React Native vs Lynx JS
What’s the difference? Why should I care?
I got a message the other day. “Hey, is Lynx just React Native?” I was taken aback. WHAT THE HELL IS LYNX?
Well, they describe themselves as a “Similar Spirit” but different.
In their blog post, they present the history of WEB as cross-platform. Which kind of implies that they are the next step in an evolution.
But is Lynx the next step? Let’s Dig in!
What’s the difference between Lynx and React Native?
I think a few key differences can help delineate the two technologies.
Lynx Architecture:
Lynx has a highly performant Rust-based engine. If you’re a Rust fan, you’ll be at home with its Rust-based tools. This architecture allows for a fantastic speed boost natively.
Lynx also has a Dual-Threaded Execution that separates UI and heavy computation into different threads. The rendering is direct to native, which skips React’s Virtual DOM.
React Native Architecture:
React Native architecture depends on how old your React Native project is. While the JavaScript bridge constricted the original, the new architecture communicates with a bridgeless layer that removes this latency and allows synchronous calls between JS and C++, Swift, Kotlin, and any other host language.
Recently, React Native has employed a new UI layer (Fabric), on-demand native modules (TurboModules), and concurrent rendering (via React 18 & Suspense).
Gant’s Hot Take: Picking between languages isn’t a good fight. Both Rust and C++ are excellent tools for fantastic solutions! I’m sure there will be speed differences depending on each benchmark. React Native is good at caching and hot-reloading, whereas Lynx appears to be focused on pure speed at the UI layer.
Lynx Styling and Development Experience:
Lynx offers genuine CSS styling capabilities. It supports animations, transitions, and selectors. This styling works well with existing web developers.
React Native Styling and Development Experience:
React Native styling is constricted by a subset of CSS to provide a unified experience across multiple platforms, from Windows to AppleTV to iOS/Android. You’re more constrained in React Native.
Gant’s Hot Take: Web developers will enjoy the entirety of CSS from Lynx. React Native can do the same designs, but with a smaller API surface. The upside of the smaller API is that your code works on all React Native host platforms (not just web/ios/android).
Lynx Web Integration:
Lynx promises seamless web integration like Flutter did (but we saw how that went for Flutter). This offers a single codebase that shares logic/coding for small and large devices.
React Native Web Integration:
React Native requires you to support the Web as a platform. While you can share the code between each, it’s not out-of-the-box support. You’ll need to support it with a library like react-native-web.
Gant’s Hot Take: If you want different features/screens on your website vs your mobile or desktop app, React Native is a solid tool for achieving this. You can have React developers use React Native to maintain the app. However, if you’re looking to share 100% code and you’re a web-first company, then Lynx’s promise to support the web as a 1st class citizen of the project is an advantage.
Lynx Flexibility:
Lynx ships with ReactLynx (“React on Lynx”) as the initial front-end framework, but it’s designed to be framework-agnostic. This opens the door to opportunities with popular frameworks like Vue.js or even Angular. Will those frameworks happen? That’s yet to be seen.
React Native Flexibility:
React Native works on plenty of platforms. While Meta is the main contributor, release meetings include Microsoft and Amazon employees, who have invested heavily in the library for their unified experiences across many devices. React Native will always be React code working on top of Native Swift/Kotlin/C++, but it works on many platforms.
Gant’s Hot Take: Vue has been waiting for an opportunity like this, but it’s too early to say if this will be the disrupter it promises or if it will go the way of Flutter. Invest wisely.
Final Thoughts
No doubt, Lynx is hitting all the “cool” buttons for me.
- ✅ RUST
- ✅ Obliterate logic from the UI thread
- ✅ Lean & Mean Perf
- ✅ ByteDance backed
However, I’ve also found that wisdom comes from pain. React Native is reaching 10 years old this year, and with that, it has been raked over the coals, abandoned, and ultimately risen from the ashes as the top cross-platform solution. Meta is nowhere near finishing its vision of the new architecture, but it has significantly improved it over the old bridge model. It’s still just a JavaScript-driven approach, a strength, and a weakness.
If I had to bet, I’d say Lynx will take root in weekend projects and become the newest “cool” way to build apps.
In that adventure, Lynx will find issues they never saw at ByteDance—caching, loading times, spurious bugs, lack of support, etc. If Lynx can tough that out, they have the potential to take on the new React Native architecture in a few years.
Gant’s Hot Take: If you’re looking to build your weekend project, Lynx will be a fun choice. It’s abounding with untapped potential — both good and bad. There’s an opportunity for leading the way to new front-end frameworks.
If you’re suggesting Lynx to your boss, take a beat. Countless companies have invested in security and success of React Native over the past 10 years. It’s easy to support, find bug fixes, and find developers at all skill levels. It works well for React and Native devs alike.
Conclusion:
If you are a startup or a Fortune 100, React Native is the go-to way to build a scalable app that shares code across platforms. Your team can jump in from any background and get started shipping.
We know React Native has a dedicated team from various companies who have placed their entire Mobile presence on React Native’s success.
With that said a side project in Lynx will be a hot topic at meetups and conferences. There’s no tenure built into LLMs and code-assist AI so that you can blaze the path forward. But be careful because supporting Open Source can be expensive and time-consuming. Just like Las Vegas, only play with money and time you’re willing to lose.
DISCLAIMER: You should take my advice with a grain of delicious Himalayan salt. Yes, I run a React Native company. However, we weren’t always React Native. In my 25 years of coding, I’ve written it all. We use React Native at Infinite Red because it’s the current excellent solution for real-world clients. I did my best to be fair in this article and share my opinions without prejudice.
Feel free to do your research!
React Native’s Website:
Lynx’s Website:
About Gant
Gant Laborde is the CIO at Infinite Red, a published author, adjunct professor, public speaker, and mad scientist in training.
