Low-Code vs No-Code Development – Why and What to Choose?

Businesses these days have a host of aspects to manage, from marketing and customer service to billing and payroll. As a matter of fact, a lot of time is spent in the back office. And if you’re a small or medium-sized business, you might find that your IT resources are stretched thin. 

A survey reveals that business owners are usually engaged more than 50 hours per week when instead, they want to be just touching the 40-hour mark. And no one can blame them, to be honest. All the backend functionalities are too sophisticated to be handled with a dearth of resources.

This is where low-code and no-code development can come in handy. These might sound like intimidating terms at first, but believe me, they work wonders for your business regardless of your operational scale. 

Let’s first get a comprehensive insight into what these terms actually mean. (Both are very different from each other despite how synonymously they are used)

What is Low-Code Development?

Low-code development is a term used more often these days, especially in the software development field. It denotes the use of software development tools to develop web and mobile applications, which require less code (last time I developed a website using code, a whopping 5,000 lines of code – I wish I used low-code software). 

More specifically, low-code development is all about using an application builder or tool that allows business managers to quickly develop web and mobile applications with little or no coding experience.

This is made possible by pre-built blocks of codes that can be combined to build a website or mobile app. The end result is a ready-to-use application that can be deployed quickly and easily in case you need to develop it on the fly. 

That said, the trade-off is that low-code development involves an iterative process. This means that once a business owner makes a requirement, it triggers the entire process of code conceptualizing and testing, followed by coding, which takes place on the backend using certain commands to access pre-built libraries and templates.

What is No-Code Development?

In the case of no-code development, things look more or less the same; however, there’s no iteration involved. In other words, business owners can actually build applications by themselves without any assistance from a developer.

This is mainly because no-code development software is programming language-agnostic, which means that it doesn’t just work with the company’s proprietary database and programming language but rather works with any third-party API. 

However, no-code development software tools are not foolproof. (Neither are low-code tools, for that matter). For that reason, it is recommended to have internal developers who can monitor the IT infrastructure and debug any possible errors.

So How Do Low-Code and No-code Benefit Businesses?

Low-Code and No-code development is obviously a boon for businesses that find themselves lacking in both time and resources to execute complex applications.

But these two represent the better way to go about developing software applications. They are flexible, easy to use, quick to deploy, and are highly cost-efficient. Also, if you have a small IT team working with you on the backend, then no-code or low-code development are the preferred options.

Here’s an exhaustive list of benefits to businesses:

1. Low-Code and No-Code allow teams to test applications more rapidly owing to the effective employment and leveraging of automation capabilities.
2. Low-Code and No-code significantly reduce the costs of IT development, as you don’t need to upgrade your version of Windows or Mac OS or pay for a top-end developer.
3. IT teams can build layouts much faster, owing to the platforms’ and tools’ ease of use.
4. With Low-code and No-code, IT teams can access a wide array of applications, data, and services that are not part of the existing software or company database with ease.
5. The entire process is flexible – you can restructure your application at any point in time.
6. Low-Code packages, templates, and sets are designed to use a range of business processes that can be used in the setup of an application.
7. Low-Code and No-Code applications are less likely to cause errors, as they make use of pre-built libraries that have previously been employed for similar purposes and can be understood by IT teams.
8. Low-Code and No-Code are cost-effective, as IT developers do not need to be paid for their services. (Considering the staffing is as limited as possible). In other words, you do not need to spend any money on consultants or developers who can lay out entire networks or customer support systems.
9. Low-Code and No-code are conducive to maintaining an IT team that can work without downtime, as they can carry out the work of setting up an application in seconds. 
10. Since No-Code and Low-Code development have a finite number of options; it is easier to test out different versions of your application.
11. You can easily take advantage of open-source platforms such as WordPress and Drupal and other such platforms which are highly compatible with the low-code and no-code environments. 

Low-Code vs No-Code Development: Finally, Which One is Better?

Low-code and No-Code development have a lot of similarities, but they are different in a few ways. 

If you want to develop your application on the fly and lack both time and resources to do it, then low-code is the way to go. You can develop an application much more rapidly in such cases, as software solutions from low-code platforms integrate seamlessly with existing platforms like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics.

Right now, you have the option of using many open-source platforms, like WordPress and Drupal, which are highly compatible with low-code and no-code environments. However, you also need to be aware that these platforms are updated much less frequently than their proprietary counterparts.

In fact, Low-code development software is not a foolproof solution for businesses that do not have enough resources to hire a team of developers. At times, you have to connect low-code to systems that have a proprietary architecture to get satisfactory results.

What this basically means for businesses is that they are left with the option of developing their own system from scratch or tweaking the current system rather than relying on open-source platforms.

No-code development software, on the other hand, has no such limitation. You can always integrate any third-party platform into your no-code solution. There is no programming involved, so the speed of software development is much faster as well.

That being said, choosing between low-code and no-code depends on the business model you wish to follow. If you are a small IT organization, with a few developers on board and time constraints, then No-Code is definitely the way to go. If you are going for a custom-made application rather than an off-the-shelf software solution, then Low-code is your answer.

While you are choosing between low-code and no-code, it is advisable to hire a professional to help out in the decision-making process. This way, you can avoid potential pitfalls and save both time and money.