Should I opt for a low-code or a bespoke development solution?

Pros and Cons of Low-Code and High-Code Solutions

Aida Pandur

Last updated on 25/02/2022

Nowadays, most businesses have a need for either an intranet for internal management, or an application to make the workflows of the business model smoother and easier, or even a full platform for the services they offer. If you ever wanted to dive into one of these yourself, you were likely presented with too many options to count, and you may have asked yourself: What is the difference between low code and high code applications, and which one do I need for my business model?

What is High-Code Development?

High-Code means unlimited functionality and extremely bespoke, customisable apps. Any feature can be implemented, and depending on the requirements, the application can have various integrations with external software to expand the possibilities. When making a custom application, any language or tool can be used to achieve the requirements – we choose to work with .NET because of its benefits.

What is Low-Code development?

Low-Code and No-Code approaches have been around for a couple of decades, but only really gained traction recently. Low-Code, as the name suggests, means working with some code on an otherwise limited platform. Most of the developing can be done via drag and drop and / or using readymade blocks, but some tweaking is possible if the user has experience with coding.

For example, if you want to automate your business processes, you may want to go with a Low-Code platform, such as WEBCON BPS.

Which one should you choose?

It really depends on your business model. Below you can find the pros and cons of both, and you can decide which one would work best for you.

Benefits of High-Code Solutions:

• Highly customisable;
• Total ownership and control; and
• Languages such as .NET may have libraries and widgets available for faster development

Disadvantages of High-Code Solutions:

• High cost;
• Uses a lot of resources; and
• Can take a long time to go into production

Benefits of Low-Code Solutions:

• Easy to use;
• Less development time; and
• Lower cost

Disadvantages of Low-Code Solutions:

• Less customisable applications;
• Limited third party support; and
• Hard to integrate with legacy solutions

More Things to Consider

Based on the above, you can ask yourself questions to determine which approach would suit you the best. The best things to consider are your budget, the timeframe you want the application to be delivered in, number of users, the need for a unique interface, and any external integrations. These are all big factors when it comes to deciding on the best option.

Not Mutually Exclusive

While high-code and low-code may seem vastly different in their approaches, they are not mutually exclusive and can be combined as necessary. For example, we developed an API, a high code solution, for one of our clients to fetch data from WEBCON, a low-code business process management platform, to help with their property management by extracting the data into an external platform. It doesn't have 'either or' – it just greatly depends on the requirements.

In fact, instead of opting for one or the other, it’s the best to find the balance between the two and determine when low-code might benefit you and save you costs as opposed to having a fully customised application. In other words, low code is good for integrations like in the example above, simple websites, and business processes. If you need high performance or maintainability, it’s better to go with high-code.

If you’re still unsure which solution you need for your business, please reach out to us and we will happily provide you with our advice and expertise.