If you’re building a cross-platform mobile app with the Ionic Framework, you’ve likely come across two options for adding native functionality: Cordova and Capacitor.
Cordova has been the traditional choice for years, but it’s showing its age. Capacitor, created by the Ionic team, brings a more modern approach with better web support, simpler native access, and improved performance.
In this article, we’ll compare both to help you decide which one makes more sense for your project today.
What Are Cordova and Capacitor?
Cordova is an open-source framework that allows developers to build mobile apps using standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It wraps the web app in a native shell using a WebView, enabling access to native device features through plugins.
Cordova has been around since 2009 and powered popular platforms like Adobe PhoneGap.
Capacitor, introduced by the Ionic team in 2018, is a newer open-source runtime designed to run modern web apps on mobile, desktop, and the web. Like Cordova, it uses a WebView to render the app, but offers a more streamlined architecture and first-class support for Progressive Web Apps.
It also gives developers direct access to native SDKs and allows easier integration with frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.
Key Differences: Capacitor vs Cordova?
Now that you have a good idea of Cordova and Capacitor, let’s compare the key differences to see which one is better for modern app development.
Native API Access and WebView Performance
If you’ve used Cordova, you know it relies heavily on plugins to access native features. While many plugins exist, adding custom functionality or troubleshooting inconsistencies across platforms can be frustrating.
Capacitor gives you more control. You can write native code in Swift, Kotlin, or Java and expose it directly to your web app through Capacitor’s bridge. The WebView performance is also more consistent and better optimized, which means your app loads faster and runs smoother on modern devices.
Plugin Ecosystem and Compatibility
Cordova has been around longer, so you’ll find a wider range of community plugins for things like camera access, geolocation, file systems, and more. If you’re maintaining an older app or need niche functionality, chances are there’s already a Cordova plugin that covers it.
Capacitor supports most Cordova plugins, but also has its own ecosystem built with modern standards. These plugins are easier to manage, better integrated with native code, and actively maintained by the Ionic team.
Tooling, Project Structure, and CLI
With Cordova, you’re working with a global CLI and a project structure that can feel outdated, especially as your app grows. Managing platforms and plugins often means dealing with hidden native files and rebuilding when things break.
Capacitor takes a simpler and more modular approach. Each project has its own local CLI version, so you avoid global conflicts. The folder structure is cleaner too: your web code lives in the www folder, and native code for iOS or Android is stored separately. If you’re working with a team or juggling multiple apps, this setup makes development and debugging much easier.
PWA and Web Platform Support
If building for the web is part of your strategy, Capacitor gives you a real advantage. It has first-class support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), meaning you can use the same codebase to deploy on iOS, Android, desktop, and the browser.
Cordova, on the other hand, wasn’t designed with PWAs in mind. It focuses only on native builds, so if you want to support web platforms, you’ll need to handle that separately. With Capacitor, you get a web-first development model that works across platforms without needing extra tools or duplicate effort.
Community, Documentation, and Stability
You’ll find a large Cordova community, countless tutorials, and plenty of Stack Overflow answers. If you get stuck, chances are someone has solved the problem before.
Capacitor’s community is smaller but growing quickly. While it doesn’t have the same depth of legacy documentation, its official guides are well-written, and the Ionic team actively maintains and updates them. If you prefer a stable, future-focused ecosystem over an older but larger one, Capacitor is the safer bet.
Long-Term Support and Enterprise Readiness
Cordova is maintained by the open-source community without dedicated commercial backing. Updates and plugin maintenance can be slow, and some tools are no longer actively supported.
Capacitor is backed by the Ionic team, with a full-time engineering and support staff. It’s used in production by large companies and is continuously updated with new features, security patches, and enterprise-grade capabilities like secure storage and authentication.
If you’re building a long-term app or need support for mission-critical features, Capacitor offers a more dependable path forward.
Conclusion
Choosing between Capacitor and Cordova depends on your current needs. If you’re working on a legacy app or depend on specific Cordova plugins, sticking with Cordova might still make sense. But if you’re starting fresh or modernizing your stack, Capacitor offers a smoother, more forward-looking approach that fits better with today’s web and native development standards.
As a best practice, consider your long-term goals. If your app needs PWA support, native plugin flexibility, or close alignment with modern frameworks like Angular or React, Capacitor is the better fit moving forward.