 2017. It enables sharing business logic code across multiple platforms while writing platform-specific UI code natively. It targets Android app development, iOS, JVM, JavaScript, and native binaries.

Languages: Kotlin

Application domains and examples: mobile apps, backend services, desktop apps, cross-platform libraries (Quizlet, Cash App).

Key features:

• Developers write core logic in Kotlin and reuse it on Android, iOS, and other platforms. They share the business logic layer and therefore reduce duplications and keep the app consistent.
• Kotlin Multiplatform implements the UI separately on each platform using such native tools as Swift/Objective-C for iOS and XML/Jetpack Compose for Android.
• The Gradle system provides developers with flexible app creation and dependency management.

Node.js

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform runtime environment released in 2009. It allows developers to run JavaScript code outside of a web browser, primarily on the server side. It is built on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine and is widely used for building scalable, high-performance network applications.

Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript

Application domains and examples: web servers, APIs, real-time applications, microservices, IoT backend, serverless functions (Netflix, Uber, PayPal).

Key features:

• Node.js uses an asynchronous, event-driven architecture. It handles many concurrent connections without blocking the main thread, i.e., it doesn’t have to wait for the data from APIs. This approach works best for I/O-heavy applications, as it keeps apps responsive and scalable.
• The framework uses a single-threaded model with an event loop to manage asynchronous operations. This enables high throughput with low resource consumption.
• Node package manager (npm) is the default package manager for Node.js. Developers use it to install, share, and manage libraries or code packages for their JavaScript projects.
• Node.js is well-suited for building modular, scalable microservices architectures. It also supports rapid prototyping and iterative development.
• Native handling of JSON simplifies building RESTful APIs and interacting with NoSQL databases like MongoDB.

Appcelerator Titanium

Appcelerator Titanium is an open-source cross-platform mobile application development framework launched in the early 2010s. It enables developers to build native mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows using JavaScript. Unlike hybrid frameworks that rely on web views, Titanium compiles JavaScript code into native UI components, delivering near-native performance.

Languages: JavaScript, with support for HTML5, CSS3, and some backend languages (PHP, Python, Ruby) for desktop apps.

Application domains and examples: mobile apps, enterprise apps, prototypes, apps requiring native device features (Comerica Bank, Avis).

Key features:

• Titanium maps JavaScript code to native UI elements, providing a truly native look and feel rather than rendering inside a web view.
• The framework provides developers with a platform-independent API to access device features like camera, GPS, accelerometer, contacts, storage, notifications, and more.
• Developers can extend functionality by writing custom modules in Objective-C, Java, or C# to integrate third-party libraries or platform-specific features.
• Titanium offers an integrated development environment with multiple tools for code completion, debugging, and testing.
• Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) provide backend functionalities such as user authentication, data storage, push notifications, and social media integration, reducing the need for separate backend development.

How to choose the right solution?

Selecting the right cross-platform framework depends on your project’s unique requirements. Here’s what you should consider:

• Project scope & complexity: For high-performance, visually rich apps, Flutter or React Native shine. For business apps needing maximum code sharing, Xamarin or Kotlin Multiplatform are strong choices.
• Team expertise: If your team is skilled in JavaScript, React Native or Ionic will be easier to adopt. C# pros will feel at home with Xamarin.
• UI/UX design requirements: Need pixel-perfect native interfaces? Flutter and Kotlin Multiplatform let you use native UI components, ensuring platform consistency and smooth experience with a trusted mobile app development company.
• Integration needs: For heavy backend integration or real-time data, Node.js or Appcelerator Titanium offer robust solutions.
• Community & ecosystem: Frameworks with large communities (Flutter, React Native) provide better support, more plugins, and faster troubleshooting.
• Long-term maintenance: Choose frameworks with active development and strong corporate backing to ensure longevity and security updates.

What are the challenges of cross-platform app development?

While cross-platform frameworks offer many advantages, they also present unique challenges. Here is a list of them with effective solutions.

Performance gaps

Some frameworks may not match the speed or responsiveness of fully native apps, especially for graphics-intensive features. Developers may overcome this with special application performance monitoring tools (APM), such as Site24x7, SolarWinds AppOptics, AppDynamics, etc., and modular architecture. The latter is breaking the app into smaller, independent modules or microservices. It helps isolate performance-critical parts and allows for optimizing specific modules in native code if needed, without overhauling the entire app.

Multiple teams collaboration

When several teams participate in one project, they might use different tools and lack close cooperation. It makes the workflow complicated and stressful. To avoid it, it is recommended to use DevOps platforms (e.g., GitLab) which support different technology stacks and help coordinate work.

Sensitive data threats

Users’ trust is difficult to build and easy to lose. To ensure safety, developers apply cryptography and authentication protocols.

UI and UX consistency

Achieving a native look and feel on every platform can be tough, especially with complex or custom interfaces. Frameworks like Flutter allow for the customization of interfaces for a particular platform.

Issues with particular devices or platforms

Problems might appear if a framework lags behind in supporting new features. Besides, some plugins might fail to update or testers detect bugs only on specific platforms. All those issues require careful testing and debugging on each platform or device.

Behind the line

In internet forums, there is often an idea among software developers and IT experts that the cost and effort efficiency of cross-platform software development is simply a “cop-out” for justifying laziness. They say, Apple users are looking for Apple native experiences and are not interested in Android experiences. Well, we have something to contradict here.

• While many users do tend to stick to one ecosystem (iOS or Android), businesses often need to reach both audiences efficiently. Cross-platform frameworks enable delivering consistent, high-quality experiences to a broader audience without doubling development time and cost.
• Cross-platform development is about efficiency, not laziness, as writing one codebase that runs on multiple platforms reduces duplication, speeds up time to market, and simplifies maintenance. This allows teams to focus more on features, UX, and innovation rather than rewriting the same logic twice.
• Frameworks like Flutter and React Native have matured to offer highly performant apps with native-like UI and access to platform-specific features through native modules. The gap between native and cross-platform UX is narrowing significantly, especially for most business and consumer apps that don’t require heavy graphics or AR.
• There are apps that require maximum performance, deep platform integration, or cutting-edge features (e.g., high-end games, AR/VR development). Native development remains the best choice for those requests. For other apps, cross-platform offers a balance of quality, speed, and cost.
• Cross-platform supports innovation and scalability across platforms.

Ultimately, choosing the right development path is about smart strategy, not cutting corners, and cross-platform solutions offer compelling advantages for many projects. If you’re ready to see how this efficient approach can elevate your applications, our IT consultants are happy to help you set up the plan – just drop a message first.