Ionic vs Xamarin Platform comparison

Ionic and Microsoft are both solutions in the Mobile Development Platforms category. Ionic is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.0, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.4. Ionic holds a 7.3% mindshare in MDP, compared to Microsoft’s 6.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Ionic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Ionic

Read 14 Ionic reviews

898 Views
635 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Xamarin Platform

Read 40 Xamarin Platform reviews

952 Views
655 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Ionic

Xamarin Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Xamarin Platform and Ionic compete in mobile app development. Ionic holds the upper hand due to its cross-platform capabilities and ease of use.

Features: Xamarin Platform integrates with Visual Studio, provides access to native APIs, and allows code sharing across platforms, which is beneficial for maintenance and development. Ionic boasts a vast component library, seamless Angular integration, and dynamic community support, enhancing its adaptability and plugin integration.

Room for Improvement: Xamarin Platform can improve in handling platform-specific configurations and reducing reliance on Visual Studio's complex setup. Efforts could be made to streamline Xamarin.Forms for varied app types and resolve third-party library issues in .NET MAUI. Ionic could enhance its native performance optimizations, offer improved support for extensive enterprise-grade apps, and streamline advanced plugin management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Ionic simplifies deployment using web technologies, facilitating easy updates. Community-driven support offers agility. Xamarin, backed by Microsoft, has a structured deployment process, but its platform-specific requirements complicate it. Microsoft's structured support offers reliability.

Pricing and ROI: Xamarin often bundles with Visual Studio, incurring licensing costs, posing barriers for small enterprises. It relies on leveraging .NET expertise for ROI. Ionic offers a cost-effective model with lower initial costs, attracting budget-conscious teams. Its development speed ensures quicker ROI and pricing flexibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Ionic vs. Xamarin Platform Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ionic vs. Xamarin Platform

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Ionic

Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Xamarin Platform

Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Ionic is 7.3%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Xamarin Platform is 6.7%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms

Featured Reviews

Roche De Kock

Senior Developer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Allows us to create cross-platform mobile apps from a single code base, but should have a complete set of libraries for Capacitor

When they jumped from version 3 to version 4, 5, and 6, they introduced something called Capacitor, which is basically the tool that you use to convert your code to Xcode, etc. They have a few plugins that are still using, for instance, PhoneGap. So, you have to jump between Capacitor and PhoneGap. Their documentation is good, but there are some versioning control issues. For example, if you want to bring up a phone dial-up or a map, you have to decide whether to use Capacitor, PhoneGap, or Cordova. They started writing Capacitor to get rid of PhoneGap and Cordova, but they haven't yet got all the libraries and all the functionalities. They want you to start using Capacitor, but they don't have all the libraries there. They're developing them as they go. So, currently, you have to mix and match the three. When it comes to mobile applications, I would only like to use Capacitor. I don't want to jump between Cordova and Capacitor or have both of them. That's the main thing for me, but they have been working on it. They have started to bring them closer and closer so that you don't have to use two different sets of libraries. They're close to where you don't have to use Cordova or PhoneGap, and you can only use Capacitor. In versions 5 and 6, they have improved it a lot. They can also improve it in terms of publishing to different stores. For instance, I'm using Firebase to make my Ionic app web compatible. If I don't have a Node.js server to host on, I have to host it on Firebase or something like that. Currently, if I need to publish to different stores, such as the Microsoft store or the Huawei store, the only way I can publish to, for instance, the Huawei store is by creating the APK and uploading it. If they can start adding a little bit more integration to publish to different stores, such as the Samsung store, Huawei store, or Microsoft store, it would be good. Currently, there are no problems with iOS and Google Play Store, but for the other stores, you have to do a little bit of a workaround to get things done. Its stability could be better. For me, jumping between versions 3, 4, and 5 was a big problem because it wasn't seamless. Jumping from version 5 to 6 is more seamless. Jumping from version 3 to 5 has been a nightmare because I had to recode quite a lot to be compatible with version 5. I totally skipped version 4 because it was just too quick. Jumping between versions has definitely been a problem for me. If I have to do a lot of plugins and redo a lot of my coding because they're jumping versions, I'm going to look for something else.

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Prince Tiwari

Senior Software Engineer at AAPC

Facilitates UI development with XAML, enabling shared UI code across platforms and reducing platform-specific work

I like its simplicity. As someone who didn't start my career as a dedicated developer, I was used to building websites or Windows applications. Transitioning to mobile app development meant learning new languages like Swift or Java. With C# and Xamarin, though, I could leverage my existing skillset. Xamarin, and specifically Xamarin.Forms, let me write my code once and deploy it natively to both Android and iOS. Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform. The advantage is that roughly 90% of my UI code can be shared. This significantly reduces the amount of platform-specific UI work compared to having to write separate UIs for each platform. For the most part, Xamarin's integration with Visual Studio improved the workflow, whether I'm on Windows or Mac. Since I'm familiar with Visual Studio, it provides a comfortable development environment. Additionally, features like Hot Reload and the integration of tools like Copilot help streamline the development process. Overall, it offers a positive development experience.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Ionic is easy to upgrade and is helpful for design purposes. It also is quite common and easy to use. It is a very reliable application. It's easy to write on and print. The UI is easy to use as well. My organization chose to go with Ionic because we can access both Android and iOS applications."

"I like that I can place the code and escalate data storage. I also like that it's user-friendly. Nothing is complex in Ionic."

"The solution is secure, reliable, and packed with features so we can easily implement apps even in the most complex situations."

"The solution can support many languages."

"With the Capacitor feature, you have access to the native attributes of your phone such as your camera. This makes work a lot easier."

"Ionic's best features are its hybrid app development, design, and tags."

"What I like the most about Ionic is live reloading, which enables us to develop new features without having to build the application again and re-check the functionality."

"The most valuable feature of Ionic is the ease of use and the simple connection of the applications. Additionally, the documentation is good in the Ionic application, and beginners can easily learn and download their own application using Ionic. Everyone can easily switch out, their domain, from native applications to hybrid applications."

More Ionic pros

"The most valuable features are: One language for all platforms: C#; XAML for UI in Xamarin.Forms; provides 100 percent coverage of APIs on each platform."

"I think the best part about Xamarin is that you can create apps for both platforms using one source code. That's the most powerful feature. When you develop something for Android, it also builds for iVerse as well. The cross-platform aspect of Xamarin is unique. The ability to develop both apps with a single code base is something very unique."

"The solution is easy to understand and has banking integrated. The shorter development time, the bugging and as well as availability of a lot of documentation on the web. Also the native integration is easy."

"Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform."

"Xamarin is well-integrated with Visual Studio so it will feel very familiar to you once you start."

"You can create one solution in C Sharp."

"Being able to use the .NET framework and platform have me creating applications better than anyone who develops on Windows."

"Cross-platform development saves time and provides consistencies."

More Xamarin Platform pros

Cons

"The documentation could be improved."

"As a developer, I would say one of the improvements is more plugins."

"It would be better if it had a speed niche system. There are a lot of things we need that weren't in the latest version. But I think they will be adding something."

"Ionic is a cross-platform framework, so when we compare Ionic with native Android and iOS, we can see the drawbacks. For example, if you need to work on very high-level aspects of an application such as animation, even if everything else is not putting load on the app, you will still see high load from the server side."

"Ionic's UI component doesn't always look like the native mobile app."

"In a future release, we would like to have a little more support for the desktop environment. Currently it is still focused on mobile devices."

"Ionic could improve in the Native mode because while we do testing it is difficult to find the root cause of problems. It could be more user-friendly."

"It would be good if the mobile version uses something other than JavaScript and HTML."

More Ionic cons

"Xamarin Platform lacks in app size."

"The major I see with Xamarin right now is that there is no visual editor"

"I would like to see hot reload, similar to what Flutter has out-of-the-box. There is "Live Reload" but it’s still in preview and was only recently announced."

"The debugging functionality could be improved in Xamarin Platform because sometimes it takes very long to move through the stages of setting up the application build to the final deployment on a mobile app that resides in a physical device."

"Xamarin Platform can improve by making the enterprise documentation better. There's a lot of basic documentation of how to do many of the functions of the solution, but there's not much enterprise-level documentation."

"Xamarin's profiling tools are only available for the highest tier of MSDN subscription and compatibility with platform-native profiling tools is rather lacking. This causes friction when working on performance-related issues."

"The solution does not include Hot Reload which is painful because it causes us to wait quite some time for huge builds."

"The file size is a bit big, so you have to make certain layers."

More Xamarin Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think most of the plugins for Ionic are open source, and you can do a lot with many of the basic features. However, if you need to use a premium plugin for something like extra scroll list functionality, Ionic will ask for a certain sum of money."

"You don't have to pay anything except for certain projects. For example, Appflow has some costs related to it but you don't have to use it. You can also pay for extra support."

"Ionic is an open-source solution, it is free."

"The starting cost for the enterprise option is around one hundred dollars per month."

"We pay 50,000 dinars per month."

"Ionic is an open source solution, and there are no hidden fees."

"The solution's open source option is free with no licensing fees."

"You can use the free version, but if you still want to buy it, the price starts from $499/month."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, but there are fees for deployment, the API Store and Play Store, and using third-party libraries."

"My company provided all the licenses that we need to support our use of Xamarin Platform."

"In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."

"It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."

"I think the solution is free."

"There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."

"Xamarin is available under several licensing arrangements. Each developer needs one license at least. All features, especially the Profiler, unlock only with the highest tier."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, so it is free to use."

More Xamarin Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Educational Organization

12%

Comms Service Provider

Real Estate/Law Firm

Educational Organization

18%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about Xamarin Platform?

Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Xamarin Platform?

Xamarin Platform is free, and we use an Azure subscription at a relatively low cost for our builds. It offers a good value for money, although it requires time to make it work effectively.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Xamarin Platform?

The primary area for improvement is the support for third-party libraries, especially for major providers like Microsoft and Google. The lack of robust documentation and support for third-party bin...

See all answers

Comparisons

OutSystems vs Ionic

Compared 16% of the time

ironSource vs Ionic

Compared 13% of the time

Appium vs Ionic

Compared 11% of the time

SAP Mobile Platform vs Ionic

Compared 8% of the time

IBM MobileFirst vs Ionic

Compared 8% of the time

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Appium vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 30% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Ionic

March 2025

Download Ionic product report

Buyer's Guide

Xamarin Platform

March 2025

Download Xamarin Platform product report

Overview

Ionic is an open-source UI toolkit for developing high-quality mobile and desktop apps with web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic focuses on the frontend UX and UI interaction of an app – UI controls, interactions, gestures, and animations. It is simple to learn and can be used without any frontend framework by utilizing a simple script inclusion.

While previous versions of Ionic were strongly connected to Angular, version 4.x of the framework was re-engineered to serve as an independent Web Component library, with integrations for the newest JavaScript frameworks, such as Angular. Ionic works well in most frontend frameworks, including React and Vue, however some frontend frameworks require a shim to enable full Web Component support.

The official Ionic CLI, or Command Line Interface, is a tool that enables developers to easily construct Ionic apps and offers a number of useful commands. The CLI installs and updates Ionic and also includes a built-in development server, build and debugging tools, and much more. If you are an Appflow member, you may manage your account and carry out cloud builds and deployments via the CLI.

Ionic Features

Ionic has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

One codebase: Ionic is the first mobile app stack that allows web developers to use a single codebase to create apps for all major app stores and the mobile web. Ionic apps look and feel natural on every device thanks to Adaptive Styling.
High performance: Ionic is designed to run and behave well on the latest mobile devices, using best practices such as efficient hardware accelerated transitions and touch-optimized gestures.
Simple, clean design: Ionic is built to function and display well across all popular mobile platforms and devices. You'll be building in style thanks to pre-made components, typography, and an attractive (but flexible) base theme that adjusts to each platform.
Native and web-friendly: Ionic uses native SDKs and emulates native app UI guidelines to combine native app device features and UI standards with the full flexibility and power of the open web. Ionic operates as a Progressive Web App in the browser or deploys natively via Capacitor (or Cordova).

Ionic Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Ionic. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Cross-platform: Create and distribute apps with a single code base. Apps run natively on iOS, Android, desktop, and the web as Progressive Web Apps. Publish once and go anywhere.

Based on web standards: Ionic is developed using cutting-edge web APIs like Custom Elements and Shadow DOM on top of reliable, industry-standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic components have a solid API as a result, and they aren't subject to the whims of a single platform vendor.

Good design: Ionic is made to operate and look great right out of the box across all platforms. Start with typography, interactive paradigms, pre-designed elements, and an attractive (yet extensible) base theme.

Simplicity: Ionic was created with simplicity in mind, making it fun, simple to learn, and available to almost anyone with basic web development skills.

Ionic

Xamarin is an open-source platform for developing modern and performant applications for iOS, Android, and Windows using.NET. Xamarin is an abstraction layer that manages how shared code is communicated to the platform's underlying code. Xamarin is for developers with the two following goals:

Cross-platform sharing of code, tests, and business logic.
Writing cross-platform apps in C# with Visual Studio.

Xamarin allows developers to share an average of 90% of their program across platforms. This enables programmers to achieve native performance, look, and feel on each platform while writing all of their business logic in a single language (or reusing existing application code).

Xamarin applications can be created on a PC or a Mac and compiled into native application packages, such as an .apk file for Android or an .ipa file for iOS.

Xamarin Platform Features

Xamarin Platform has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Complete binding for the supporting SDKs: Xamarin includes bindings for almost all of the underlying platform SDKs in iOS and Android.
Java, C, Objective-C, C, C++ Interop: Xamarin gives you the ability to use a variety of third-party code by providing tools for directly invoking Objective-C, Java, C, and C++ libraries.
Modern language constructs: Xamarin applications are written in C#, a modern language with many capabilities that Objective-C and Java do not have, like lambdas, LINQ, parallel programming, generics, and more.
Strong base class library (BCL): Xamarin apps use the .NET BCL, a large collection of classes with streamlined features, like powerful XML, database, serialization, IO, string, and networking support, among others.

Xamarin Platform Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing the Xamarin Platform. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Native UIs and APIs: Xamarin delivers comprehensive access to each platform's native SDK and UI controls, projecting the entire native API of each device into C#. Therefore, the apps you develop are native instead of write-once/run-anywhere programs that look alien on every platform. Xamarin provides you access to all of the capabilities that distinguish each platform.

Share code between platforms: With Xamarin, you can share all code across platforms while providing a native user interface tailored to each individual device. With Xamarin, you can execute the same C# code on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. With Xamarin, your software is compiled to a native binary rather than being interpreted, in contrast to other cross-platform frameworks. Even in the most demanding situations, native compilation provides users with excellent app performance. Xamarin provides responsive, multi-user input and feedback, fluid scrolling, sophisticated graphics and animations, complicated data visualization, and realistic high frame rates for games.

Code with C#: Write shorter, more concise, and more maintainable code by leveraging advanced language features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), delegates, lambdas, events, garbage collection, and many other features. With Xamarin's fully extensible platform, you can include libraries written in C, Objective-C, C++, or Java. In C#, you have access to the entire native ecosystem of components and libraries.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

MRA, Napa Group, Sworkit, Airbus, Sense Corp, Interactive Gaming Company, Pacifica, Untapp'd, Diesel, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates

Buyer's Guide

Ionic vs. Xamarin Platform

March 2025

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