Overview

Ionic

Stacks9.6K

Followers8.6K

Votes1.8K

Apache Cordova

Stacks704

Followers892

Votes218

GitHub Stars955

Forks345

Apache Cordova vs Ionic: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Apache Cordova and Ionic

Apache Cordova and Ionic are both popular frameworks used for mobile app development. While they have some similarities, there are several key differences that set them apart. Here are six key differences between Apache Cordova and Ionic:

Development Approach: Apache Cordova is a platform that allows developers to build mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and then wrap them in a native container, enabling them to be installed and run on multiple platforms. Ionic, on the other hand, is a complete open-source SDK (Software Development Kit) that is built on Cordova. It provides developers with a library of pre-built UI components and tools, making the development process faster and more streamlined.
User Interface: Apache Cordova does not provide any pre-built UI components out of the box. Developers have to design and build the user interface from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic, on the other hand, comes with a rich set of pre-built UI components and themes that are optimized for mobile devices. This allows developers to quickly build visually appealing and responsive user interfaces without having to spend too much time on design and styling.
Performance: Apache Cordova apps are known to be somewhat slower in terms of performance compared to native apps because they rely on a WebView to render the user interface. Ionic, however, leverages Cordova's capabilities while also optimizing performance through a combination of native device elements and HTML5/CSS. This hybrid approach allows Ionic apps to have better performance compared to pure Cordova apps.
Tooling and Documentation: Ionic provides a comprehensive set of tools and documentation that are specifically designed for Ionic development. These tools, such as Ionic CLI, provide a seamless development experience and allow developers to build, test, and deploy their apps more efficiently. While Apache Cordova has its own set of tools and documentation, it may require more configuration and setup compared to Ionic.
Community and Ecosystem: Ionic has a large and active community of developers who actively contribute to the framework. This means that there is a wealth of resources, plugins, and community-supported libraries available for Ionic developers. Apache Cordova also has a strong community, but it may not be as large or active as the Ionic community.
Support and Maintenance: Ionic offers a wide range of support and maintenance services, including regular updates and bug fixes. They also provide commercial support options for businesses and enterprise clients. Apache Cordova is an open-source project maintained by the Apache Software Foundation, which means that it relies heavily on community contributions for support and maintenance.

In summary, Apache Cordova is a cross-platform development platform that allows developers to build mobile apps using web technologies and wrap them in a native container. Ionic, built on top of Cordova, provides a more streamlined development experience with pre-built UI components, better performance, comprehensive tools and documentation, a larger community, and additional support services.

Why do developers choose Ionic vs Apache Cordova?

Fans of Cordova appreciate its selection of plugins, great community, and the ability to use JavaScript for mobile development.
Ionic is appreciated for its rapid prototyping, great designs, and hybrid mobile style.

What are some alternatives to Ionic and Apache Cordova?

Sencha Touch - The leading mobile web app framework based on HTML5 for amazing mobile apps
NativeScript - Build truly native apps with JavaScript
PhoneGap - Easily create mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Advice on Ionic, Apache Cordova

Anonymous

CEO at ME!

Jun 7, 2020

Decided

While with Ionic it is possible to make mobile applications with only web technologies, Flutter is more performant and is easy to use if you are willing to learn Dart, which is a fun language. Plus, it has awesome documentation and, while its ecosystem isn't near as big as JavaScript's is, it has a good package manager called Pub and its packages are generally high quality.

403k views403k

Comments

Saber

Senior software engineer at Shortcut

Jun 28, 2021

Needs adviceon

Ionic

React Native

JavaScript

Greetings!

I have been searching lately for frameworks to build mobile apps.

We are trying to make something like a quiz app as a way for customers to contact us. I considered Ionic and React Native because we use JavaScript most of the time in websites, e.g., Vue.js/Nuxt.js. But Flutter seems a decent choice as well, especially since you can use Android/iOS-like components. We are looking for something that works in the long term, something that's time and cost-effective, especially when paired with backend services like Firebase or a GraphQL server. I would like to know your opinions and recommendations. Thank you!

281k views281k

Comments

Thuan

FE Lead at SOLID ENGINEER

Jun 16, 2020

Decided

Javascripts is the most populated language in the world.
Easy to learn & deployed production
Fast development
Strong community
Completed Documents
Native performance with lower RAM used.
Easy to handle native issues by using native code like Java / Objective C
Powered by Facebook.

666k views666k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Ionic	Apache Cordova
Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.	Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Performance obsessed;Utilizes Angular and React;Native focused;Beautifully designed;Based on Web Components;	Cross-platform (CLI) workflow;Platform-centered workflow;Hundreds of plugins
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 955
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 345
Stacks 9.6K	Stacks 704
Followers 8.6K	Followers 892
Votes 1.8K	Votes 218
Pros & Cons
Pros 248 Allows for rapid prototyping 228 Hybrid mobile 208 It's angularjs 186 Free 179 It's javascript, html, and css Cons 20 Not suitable for high performance or UI intensive apps 15 Not meant for game development 2 Not a native app	Pros 48 Lots of plugins 35 JavaScript 26 Great community 25 Easy Development 18 Easy to learn Cons 2 No native performance 1 Hard to install 0 Hard to install

What are some alternatives to Ionic, Apache Cordova?

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Framework7

It is a free and open source mobile HTML framework to develop hybrid mobile apps or web apps with iOS native look and feel. All you need to make it work is a simple HTML layout and attached framework's CSS and JS files.

Qt

Qt, a leading cross-platform application and UI framework. With Qt, you can develop applications once and deploy to leading desktop, embedded & mobile targets.

PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a web platform that exposes native mobile device apis and data to JavaScript. PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. PhoneGap allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language. Applications execute within wrappers targeted to each platform, and rely on standards-compliant API bindings to access each device's sensors, data, and network status.

Expo

It is a framework and a platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services built around React Native and native platforms that help you develop, build, deploy, and quickly iterate on iOS, Android, and web apps.

Vue Native

Vue Native is a mobile framework to build truly native mobile app using Vue.js. Its is designed to connect React Native and Vue.js. Vue Native is a wrapper around React Native APIs, which allows you to use Vue.js and compose rich mobile User Interface.

Shoutem UI

Shoutem UI is a set of styleable components that enables you to build beautiful React Native applications for iOS and Android. All of our components are built to be both composable and customizable.