.NET MAUI vs. Flutter: Comparison and Use Cases for the Most Popular Cross-Platform Development Frameworks

The global cross-platform application development market is expected to reach $546.7 billion by the end of 2033, thriving at around 16.7% CAGR. The demand for cross-platform app development is growing as businesses look for effective and cost-efficient ways to reach wider audiences and deliver their products across multiple platforms. 

The number of cross-platform apps built with .NET MAUI on the Google Play Store has more than doubled over the past year, highlighting the rapid growth of this relatively new framework. Meanwhile, Flutter remains a strong contender, ranking 11th among the most popular frameworks and libraries, according to Stack Overflow. Together, .NET MAUI and Flutter stand out as leading players in the cross-platform development market.

In this article, we provide a comprehensive comparison of .NET MAUI and Flutter, presenting their main strengths and ideal use cases in cross-platform application development.

Released by Microsoft in 2022, .NET MAUI (Multi-platform APP UI)  is the successor to Xamarin.Forms, which had once been Microsoft’s primary cross-platform development framework. .NET MAUI allows developers to build native mobile, web, and desktop applications for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. It provides access to each platform’s native features and enables shared business logic and UI components across different operating systems. 

.NET MAUI is built on top of .NET, making it an ideal choice for building solutions within a Microsoft ecosystem. To ensure high customization of responsive interfaces, .NET MAUI offers robust support for C# and XAML programming languages. In addition, .NET MAUI is widely used in building high-load software, as the framework offers high processing capacities, hot reload, integrated tooling, and other performance-centric features.

Flutter is an open-source cross-platform app development framework released by Google. It is used to build native-like applications for mobile, web, and desktop that share a single codebase. Flutter is based on the Dart programming language, known for its highly productive rendering engines, such as Skia and Impeller. 

The framework relies on widgets, which are fundamental interface building blocks that include a description of the parts of the UI, such as buttons, text fields, images, and layout structures. Flutter is aimed at the fast development of highly customizable interfaces and is known for its excellent performance resulting from its direct compilation to a native machine code.

While Flutter and .NET MAUI serve similar purposes, they have notable differences that impact their use cases.

As for now, Flutter is the most popular cross-platform development framework among developers globally. In particular, it has a solid standing on the overall list of software development frameworks, with 9.4% of software developers using it. As a much younger technology, .NET MAUI is rapidly growing its popularity. In particular, MAUI is used by 3.1% of developers, which means that it has already surpassed its predecessor, Xamarin, used by 2.9% of developers respectively.

You can check the comparison of Flutter vs. Xamarin vs. React Native (another popular solution for cross-platform software development) in one of our previous articles. As for now, let’s compare .NET MAUI vs. Flutter head-to-head by the most critical parameters.

.NET MAUI is built on top of .NET, which is one of the most efficient software development frameworks in terms of performance. Benefiting from various tools from the .NET ecosystem, .NET MAUI can bring performance close to native across different platforms.

While Dart is not as performance-optimized as .NET, Flutter still delivers stable and efficient performance, particularly for applications dealing with small to medium data loads. Thanks to its efficient rendering engine, Skia (which is to be replaced by an even more powerful Impeller engine), most apps built with Flutter are fast, stable, and free from performance bottlenecks. However, applications requiring intensive computations may experience limitations.

Overall, Flutter might show slightly better or similar to MAUI performance when it comes to simple and medium apps. Meanwhile, powered with a rich .NET tech stack, MAUI might be a better choice for big and resource-consuming applications.

.NET MAUI is widely used in mobile development because the framework efficiently uses APIs to get access to native iOS and Android features. Meanwhile, it can be used in combination with Visual Studio Code to develop apps for all platforms, in particular desktop applications. The framework also efficiently works with Blazor for developing web software. 

Flutter uses a single codebase to run apps across a wide range of platforms, including iOS, Android, web, and desktop (Windows, macOS, and Linux). Just like .NET MAUI, Flutter works smoothly with Visual Studio Code, which provides powerful tools for debugging and efficient coding across different platforms. The framework also has a rich ecosystem of mobile development plugins and tools widely applied for Android and iOS software development. 

Overall, the two frameworks cover the same platforms. While Flutter and MAUI may have their own very specific strengths in terms of developing applications for particular operating systems, the difference between them in terms of platform support is rather insignificant.

While .NET MAUI also supports cross-platform development, it may come with slightly higher costs than Flutter due to its integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, which often involves licensing fees for enterprise tools like Visual Studio. Additionally, hiring .NET developers can be more expensive than Flutter developers. However, for companies already using Microsoft technologies, .NET MAUI may offer cost benefits through seamless integration. 

Flutter generally offers a moderate development cost due to its single codebase for Android, iOS, web, and desktop, reducing the need for separate development teams. Its open-source nature and extensive package ecosystem further minimize expenses.

While Flutter might be a more cost-efficient solution than .NET MAUI, the latter might be a more cost-efficient solution for projects within the Microsoft ecosystem.

.NET MAUI builds highly customizable user interfaces by leveraging the XAML markup language. In addition, .NET MAUI uses UI controls and components from the .NET ecosystem for building stable and dynamic apps. By getting access to native features of Android and iOS, MAUI can build native interfaces for mobile platforms. Finally, contrary to Flutter, .NET MAUI provides access to platform-native accessibility features aimed at enhancing app inclusiveness, such as sign language support or vibration alerts for people with visual impairments.

Flutter, as a cross-platform development framework that has been around for a long time, offers a variety of pre-built widgets. It also integrates with Canva, which allows development teams to draw and develop completely unique UI/UX components. While a similar feature is also available in .NET MAUI, it proves to be much more convenient in Flutter.

Both .NET MAUI and Flutter allow development teams to build dynamic and diverse user interfaces for different platforms and operating systems. Flutter might offer a slightly more extensive and convenient UI customizability. However, .NET MAUI is also rapidly developing to expand its UI customization options.

.NET MAUI leverages a solid list of tools and features that make coding more convenient for software engineers and boost development speed. For example, just-in-time (JIT) compilation, ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, XAML hot reload, etc. The framework integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac, providing a familiar development environment for .NET developers. It also has a rich ecosystem of built-in libraries, allowing .NET MAUI developers to streamline app development efficiently.

Flutter also boasts a rich system of tools and pre-built libraries, ensuring fast and efficient software development. Just like .NET MAUI, Flutter uses such features as JIT compilation, AOT compilation, and hot reload for enhanced development. Besides, Flutter software engineers can build apps faster by leveraging Android Studio, an integrated development environment for Android-based projects, and highly efficient toolkits for iOS and desktop development. Finally, Flutter’s Dart programming language is known for its focus on concise and approachable code, which enhances the development speed significantly. 

Both .NET MAUI and Flutter perform well when it comes to development speed. Thanks to the excellent approachability of Dart programming language, Flutter might outperform .NET MAUI in terms of rapid software development in some cases. However, much depends on the team’s technical expertise, project scope, and the intended tech stack. 

Right after its release in 2022, .NET MAUI faced criticism for its reliability issues. In particular, the platform had issues with performance stability and showed some platform-specific discrepancies. However, the framework has been stabilized since the release of .NET 8, and the situation improved with the release of .NET 9. Now .NET MAUI has functionality for cross-platform testing, as well as strong typing and debugging. Supported by a rich .NET ecosystem and backed by Microsoft, the framework is an excellent choice for building stable and reliable apps that show excellent performance even while dealing with high-load tasks. 

Flutter is backed by Google, which means that the framework receives continuous support and upgrades in order to adapt to industry requirements and challenges. This support ensures Flutter’s technical stability. While Flutter’s ecosystem might not be as mature as .NET’s, the technology itself is well-established and delivers excellent app stability and reliability, especially for small to mid-sized load applications.

.NET MAUI and Flutter enable the development of highly reliable and stable apps that deliver an excellent user experience and require minimal maintenance. Much depends on such factors as developers’ expertise, project tech stack, scope of work, and specific project requirements.

.NET MAUI is a relatively new framework, and its ecosystem is smaller than that of Flutter, which has been in the market for a long time. However, it has support from Syncfusion, a UI component development suite that already accounts for more than 55% of .NET MAUI community contributions, significantly boosting the development of the framework’s ecosystem. With the growing popularity of .NET MAUI and its support from Microsoft, there is already a solid list of tools, building components, templates, and best practices helping software engineers solve common .NET MAUI development challenges.

Flutter has an extensive ecosystem and great community support. One of the biggest downsides of Flutter compared to .NET MAUI is that there are fewer skilled Dart developers in the market compared to .NET specialists, which is illustrated in the image below. Meanwhile, software engineers experienced in Java or JavaScript can learn Dart and Flutter in rather short terms due to the proximity of these languages.

Overall, both platforms have solid ecosystems and solid community support. While Flutter is a more mature technology, .NET MAUI ecosystem is growing at a significant pace. 

Both .NET MAUI and Flutter have their strengths and minor downsides in particular aspects. The table below summarizes the key takeaways from the aforementioned comparison. 

In many situations, it might be hard to choose between .NET MAUI and Flutter for cross-platform development because both technologies are highly mature and efficient. However, there are particular use cases where differences between MAUI and Flutter matter. Let’s start with ideal use cases for .NET MAUI.

.NET is the ultimate solution for building complex and resource-consuming enterprise applications due to its strong focus on performance. As a part of the .NET ecosystem, .NET MAUI proves to be a great solution when it comes to developing cross-platform enterprise apps and solutions involving high-load workflows or complex computations. The list of big applications development with .NET MAUI includes Azure mobile app and World Explorer. 

.NET MAUI shines when it comes to complex mathematical algorithms and workflows that involve high loads of diverse data and calculations. While Flutter may achieve the same productivity levels, Dart is, generally, a less performance-oriented language than .NET. 

As long as long-term projects are associated with higher chances of employee turnover, .NET MAUI proves to be a more reliable choice than Flutter in such cases. The point is in the above-mentioned difference between the numbers of .NET and Flutter developers in the market. While finding a Flutter/Dart developer is not an insoluble problem, the selection of such specialists is much less significant than the one of .NET. 

It is also important to mention that specialists skilled in Java, JavaScript, or Kotlin can handle coding with Dart. However, such developers will need some additional training and may face issues when it comes to solving complex tasks or taking leading roles in Flutter-based projects. Meanwhile, a proficient .NET specialist can begin cross-platform development with .NET MAUI after minimal onboarding and training.

As a part of the .NET ecosystem and a Microsoft-backed framework, .NET MAUI outperforms Flutter when it comes to integrations with technologies from the Microsoft tech stack. The point is in the compatibility of formats and seamless integration.

.NET MAUI is commonly used in combination with Azure cloud services, Azure Cognitive Services for AI development, and ASP.NET Core for back-end development. In addition, the combination of .NET MAUI and Blazor for cross-platform software development enables excellent code reusability and modular architecture. This approach simplifies software engineering, and saves developers’ time, which helps teams reduce development speed. 

There are certain cases where Flutter proves to be an ideal solution for your project. Here, we outline the most relevant ones.

When it comes to smaller or medium projects, Flutter is often chosen by companies that prioritize rapid development. The point is that the XAML markup language used in .NET generates more code than Dart, a declarative language designed for conciseness. In addition, unlike in .NET MAUI, where code is written in two separate files, for UI description and app code respectively, Flutter developers can write the entire code in a single file. This means better coding convenience and, hence, more rapid software development. 

Mind that the benefit of Flutter’s higher development speed is less relevant to resource-consuming applications.

Flutter offers excellent app customizability. The aforementioned Flutter features, namely the framework’s rendering engines, Skia and Impeller, and integration with Canva leave much space for experiments with the app’s UI design. After all, Flutter allows cross-platform developers to create custom UI design components with unmatched convenience. In addition, Flutter might deliver smoother animations and faster rendering when compared to cross-platform solutions that rely on platform-native controls. 

Flutter is an excellent solution for building mobile-first apps thanks to many mobile-centric features. Flutter’s pre-built widgets are optimized for mobile UI design, which enables faster prototyping of features like scrolling, navigation, and animations. Also, unlike .NET MAUI, which uses native features for different platforms, Flutter uses a shared codebase for both Android and iOS. This ensures more consistent experience across different mobile operating systems, especially when it comes to small to medium-load applications. 

In addition, the framework has a rich ecosystem of mobile-centric tools, plugins, and libraries. Flutter also seamlessly integrates with Firebase, a Google-backed cloud platform providing a rich suite of tools widely applied for iOS and Android software development. 

Here is the table that summarizes ideal use cases for .NET MAUI and Flutter.

.NET MAUI and Flutter are the two leaders in the modern cross-platform development market .NET MAUI, built on the .NET ecosystem, is ideal for resource-intensive enterprise solutions and long-term projects, especially those requiring integration with Microsoft technologies. Flutter, backed by Google, excels in fast development, UI customization, and app performance on mobile, making it better suited for small-to-medium projects focused on rapid deployment and advanced UI design. 

Both frameworks offer robust cross-platform support, but .NET MAUI is typically a better fit for enterprise-level applications, while Flutter is more efficient for mobile-first solutions with a focus on speed and flexibility.

We at Leobit have extensive experience in developing cross-platform applications with both .NET MAUI and Flutter. In particular, we used .NET MAUI to develop a printed photo gifting app that provides native user experience across different platforms. .NET MAUI was also the primary technology for developing a proof of concept for a cross-platform media platform presenting useful information on cinema. The use of .NET MAUI’s capabilities allowed us to build the solution in very short terms, ensuring an excellent experience for web, Android, and iOS users. 

As for our Flutter portfolio, we have leveraged it to build a smart home mobile application that allows users to manage house heating, security, and energy consumption from different devices. No matter which technology you choose, we’re ready to apply our cross-platform development expertise to provide you with a tailored solution. Contact us to get further guidance on the topic.