Top 5 Low Code Development Platforms in 2021 vs Pellerex
Traditional software development models in which you code/build everything from scratch is costly and slow for today`s pace of innovation. Companies and developers need faster ways to launch their products and ship it to the hands of their customers. In this post, I provide a comparison between some of these platforms.
Definition
Generally when we talk about low-code platforms, they refer to software products in which you primarily work with a user interface to create workflows or information flows by connecting multiple systems together.
The other approach toward writing less code, is to use software foundations which provide all the ground work required to build software. Using that approach, engineers would simply focus on their products, rather than all the common functions that every software need. Beyond that, there are those foundations that provide ready-to-use and source-included functions such as Identity and Payment, so developers just enhance the code base instead of creating it from scratch.
The List
Here is the top 5 list at no particular order,
1. Appian
Appian is perhaps among the most famous low-code platforms, and was named the leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for low-code technology. It provides the below features to enterprise customers:
- Drag and Drop Tools
- Easy to configure APIs and Faster integration
- Business Process Management
- Case and Content Management
- Robotic Process Automation
Target Audience
You don’t need to be a programming expert to work with Appian, it is designed for everyone to learn it quickly.
Pricing
Appian supports both subscription as well as flat fee model. Their free trial lets you set up your app on the Appian cloud only.
2. Pellerex
Pellerex is a cloud-native software foundation that provides you with ready-to-use and source-included Identity and Payment functions on day 1. By definition it is a bit different from a conventional low-code platform, but from the outcome point of view, it achieves the same purpose; shorter time to market, and lower development cost.
Benefits
The interesting point about Pellerex is that it gives you the speed you need to launch your product quickly, and at the same time, it gives you all the scalability and flexibility you also need when your user base grows, as it is source-included and the engineers can develop in their native language.
- Source Included
- Latest and the greatest cloud-native engineering standards
- Already working Identity and Payment functions
- Highest level of scalability and flexibility when you want to grow
- Foundation at the User Interface, APIs, DevOps, Infrastructure and Database
- Fast time to market
Target Audience
It is built for software engineers at any level, and beside helping them to launch their product fast, it gives them a foundation with all scalable cloud-native considerations built in. So there won’t be any problem when your user base grows, as it will scale.
Pricing
As Pellerex is source-included, its price tag might seem to be on the high side, but considering the benefits of flexibility and time to market speed, it is a long term investment. They don’t offer free trial as the code is their asset, but if you ask their team they will walk you through every detail in their system beforehand, so you are absolutely comfortable.
3. Mendix
Mendix is an IDE that enables you to design Web and Mobile apps using drag and drop feature, and it helps users to to accelerate their software delivery process across ideation, development, deployment and operations.
Target Audience
Highly recommended for domain experts, thanks to its app modeling studio, it could also be used by professional developers with integration options to IDEs.
Pricing
The free version allows you to work with unlimited applications with some resource limitations (e.g. 1 GB memory), and the paid version is $1.875 per month
4. Power Platform
Power Apps helps the companies in building low code professional level applications. It is cloud-native and has the advantage that people with no prior coding skills could start working with the platform. There are a few offerings inside Power platform, and they are Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents.
Benefits
Here are the top benefits of building your application with PowerApps:
- Code plugins that can be integrated for advanced business logics
- Data gateway to integrate with services running on-premise
Target Audience
Both developers and business users could be the target audience for this platform, allowing teams to work together when developing solutions.
Pricing
There are a few pricing models, with a free trial being available.
- Business users could pay from at little as $10 per user per month
- App Makers and admins from $40 per user per month
5. Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator is another low-code platform that enables you to build and launch multi-platform apps quite quickly with high security standards.
Benefits
The main benefits are:
- The ability yo connect to business data and collaborate across teams
- Creating insightful reports
- Higher level of security standards
Target Audience
Anyone could be their target audience and it doesn’t necessarily require prior coding knowledge.
Pricing
Here are the available plans which also include a free trial:
- Basic Plan from $10 per user per month
- Premium Plan from $20 per user per month
- Ultimate Plan from $30 per user per month
6. Sales Force Lightning
Sales Force Lightning is intended toward SalesForce CRM users who want to build their own user experience across different form factors such as Web or Mobile. It helps users to create business UIs and workflows without involving developers.
Benefits
The key benefits and features are:
- Offers integration with third party data endpoints, AI and IoT integration points
- It provides a no-code builder to to build mobile apps
- The ProcessBuilder will help you build complex workflows
Target Audience
As it is intended toward business users, anyone could work with Sales Force Lightning
Pricing
While a free trial option is available, you could start with their platform using
- Starter for $25 per user per month
- Plus for $100 per user per month
