Maybe for extremely simple webapps that might be true, but for any non-trivial Cordova+React based app you can't come anywhere close to the UX you can get with React Native without some extreme engineering effort. I'd much rather eat the cost to port the HTML5 app to React Native instead. Yes, the users DO notice.

Inability to have the same level of control over soft keyboard behavior is one of the top problems with Cordova, IMO.

Source: wrote & maintained a Cordova+React app on iOS/Android for 3 yrs.