The Ultimate Guide to Low-Code Development

Certain development tasks call for low-cost development methods. In this regard, our business analysts highlight that low-code development services are among the best ways to combine low costs with high quality!

In the past, development was a task that could only be completed by professional coders. Today, however, new tools appear that promote the model of citizen developers. The instruments in question are low-code tools of various kinds. What is low-code development? In this article, you’ll receive a full-scale answer to this question.

What Does Low-Code Represent?

Low-code represents an approach to development that minimizes the need for coding. Many apps that enable digital transformation in various firms don’t necessarily require many unique elements. Low-code platforms consider this aspect by offering various firms an opportunity to create apps through drag-and-drop interfaces. They allow one to select various models via a traditional UI, creating apps without any coding. This model fosters non-technical users to have active participation in the development process. 

And, what about the low-code part? Low code means that coding doesn’t disappear entirely. Instead, it’s possible to modify the code of premade elements to fit the unique needs of particular firms. Development teams can ask non-technical specialists to come up with a design and then perfect it. Such an approach allows for rapid application development.

What Does Low-Code Development Represent?

Low-code development is a relatively new trend in the coding world that is likely to transform the field in the upcoming years. In this case, low-code development means that professional developers take over the whole app creation process with the help of low-code tools. Why is this so important? They can save many hours on common reusable components through drag-and-drop functionality. At the same time, these functions don’t limit professional developers. They can also add their features through coding. All this results in what we call synergetic development. Synergetic development is the development process that involves a combination of low-code and traditional coding. In numerous instances, it can lead to a 40% and even more decrease in the overall development cost for various apps. What is low-code in this light? It’s a perfect opportunity to save funds.

Low-Code vs. No-Code vs. High-Code

Let’s also look at some popular terms. There are several of them concerning drag-and-drop development approaches.

Firstly, there are high-code platforms, which describe traditional development for complex applications. High-code is a process of writing complete code for an app.

Secondly, no-code is becoming popular. It stands for platforms that don’t need any coding for app creation at all. Usually, they’re very simple to use but offer minimal flexibility. Coding custom features in them is difficult and disrupts the average user experience.

Lastly, low-code development is a combination of no-code and high-code. On the one hand, it’s possible to do repetitive tasks through a visual interface. On the other hand, many customization capabilities are available for your apps. Thus, the terms highlight the degree of customization available to the customers on the market.

Key Features of Low-Code Platforms

Modern low-code application platforms offer a set of vital features that need to be considered. These are the key reasons to use those frameworks: 

Tools for visual app creation

The most important tool of any low-code application development platform is undoubtedly visual app creation. Low-code tools allow their users to create apps through visual means. For example, they can drag and drop the form of their app and the various features it needs to have. It’s possible to add phone integration, maps, and service checkout. In short, the number of in-built capabilities is genuinely tremendous regarding this seemingly simple app development process. Consequently, the popularity of low-code application development isn’t surprising. Many people prefer those platforms due to their ability to reduce development time and enable non-technical specialists to participate in the overall development process.  

In-built integration tools

Modern low-code development prioritizes maximal comfort for the average user. In this light, the relevant platforms have as many integration tools as possible. They possess integration into core APIs from the get-go (or through easy-to-install extensions), requiring almost no major effort to include services like Facebook or Google. This is highly vital for business apps because such integration is usually among the most difficult processes. Here, everything can be done through visual interfaces and with maximal speed.

Safety

Traditional development of enterprise applications requires long-term planning to guarantee a combination of great customer experience and high security. Low-code technology integrates those features from the onset. Any gaps in security levels can, at the same time, be patched through the usage of custom code. In this light, low-code development is the fastest way to create secure apps for the business field.

App lifecycle management

Lifecycle management for various apps is one more benefit of a low-code environment. Low-code development is done through pre-coded platforms. Thus, it’s very easy to update features and add new frameworks that follow the most common trends. For instance, the appearance of TikTok as a popular platform would require a simple drag-and-drop change for no-code apps. When new platforms arise, it’ll be similarly simple to update the majority of the features to fit them, due to the constantly evolving nature of frameworks like FlutterFlow. This information means that updates and general app lifecycle management are much easier in low-code rather than in traditional application development. 

App scalability

Platforms such as FlutterFlow use programming languages that are well-suited to scalability. For example, FlutterFlow utilizes Dart, which allows a skilled developer to quickly turn an app with a small user base into an app with a large one. In many cases, an average business user doesn’t even need to touch any code: instead, it’s entirely possible to leave an app as is and it’ll scale. The developers of low-code platforms genuinely try to make their platforms as comfortable as possible for the majority of users to make low-code development preferable to traditional coding.

AI integration

Modern low-code platforms are also notable for one more capability. This capability is AI integration. On the one hand, you can use AI to generate a custom solution for your company. ChatGPT is capable of creating various elements based on your prompts. On the other hand, you can also add generative AI tools to new apps, easing the deployment process of various chatbots. This means that AI is both a feature used for developing new apps in low-code development and a framework for creating new app features. Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly make the low-code solution much more popular than in the past.

Main Benefits of Going Low-Code

There are several reasons to use a low-code development platform. Let’s analyze them in depth:

1. Full control over automation for small firms

Low-code development allows the creation of advanced functionality despite the lack of significant coding expertise. This is highly vital for many firms that may have insufficient resources to hire development teams for full-time maintenance. In this case, you can ask professional developers to create low-code functionality and then administrate your app yourself. While this isn’t the most efficient approach, it nonetheless offers a much larger degree of control over automation than in the past.

2. Better business-IT cooperation

Cooperation between business and IT is one more benefit of a low-code development platform. A common issue for many firms is the lack of interaction between business specialists and IT ones. In many cases, managers don’t get what they want during the development process. Now, low-code approaches offer a solution to this problem. They allow managers to introduce changes to apps personally. In this way, it’s possible to improve the communication between various departments, making applications more aligned in terms of business-IT cooperation.

3. High speed of development

Fast digital transformation is essential for many firms that want to achieve success in the market. For example, a niche company selling gaming souvenirs is likely to sell more if it has a site. Our experience shows that software solutions made with low-code platforms are typically 40% faster in terms of development than the solutions made through the usage of high-code. One of the cases on our website highlights that it’s possible to create a landing page for a service within 1.5 weeks through platforms like FlutterFlow.

4. Easy prototyping

Low-code platforms are among the best frameworks for making prototypes. Let’s imagine that you have an idea for a new landing page. After creating an outline in Figma, you can manifest this idea through low-code development platforms within one or two weeks. We view low-code platforms as the best environment for the creation of minimum viable products. You can briefly outline the most vital features of your app in it and then make it work.

5. Lower cost of ownership

Low-code platforms generally include a lower cost of ownership. Firstly, faster development means that you’ll pay less to developers. In many cases, low-code development saves more than 40% of the relevant costs. Secondly, low-code development uses platforms that are typically well-maintained. This means that you’ll be able to keep them safe easier than in the case of other frameworks. Constant addition of features to low-code platforms goes beyond application security, too. In many situations, it’s simple to update a low-code framework with the newest app integrations.

6. Promotion of standardization

A focus on low-code platforms also enables standardization in business software. It’s very easy to create a whole suite of business software through the usage of low code. Thus, if your firm needs a set of software, low code is a great option. On the one hand, it’ll allow you to quickly develop features across multiple projects. On the other hand, you’ll have a singular code base that will be easy to integrate and manage. 

7. Great productivity

Low-code applications are also well-optimized. They use a singular code base that undergoes constant upgrades. More importantly, those frameworks have modules that are constantly optimized, too. In this light, you can expect your apps and sites to work at maximum speed if you decide to use a low-code platform. Optimization levels are especially great if you consider fields like web and mobile, which are typically the main target of various low-code platforms.

Key Challenges of Low-Code Platforms

Still, some significant challenges can befall low-code platforms. Let’s review them in-depth to understand their limitations:

1. Limited customization: premade components may fail to fit every use case;
2. Integration difficulties: legacy systems may be unsupported by the newer low-code systems;
3. Security concerns: pre-built components may have vulnerabilities you don’t know about;
4. Vendor lock-in: you may become dependent on a particular low-code solution if you decide to make investments in one;
5. Maintenance and updates: custom code may be broken through the updates presented by the platform holders. Unexpected updates can generally break your entire system;
6. Code quality and technical debt: optimization and code refactoring may be difficult due to the presence of many code lines that weren’t written by your team;
7. Limited control over underlying architecture: you may have restricted access to lower-level components (not a problem in open-source solutions, however);
8. Cost considerations: licensing fees may become expansive at large scales; besides, there may be a need for additional payment regarding newer features.

Best Tips for Picking a Low-Code Platform

In our opinion, the best steps for analysis in choosing the strongest low-code platform are the following:

1. Assess scalability and flexibility
2. Evaluate integration capabilities
3. Analyze the total cost of ownership

All these features must fit the profile of your specific firm to maximize the positive benefits of a low-code approach.

Existing Low-Code Solutions on the Market

Currently, the following solutions are among the most popular low-code frameworks on the market:

1. FlutterFlow
2. Microsoft Power Apps
3. Mendix
4. Appian
5. Salesforce Lightning Platform
6. Bubble

Use Cases for Low-Code

Low-code has multiple use cases. Here are some examples that can benefit from the advanced features of the framework:

1) Customer portals: build a self-service interface quickly and without major barriers.

2) Process automation: streamline workflows to reduce the majority of the manual tasks.

3) Mobile app development: minimize coding for the creation of cross-platform apps.

4) Data visualization: create interactive dashboards.

5) Legacy system modernization: redevelop legacy systems fast.

How Will Low-Code Development Work in the Future?

We believe that the future of low-code development is primarily connected to AI technologies. In this regard, AI is going to change low-code development in two ways. Firstly, it’ll allow the creation of custom code and features that will further reduce the reliance on the human workforce. Secondly and more importantly, low-code platforms will become the easiest path for the creation of various AI chatbots due to the integration of premade elements. Generally, low-code development is likely to become even more accessible in the future thanks to the presented features.

FAQ

What is the definition of a low-code developer?

A low-code developer is a developer who is an expert at using low-code platforms. This entails the knowledge of visual coding and the relevant coding platforms used within the low-code platforms.

Is low-code meant only for big companies?

On the contrary, it’s much cheaper than traditional development, making it perfect for smaller businesses.

What is visual programming, and how does it work?

Visual programming is the process of creating an app through a visual drag-and-drop interface. It becomes possible thanks to pre-coded elements in a no-code platform.

Which tools do you recommend for low-code development?

These are the most popular low-code development frameworks on the market:

1. FlutterFlow;
2. Microsoft Power Apps
3. Mendix
4. Appian
5. Salesforce Lightning Platform
6. Bubble

What’s the best platform for developing with minimal code?

There’s no best solution. Everything depends on your specific needs. In this case, our recommendation is to contact specialists to find out which solutions fit your firm the best.