The modern digital landscape is fast-paced because of constant advances in development tools. For this reason, many businesses are seeking ways to improve the efficiency of their operations. Software offers many solutions for various fields, such as manufacturing and healthcare. The core obstacle for modern companies is the cost of development and its complexity.
Low-code tools offer an opportunity to overcome this problem, so many organizations choose between traditional development and low-code platforms. Each approach has its advantages and difficulties. In this article, we’ll review those issues, helping you understand which alternative is the best for your business case.
Defining Low-Code Development
Let us start by defining the essence of low-code development. Low-code platforms are development environments that allow users to create apps through a graphical interface rather than manual coding. They offer pre-made templates for various functions that users can combine through drag-and-drop interactions. You can join instruments through a visual interface and see the outcomes of your actions at once. Low-code development services are notable for their inclusion of the so-called citizen developers. These are developers without coding knowledge who introduce changes to apps via visual interfaces.
One more core benefit of low-code development is its access to coding tools. No-code platforms are inflexible: they’re closed-source and reject major code changes. With low-code platforms, you can use various scripting languages to build your blocks. As a result, one can create a template for an app and then add custom elements to it. This approach to development is synergetic: it combines the advantages of low-code and traditional platforms for app creation.
Key Advantages of Low-Code Development
Low-code development has several core advantages you need to consider.
- Firstly, low-code tools allow for maximal speed during development. Traditional coding is more flexible but requires complex solutions to enable some features. Various interactions with sites or apps may even require the knowledge of calculus. A simple feature like a pop-up can take weeks to develop. Low-code tools solve this problem by offering drag-and-drop interfaces and configuration tools. Sometimes, complex behaviors can be programmed within several minutes.
- Secondly, the platforms in question empower non-technical users. A common challenge of traditional coding is that it’s too complicated for non-specialists. This issue often results in an antagonism between the IT and non-IT departments. With no-code tools, specialists in marketing or HR can develop features independently. The sharing of ideas between technical and non-technical experts becomes simple.
- Lastly, investing in low-code tools is rational because they simplify the integration of various services. Many frameworks, such as Bubble, provide comfortable integration tools for social media sites and APIs. This factor makes it easy to streamline workflows and introduce significant changes when new valuable services appear on the market.Â
Limitation of Low-Code Development
Low-code development isn’t without limitations.
- The first limitation is flexibility. In many conditions, it’s easier to customize traditional code. Platforms such as Bubble offer customization, but with a limit: users can only use approved languages like JavaScript.
- This problem leads to a second limitation. You risk vendor lock-in since it’s difficult to change the underlying low-code source code (in Bubble’s case, it’s closed-source). If you invest too much into a specific low-code platform, it may be impossible to transition to other frameworks later.
- Lastly, low-code platforms create security concerns. On the one hand, citizen developers may produce designs that aren’t entirely safe. On the other hand, many aspects of security are in the hands of vendors, preventing you from making full-scale audits.
Defining Traditional Development
Traditional development involves writing code for an app from scratch manually according to coding language rules. The process is complex as it requires knowledge of programming languages, mathematics, and computing. Most programming languages rely on mathematical formulas and non-intuitive hardware principles. This type of development is usually used for projects that need advanced features.
The Main Advantages of Traditional Development
The chief advantages of traditional development mirror the disadvantages of no-code approaches.
- Traditional platforms are flexible in customization processes. You have full control over app architecture with those frameworks. Thus, creating an app is possible as long as you have enough resources.
- Another benefit is a high level of freedom. You can combine multiple programming languages to achieve various tasks. Traditional development also allows you to rewrite code to optimize your platform.
- Besides, traditional development is more secure. You can add various instruments to your app, guaranteeing maximal protection for user data.
The Main Disadvantages of Traditional Development
Simultaneously, traditional development has significant problems. Firstly, it takes much more time than no-code approaches. As a result, you can expect higher development costs since you not only have to find experts with a high level of expertise but also hire them for a long period. This type of development is available only to the richest firms.
Conclusion: Making the Right Choice
Ultimately, making the right choice for your business is possible only if you consider all the advantages and disadvantages. Their interpretation depends on your project’s complexity, budget, time constraints, and demands for future growth. Hence, the best decision is to consult companies like Keenethics, which has low code and traditional development expertise.