The 10 Best Low Code Mobile App Development Platforms

The dependency of startups and enterprises on low-code mobile app development platforms is burgeoning because of their prodigious benefits.

Indeed, the low-code approach speeds up the development time and reduces the cost and required resources. 

According to Allied Market Research, the market value of the low-code development industry will hit 125.6 billion USD by 2031.

This figure was valued at 11.5 billion USD in 2021. This projection shows the growing influence of this app creation approach over dev teams and businesses. 

So, this article presents one of the leading platforms to build low-code mobile applications with their key traits.

What is Low-Code?

Low-code is a visual practice for application development that authorizes programmers to craft apps with little coding.

Compared to conventional programming approaches, low-code environments utilize event-driven models, logic, GUIs, and drag-and-drop properties to build applications. 

In simple words, low-code empowers developers to create elementary to complicated applications with minimal manual scripting.

Back4app, OutSystems and Appian are the most popular low-code mobile app development platforms.

Benefits of Low-Code

Let’s talk about the core advantages of low-code development:

Enhanced Agility

Drag and drop operations and minimum coding make low-code an agile solution to craft applications. The reusable nature of components enables the dev teams to oust the demand of scripting an app from scratch. In short, low code development empowers businesses to craft software at a high pace.

Improved Productivity

With the robust backing of AI technology, low-code development improves productivity. Hereof, it authorizes the developers to transform their innovative ideas into reality in a short period of time.

The quick release of applications aids in getting high ROIs, decreases errors and accelerates operational productivity. 

Cost Efficiency

Businesses need a limited number of developers and dev tools to create a mobile application while using low-code services.

This feature makes their ventures cost-efficient because they need to spend less amount on hiring processes and obtaining dev tools. 

Correspondingly, software engineers without prior experience can also work on low-code platforms. Thus, companies don’t have to recruit and pay seasoned programmers. 

Smooth Transformations

It is seamless to adapt modifications and integration of new tools with low-code platforms than traditional means.

This approach provides ready-to-use no-code unifications, which is why you don’t have to consume time for APIs, RPA and database integrations. 

Better Customer Experience

Low-code environments follow a customer-oriented culture where they are always ready to identify and fulfill the demands of end users.

This development approach improves brand loyalty with rapid response to customers’ queries and operational swiftness.

Downsides of Low-Code

Although low-code seems small businesses and startup-friendly, but it still has some drawbacks:

Limited Customization

Customization operations vary from platform to platform, but it has been witnessed that low-code vendors provide insufficient personalization choices.

Withal, it is good to examine the customization limits before choosing a provider. 

Performance Issues

Performance issues are another drawback of using low-code services, mainly when you deal with heavy-duty records.

In comparison to applications crafted with true programming, you will find the conduct of low-code apps mediocre.

Security Issues

Undoubtedly, renowned low-code platforms promise built-in security standards, but you will find them insufficient.

Yes, manually written applications are considered more secure than the apps scripted with minimal coding. Less control over the app’s data also makes it a vulnerable option. 

Top 10 Mobile App Low-Code Development Platforms

Check out the 10 leading mobile app low-code development platforms in detail:

1. Back4app

Back4app is one of the finest mobile application development platform, which believes in more flexibility to craft, deploy and host mobile applications with minimum manual coding.

This is an open-source platform, emphasizing better user experience and quick app creation at an economical cost.

Its cloud platform lets businesses build highly extensive and fully-supervised backends. Therefore, dev teams can get more opportunities to advance user experience with improved client-side functionalities.

Correspondingly, a community of 260k programmers across 200+ countries makes it a popular choice among rivals.

Core Features

Real-time Queries – Live Queries is an exciting feature of Back4app that enables programmers to save, generate and connect data in the meantime. It keeps you alert regarding upgrades and maintenance matters.

Scalable – This low-code service allows companies to expand and scale down their instances anytime. By the way, pay as you go plan is also available among Back4app BaaS pricing models. 

Secure – Back4app follows different practices to keep its offerings safe. Hereof, it facilitates clients with multi-factor authentication to avoid unauthorized access. By the same token, you can benefit from custom access property to tailor the role-based entrées.

User-Friendly Dashboard – Most of the developers choose low-code providers because of their central dashboards. Fortunately, you can keep an eye on push notifications to database usage insights with a single dashboard of Back4app.

Pricing

Free Plan: If your project’s monthly exigencies are limited to 1GB transfer, 25k requests, 250 MB data storage and 1GB file storage, you can pick a free-tier plan of Back4app.  

MVP: This pricing model costs you $25/month. However, if you choose an annual subscription, you will have to pay $15/month with 40% savings. 2GB data storage, 50GB file storage and 500k requests are core features of this plan.

Pay As You Go: You should pay $100 per month for this program, but if you select annual billing, you can save 20%, and the charges will be $80/month. 5 million requests, 4GB data storage and 1TB data transfer, are key highlights of this plan. 

Dedicated: This pricing model is an ideal option for enterprise-level projects. In this regard, it costs you $400/month and $500/month for annual and monthly subscriptions, respectively. Unmetered requests, 80 GB data storage, and server capacity are primary aspects of the Dedicated plan.

2. Appian

Appian is a top-notch cloud computing company which has been working since 1999. It provides an excellent low-code environment for businesses and development teams to convert their ideas into applications.

This LCDP enables the programmers to visualize, craft, deploy and host Android and iOS applications for multiple platforms.

Especially, Appian gives outstanding results, especially when you combine its low-code product with built-in AI functionalities for process automation. 

Core Features

Data Fabric – Appian serves a unified data model to approach the right data 9x quicker. You can also make smarter decisions with this feature because it overcomes the data integration load and accelerates the development process.

Cross-Platform – You need to craft the application once, and then you can deploy it on web browsers and various mobile operating systems. So, it could be a good choice to build interactive web and native mobile applications. 

Better User Experience – To attain and retain potential customers, Appian works on delivering excellent UX. Hereof, this low-code mobile app builder provides highly appealing UIs across distinct devices. 

Governed Development – Startups and developers without prior expertise in programming can smoothly utilize Appian. This platform supplies a fully managed environment with continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD). 

Pricing

Free: With automation and low-code services, this is an entirely free plan for startups and an application designed for 15 users. 

Application: This is a fully featured program that comes with a price tag of $2 (input-only), $9 (infrequent) and $75 (standard) per month per user. 

Platform: A dedicated plan costs you per user with support for immense applications. You can contact the sales team to get a custom price. 

Unlimited: This program charges per development to businesses. The sales team would offer you a custom quote if you want to subscribe to this plan.

3. Airtable

Airtable is a California-based low-code app builder that started its journey in 2012. This cloud vendor facilitates the dev teams to create highly tailored mobile applications for exclusive workflows regardless of technical proficiency.

Hereof, Airtable doesn’t only aid in crafting and deploying next-generation applications, but you can utilize it to monitor user engagement and marketing campaigns.

With these amazing low-code or no-low functionalities, it is assisting more than 450k companies globally. Dropbox, LinkedIn and Shopify are top clients of Airtable. 

Core Features

Interface Designer – This feature allows the team leads to showcase a customized dashboard. It is beneficial to share only significant information with the team instead of bogging down with irrelevant data. 

Secure & Scalable – Enterprise-grade encryption, compliance with GDPR and many other features make Airtable a secure LCDP. Unmetered APIs and databases enable businesses to scale up resources seamlessly.

Automations – Whether you depend on trigger & action logic for crafting numerous workflows or write minimal code to attain more functionalities, Airtable automations always back you.

Record Templates – You can create templates for your frequent records. So, you can reuse these templates for most often records instead of building them from scratch. It is a time-efficient approach for developers.  

Pricing

Free: Small teams can approach this plan. It contains 100 automation runs, an interface designer, 1k records per base and 5+ editors.

Team: It is an ideal model for shared workflows with a price tag of $20/month per seat (annual billing). 50k records, 25k automation runs and 20GB attachments/base are core properties of the team model.

Business: This pricing model comes with a monthly cost of $45/seat if you choose annual billing. 100GB attachments/base, 100k automation runs, and 125k records are its major highlights.

Enterprise Scale: To get dedicated support for your projects, you can adopt Enterprise Scale. Simply connect with the sales team to get custom offers. 

4. OutSystems

OutSystems is a renowned mobile app low-code development platform with an active community of 700k members across 87 countries.

You can use a single code system to deploy mobile applications for both iOS and Android devices. Correspondingly, OutSystems emphasizes providing phenomenal user experience (UX) as well. 

Humana, Allegro and Colliers International are featured customers of this low-code app builder.

Core Features

Built-In Templates – These built-in templates help dev teams in creating and deploying model mobile apps within 10 minutes. In such a way, the speed of development procedure accelerates. 

Full-Stack Development – OutSystems authorizes frontend and backend development seamlessly. It grants excellent UX with ready-to-use templates and Figma. Similarly, experts and newbies can easily work on server-side functionalities, including workflows, logic, APIs and databases.

AI Mentor System – Dev teams can depend on an AI Architecture Mentor to craft code according to crucial formation criteria. By the same token, you can benefit from AI Code and Security Mentor to obtain further assistance. 

Integration – Plug-and-play components and support for more than 400 systems through in-built connectors; integrations are coherent with OutSystems. Also, it enables developers to craft highly responsive backends with ABAP, SAP and Open Data Protocol.

Pricing

Single App: Novice developers can use this free-tier plan if they are running an app for 100 end users. 

Multiple Apps: The monthly cost of this plan begins from $1513. Unlimited user support, development and production runtimes are core features here.

Large App Portfolio: To approach on-premises and cloud hosting features with dedicated services, you can choose this plan. Contact the sales team to get a custom quote in this regard.  

5. ZohoCreator

ZohoCreator is a compelling low-code mobile app development platform that has been used for crafting and deploying 7 million applications.

With 10x robust development and 550+ built-in integrations, it allows businesses to create highly tailored applications for the App Store and Google Play.

Core Features

Multiple Device Support – This LCDP empowers the developers to utilize drag-and-drop components for making applications. These applications could be deployed anywhere on iOS and Android devices.

Secure – Zoho Creator offers promising 500-fortune level protection for its users. Yes, around 13 million users across the globe believe in data privacy, compliance, in-app and data center security of Zoho. 

Multi-Lingual Support – Multi-language support is an exciting property of Zoho Creator that ensures the ability to generate applications in a variety of local languages. So, you don’t have to stick with English only. In this regard, this low-code builder confers right-to-left (RTL) layouts as well.

Pricing

Standard: A suitable plan for beginners, and its monthly fee is $8/user per month. 

Professional: It is a good solution for teams. With a monthly price tag of $20/user, you can utilize this plan for unmetered applications.

Enterprise: This is a perfect solution for building applications for enterprises. Its monthly cost is $25/user. 

Flex: For custom requirements, you should talk with the sales team to get a quote.

6. BuildFire

If you are looking for a powerful low-code platform to create best-performing applications, BuildFire should be your choice.

The company has facilitated more than 10 million users for creating 10k applications globally. In this regard, it acts upon three simple steps: Get Started, Build and Launch. 

Moreover, load balancers, SDK support, real-time previews and rapid project administration make BuildFire a full package for building highly interactive applications. Aon, Pepsi and PayPal are major clients of this LCDP. 

Core Features

In-Built Toolsets – BuildFire is popular as a no-code service among developers. Therefore, you find a ready-to-use library, templates, plugins and further tools here to design and release an application quickly. 

BuildFire SDK – SDKs play an important role in creating fully tailored applications in a serverless environment for BuildFire users. Indeed, SKD support is ideal to approach custom functionalities.

Fast Deployments – 1-click deployments and quick debugging accelerate the development process. This platform typically takes 10 minutes to craft an app prototype. 

Pricing

For 5GB storage, 100GB bandwidth and 50k monthly push notifications, BuildFire bills you $100/month under its MVP plan. Its Growth and Starter programs cost you $189/month and $349/month, respectively. 

7. GeneXus

GeneXus is another credible low-code software builder in our list that comes with a powerful backing of AI and automation capabilities.

Whether you want to craft the server-side or backend of your application, you will find this LCDP a trusted choice with minimal code. That is why 9k companies across 50 countries trust GeneXus.

Core Features

Environment Support – Whether you set up your applications in the cloud or pick a hybrid or on-premises environment, you will find complete support on GeneXus. 

Easy Migrations – This is a future-centric low-code solution that allows the developers to move from one technology to another smoothly. Similarly, you can switch between systems conveniently. 

Automation – Businesses can swiftly generate user interfaces for the frontend, databases for the backend and several other functionalities with this solution. 

Pricing

GeneXus categorizes its pricing structure into two plans: Start and Professional. The monthly fee of the Beginners plan commences from $99, and it costs $129 for the Startup package under the Professional program.

8. Mendix

With more than 300k active developers and 4k customers, Mendix has created 200k+ low-code applications.

Mendix can’t only build and deploy mobile applications with minimum hand code, but it can also meet complicated development demands.

Validata, Mitsubishi Electric and Arizona Lithium Ltd are featured customers of Mendix. 

Core Features

Flexible – It is highly adaptable to craft mobile applications with 1-click deployment and design UIs through standard IDEs and visual elements. The open-source nature of Mendix is also helpful for smooth integrations.

AI-Assisted Development – AI-backed logic and real-time queries improve the accuracy ratio by up to 95%. Developers find AI very helpful for data validation, audit and app modeling.

Workflow Automation – Dev teams find this feature effective to omit the workflow blockades. Mendix offers digital workflows and syncs with advanced technologies to deal with particular sections of processes only.  

Pricing

Beginners can adopt the Free plan of Mendix. However, the Basic program of this service bills you €50/month. To get dedicated features, you can choose the Standard model, which costs €800/month. 

9. KissFlow

KissFlow has been delivering powerful low-code solutions to startups, large enterprises and the programming community since 2003.

This India-based company has served 1000k+ users in 160 countries of the world. You can see Telegram, Pepsi, CASIO and Reckitt among the top customers of KissFlow.   

Core Features

In-built Templates – Businesses don’t have to create workflows from scratch because KissFlow supplies various ready-to-use templates. Yes, you can get numerous templates here for marketing, HR, product, finance and much more.

Boards – KissFlow uses boards to outperform macros and spreadsheets. Indeed, boards display analytics, data permission, task management, issue tracking, etc, in a single place. 

Integrations – No-code integrations are another attractive trait of KissFlow. You can use these connectors to benefit from third-party tools for security, marketing, signature and several other purposes.

Pricing

Basic: With limited properties, the Basic plan begins from $1500/month. It provides backing for simple use cases and internal users. However, it lacks external user and private cluster support.

Enterprise: It follows a flexible pricing model where you can connect with the sales team and get a custom offer. By the way, this plan includes all the necessary traits. 

10. Backendless

Backendless is an economical and high-performing visual or low-code development platform. Whether you need a codeless frontend logic to build interactive UIs or are willing to craft a backend with visual programming, this CSP is always ready to assist you.  

Core Features

External Database – Developers can use any external database for their projects by linking REST API or SDK with the pro cluster. Yes, Backendless Pro allows businesses to approach their legacy data for mobile applications.

UI Builder – Visual UI builder empowers dev teams to design advanced frontends. Also, this feature plays a significant role when it comes to connecting UIs with real-time backends. 

Backendless Core – If you want to access all properties of MBaaS for your project, you can benefit from Backendless Core. It is a complete package comprising cloud code, push notifications, user management and security traits. 

API Services – A variety of API services for spam detection, editing and deploying logic without code are available here. 

Pricing

The Free Plan of Backendless Cloud offers 50 API req/min, 1GB file storage and 10 database tables. On the contrary, the monthly fee of the Scale Plan begins from $15. Under this package, you can obtain unlimited API req/min, 10GB file storage and 100 database tables. 

Conclusion

It is hard to overlook the growing acceptance of low-code or no-code platforms nowadays. LCDPs are considered crucial to accelerate deployment and meet challenging development needs.

Therefore, this article presents one of the finest mobile app low-code development platforms with dev teams and businesses.

We discussed the core traits and pricing structure of these solutions in detail. However, you should wisely pick a suitable option that fulfills the requirements of your project.