Traditional development processes require individuals to have specialized programming skills to build a fully functional app. However, low-code platforms have revolutionized the industry by helping beginners with little to no coding experience for developing simple applications. All of this has freed up professional developers to focus on more complex projects. Throughout this article, we will discuss the best low-code solutions for app development.
What is a Low Code Platform?
A low-code development solution is a tool that lets you create applications with minimal coding. Instead of writing multiple lines of code, these platforms use low-code tools to build apps. In addition, these app development tools use a graphical user interface with drag-and-drop functionality to make the process easier for beginners.
They also have a library of pre-built components like buttons and forms to create standard application features. While you may need to write a few lines of code for complex applications, low-code platforms significantly reduce the overall efforts. However, there are even no-code platforms available for people with absolutely no coding experience.
Benefits of Low Code Tool
After getting to know what is low-code app development, let’s analyze the benefits these platforms offer to the industry. For this purpose, go through these common points that signify the importance of low-code tools in application development.
- Faster Development Process: Professional developers can get help from these platforms to speed up the development cycle using pre-built components. With the draggable elements, low-code development requires way less time than traditional coding methods. So businesses can get their applications up and running faster and get a quicker return on investment.
- Democratization of App Development: As discussed, low-code solutions allow business users with minimal coding knowledge to build essential apps for their needs. Therefore, it lets professional developers address more critical IT needs.
- Improved Agility: These platforms allow businesses to adapt their applications more quickly to changing requirements. Moreover, it is possible because changes can be made quickly using the visual interface and pre-built components. Doing so enables businesses to stay responsive to evolving market conditions and customer needs.
- Reduced Costs: With faster development speeds, low-code platforms can substantially reduce the overall cost of application development. Additionally, the utilization of citizen developers makes the process even more affordable for businesses with limited budgets.
Top 10 Best Low Code Platforms
Now, you have got the know-how about all the basics of low-code app development. Many platforms are available online to help you build applications without any coding knowledge. To make the choice easier for you, we have listed the top 10 low-code solutions available for app development.
1. Microsoft Power Apps
With this AI-powered low-code app builder, you can describe the type of application you want, and AI will do the rest. You can further use its AI Copilot to make edits and add automation to the application. In addition, it provides built-in templates and drag-and-drop functionality to facilitate low-code app development. Also, you can connect with Microsoft Data Verse to take care of business logic and compliance while developing apps.
Pros
- It allows you to use Microsoft Power Fx, a low-code programming language, to build apps without the knowledge of other complex languages.
- You can also utilize its unified governance to get better control over multiple apps employed across the company.
Con
- Multiple users cannot make edits to the application at the same time, which affects team collaboration.
Pricing Plans
- Power Apps Premium: $20 per month per user
2. Oracle APEX
Developers looking to create scalable and secure mobile applications can take advantage of this most popular low-code development platform. This app builder allows you to process data for development efficiently and integrates it with several local and web databases. Additionally, you can make use of its powerful data visualization components and intelligent wizards for rapid app creation.
Pros
- It allows you to develop common components and share them throughout all of your apps.
- This platform also contains a library of conditions and navigation logic to deliver a perfect no-code experience.
Con
- You may need to undergo a learning curve to start developing apps with this low-code solution.
Pricing Plans
- APEX Application Development Service: $122 per month
- APEX with Autonomous Database: $502 per month
3. Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator is a powerful low-code platform that lets you build applications that run all devices, like iOS and Android. With its automated tool, this app developer can collect data and update your CRM to give you an easy-going experience. Besides that, this low-code integration platform allows you to add AI to your business applications without any code.
Pros
- Developers can boost their efficiency by getting the chance to integrate over 600 applications into their app-building workflow.
- You can also personalize your applications with customized UI components and localization features.
Con
- Many customers have complained about the delayed responses from Zoho Support.
Pricing Plans
- Standard: $12 per month/user
- Professional: $30 per month/user
- Enterprise: $37 per month/user
4. OutSystems
Using this low-code app development platform, you can accelerate the process of building professional-level applications. With its visual tools and automation, this platform allows developers to build and update complex apps faster. In addition, it caters to the needs of beginners and professional coders with pre-built templates and drag-and-drop functionality.
Pros
- The Large App Portfolio plan of this platform provides 24/7 support to businesses.
- Moreover, developers can extend low-code apps to traditional code libraries using this platform.
Con
- The cost of this low-code tool provider may be a concern for small businesses.
Pricing Plans
- Multiple Apps: $1513 per month
5. Appian
While using this low-code solution, you can get help from AI to build next-generation applications. Other than that, this platform empowers the app development process through enterprise data discovery and optimization. Additionally, Appian prioritizes secure application development with the help of governance features to let you track changes and ensure apps comply with regulations.
Pros
- After building the app with this low-code platform, you can deploy it on multiple devices, including web browsers and mobiles.
- You will be able to make instant decisions while developing apps due to its unified data models.
Con
- The standard cloud database of this tool has an unfriendly user interface, which makes it difficult for beginners to handle this platform.
Pricing Plans
- Contact Sales Team
6. QuickBase
QuickBase provides a low-code visual builder to help you refine and extend business applications in any way you want. Using this platform, you can manage workflows throughout your web or mobile apps and third-party tools with its built-in integration channels. Other than that, this low-code solution allows developers to automate repetitive app development tasks to save time and budget for an optimized process.
Pros
- Users can benefit from its filter searches and KPI tracking metrics to get insights into the functionality of the application.
- This low-code app development platform also provides effective Excel-like formula language for accuracy.
Con
- However, the free version of this platform doesn’t let you access the template library and personalized dashboards.
Pricing Plans
- Team: $35 per month per user
- Business: $55 per month per user
7. Mendix
Professional web developers can accelerate the development process with this AI-powered app builder. While developing applications on this platform, you can find and share app data in the connected ecosystem to ease out app building. In addition, the Mendix Studio Pro IDE has low-code tools, such as UI components and logic, to speed up your app development cycle.
Pros
- Additionally, this low-code platform lets you deploy apps to any device with a single click because of its cloud services.
- You can also reduce the cost spent rectifying errors during the app cycle using its ISO standard maintainability features.
Con
- This platform provides fewer third-party tool integrations compared to other competitors in the market.
Pricing Plans
- Basic: €52.50 per month
- Standard: €900 per month
8. Airtable
Airtable delivers a strong foundation for app building with its customizable tables, records, and fields. Moreover, you can utilize the built-in templates and droppable elements to develop low-code apps with its Interface Designer. Other than that, this low-code app development solution provides efficient extensions to create charts and graph metrics for your application dashboard.
Pros
- Using this low-code solution, you can get access to unlimited data and APIs to build feature-rich applications.
- In addition, AI integration allows you to categorize information and generate drafts while developing an app.
Con
- Users have to buy the Enterprise plan to get access to extensions and integration management.
Pricing Plans
- Team: $24 per month per seat
- Business: $54 per month per seat
9. Kissflow
Web app developers can get complete visibility into projects with flexible boards to build fully functional applications. In addition to that, you can integrate in-depth forms into your apps with an extensive visual builder with custom views and influential fields. With this low-code app builder, you can utilize a custom SQL script to further extend the workings of all the components of your application.
Pros
- Using this platform, you can create personalized decision tables with logic that you can integrate into multiple applications simultaneously.
- This low-code app development platform also allows you to track app performance and user interactions with the application.
Con
- Users may find it difficult to transfer data to third-party software for additional analysis.
Pricing Plans
- Basic: $1500 per month
10. Creatio
Creatio helps beginners without any knowledge of coding build applications with utmost freedom in just a few clicks. With its UI Designer, you can take advantage of built-in widgets and templates to customize them in any way you want for a fully personalized app. Furthermore, this low-code solution boosts your efficiency and decision-making powers with the utilization of advanced machine-learning models.
Pros
- You can also utilize multiple connectors, including ChatGPT and Zoom Meeting connectors, to boost the functionality of your app.
- Besides, this low-code platform speeds up your app-building cycles with various ready-to-use APIs and integrations.
Con
- Some users have complained about the loading speed and performance issues this platform has.
Pricing Plans
- Growth: $25 per user per month
- Enterprise: $55 per user per month
- Unlimited: $85 per user per month
How Can ZEGOCLOUD Help Low-Code Platforms?
Upon analyzing these low-code solutions, you will be able to select the best one to start your app development journey. After choosing the best platform for your needs, you can further accelerate the software development lifecycle using ZEGOCLOUD APIs & SDKs. In addition, you can make use of over 20 pre-built UIKits to develop business applications in the shortest possible time.
Other than that, developers can integrate voice calling and video calling features into their low-code applications with these APIs and SDKs. You will also be able to utilize live streaming functionality on your low-code app with its assistance. All in all, ZEGOCLOUD SDKs and APIs will add an extra sense of efficiency to the low-code development process.
Key Features
- With the help of ZEGOCLOUD MiniGameEngine, you can integrate multiple casual games into your social applications for revenue generation.
- While building an application with a low-code platform, developers can add cloud recording functionality using ZEGOCLOUD APIs.
- Other than that, these APIs allow your application to achieve global coverage with over 500 network nodes worldwide.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that low-code app development platforms have completely changed the way developers build applications. With features like visual studios and draggable elements, app development is now accessible to everyone. However, if you want to speed up the app-building process further, sign up for ZEGOCLOUD APIs to get 10,000 free minutes now. Using its pre-built UIKits and APIs, even beginners can integrate video and live streaming features into their apps.
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