The cross-platform app development market size reached US$90.09 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to US$179.58 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 14.5%. This is driven by business owners' desire to both save money and reach a larger target audience ASAP (compared to native mobile development, which requires hiring two separate development teams). In short, if you’re planning to build an app for iOS and Android while minimizing the risks associated with a protracted development process, missed deadlines, and budget inflation, this article is a must-read.
What Is Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?
Cross-platform mobile development involves creating apps that run on different operating systems but share a single codebase. From a business perspective, this means you don't have to hire two separate development teams, which significantly reduces the project budget. For example, we often use this approach in projects where it's important to simultaneously test several hypotheses (for example, for quickly verifying the effectiveness of two or more business models) and launch the product with a unified UX ASAP without compromising quality.
Meanwhile, despite the apparent simplicity of the cross-platform approach, in practice, development teams can face some challenges, from poor performance and complex integrations to varying levels of UX across platforms. This is why it's so important to create a well-thought-out architecture from the outset for all the nuances of different ecosystems.
Now, let's look at three of the most popular cross-platform frameworks in 2025.
Flutter
Flutter is a rendering engine that ensures UI consistency across platforms and devices, meaning mobile software design and user experience will be as predictable as possible (i.e., pixel shifting is unlikely with Flutter).
In our practice, we resort to Flutter development when UX and custom visual presentation are the product's primary selling points – typically, these are marketplaces with resource-intensive, complex animations and consumer apps with branded components.
At the same time, implementing some native features requires the creation of custom platform plugins (which increases the project budget). Flutter also uses the Dart programming language – in some regions, the talent pool proficient in this language is limited compared to the JS one.
React Native
React Native has proven itself to be best suited for projects that utilize ready-made React web components or rely on JavaScript and/or TypeScript development team skills only. In these cases, prototyping is fast, and business logic can be migrated with minimal effort. We'd also like to highlight the React Native Bridge feature, which allows teams to migrate only performance-critical modules to native code while keeping the rest in JS or TS.
This is why React Native advantages become most obvious in projects with a strong connection to web stacks, as well as SaaS solutions that require both mobile and web versions to be implemented quickly.
On the other hand, animations and intensive rendering require additional optimization, and sometimes even native solutions. It's also essential to carefully choose the navigation and state management architecture to avoid performance trade-offs.
Xamarin and .NET MAUI
Xamarin and its successor, .NET MAUI, are excellent solutions for large enterprise systems and businesses with an established .NET infrastructure. Because the code for these engines is written in C#, developers can use a single stack for both the backend and frontend.
We also recommend these frameworks for use cases where integration with internal systems, Active Directory, specialized hardware, and projects where a single .NET team is desirable are critical.
As for disadvantages, tailoring the UI to a specific OS often requires additional effort, which can negatively impact development speed. Furthermore, the community and component ecosystem are smaller than those of Flutter and React Native.
Advantages and Challenges
Cross-platform development must be performed with balance in mind; otherwise, the desire to save time and money risks resulting in UX inconsistency and performance issues, especially with complex animations or high user workloads. Below, we offer a more detailed look at these and some other nuances.
- Cost and time efficiency. Based on our experience, savings on cross-platform solutions can reach 40% of the budget and up to 50% of the TTM. However, these are relatively imprecise estimates – everything depends on how many components need to be implemented in native languages. Moreover, we always warn clients that before software implementation, we’ll need to devote some time to thinking through the architecture and selecting the optimal technical stack; otherwise, all the initial benefits of cross-platform development will be negated.
- Performance and UX considerations. Another common pain point is when a mobile app runs and looks different on Android and iOS. In this case, users can quickly lose loyalty and trust, which, in turn, will negatively impact the software's ranking in app stores. To prevent this, we have developed our own UX design methodology that takes into account the specifics of each platform and minimizes discrepancies in design and experience.
- Platform-specific limitations. It's important to understand that cross-platform development limits access to certain APIs, hardware features, and UI elements native to a specific platform. However, thanks to our extensive expertise, we easily overcome these challenges by factoring all possible risks into the architecture. As a result, you’ll be able to launch a cross-platform MVP that can be further scaled through individual modules without performance losses.
If you would like to implement the best practices of cross-platform mobile development in your project, write or call us, and we'll discuss the terms of our collaboration.
Step-by-Step Cross-Platform App Development Process
WEZOM has developed a step-by-step process, proven across dozens of projects: from business analysis to post-release support. So, let's consider the steps it includes below.
Planning and requirements gathering
For us, planning isn't just collecting product features in a single document, but rather constructing a comprehensive product value map. Specifically, we translate business goals into user scenarios and success metrics such as retention, conversion, latency targets, etc. We also prioritize integrations, determine legal and regulatory restrictions (depending on the region where the target audience is based), and agree on SLA levels and acceptable latency.
UI/UX design for multiple platforms
Design for cross-platform software isn't about copying an interface from one platform to another, but about designing a responsive system of components and design tokens, which are then transformed into native elements for each supported OS. To achieve this, we create a unified design language and component library, where each element has a corresponding set of adaptations for iOS and Android.
Development best practices
At this stage, we follow strict guidelines: clean architecture, modularity, contract testing, and feature toggles for secure releases. We also separate the presentation layer and business logic, maintain hot paths in optimized native code, and, when necessary, perform integrations through pre-agreed API contracts.
Testing strategies for cross-platform apps
Testing cross-platform apps at WEZOM is multi-layered: first, we run unit tests for business logic, then integration tests for the API, then end-to-end testing on emulators and real devices, and, finally, load tests and UX reviews from real users. We also always rely on an internal database of scenarios from previous projects, which simplifies fixing common vulnerabilities.
Deployment and app store submission
Publishing to the App Store and Google Play is one of the most common reasons for delays in the launch of mobile projects. That’s why we rely on time-tested app deployment strategies with a pre-launch compliance check procedure, which includes checking metadata, localizations, privacy texts, icon and screenshot requirements, as well as automating beta distribution and staged rollouts. To streamline the launch of new releases, we also set up CI/CD channels for mobile builds.
Cost Considerations for Cross-Platform Development
Now, let’s talk about the cross-platform app cost. In general, this approach ensures savings at the start: creating an MVP takes less time than native development of two apps for each platform. It also helps reduce team costs and provides shared codebase benefits. At the same time, the total cost of ownership will also depend on the need for native modules, the frequency of updates, performance requirements, and the number of features. Therefore, the TCO calculation should take into account not only the costs of the initial release, but also maintenance and updates, upcoming team scaling, and the speed of feature rollout.
Native development is more expensive initially, but it also enables more precise platform optimization. Therefore, we always help our clients determine from the outset when it makes sense to start with a cross-platform approach and when it's more cost-effective to choose a native one.
Choosing the Right Development Partner
When choosing a partner, you have to consider three fundamental criteria: expertise relevant to your business niche, experience with specific cross-platform tools, and transparent communication. In particular, experience isn’t just the number of projects related to your industry, but also the ability to select tools for a specific task without compromising your ROI, KPIs, and important business metrics.
It's also important to evaluate their portfolio and case studies, where you should analyze both the technical implementation details and business success indicators: reduced time to market, minimized support costs, increased key metrics, etc. Finally, during initial contacts, you should evaluate the quality of communication and SLAs to make sure that the project will be completed on time and bugs will be fixed promptly.
How WEZOM Helps Build Robust Cross-Platform Apps
In this section, we'd like to share a specific example of cross-platform mobile development that has proven itself to be a successful project. Specifically, we're talking about the DRAGI app, which prepares high school graduates for college entrance exams.
Essentially, this was a startup idea, so the client wanted to launch the product as quickly as possible without narrowing its target audience. As a result, we created a gamified mobile solution offering students a personalized learning experience with a learning planner and algorithms for adjusting task difficulty. We also implemented a unique format for presenting lessons and tasks as short videos, similar to TikTok.
DRAGI's launch in the App Store and Google Play was successful – the app attracted the attention of both students and teachers due to its focus on the new educational reform.
The WEZOM team is currently finalizing the functionality, optimizing the rating system, creating an AI-powered chatbot, and implementing a referral system. You can learn more about this case here
Conclusion
In 2025, cross-platform development is no longer just a budget-friendly alternative to native one – with a thoughtful approach, it can become a strategic choice for your business. So if you're struggling with the cross-platform vs native dilemma, feel free to contact us, and we'll help you make the right decision.
