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APIs · head to head

Formance vs React Native

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
React Native logo

React Native

Mobile Development

Build native mobile apps with React and JavaScript

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.; React Native the JavaScript bridge has historically been a bottleneck for animation-heavy and list-heavy screens, though the New Architecture addresses much of it
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, React Native covers Renders to native components.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and React Native actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and React Native differ
AttributeFormanceReact Native
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIiOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web
CategoryAPIsMobile Development

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

Only in React Native

  • Renders to native components
  • React programming model
  • Native modules
  • Fast Refresh
  • Wide platform reach
  • Large package ecosystem

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot React Native
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot React Native
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot React Native
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot React Native

React Native

  • Teams with React experience on the web extending into mobilenot Formance
  • Apps that should feel like the platform rather than look identical across bothnot Formance
  • Adding a mobile client to a product whose engineers already write JavaScriptnot Formance
  • Reusing business logic between web and mobile codebasesnot Formance

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

React Native

  • The JavaScript bridge has historically been a bottleneck for animation-heavy and list-heavy screens, though the New Architecture addresses much of it
  • Upgrading between versions has a reputation for being painful, particularly with many native dependencies
  • Anything the framework does not wrap requires native code in Swift or Kotlin, so a purely JavaScript team can still get stuck
  • Because it renders to real platform components, small behavioural differences between iOS and Android surface in your code rather than being hidden

Pricing, plan by plan

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

React Native

Free
  • React NativeFree
    • Full framework
    • iOS and Android targets
    • Native module system

Which should you pick?

Choose Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance review

Choose React Native if

  • You need renders to native components.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
  • You also want react programming model.
React Native review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or React Native better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and React Native at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or React Native?
Formance starts at Free and React Native at Free.
Does Formance or React Native run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. React Native runs on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Web.
Can I use Formance for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Formance best used for?
Formance is most often used for a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable, a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit, a payments team that wants one normalised model across several psps so reconciliation is not written separately for each, a company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappears. Of those, a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable and a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit are not what React Native is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that React Native cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. React Native covers Renders to native components, React programming model, Native modules, Fast Refresh.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

React Native: Is React Native free?

Yes. React Native is open source from Meta with no licence fee, and it is free for commercial use.

Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

React Native: Does React Native produce a real native app?

Yes. JavaScript primitives render to the platform’s own UI components using the same native APIs a Swift or Kotlin app would call, rather than to a web view.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

React Native: Which well-known apps use React Native?

Meta cites Facebook, Microsoft Office, Teams and Outlook, Amazon Shopping, Discord, Coinbase and Tesla among thousands of apps built with it.

Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

React Native: Should I use Expo or plain React Native?

Expo handles builds, updates and native configuration for you and is the recommended starting point. Plain React Native gives full control of the native projects, which matters when you need native code the managed workflow does not cover.

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