Difference between Flutter and Kotlin

Flutter and Kotlin are the two leading technologies used to build mobile applications. Flutter is a framework, while Kotlin is a programing language. A framework is used for particular problems. In Flutter, we can have several inbuilt functions to complete an application, and programming languages do not have any limit for app development. Here, we are going to compare the differences between Flutter and Kotlin based on the various parameters. Before making a comparison, we are going to discuss in brief about these technologies.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a cross-platform UI toolkit that allows us to create fast, beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop using Dart programming languages. It builds the app with one programing language and a single codebase. It is free and open-source. Google initially developed it in May 2017 and now manages by an ECMA standard. It is a growing technology in popularity to deliver excellent native experiences.

Google introduced it as an SDK (software development kit) to create modern mobile apps for iOS and Android. If we use Android Studio, it is integrated with inbuilt Java and Objective C and Swift on iOS.

Features of Flutter

The following are the essential features of Flutter:

Open-Source: Flutter is an open-source framework for building desktop and mobile apps.

Cross-platform development: It allows the developer to write the code once and can run on different platforms. It saves the time, effort, and money of the developers.

Hot Reload: If we modified the Flutter code, the changes could be seen instantaneously with Hot Reload. Due to this feature, the developer can be able to fix the bugs instantly.

Widgets: The widgets are used for developing customizable specific designs. Flutter has two sets of widgets: Material Design and Cupertino widgets that help to provide a glitch-free experience on all platforms.

Accessible Native Features: This feature allows us to easily access the Flutter's native code, third-party integration, and platform APIs for app development.

Minimal code: Flutter uses the Dart programming with the JIT and AOT compilation method to improve the overall start-up time, functioning, and the performance of an app. JIT refreshes the UI without putting extra effort.

What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a cross-platform, general-purpose, and open-source programming language. It is a statically typed language that runs on JVM and can be used everywhere Java is used. We can use it to develop Android apps, server-side apps, and much more. It is emerging as the most highly adopted technology. It was developed by JetBrains and released in 2010 with a small project. The first official release of Kotlin came in February 2016. It was developed under the Apache 2.0 license. Kotlin has a special feature named "Kotlin Multiplatform" that can be complied with the JVM bytecode, JavaScript, or LLVM code. The scope of the app developed in Kotlin is unlimited.

Features of Kotlin

Following are the features of Kotlin Language:

Concise: Kotlin language allows developers to reduce the writing of the extra codes that makes Kotlin more concise.

Null safety: Kotlin is the null safety language. The main aim of this feature is to eliminate the NullPointerException from the code.Interoperable.

Interoperable: This feature allows the developer to easily calls the Java code as well as Java can also use the Kotlin code.

Smart cast: It explicitly typecasts the immutable values and inserts the value in its safe cast automatically.

Tool-friendly: We can build the Kotlin programs using the command line as well as any Java IDE.

Extension function: Kotlin supports extension functions and extension properties that help to extend the functionality of classes without touching their code.

Flutter vs. Kotlin

The following comparison chart explains the main differences between Flutter and Kotlin:

Parameters	Flutter	Kotlin
Definition	It is a cross-platform mobile framework that provides mobile app SDK to the developers and designers to build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.	It is detailed as statically typed programming language for the JVM, Android, and the browser. It is 100% interoperable with Java.
Developed By	It is a framework that was first introduced by Google.	It is a programing language that was first introduced by JetBrains.
Released	2017	2010
Language Stack	It uses Dart programming to build mobile apps.	It is itself a programing language that uses Java, JVM, JavaScript, and Native for creating applications.
Popularity	Its popularity on GitHub has 88.7k stars and 11.7k folks.	Its popularity on GitHub has 31.1k stars and 3.8k folks.
Performance	Its performance is amazing because it uses Dart programming, and there is no need to use JavaScript Bridge for starting interactions with the app.	Its performance is slow because it uses JavaScript and 100% interoperable in Java that decreases the speed of an application.
Learning Curve	In Flutter, developers must have to learn Dart programming to build an app.	It has an easy learning curve because it is very similar to Java.
Documentation	It has well organized and more informative documentation where we can get everything that we want in one place.	It also provides well-structured documentation to the developers. Since it is in the development phase, its libraries can be changed at any time.
Testing Support	It has a wide variety of testing features along with a unique widget testing feature.	Its main focus is to deliver backend development services and uses Firebase as a secure backend option.
Hot Reload	Supported	Not Supported
App Size	The size of the Flutter app is bigger.	The size of the Kotlin app takes less size as compared to Flutter.
Integration of third-party libraries and tools	Since Flutter is a UI tool, so it needs third-party libraries and tools to bridge a connection with the native environment.	It does not require third-party libraries and tools to bridge a connection with the native environment.
Pricing	It is entirely free to utilize Flutter system technologies and their libraries.	It is also free, so there is no better choice in this matrix.
Deployment Options	It can deploy on Mobile, Desktop, and Web.	It can deploy on Mobile, Desktop, and Web.
Popular Apps	Hamilton, Google Ads, Alibaba, Cryptograph, etc.	Pinterest, Coursera, Evernote, etc.