Since time immemorial, the software development market and industry demanded a lot of expertise and experience from software developers before considering or having a glimpse at their professionalism and resumes. These software developers had to have an app development education background or technical software development certifications. A new approach to applications development is not only overshadowing this requirement but also turning into a trend.
Low-Code vs. No-Code Technologies
Both technologies favor citizen developers. They are non-IT-trained professionals with a heart for the software development market and industry.
With low-code technology, creating a software app is as simple as interacting with polished GUIs on a configurable programming environment. It involves the use of basic drag-and-drop capabilities and logical interactions on employed visual interfaces. Its users require little to no knowledge in software app creation and the associated coding languages.
With no-code technology, users interact with GUI-oriented development environments to make apps. The platform also offers basic drag-and-drop capabilities. Since its software development programming processes vary interchangeably, its users don’t need any prior knowledge in software development to build useful applications.
Examples of Low-Code Technology
Quixy This platform is team-empowered for collaborative, fast, and productive app development. Quixy makes it easy and relatively effortless to create powerful and responsive applications. It is ideal for both small and large business enterprises. It is available on a free trial and subscription-based pricing. With the manual application-building process out of the way, Quixy boasts of turning any application idea into a transparent, productive, and innovative use case.
Visual LANSA This platform also accommodates several team development efforts in the creation of useful apps. The reputation of Visual LANSA is tied to its famed features which include:
- Generating code on an IDE
- App testing, deployment, and integration
- Comparatively low-cost app building approach
It is ideal for small-sized, medium-sized, and large-sized business enterprises and is offered on both free trials and subscription-based pricing.
Creatio If you want to create apps with extended functionalities, you should consider the Creatio marketplace. Whether you are considering the structured or unstructured application building process, Creatio’s BPM engine will flexibly handle things. It encompasses app administration and security features through its dynamic app building wizard. It is ideal for small, medium, and large business enterprises and offers a 14-day free trial or subscription-based pricing.
Other honorable mentions related to this technology include GeneXus, Zoho Creator, Appian, KiSSFLOW, Microsoft PowerApps, OutSystems, Salesforce Lightning, and Mendix,
Examples of No-Code Technology
App and Website building
Code2.io This platform helps users visualize and create custom and responsive applications without having any coding background. Code2 comes with remarkable app-building features like drag-and-drop interfaces and also takes care of the web app’s setup, hosting, launching, and scaling processes. Its pricing plans range from Solo, Lite, Standard, to Pro.
Other honorable mentions in this category include Bubble.io, Webflow, Carrd, Thunkable, and Bravo Studio.
Onboarding and Interactive Guides
Memberstack
The primary objective of onboarding is to retain app users and customers. The first step towards achieving this objectifiable process is to have the targeted user log in or register within a launched app. In a traditional coding environment, a developer will manually code both the payment section and the user login and registration functionalities. Creating and testing this code can be tedious and time-consuming but not for Memberstack. It is priced at Pro, Scale, and Established subscriptions.
Other honorable mentions in this category include UserGuiding.
Voice Technology
Voiceflow After the debut of voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant led to prominent voice-oriented solutions in the tech industry, voice technology gained recognition as an ideal no-code platform. Voiceflow now offers extensive customization related to voice searches. With its adaptable UI, creating a voice app has never been easier and more efficient. Its pricing plan ranges from Starter, Pro, Team, to Enterprise.
Other honorable mentions in this category include Otter.ai.
Project Management
Airtable Most project management applications require their users to invest time and technical toughness to adapt to their usage. It is not the case with Airtable. In this platform, you won’t feel the coding effect associated with working on a spreadsheet environment. This system relies on useful UI blocks and labels to make any project useful and interesting. Airtable is associated with big names like Medium, Buzzfeed, and Netflix. Its pricing plan ranges from Free Tier, Plus, Pro, to Enterprise.
Other honorable mentions in this category include Notion and Coda.
Automation
Zapier If you greatly value time and money, be prepared to save them on Zapier’s automation platform. Its apps and tools integration expertise yields a domino effect performance on specific targeted tasks. Zapier chains up performant apps like Gmail, Slack, Twitter, and Google Suite so that it can offer its users seamless app development experiences and results. Its pricing plan ranges from Free Tier, Starter, Professional, Team, to Company.
Other honorable mentions in this category include Automate.io and Integromant.
Analytics
Obviously.ai If you are working on a SaaS business and in need of quick informed decisions, then the data science attributes of the Obviously.ai tool is all you need. Its approach to creating the needed analytical predictions is easy and simple to follow, create, and execute. Reputable names like Forbes and Yahoo are familiar with what Obviously.ai can achieve. So if you have a what-if scenario that needs clarification, this is the platform to visit. Its pricing plan ranges from Basic, Pro, to Pro-Plus.
Other honorable mentions in this category include Mixpanel and Google Analytics.
Market overview and Popularity of Low-Code and No-Code Technologies
The inevitable change and evolution of technology platforms have created a supply gap in the technology industry in terms of insufficient technical skills and proficiency in software development. The tech industry’s frustration on its quest for individuals with unmet flawless and evolving software development expertise landed on the raw ears of low-code and no-code technologies. The tech industry fancies and embraces these technologies because of the following popular reasons:
No Need for Traditional App Development Experience Low-code tech reduces the manual coding approach of creating useful applications. It also minimizes the dependability on hard-coding. You do not need to be an alumna of a reputable coding camp to be an expert of this technology.
Less App Development Time Equals More Performant Apps The technology also reduces the normal app development duration by miles. The time you potentially waste on developing an app’s outlook, database schema, or testing functions is recovered here. You only need to specify the objectives of what you need your app to achieve once its development is complete.
Graphical User Interface Orientation These technologies embrace the integration of GUI environments to develop performant and reputable apps. You are not bound to a non-user-friendly or technically-oriented code editor to create useful apps. The technological platforms help you visualize your apps’ performances and outlook as you connect the needed GUI components to bring it to life.
Collaborative App Development These technologies offer collaborative solutions to build stable and reputable applications just like Github. The only difference here is that no coding requirement will stand in the way of your collaborative app-building process.
Current No-Code Techs Offer to Traditional Software Developers
The app development approach of no-code technology is also adaptable to traditional developers accustomed to the raw coding approach of designing, testing, launching, and maintaining apps. They stand to reap the following benefits:
- Increased app responsiveness as they do not have to deal with cumulative and tedious IT backlogs
- No need to worry about technology churn that most result from the deprecation of coding languages functionalities. It offers an escape route from legacy debt If you are an innovator, your transformative ideas are accelerated through these technologies
- As an entrepreneur, you will not have to be dependent on hard-to-hire skills to get the right individuals to run your startups
- For traditional and mature coders or app developers, it is a mentorship opportunity for upcoming app builders on how best to present their apps.
These Technologies’ Growth Perspective
Hiring non-programmers is simpler and cheaper than going after matured and primed traditional software developers. Therefore, the future of these citizen developers is safe because of these technologies' continued adoption by promising business enterprises. Analysts are confident of their 2020-2021 growth predictions of these two technologies after their continued adoption. The two are linked with an associated market value increase from $11.3 B (2020) to $13.8 B (2021) within the mentioned calendar years and hopefully $30 B within the 2025 calendar year. LOB (Line of Business) workers will most likely embrace these two technologies. Also, traditional software developers will most likely prefer these technologies' algorithmic approach to mundane tasks.
Citizen Developers versus Merited Developers
The potential of these two technologies form a nimbus cloud on the careers of traditional developers. However, their circumstance is not as dire as it may seem. They have the option of switching back to their old ways of building apps when an inevitable challenge arises. As for the citizen developers favored by fast-growing business enterprises, they will still have to find solutions to unavoidable challenges related to:
- Tracking employees’ productivity due to inadequacy in generated app data oversight and visibility
- Management, maintenance, and up-scaling of already created apps
- Waste of resources due to implementation of apps via incompatible app tools and insufficient methodologies
Final Note
The use these technologies has a high chance of upgrading and upscaling workflow and enterprise apps. Additionally, the technologies stand a chance of creating seamless frontends for different app platforms. On the other hand, traditional developers should not completely dispose of their hard-coding skill sets as it will be useful in data governance, implementation of extensive app functionalities, and app deployments to specific environments and architectures.