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Due to its ability to streamline the app development process, low-code has experienced substantial growth in recent years – but how does it compare to traditional high-code development? Will low-code completely replace it or will more complex projects always require the expertise of traditional developers?
Low-code is a development approach that employs a visual interface and reusable components to allow users with varying levels of technical skills to build applications.
High-code is a traditional development approach where developers build software applications by writing code from scratch.
Technical expertise required
Low-code: No coding experience is required as development is simplified through visual drag-and-drop interfaces and reusable pre-built components and templates. This makes enterprise application development more accessible to users across the organization.
High-code: Requires advanced coding skills and a comprehensive understanding of programming languages, frameworks, and development tools as developers need to write code from scratch to create applications.
Development speed
Low-code: Accelerates development due to less reliance on professional IT and having to wait for them to clear their backlog to begin a project. The availability of pre-built components and templates also allows citizen and professional developers to build and deploy applications quickly.
High-code: Often involves a lengthy development cycle as developers need to write numerous lines of code, then test and debug programs to ensure the software functions as it should.
Cost
Low-code: Offers a more cost-effective solution as there’s less dependence on costly professional developers to build solutions. Shorter development cycles also help to reduce overall costs.
High-code: Often a more costly approach as the highly skilled developers required to write code command high salaries. The lengthy development cycles associated with high-code can also escalate costs.
Curious about low-code development?
Customization
Low-code: While the use of pre-built components can limit customization in some low-code platforms, others have the option to add custom code to modify applications to meet specific requirements.
High-code: Offers complete customization as developers have full control over the codebase. This enables developers to create fully bespoke solutions to meet unique business needs.
Maintenance
Low-code: The platform provider is typically responsible for infrastructure management and updates. Therefore this approach generally requires less time and effort dedicated to maintenance. This allows more time to focus on using the platform to deliver solutions to the business.
High-code: Developers must perform ongoing maintenance not only to ensure stability, security, and performance but also to keep up with changing business needs and technological standards. This can pull them away from other projects and slow innovation.
Low-code is best for projects which:
- Require relatively simple applications that don’t require extensive custom coding.
- Have budget or resource constraints and need to minimize development costs and time-to-market.
- Require the agility to iterate quickly to meet changing requirements.
- Have a lack of technical expertise within the development team or want to enable citizen developers to build applications.
High-code is best for projects which:
- Require complex applications that need extensive customization.
- Demand a high level of control over the architecture, infrastructure, and deployment.
- Have access to a team with existing programming skills that make high-code a more efficient solution.
Choosing a platform that allows the speed and agility of low-code but the customization of high-code enables organizations to build enterprise apps that can manage simple and complex processes across the business.
Bizagi’s low-code platform supports this hybrid approach. Users without coding experience can take advantage of its visual interface and reusable components to build an app, while developers can extend the app’s capabilities by coding additional functionalities.
