Due Diligence before choosing wappler and contributing to ecosystem

Coffee Lounge
#1

Apologies that this may be a long post and lots to think about. It’s also something that others have probably asked before. But this will be a brain dump of things I’m thinking about and trying to make some large decisions on.

I’m 90% certain Wappler is the direction we want to go. There are a few QoL upgrades I’ll probably put into the feature requests (Mostly around docker), but they aren’t blockers.

The main thing I’m struggling with on researching platforms is what is available outside of Bubble and Wappler for Rapid Application Development and the low-code / no-code full stack development? Ever other no-code or low-code environment I have found are either focused on internal applications and don’t handle SaaS style things, front-end apps only and you have to bring your own backend, or design only. There are a few others out there like AirTable and such but those are basically super powered spread sheets or like MS Access.

Does anyone have any other full stack low-code/no-code platforms they considered before that would allow building a SaaS and Mobile Apps?

I’m currently working on a starter application for Wappler that would solve some of the things I miss from Bubble such as the quick development without having to worry about user auth and such. I’ll be releasing this starter app for free on GitHub when it is done.

I really like the idea of low-code/no-code development platforms. I’m Senior Software Engineer doing traditional development for my day job, and I don’t really want to spend time implementing all of the API stuff and backend things. I just want to be able to craft the application quickly and get to delivering on these ideas we have.

I guess what I’m trying to do is move from 90% to 100% sure wappler is the platform for myself and my business partner.

#2

There is nothing out there similar to Wappler feature set and pricing.

3 Likes
#3

If you’re looking for a development platform that does 100% of the coding for you for really complex apps, Wappler is not the answer. If you want something to make nice data driven sites, very flexible, that you can use on any hosting or just about any development server, that takes care of a lot of the tedious layout and query writing then Wappler is for you. Not to mention they listen to feedback and release updates every Thursday. (which I look forward to in anticipation of what’s going to be new or fixed) There is so much that I love (and not like so much) about Wappler but it would take all day to type it out…haha

I’m an experienced PHP/jQuery/CSS/HTML developer who used to start with a blank document and go from there. I wanted something that was flexible enough to feel like I could do whatever I wanted to do (like I was when hand coding everything) but could take a lot of the tediousness out of it and didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. I looked at A LOT of low code / no code solutions for several years and they were usually close to what I wanted but always had a “gotcha” or two on features I was looking for. On top of that they were all expensive and a lot of them required you to host on their platform so you didn’t really own the code. I even looked at Wappler a few years ago but it wasn’t where I needed it to be yet. I even started building my own framework that was coming along pretty well when something made me take another look at Wappler. It had a few years to mature since I last looked so I downloaded the trial. I followed @mebeingken’s excellent tutorial you get when downloading the trial and after going through the whole tutorial I was sold. I realized that I was re-inventing the wheel working on my framework and I bought Wappler.

#4

Please let sleeping dogs lie.

4 Likes
#5

Jon said it exactly right. I also looked around for other tools in the past, but with Wappler I can make a simple landing page with a subscribe function using purely design view in about 5 minutes flat.
OR
A massive project with any number of features and functions, using many of the design view tools to speed it up, I can customise as much as I like, add third party tools, integrate with any external APIs either with the prebuilt or custom API tools. I have really not found any project in the last 3 years or so that I have not been able to do.

The issue with every other application I have found for rapid development other than Wappler, is that there are always limitations, like it can do Front-End but not Back End work, or it can connect to this database, but not that one, or it can work with only these hosting providers but not that. Often with others, they are also modular, like, yes, you can export the code out, but thats an added charge to allow that.

With Wappler, you pay one Pro Subscription price, and do anything you want, with as many projects as you like, and there are no limitations other than your imagination and knowledge base.
You also have peace of mind that if another better tool is released in the future, Wappler is not locking you in, all the code and all the files are there, so you can just move your project over to that, they have not locked you into buying a domain through them or hosting or SSL, so you can switch as you please, however at this point in time, I do not think there is a better Application that can do what Wappler does.

2 Likes
#6

Hi Shannon.
Not only do you get Wappler you get amazing support from the team and the community at no extra cost! No need to get frustrated waiting for your questions to get a reply/answer. Usually within ten minutes someone will give you direction on how to do what you are trying to achieve (from the basics to the complex)… Can’t express enough praise for the product and its users. Simply excellent.

1 Like
#7

I’ve search high and low - haven’t found anything near to Wappler in terms of the capabilities and flexibility it offers.
If you can code in python, anvil.works might be worth looking at once - but it is far less “visual” than wappler!
There are tools like decisions which are arguably mature but $50K/yr+ pricing makes it out of reach for most of us while keeping the self host thing still a dream!

Wappler ftw.