With businesses becoming more and more independent in the digital world, you should be able to use the type of tech stack that suits your organization and development project. For many companies, that is likely to be low-code development – a form of software development that increases speed to market and is less resource-intensive.
But what exactly is low-code development? And how does it differ from traditional development? In this blog, we examine the differences between low-code and traditional development – and help you determine which type of development is right for your business. Read on to find out more.
Understanding Low-Code and Traditional Development
Before we dig into the main differences between low-code and traditional development, we must know exactly what we’re talking about. Imagine you are looking to design a new piece of software, such as a domain checker or a customer service portal.
In days gone by, you would have had to use IT specialists to build this software from the ground up. This would have required the use of specialized coding languages, with each part of the software needing to be written from scratch. This can be a pretty resource-intensive process: you need skilled developers, the right databases and programming languages, and tools that allow you to write and manage code. Using lots of professional developers to produce software is therefore a pretty expensive venture, and it can also take a lot of time to develop software from scratch.
This meant that more companies started to look away from traditional development: instead, they opted for a low-code approach. This is where you only use a small amount of coding to produce a piece of software, as you instead use a range of pre-designed modules alongside some small modifications of the baseline code. Rather than needing an in-depth knowledge of coding languages, you’ll be able to use a visual approach to drag and drop blocks of components to build the software you need. This low-code approach, therefore, frees up companies from relying on a large team of software developers.
8 Differences of Low-Code and Traditional Development
So now you know the basics of low-code and traditional development. But to know which form of development is right for your organization, we’ll need to go into a bit more detail about the differences between the two. Here are the 8 biggest differences between low-code and traditional development.
1. Coding Knowledge
Probably the most significant distinction between low-code and traditional development is the amount of coding knowledge that is required to produce a piece of software or build an app. As you have to write the program from scratch when developing traditionally, you need a team of specialists with a deep knowledge of coding languages.
This isn’t the case with low-code development: instead, you might require just one team member with basic coding knowledge. This specialist will allow you to be confident in handling the more detailed bits of app development, but the rest of the team could be made up of people without any coding skills, like citizen developers as low-code app development largely includes a visual, modular approach.
2. Speed of Development
Because a low-code approach uses a lot of pre-designed components, working applications can be designed and ready to publish in between one to three weeks. Of course, this will be longer if you’re working on more complex software and need to put more time in to ensure quality, but low-code development is generally high-speed. This means that app development time is a key difference from traditional development. Working to produce lines of code from scratch can be pretty time-consuming, with many projects taking around six months to complete. If you need a piece of software quickly, there’s no doubt that low-code development is the path for you.
3. Agility
Similarly, making changes to apps through traditional development can also be slow and arduous. This is because you’ll have to work through hundreds of lines of code to make a change to a software feature, impacting the agility of your apps.
Low-code software, on the other hand, is much more agile – you can simply swap out modular components if you need to make a change, meaning that any errors in your development can be rectified quickly.
4. Maintenance
Maintaining your software is one of the things that businesses often fail to consider when planning app development. However, it’s crucial to regularly update your apps to make sure that they remain functional and secure.
A low-code approach will remove the burden of maintenance from your IT team – instead, the company that provides the baseline code will be responsible for updating its code, meaning that your apps will be automatically updated. When it comes to traditional development, however, you’ll need to have your teams update the code each time you need to update the software.
5. Customization
The differences in customizability between low-code and traditional development are where you can see some of the downsides of the low-code approach. As you’re relying on the provider’s components, your apps will have little customization – you can only do what is available to you in the software production tools.
However, with Comidor’s customization solutions, this limitation is significantly mitigated. Comidor offers a highly flexible low-code platform that allows for extensive customization beyond the standard components provided. With traditional coding, however, you’re in total control of what goes into your software. This means that – as long as you have the right amount of highly-skilled software engineers – you can tailor your apps so that they’re perfectly aligned with your requirements.
Through Comidor, users can extend built-in components by creating or modifying components to better fit specific business needs. Also, Comidor supports the integration of custom code, giving developers the freedom to write their own scripts and algorithms within the platform. This hybrid approach combines the rapid development benefits of low-code with the flexibility of custom coding. Last but not least, users can design complex workflows and automate intricate processes without being limited by the platform’s inherent functionalities. Comidor’s workflow designer is highly adaptable, allowing for the creation of tailored solutions.
6. Cost
Because you need to have a team of software developers to make a piece of software through the traditional approach, making apps from scratch can be much more expensive than the low-code approach.
However, low–code services are often paid for through a monthly subscription, whereas software produced traditionally is a one-off expense. This means that if you only intend to make one app, it might actually be more cost-effective to invest in a traditional coding approach.
7. Security
The security of your software needs to be one of your most important considerations. With a traditional approach, you’re reliant on your software developers to design a secure app, which will take time and resources.
However, low-code development essentially outsources security measures to the component provider, meaning that you can be confident that your software will comply with security and privacy regulations while also saving money.
8. Multi-platform
It’s also important that your apps can work effectively on multiple platforms. As in the case of security, this is part of the providers’ offering when it comes to low-code development, with many low-code apps able to work on multiple platforms. If you’re developing it entirely in-house, though, you’ll need to have specialists in cross-platform development.
Low-code vs Traditional Development: Finding the Right Choice for Your Business
Understanding the differences between low-code development and traditional development is vital for any modern business looking to create software or apps. That’s why we put together this guide to the differences between the two approaches.
But should you choose low-code or traditional development? While low-code development includes a lot of obvious benefits, such as quicker speed of development, you need to carefully consider your company’s priorities and tech stack. If you want a highly customized app, for instance, traditional development will likely be much more suitable.
Now that you know the differences between low-code and traditional development, you’re perfectly placed to make the right decision for your business. Start developing today!
