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VERDICT

Should I use Capacitor?

Important Announcement: The Future of Ionic's Commercial Products → - capacitorjs.com

Depends. Use it if your team already writes web code and needs one codebase for iOS and Android — the core is free and used in production. Skip it if you need best-in-class native feel or graphics-heavy UI; pick Flutter or native instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit threads, official docs, GitHub, and one 2020 security advisory. No aggregate review ratings found.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Open Source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Ionic EnterpriseCustom

Best for

  • Web teams shipping iOS + Android
  • Existing React/Vue/Angular codebases
  • Form, content, and business apps
  • MVPs needing both app stores fast

Not for

  • Games or graphics-heavy apps
  • Teams demanding pixel-perfect native animations
  • Native Swift/Kotlin teams with no web code to reuse
  • Anyone wanting a vendor with a stable commercial roadmap

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Ionic announced changes to its commercial products — verify the paid-support roadmap before committing.

medium

Enterprise plugins and premium support cost extra; the free core omits some business features.

medium

Hybrid web/native debugging adds friction; migrating off Capacitor later means rework.

low

Live-update vendors like Capgo bill separately and carry their own security advisories.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • One web codebase ships to iOS, Android, and web
  • Free, open-source core, actively maintained on GitHub
  • Large plugin directory covers camera, storage, in-app purchases
  • Drop-in mobile shell for existing React, Angular, or Vue apps
  • Enterprise plugins and premium support available for larger orgs

Cons

  • WebView UI can feel less smooth than native or Flutter
  • Some developers compared it and stuck with Flutter
  • Reputation actively debated across developer communities
  • Ionic just announced changes to its commercial products
  • Users report sparse troubleshooting help and project regrets

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/27/2026 - 11 sources - Published security best-practice guides; one CVE disclosed by the team in 2020.

official x4review x5security x1news x1
  • CVE-2020-6506, Capacitor security advisory published by the Capacitor team in September 2020.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Open-source core costs nothing; only support is paid
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Web devs ramp fast; iOS smoothness questioned by users
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Full native bridge plus large plugin directory
  • Support quality: 3/5. Paid enterprise support exists; community help patchy
  • Security posture: 3/5. Thorough security docs; one 2020 CVE disclosed
  • $0 Starting price Open-source core on GitHub
  • Yes Free tier Full runtime, plugins, and docs
  • 3 Platforms iOS, Android, and web
  • 1 Public CVEs Disclosed by the team in Sept 2020

Pricing

Open Source

$0

  • Full cross-platform runtime
  • Native plugin APIs and docs
  • Community plugin directory

Ionic Enterprise

Not disclosed

  • Enterprise plugins
  • Premium support

Security

Published security best-practice guides; one CVE disclosed by the team in 2020.

  • CVE-2020-6506Capacitor security advisory published by the Capacitor team in September 2020.⁹

What users say

Reddit developers are split: many run Capacitor apps in production happily, while others switch to Flutter or React Native citing smoothness and ecosystem gaps.

“Is CapacitorJS actually production grade and worth it”
Reddit, r/ionic
“Why does capacitor have a bad rap?”
Reddit, r/capacitor
“I'm sticking to Flutter”
Reddit, r/webdev

Alternatives

Compare Capacitor with each alternative.

Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit threads, official docs, GitHub, and one 2020 security advisory. No aggregate review ratings found.

Free open-source tool that turns web apps into iOS/Android apps. Great for JS teams; weak for native-feel UI.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit threads, official docs, GitHub, and one 2020 security advisory. No aggregate review ratings found.

Sources

  1. Capacitor Documentationcapacitorjs.com
    official
  2. ionic-team/capacitor on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Capacitor Plugin Directorycapacitorjs.com
    official
  4. Is CapacitorJS actually production grade and worth itreddit.com
    review
  5. Why does capacitor have a bad rap?reddit.com
    review
  6. Has anyone used capacitorjs to make an app?reddit.com
    review
  7. How smooth is Capacitor for iOS?reddit.com
    review
  8. Why I regret using Ionic for app developmentmedium.com
    review
  9. Capacitor Security Advisory CVE-2020-6506capacitorjs.jp
    security
  10. The Future of Ionic's Commercial Productsionic.io
    news
  11. Capacitor for Enterprisecapacitorjs.com
    official

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