Top 10 best tools for Flutter App Development

The popularity of Flutter app development services is growing at a massive rate. According to Statista, more than 40% of developers are choosing this framework for cross-platform app development. Its unique features and functionalities are a major reason why this framework is getting so much popularity and fame. 

So in order to efficiently leverage this framework’s advantages you need an efficient platform to develop creative Flutter apps. So, In this blog, we will discuss some top Flutter app development tools that developers can further use for the development process.  

Let’s dive in to know more! 

Top Flutter App Development Tools

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code which is commonly abbreviated as VS code is an open-source and free code editor developed by Microsoft. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. VS Code is a powerful source code editor that comes with built-in support for popular programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js. Along with built-in support, it has a rich ecosystem of extensions for other programming languages as well likewise C++, C#, PHP, Java, Python, and so on. 

Pros of Visual Studio Code

• It is a lightweight source code editor that is suitable for everyday use. 
• It has a wide variety of features that makes the code very productive such as syntax highlighting, box selection, snippets, auto-indentation, and so on. 
• VS code makes the everyday workflow faster by integrating with build and scripting tools.
• Last but not least, it has an interactive debugging tool that can be used to inspect variables, view call stacks, and for executing commands in the console. 

Cons of Visual Studio Code

• Its source code is closed which means if you want to see how it works, you can’t see it, and also you are not able to change how it works. 

Popular companies that are using Visual Studio Code are Cred, Kavak, Revolut, Alibaba Travels, and many others. 

Android Studio

Android Studio was launched on May 16, 2013, at Google’s I/O conference. It is the official IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Google’s Android operating system. It is built on IntelliJ IDEA software and is designed especially for Android app development services. Additionally, it can be downloaded on Windows, macOS, and Linux-based operating systems. 

Pros of Android Studio

• It has Gradle based build system that is flexible and fast. 
• It is a feature-rich emulator where development for all Android devices can be carried out. 
• Android Studio will automatically apply the changes to your running app without restarting the whole app again. 
•  It comes with built-in support for the Google Cloud Platform that makes it easy to integrate Google Cloud Messaging and App Engine. 
• It helps to import sample code and build common features of the app with the help of GitHub Integration. 

Cons of Android Studio

• It is very hard to multitask with this tool as it eats a lot of RAM. 
• Its debugging feature is not that prominent. 
• Many times after updating the Android studio, some random issues with SDK or codes are faced by the programmers. 

Flutter SDK (Software Development Kit)

Flutter SDK is an open-source UI software development kit to develop Flutter apps across different platforms. It has its own rendering engines, ready-made widgets, APIs, and testing plug-ins for building the apps. Furthermore, it is a modern react-style framework that is based on the Dart programming language. It helps to develop scalable, high-performance native apps with attractive user interfaces for Android and iOS platforms. 

Pros of Flutter SDK

• It is a heavily optimized Dart software development kit (SDK). b
• Flutter SDK’s hot reloading feature allows developers to see the code changes instantly in real time. 
• To do running tests on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems it has a headless test runner. 
• It comes with a rich set of widgets that are used to implement material design and iOS styles. 

Cons of Flutter SDK

• Currently, it provides support for Android and iOS as development platforms. 
• Many times it runs slowly on mobile devices. 

Big tech companies eBay, CapitalOne, and ClickUp are using Flutter SDK. 

Firebase

Backed by Google, Firebase is a mobile app development platform that helps to build highly-effective mobile and web applications. It comes with a variety of hosting services for any type of application. Additionally, its real-time database and ready-made authentication feature, and a single code base for Android and iOS platforms make it the best back-end choice for a Flutter application.  

Pros of Firebase

• As firebase has the support of Google, it provides some powerful databases for app and web development such as Realtime database, and Cloud Firestore. 
• One major advantage of Firebase is that it provides secure and fast hosting services for all types of content including dynamic and static content. In a nutshell, it hosts a wide variety of content. 
• It provides a feature called ‘free start’ which you can use if you are a new coder in the field and want to know the core advantages of Firebase. With these free services, it becomes very easier and more convenient for beginners to understand how firebase exactly works. 
•  Maintaining the security of user identity in applications is very crucial. Firebase has a very prominent advantage called Firebase authentication for security purposes. Additionally, this feature merges with the other services of Firebase to upgrade sign-in and data access. 
• Lastly, it provides a huge range of testing services which will prove very beneficial for all the developers out there. Some of its testing services include Firebase Crashylytics, Firebase Test Lab, Firebase App Distribution, and Firebase Performance Monitoring. 

Cons of Firebase

• It provides the support of only limited querying capabilities. 
• It has limited data migration and platform dependence. 

Vysor

It is a chrome app that enables users to share Android and iOS application screens on the desktop. It can be downloaded on Windows, macOS, and Linux or can also be used as a web application. Vysor is a prominent tool for testing and debugging the app. It ditches the use of an emulator and works seamlessly on an Android device. 

Pros of Vysor

• No app installation is required on the device. 

Cons of Vysor

• It can be a little buggy for certain applications and games. 

Codemagic

Codemagic is a development tool for mobile app development projects such as Android, iOS, React Native, and Flutter. Apps built with codemagic prove to be very fast and productive as it has all the necessary tools including Flutter SDK, Android Studio, Xcode, Unity Editor, and many more that are already preinstalled. One of the main benefits of this framework is that it provides support for all different platforms such as Linux, Windows, and macOS operating systems. 

Pros of Codemagic

• It has a unique and innovative billing model that helps to save money by adapting to the required needs. 
• Initially, codemagic used old Intel Mac minis as default VMs but recently they got replaced with Apple M1 build machines. Although if you still want to use the intel one, then you can go for that as well. 
• In codemagic, all the software is automatically up-to-date so there is no need to worry about maintaining infrastructure and updating dependencies.   
• Codemagic comes with a list of officially documented integrations that can be used with various testing automation tools. Some of them are Katalon, Kobiton, Sofy, Firebase Test Lab, and there are many more on the list that can be used for different purposes. 
• Lastly, they offer 24*7 free onboarding assistance for all your queries and issues. 

Cons of Codemagic

• It does not provide configuration support in a web app. 
• Sometimes the documentation is too short and brief. 

Bitrise

It is a continuous integration and CI/CD delivery platform that offer mobile app development services for iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, and so on. It offers a variety of tools and services that helps developers with the development process in many aspects. Bitrise is fully cloud-based and is managed by a dedicated team that ensures the best performance of the workflows. 

Pros of Bitrise

• It configures the basic workflows automatically to quickly start the deployment and integration process. 
• It provides over 300 easy integration services like GitHub, GitHub Enterprise, GitLab, GitLab Enterprise, and Bitbucket. These are available both in the cloud as well as on-premise and are used to connect workflows to the toolset. 
• Deployment can be done in a number of different ways in Bitrise. The first one is that the app can directly be deployed to test devices or to bitrise.io so that anyone is free to test your application. Secondly, applications can also be deployed to Google Play Store or App Store. 

Cons of Bitrise

• Deploying the app manually takes a lot of time and effort. 
• Problems and errors related to the provisioning files and code signing. 

AppsFlyer

It is a cloud-based mobile app analytics and marketing platform that allows developers, marketing agencies, and businesses to track and optimize their acquisition campaigns. This platform helps many marketing professionals to increase their return on investment (ROI) and grow their mobile app business. Furthermore, it provides marketing analytics, performance metrics, deep linking, and data streams. 

Pros of AppsFlyer

• It helps to increase user engagement by analyzing the performance of the mobile application. 
•  By giving accurate insights using privacy-preserving measurement and cost aggregation technologies,  it maintains the customer’s privacy with utmost priority. 
• It helps to make better marketing choices with an analytics suite that simplifies the complex data and provides a consolidated view of campaign performance. 

Cons of AppsFlyer

• There are limitations to dashboard customization which sometimes becomes very difficult for new users. 

Flutter Stripe

It is Flutter SDK (Software Development Kit) that helps you to integrate and build gratifying payment experiences for your native Android and iOS apps using Flutter.  

With its release, it has gained massive popularity among developers. It provides a wide range of customizable UI screens that can be used innovatively to collect users’ payment details. 

Pros of Flutter Stripe

• Flutter Stripe easily helps you to integrate payment wallets like Google Pay and Apple pay seamlessly into your Flutter application. Along with these, it supports credit cards and debit cards as well. 
• It helps to build customized UI for accepting payments securely in Android and iOS applications. Additionally, with its in-built payment portal, it allows you to set up either one-time purchases or fixed-price subscriptions. 
• Flutter Stripe maintains security by sending the confidential payment information directly to the host’s backend server instead of its own server. It also performs 3D secure authentication to maintain extra security. 

Cons of Flutter Stripe

• Its API and tools are open sources which are difficult to use without proper software development expertise.

Panache

Last but not the least, Panache is considered one of the best Flutter app development tools for UI/UX design services. It helps to make unique and customized themes for Flutter applications by using different types of shapes, themes, and colors. If you want to create an engaging theme for users then you can definitely go for Panache. You can export the Panache theme material as a .dart file when you are done building customized UI widgets. It provides many functionalities that significantly become very beneficial for all the programmers out there. 

Pros of Panache

• It is a trustworthy platform as currently, more than 40 million developers are using Panache. 
• It is completely free and allows developers to change the color and shapes of the widgets according to specific needs and requirements. 
• Additionally, you can create innovative themes and structures for your application. 

Cons of Panache

• It becomes very difficult to expand this tool when the built-in UI elements are missing. 

Summing Up!

Above are some of the tools that a Flutter app development company uses for its development services. Although flutter app development tools are continuously evolving every day and soon in the future we will introduce you to new tools as well. 

Till then keep an eye on our blog sections to know more about Flutter app development and related services. 

Hopefully, this blog will prove helpful for your future Flutter app development services projects. 

Also Read: Why choose Flutter for your next development project?