Creating a simple application usually takes between two and four months. However, we'll tell you a secret: you can shorten that time frame by harnessing the power of low-code platforms!

If you want to succeed in the mobile app development services industry, time to market is a key factor you need to think about. And with more and more smartphone users, speed is their secret weapon. Let's think about Spain, for example. The web's forecast of smartphone users in Spain is expected to continue increasing from 2023 to 2028, adding 2.7 million users or an increase of 6.23%.

Leveraging low-code development tools will undoubtedly give you the competitive advantage needed to make your dream app a reality. So, this blog will provide you with the basics of low-code app development platforms and how they can revolutionize your app creation process.

Table of Contents

1. What is Low-Code?

2. Low-code development vs. traditional development process

3. 10 advantages of using low-code development platforms

• Speed

• Greater agility

• Increase developer productivity

• Communication and collaboration

• Flexibility and scalability

• Better customer experience

• Automate more in less time

• Reduce maintenance burden

• Faster digital transformation

• Cost reduction

4. 5 low-code platforms to create mobile apps

• Microsoft Power Apps

• Appia

• Outsystems

• Mendix

• Kissflow

5. Limitations of low-code platforms

• Security risks

• Complex applications require more customization

• Lack of your own API (not having your own API)

6. Conclusion

7. Do you need to hire professional developers?

What is Low-Code?

Low-code is a game-changing software development approach that allows developers to create applications with minimal manual coding. With low-code, you'll immerse yourself in a world of visual language and drag-and-drop interface, making development faster, more efficient, and more fun!

Low-Code platforms refer to types of development platforms that require minimal coding knowledge and skills. Using these platforms helps businesses unleash their creativity and quickly create, deploy, and maintain powerful applications. They are likely to include greater integration with technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT), making these complex technologies more accessible to non-technical users.

Some of the common features of a low-code platform are:

• Streamlining Workflows

• Modernizing legacy applications

• Automation of data integration

• Supporting data visualizations

• Customer experience

• Mobile application creation

  
  Low-code development vs. traditional development process

Low-code development is like taking the fast track compared to the traditional development process. Instead of starting from scratch and writing a ton of code, low-code development gives you a shortcut.

With its visual interfaces, drag-and-drop widgets, and ready-to-use components, a low-code development platform provides a rapid approach to prototyping, tweaking, and launching your app in no time, outperforming the competition.

Low code development	Traditional development
Rapid development	Code control and customization
Features around a pre-built low-code platform	Designed, built and optimized from the ground up
Cost savings	Deployment options
Code and module reuse	Quality

10 advantages of using low-code development platforms

Whether you're a large company or a startup, low-code app development platforms offer tons of benefits. As long as you know the basics, you can build apps quickly and cost-effectively.

These are the 10 advantages of low-code platforms:

1. Speed

It is undeniable that coding takes a lot of time. Building it from scratch can take months, while a low-code platform can dramatically reduce time to market. Low-code platforms provide a visual development environment with drag-and-drop components, pre-built templates, and reusable modules. This allows developers to build and configure applications, reducing coding time significantly quickly.

2. Greater agility

Organizations can quickly pivot to new solutions that adapt to market changes much faster. This is possible not only because of the speed of development, but also because development teams can quickly show a working prototype. From there, they can quickly gather information from the company and make adjustments instead of going back and forth until they find the perfect solution.

3. Increase developer productivity

By automating repetitive tasks and simplifying software development, low-code increases developer productivity and enables organizations to achieve more with fewer resources. Advanced low-code tools come with a multitude of features such as database integration, workflow automation, secure integrations, and much more. Your developers can integrate it into your existing IT infrastructure to save time.

4. Communication and collaboration

Another main advantage of low-code platforms is the training of development team members. Team collaboration is simplified thanks to the centralized visual development environment and access to a cloud repository. By bringing together experts from different fields, organizations can make the most of their diverse knowledge and skills to deliver new applications in cross-functional projects.

5. Flexibility and scalability

As business demands and needs evolve, the ability to deploy new apps and enhance existing applications becomes crucial. By leveraging a cloud-based low-code platform, organizations gain the advantage of flexibility, continuous delivery support, and on-demand scalability at both runtime and development time. This powerful combination allows businesses to quickly adapt to changing requirements and take advantage of new opportunities in the digital landscape.

6. Better customer experience

A single, low-code development platform accelerates the delivery of high-quality applications. It allows organizations to develop applications and quickly improve customer experience. In addition, it facilitates the adaptation and modification of products based on user comments and data.

7. Automate more in less time

Automation on low-code platforms greatly simplifies the testing and debugging process, providing developers with powerful no-code tools to ensure software quality. With features like automated unit testing and comprehensive error handling mechanisms, developers can easily identify and fix issues. By automating these critical tasks, developers can focus more on creating innovative business applications and delivering value to end users.

8. Reduce maintenance burden

Teams can greatly benefit from reusing components and modules in low-code development. Reusable components eliminate the need to start each project from scratch or write extensive lines of code. As a result, adapting and modifying applications in response to competition, economics, disruption, or new opportunities becomes a fluid and efficient process.

9. Faster digital transformation

Low-code platforms are essential in digital transformation, providing a rapid, collaborative and scalable development environment. When companies empower both developers and non-technical users to build web and mobile applications development services and integrate them quickly, they will be closer to success. These platforms streamline processes, automate tasks and improve customer experience, facilitating the transition of organizations to a digitally transformed ecosystem.

10. Cost reduction

The costs of developing, maintaining and updating applications are drastically reduced with the use of low-code platforms. Organizations no longer need to invest large sums in IT infrastructure and resources, but can focus their budget on innovation and the development of new business applications.

Note: A low-code platform also reduces the cost of ownership because developers use modular components that are easy to maintain and reuse.

5 low-code platforms to create mobile apps

	Microsoft Power Apps	OutSystems	Appia	Mendix	KissFlow
Free trial	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Implementation	Cloud	Cloud, SaaS, Web	On-premise, SaaS	Private and public cloud, on-premises	Cloud
OS	Windows, Mobile Web	Windows, Linux, Mac, Web-based, Android, iPhone-iPad, Windows Phone, Mobile Web App	Windows, Mac	Windows, web-based, Linux	Windows, Mobile Web
Mobile app	iOS, Android and Windows devices	Mobile web, iOS, Native Android	Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Mobile Web	Android, iOS, Windows Phone	iOS, Android devices
Suitable for large and complex applications?	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Code generation	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅

After testing five low-code app development platforms, we'll give you some insights into each of them:

Microsoft Power Apps

PowerApps offers you a ton of templates that adapt to all the needs and preferences of your projects. Seamless data connection and import makes integration effortless. It is ideal for collecting data and streamlining workflows, especially in a Microsoft environment. Furthermore, its simple interface ensures smooth navigation and increases productivity.

Appia

Appian, a famous low-code app builder, can sometimes be perceived as less user-friendly due to the initial learning curve. However, once you get through the initial processes, you will have the opportunity to explore the enormous possibilities of creating your own applications. With Appian, you can unleash your creativity and bring your app ideas to life, streamlining processes and improving productivity.

Outsystems

With its intuitive interface, Outsystems is incredibly easy to use to create a fully functional application in just 5 minutes. Additionally, you have the option to download their Service Studio tool, which further simplifies the app development process.

Mendix

Mendix offers a seamless and excellent user experience, ensuring that every interaction is intuitive and easy to use. Its responsive UI framework adapts effortlessly to various devices and screen sizes, ensuring a consistent and visually captivating experience across all platforms. With Mendix, users can enjoy an exceptional, cohesive interface that meets their needs effortlessly.

Kissflow

Kissflow is a powerful and easy-to-use work and document management system. It offers great results even for users with little or no programming knowledge. However, it would be beneficial to have more capabilities for interacting with external parties and the ability to initiate processes and generate reports externally.

Limitations of low-code platforms

However, low-code app development is not a universal solution. It's important to keep in mind certain limitations of these platforms before diving into one or two:

Security risks

Security is of utmost importance when developing business applications. Low-code application development platforms can be vulnerable to security risks, such as data breaches, hacking, and malicious activities.

Complex applications require more customization

Developers may find it difficult to build complex applications, such as AI or machine learning (ML), using a low-code platform due to a lack of customization options. It is important to consider the project requirements before deciding on a platform.

Lack of your own API (not having your own API)

There may be low-code and no-code platforms that do not have their own proprietary APIs, so developers will have to turn to third-party APIs for specific tasks. Additionally, since low-code platforms are cloud-based, they require an Internet connection to function properly.

Conclusion

Is Low-Code the coding tool of the future? Probably, since in the foreseeable future low-code development platforms will be of great use to companies that want to create better and more modern enterprise applications. They will also reduce the complexities that prevent smooth results.

Based on the different platforms we have tested, we chose Mendix as it provides ease in UI design, has multiple deployment options, real-time model checking, and a responsive UI framework.

In the battle between low-code Mobile app development company in usa and traditional development, there is no winner. In my opinion, it really depends. With all the innovative features and speed of delivery, low-code platforms seem like the best option. However, traditional development has highly customizable options, scalability and adaptability, expanded functionality, and the ability to integrate with other systems more easily.