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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Frameworks
  4. Cross Platform Mobile Development
  5. Foundation vs Ionic

Foundation vs Ionic

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Ionic
Ionic
Stacks9.5K
Followers8.6K
Votes1.8K
Foundation
Foundation
Stacks1.2K
Followers1.2K
Votes740

Foundation vs Ionic: What are the differences?

# Key Differences Between Foundation and Ionic

Foundation is a responsive front-end framework developed by ZURB, while Ionic is a powerful HTML5 mobile app development framework focused on building hybrid mobile apps. 
In terms of ease of customization, Foundation offers a high level of customization through its SASS and CSS components, allowing developers to create unique designs easily. On the other hand, Ionic provides a robust set of pre-designed and ready-to-use components, making it simpler for developers to build mobile apps quickly without extensive design work.
When it comes to performance, Foundation is known for its lightweight structure, resulting in faster loading times and better page speed optimization. In contrast, Ionic utilizes AngularJS for its structure, which can impact performance slightly compared to Foundation but offers powerful data binding capabilities for dynamic app development.
In terms of supported platforms, Foundation focuses on web and desktop applications, providing responsive design solutions for various screen sizes. In comparison, Ionic is specifically designed for mobile app development and supports cross-platform development for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.
Furthermore, Foundation's documentation is comprehensive and well-organized, making it easy for developers to find information and troubleshoot issues. On the other hand, Ionic's documentation is more focused on mobile app development, offering detailed guides and tutorials for building hybrid apps efficiently.
Lastly, Foundation primarily focuses on front-end development, offering a wide range of design elements and UI components. In contrast, Ionic is geared towards mobile app development, providing features like native functionalities, touch gestures, and device APIs for seamless integration with mobile devices. 

In Summary, the key differences between Foundation and Ionic lie in their focus on customization, performance, supported platforms, documentation, and target development areas.

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Advice on Ionic, Foundation

Anonymous
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
Thuan
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
Melly
Melly

Dec 19, 2019

Needs advice

Hi, we are an early startup (with an iPOC prototype) but need to get started on our MVP, and our tech developers in India recommended a hybrid, and they use Ionic, then we spoke with a software company in the US and he recommended Flutter or React Native. Any advice or input for us on the differences between these? Our app will need Bluetooth GPS for "near me" and social media sharing reviews capability, and also link on the backend with businesses. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

540k views540k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Ionic
Ionic
Foundation
Foundation

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.

Foundation is the most advanced responsive front-end framework in the world. You can quickly prototype and build sites or apps that work on any kind of device with Foundation, which includes layout constructs (like a fully responsive grid), elements and best practices.

Performance obsessed;Utilizes Angular and React;Native focused;Beautifully designed;Based on Web Components;
Semantic: Everything is semantic. You can have the cleanest markup without sacrificing the utility and speed of Foundation.;Mobile First: You can build for small devices first. Then, as devices get larger and larger, layer in more complexity for a complete responsive design.;Customizable: You can customize your build to include or remove certain elements, as well as define the size of columns, colors, font size and more.;Professional: Millions of designers and developers depend on Foundation. Now we have business support, training and consulting to help grow your product or service.
Statistics
Stacks
9.5K
Stacks
1.2K
Followers
8.6K
Followers
1.2K
Votes
1.8K
Votes
740
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
  • 160
    Responsive grid
  • 93
    Mobile first
  • 80
    Open source
  • 75
    Semantic
  • 72
    Customizable
Cons
  • 5
    Requires jQuery
  • 4
    Awful site

What are some alternatives to Ionic, Foundation?

Bootstrap

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is the most popular HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.

Flutter

Flutter

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

React Native

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

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.

Semantic UI

Semantic UI

Semantic empowers designers and developers by creating a shared vocabulary for UI.

Materialize

Materialize

A CSS Framework based on material design.

Material Design for Angular

Material Design for Angular

Material Design is a specification for a unified system of visual, motion, and interaction design that adapts across different devices. Our goal is to deliver a lean, lightweight set of AngularJS-native UI elements that implement the material design system for use in Angular SPAs.

NativeScript

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.

Material-UI

Material-UI

Material UI is a library of React UI components that implements Google's Material Design.

Blazor

Blazor

Blazor is a .NET web framework that runs in any browser. You author Blazor apps using C#/Razor and HTML.

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