Traditionally, a company that required apps depended solely on the highly specialized skills and knowledge of coders to develop the apps they need. This resulted in long wait times for apps and significant operational inefficiencies that left organizations struggling to fulfill their needs.

Add to this the increased need for digital apps and shortage of developers in recent years and it becomes clear that IT teams need a way to build powerful apps quickly with the resources at hand. Fortunately, this is where no-code and low-code app development come in.

No-Code vs. Low-Code App Development

At first glance, no-code and low-code seem like the same thing, and they are often confused with one another. However, there are subtle differences between the two that you should know. With this in mind, let’s start by defining these types of app development.

No-code app development is a method of building apps that requires absolutely no coding knowledge or experience. This is a way for non-professional developers, such as employees outside of the IT department, to build the apps they need quickly and easily. These apps can be built using a visual interface and drag-and-drop building platform that contains all the elements required to build an app within minutes. Think of it as similar to a website-building platform.

In contrast, low-code app development is a more flexible method of building apps that still has the drag-and-drop visual interface for people who don’t know programming languages. However, there may be minimal hand-coding required, particularly when you want to customize these applications.

Advantages and Disadvantages of No-Code App Development

The greatest advantage of no-code app development is that it doesn’t require any coding to build an app. Anyone can quickly develop an app and launch it with the click of a button. This is the ideal solution when you need an app that will solve a specific problem within a department or a company, making it easy to address an immediate need without having to tap into your IT resources.

There are two major disadvantages of no-code app development to be aware of. The first of these is that the apps that can be built will be fairly basic. However, when they are needed to solve a specific problem, this is generally not a problem. The other disadvantage to no-code app development is that it can be easy for people within an organization to develop apps without proper consideration or supervision, resulting in possible security concerns, problems with integration, and compliance issues.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Low-Code App Development

Low-code app development comes with several advantages. Apps can be developed quickly, which means there is no more waiting for app development when working on a larger project. In addition, app development costs less, increasing your ROI, while lowering your risk. And with a single click, an app can be deployed and changes to the app can be made as people interact with it.

However, like no-code app development, there are disadvantages to using low-code app development. Prime among these is the fact that with just a low level of coding knowledge, you will find there is a steep learning curve. Low-code apps are not easily suited to building enterprise-grade apps that offer the high performance, quality and scalability.

No-Code or Low-Code App Development—Which Should You Use?

With the above differences between no-code and low-code app development, you might find it challenging to decide which one you need. No-code app development is ideal for simple front-end apps, such as those that can pull, analyze, report on and export data. No-code app development is also good for apps that perform repetitive tasks and for simple internal apps.

On the other hand, low-code app development is best suited to building standalone web and mobile apps that are more likely to be integrated with other systems and multiple data sources. This method of app development can be used for nearly any type of app, with the exception of highly sophisticated, mission-critical apps that need to be scaled and must interact with multiple systems and data sources.

Connect with a member of the Tangentia team today to learn more about how we can help you use no-code and low-code app development to get the apps you need quickly and easily, while easing the burden on your IT department.