Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms. If you’re in a business striving for rapid digital transformation, this one's a game-changer. Gartner defines low-code application platforms (LCAPs) as platforms used to rapidly develop and run custom applications by abstracting and minimizing the use of programming languages. Enterprise LCAPs are a subset of this market that target a more comprehensive range of developer personas — especially enterprise developers — and provide features essential for application delivery and maintenance in midsize and large organizations.
According to Gartner, a low-code platform, at a minimum, must include the following:
LCAP should provide:
Optional capabilities include:
Imagine a chart that helps determine who’s who in enterprise low-code platforms. The low code Gartner Magic Quadrant does precisely that. It plots companies across four categories:
Leaders are vendors that excel both in their vision and ability to execute. They are typically the most influential players in the market and are well-recognized for the breadth and depth of their services and products. Leaders have a clear and comprehensive understanding of market needs and are innovators and thought leaders. They have strong business models that ensure sustained growth.
Companies in the Leaders quadrant drive market transformations or accelerate existing trends with their technological and customer service capabilities. They have robust, scalable products that meet a broad range of customer needs, and their financial viability enables substantial investment in R&D, ensuring that they stay ahead of the curve.
Challengers perform well in the market and have a solid ability to execute but may not have a vision as broad or forward-looking as the leaders. They have a strong presence in the market and a stable customer base, but their innovations may be more incremental than revolutionary.
These companies are typically more conservative, focusing on improving their current product and service offerings rather than expanding their capabilities or venturing into new technologies or markets. Their strategies often aim to protect their market share rather than explore new growth opportunities.
Visionaries are companies with a solid and unique vision for their market, often anticipating emerging or unaddressed needs. They innovate, perhaps with new technologies or novel approaches to meeting customer needs, but their ability to execute may not be as strong as the leaders.
Visionaries can influence the market's direction, but their challenge is maintaining momentum and converting their vision into practical, scalable products and services. They might struggle with operational, financial, or managerial aspects, which impede their progress toward becoming leaders.
Niche Players focus successfully on a specific market segment or a limited product set, often outperforming larger competitors in that particular context. Their ability to execute and vision may not be as expansive as those in other quadrants, but within their niche, they are highly effective and can meet specific needs that others may not address.
These vendors serve targeted markets or specific geographic regions, focusing on a few key strengths or customer bases. While they may not appeal broadly across all industries or lack the scale of more prominent vendors, their deep understanding of their chosen niche allows them to sustainably deliver value and maintain strong relationships with their customer base.
Zoho, recognized as a Challenger in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, offers Zoho Creator as its LCAP solution. Zoho Creator is versatile and suitable for customizing and extending applications within the Zoho suite, developing general-purpose applications, and enhancing external applications independent of the Zoho ecosystem.
Zoho Creator offers comprehensive low-code development tools, including graphical designers for processes, data management, and user interfaces. Deluge enhances Zoho's low-code scripting language and supports other programming languages like Java, JavaScript, XPath, and Node.js. These capabilities complement Zoho suite's developer platform components, which automate many deployment, configuration, and monitoring tasks.
Zoho stands out for its commitment to keeping its LCAP affordable. Unlike many competitors raising prices to capitalize on the low-code/no-code trend, Zoho reviews its pricing strategies to keep them accessible and promote broader adoption of its platform.
While Zoho remains industry-agnostic, it provides a wide array of business-specific capabilities that are crucial for many organizations. Zoho Creator benefits from this approach by offering versatile tools for business automation while still serving as a general-purpose development platform.
Zoho's customer base is predominantly SMBs, so Zoho Creator is often overlooked by larger enterprises and many of Gartner's clients. Zoho needs to adjust its business model, refine its product strategy, and expand its partnership network to appeal to large enterprises.
2. Catching up on innovation:
While Zoho has focused on functional enhancements and integrations for Zoho Creator since May 2022, its innovation efforts in natural language processing (NLP) and robotic process automation (RPA) are more about keeping pace with the industry than leading it. In contrast, Zoho's BI and Analytics products have seen more significant innovative developments.
There's a noticeable mismatch in Zoho Creator user profiles. Users who primarily engage with SaaS features find Zoho Creator challenging due to their limited technical skills. Conversely, the primary users of Zoho Creator often find SaaS features too restrictive, lacking the flexibility and control they desire.
Retool is recognized as a Challenger in the latest Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms. The platform stands out for its unique approach tailored to professional developers, allowing them to build enterprise-level applications efficiently using familiar languages and tools.
Retool has built a large, active community of developers, including paying customers and free users. This community supports peer learning and collaboration and is a potential market for future sales. The consistent revenue growth and substantial funding Retool has secured reinforce its strong position in the market.
Unlike many LCAPs that target a broad audience, Retool specifically aims at professional developers—a group that has traditionally shown less interest in low-code platforms. By addressing this segment's need for productivity tools that can handle more complex applications, Retool is tapping into an area ripe for growth.
Retool has proactively expanded its product offerings to keep up with market needs. Over the past year, it has introduced new capabilities such as Retool Mobile for building mobile apps, Retool Workflows for automating processes, and a managed PostgreSQL database service. Including a generative AI feature within Retool Workflows and plans for more AI enhancements indicate a solid commitment to improving the development experience.
Retool is primarily for professional developers, which might be challenging for non-developers or citizen developers. The platform’s reliance on programming languages like JavaScript and SQL suits those with a technical background but can be a barrier for others.
Feedback from users suggests that while Retool's browser-based integrated development environment (IDE) facilitates development, it can struggle with performance and usability, especially when handling large-scale applications with complex queries and multiple screens.
Retool’s customers are in the technology and retail sectors, with less presence in the financial services industry. This indicates a potential area for growth but also highlights a limitation in their current industry reach.
Oracle APEX, part of Oracle's suite of low-code solutions, stands out as a "Challenger" in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms. This platform is seamlessly integrated into the Oracle Database, allowing it to harness the powerful capabilities of this established database system. Oracle APEX is free with Oracle Database licenses, although the APEX Service on Oracle Cloud is a paid offering.
Oracle is recognized worldwide for its robust financial performance, consistent growth, and profitability. Offering APEX for free with Oracle Database licenses is a strategic move that makes it an attractive option for projects that rely heavily on the Oracle Database. This approach enhances its appeal and simplifies access for current Oracle users to adopt APEX for their development projects.
Oracle excels in offering comprehensive cloud services, including database Platform as a Service (dbPaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). It operates over 50 data centers around the globe, more than any other LCAP provider. Oracle also fosters a large community of over 700,000 APEX developers and provides an extensive range of pre-configured data assets and schemas. These resources greatly facilitate the implementation of APEX across various industries.
3. Product strategy:
Oracle demonstrates a solid commitment to the continuous development of APEX, notably through its 'customer zero' approach. This method uses APEX internally to modernize complex systems, such as Oracle Cerner and Oracle CRM. This approach showcases the power and flexibility of APEX and drives ongoing enhancements in its architecture and developer tools, improving both productivity and user experience.
Due to its deep integration with the Oracle Database, APEX has limited compatibility with third-party development tools that support agile planning and collaboration. Additionally, it does not support native mobile app development for Android or iOS, offering only Progressive Web Apps (PWA), which may not fulfill all mobile development requirements.
APEX's dependency on the Oracle Database restricts it to the architectural decisions and priorities of Oracle’s database team. It currently relies on third-party solutions for business process orchestration. Moreover, Managed APEX services are presently limited to Oracle Cloud.
APEX is currently playing catch-up in connecting to external data sources, developing custom APIs, and creating SaaS applications. Oracle has yet to announce any strategies involving generative AI. Still, it is actively working to address these shortcomings, driven partly by the needs of critical applications like the Oracle Cerner healthcare system.
Mendix, a subsidiary of Siemens and recognized as a Leader in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, offers the Mendix Platform. This platform stands out for its robust support, catering to diverse users, including business stakeholders, citizen developers, business technologists, and professional developers.
Mendix is at the forefront of technology integration, supporting cutting-edge features like AI-driven development assistance, augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) enabled user experiences, Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins, and edge computing. Its new Mendix Solutions Kit targets independent software vendors (ISVs), offering tools for building adaptive and sustainable SaaS applications with features like IP protection and built-in metering/billing.
The platform is highly regarded for its capabilities in integration, APIs, security, and governance, receiving positive feedback from users on platforms like Gartner Peer Insights.
Being a part of Siemens, a major conglomerate with significant annual revenue, Mendix benefits from strong backing and integration across Siemens’ IT and operational technology sectors. This relationship has dramatically enhanced Mendix’s market reach and growth.
Some customers find Mendix’s pricing to be higher than they can afford, and they note a lack of flexibility in the pricing model to accommodate a wide range of client sizes and use cases.
Compared to its competitors, Mendix has a smaller partner delivery network and user community. This can pose challenges in finding skilled developers for complex implementations, impacting enterprise-level deployments.
Mendix’s marketing approach is often seen as too technical, which may alienate business leaders who are significant purchasers of LCAPs. Furthermore, Mendix has limited its engagement in developer events and webinars, both in frequency and attendance, compared to its main competitors.
Microsoft Power Apps, part of Microsoft's Power Platform, is distinguished as a Leader in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP). It integrates advanced tools like AI Builder, Dataverse, Power Automate, and Power Pages, which are included in specific Power Apps licenses. The platform is top-rated among citizen developers due to its user-friendly design, although it also offers robust tools for professional developers.
Users of Microsoft 365 can easily access Power Apps features, including a variety of standard connectors to numerous data sources and APIs, the ability to utilize custom connectors within Teams, and the development of APIs using Dataverse. For Dynamics 365 users, the capabilities are even more extensive, allowing the use of all connector types, development on Dataverse, and the creation of standalone applications within their Dynamics environment.
Power Apps is rich in API-driven solutions for internal business needs, offering over 1,000 connectors for many standard enterprise applications and data sources—custom connectors created for APIs that are unavailable as prebuilt connectors. Microsoft also leads in generative AI, enhancing Power Apps with tools like AI Copilot, Power Apps Ideas, and support for Microsoft 365 Copilot plugins.
Microsoft continues to enhance the governance capabilities of the Power Platform. It offers native features such as sharing limits, tenant isolation, and enterprise policies, which are accessible via the Power Platform Admin Center and Managed Environments. The open-source Microsoft Power Platform Center of Excellence Starter Kit also provides tools to establish business justifications and identify underutilized apps and workflows.
Some users find the costs high and the licensing models complex, especially since accessing enterprise data sources and advanced governance features often requires a licensed version of Power Apps.
Not all development tools and options are uniformly available across different types of applications (such as canvas apps, model-driven apps, and Power Pages). This inconsistency has led some users to express concerns about the difficulty in standardizing and unifying development practices.
While Power Apps excels in many areas, its support for custom APIs is limited to its standard data service, Dataverse. This limitation can be a significant hurdle compared to leading LCAPs offering more straightforward API integrations. Users can bypass this by using Power Automate HTTP triggers or webhooks, which allow external applications to push events and data into Power Apps.
OutSystems is recognized as a Leader in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP), offering two distinct product versions of its platform tailored to different deployment needs: OutSystems Developer Cloud (ODC) and O11. ODC is a vendor-managed deployment option featuring a modern architecture and enhanced developer experience, including AI-assisted development. O11, on the other hand, allows for customer self-managed operations. Both versions support running applications developed in O11, but ODC offers a more updated solution.
OutSystems provides high-level low-code features like AI-enhanced development, native and third-party continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) tools, enterprise agile planning, and strong governance controls. The choice between O11 and ODC allows organizations to select the best fit based on their specific operational and technical needs.
OutSystems engages in comprehensive marketing efforts catering to senior leaders and developers. This includes leadership webinars, CIO roundtables, technical podcasts, tech talks, and demonstrations. Their strategic partnerships with global systems integrators enhance their market reach and capabilities.
The introduction of ODC addresses previous scaling limitations of the OutSystems platform. Its modern, cloud-native, containerized architecture allows for rapid scaling of solutions, and because it is evergreen, it remains continually updated and operational without downtime.
Many customers find the licensing costs prohibitive when considering expanding the use of the platform or even maintaining it for rapid application development. The pricing model based on Application Objects (AOs) aims to reduce technical debt and promote reusability, but for customers previously on unlimited plans, this can lead to increased costs. Businesses must carefully plan and size their applications to manage budgets effectively under this AO-based pricing model.
The shift to new deployment models, particularly ODC, requires changes in skills and efforts, which has been a concern for some Gartner clients. Additionally, supporting O11 and ODC can pose challenges due to the differences in managing these environments.
OutSystems lacks strong native capabilities for specific industry verticals, so partnerships with Global Systems Integrators (GSIs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) are necessary for clients needing tailored industry solutions. Customers looking for deep domain expertise, native integrations, or industry-specific accelerators may find more direct offerings from other LCAP vendors.
Huawei is categorized as a Niche Player in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms. Its LCAP solution, Astro Zero, distinguishes itself through a dual approach: a no-code platform for information-based applications targeted at citizen developers and a low-code, model-driven system for more complex workflow-based applications. Astro Zero is integrated into Huawei Cloud, enriching its functionality with services like ROMA (Huawei’s integration platform as a service, iPaaS) and AI and IoT capabilities.
Astro Zero integrates with Huawei’s broad cloud services, including advanced technologies like IoT, AI, serverless computing, digital twins, and blockchain. This integration provides a rich environment for developers to access cutting-edge tools directly within the platform.
Huawei strives to establish itself as a comprehensive provider for development needs ranging from no-code and low-code to professional coding. Enhancements in Astro Zero include AI-driven features for automating conversational flows, tools for collaborative work among diverse teams, and a model that treats "SaaS as a platform," expanding its utility and integration capabilities.
Despite its geographical limitations, Huawei has successfully grown its customer base and achieved a revenue growth rate of over 30 percent in its LCAP offering, leveraging its stature as a primary cloud provider.
Users have pointed out that Astro Zero’s development tools, documentation, and training resources are somewhat lacking compared to its competitors. This is despite Huawei's leadership in other business areas, suggesting a need for improvements in user support and resource development.
Astro Zero primarily serves sectors like e-government, education, banking, and manufacturing, accounting for 70 percent of its revenue. This indicates a narrower industry focus compared to platforms that cater to a broader range of sectors.
Huawei’s primary market is in China and the APAC region, with limited usage in Latin America and the Middle East. This regional focus means that global clients must carefully consider their local support needs and integration capabilities, mainly since standard pricing and service terms target the Chinese market.
Newgen is categorized as a Niche Player in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms. NewgenONE Digital Transformation Platform stands out for its extensive capabilities in automating business processes and managing content. Utilizing a modern microservices-based architecture and incorporating artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) features like intelligent document classification, NewgenONE enhances business applications with robust process automation and content management.
Newgen has successfully kept pace with the overall growth in the LCAP market over the past year. Clients have highlighted the significant advantages of the cost-effectiveness and user-friendly nature of the NewgenONE platform.
Recent upgrades to NewgenONE include a modernized user interface, enhanced capabilities for mobile app development that leverage native mobile features, and improved tools for application monitoring. These enhancements demonstrate Newgen's commitment to responding to market needs and technological advancements.
Newgen provides an array of prebuilt connectors to major enterprise applications, particularly in the banking and insurance sectors, such as SAP, Salesforce, Temenos, and Guidewire. This extensive connectivity facilitates rapid integration and streamlines the deployment of complex solutions on the platform.
Despite its strengths, Newgen is not often mentioned among the top contenders when potential clients consider LCAPs. Interest in Newgen tends to come more from those seeking business process automation (BPA) or content services solutions rather than a broader low-code application platform.
While Newgen is working on enhancing its platform, it is somewhat behind the leaders in the market in terms of innovation. Features that would appeal to citizen developers, advanced UI design tools, and integration with generative AI technologies like OpenAI are still in the developmental roadmap and have yet to be fully implemented.
Although Newgen is expanding its customer base in North America and Europe, these regions still account for a minor portion of its overall business. Additionally, Newgen's support for internationalization is limited to a relatively small number of languages, which may pose challenges for global deployment compared to other market leaders.
Pegasystems is a Visionary in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP). Its platform, Pega Infinity, stands out not just in the business process automation (BPA) market but also offers extensive capabilities in multi-experience development, customer relationship management (CRM), and robotic process automation (RPA) for enterprise workflows. Its differentiation lies in its comprehensive set of automation technologies, including process mining, digital experience APIs for B2C user interfaces, and tailored experiences for citizen and professional developers.
Pega Infinity excels with strong capabilities in UX design, application logic, workflow management, and security, making it highly effective for developing complex business applications. It supports the creation of chatbots, integrates with popular external design systems, and features a visual case designer for modeling intricate processes.
Pegasystems has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of market needs and has continually adapted its product to meet the evolving demands of the low-code market. This includes a strong emphasis on security and scalability. Plans are also in place to enhance the platform with generative AI, further supporting AI-assisted workflow and data object creation.
The platform provides strong governance tools for application development, including detailed audit logs that track different developer activities, granular access rights at the component level, and a variety of administrative roles to facilitate growth by mixed skillset teams.
Pegasystems’ sales growth is relatively slow compared to other vendors in this quadrant. Some enterprise customers have reported concerns about the return on investment (ROI), pointing out that the cost of licenses and operational expenses for Pega Infinity may not always justify the benefits received.
Pegasystems is currently engaged in ongoing legal disputes with a competitor, leading to uncertainty about the company’s future. This situation may continue to impact potential customers' decisions and investors' confidence until the legal issues get resolved.
There is a general lack of awareness about Pegasystems’ capabilities in the low-code market compared to its competitors. Many IT leaders still perceive Pega Infinity primarily as a specialized solution for BPA rather than a versatile low-code platform.
GeneXus, now part of Globant, is recognized as a Visionary in the Low-Code Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP). The GeneXus platform is designed primarily for professional developers, offering a general application development environment with a strong focus on user experience implementation. As a multi-experience development platform (MXDP), GeneXus has a rich heritage and, with its recent acquisition by Globant in 2022, has gained access to more resources and opportunities for expansion in both geographical reach and business verticals.
GeneXus offers developer-focused licensing, which is particularly advantageous for clients who need to develop complex, custom applications at scale. While the growth rate of its customer base is relatively modest (below 10 percent), the platform has seen success in retaining customers and upselling, indicating a robust strategy and potential for future expansion.
GeneXus is keenly aligning its platform strategy with current trends in software engineering, especially the increasing demand among professional developers for rapid application development tools. It is investing in capabilities for building super apps and creating unified user experiences, which aligns with the strong market demand observed by Gartner.
Following its acquisition by Globant, GeneXus gained a significant partner and opened doors for considerable expansion of its partner network. This partnership model has proven beneficial for the growth and scaling of the platform, though further expansion is needed.
GeneXus supports fully managed environments for development and testing but does not offer managed production environments. This means clients are responsible for hosting and managing their applications in production, which requires specific infrastructure and operations expertise.
Integrating GeneXus’ LCAP with Globant’s custom application development services may increase the risk of vendor lock-in. This can limit customers' flexibility to switch to other vendors or platforms, potentially making it difficult to transition away from GeneXus if needed.
Significant investment is necessary for GeneXus to establish itself as a genuinely global solution. This includes expanding developer capacity, enhancing expertise in public cloud services, and managing deployments that offer multitenancy, scalability, and compliance with regional certifications.
Kissflow is a prominent player in the low-code platform market, particularly well-suited for enterprises looking to streamline their workflow automation, project management, and case management processes. As businesses increasingly seek to embrace digital transformation strategies, the adaptability and ease of use offered by low-code platforms like Kissflow make them attractive. Here’s a detailed breakdown of why Kissflow might be considered the best low-code platform for enterprise use:
Kissflow offers robust integration capabilities that allow enterprises to seamlessly connect and automate workflows across various systems and software applications. This is crucial for large organizations that use diverse tools and need their low-code platform to communicate effectively with existing ERP, CRM, and other enterprise systems. Kissflow supports integration through built-in connectors and APIs, facilitating a unified platform where data flows smoothly between systems without manual intervention.
One of Kissflow’s standout features is its intuitive user interface, which simplifies creating and managing workflows, even for users with minimal technical expertise. The drag-and-drop interface ensures that building applications, forms, and workflows is straightforward, making the platform accessible to citizen developers (non-technical users who create applications to facilitate business processes).
Kissflow is highly flexible, accommodating many use cases from simple to complex workflows. This flexibility is paired with robust scalability options, making it suitable for small and large teams. As organizations grow and their needs evolve, Kissflow can scale to handle increased demands without compromising performance, ensuring it remains efficient across all stages of business growth.
Kissflow excels in automating business processes and workflows. Its capabilities extend beyond simple task automation, encompassing complex workflows that include conditional paths, parallel branches, and customized user roles. This allows enterprises to automate their operations extensively, reducing manual labor, minimizing errors, and increasing efficiency.
For enterprises, compliance with regulatory standards and security are top priorities. Kissflow takes these concerns seriously by providing a platform that adheres to strict security standards, including data encryption and secure access controls. This commitment helps enterprises meet compliance requirements while protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Kissflow comes equipped with powerful analytics tools that allow users to track performance and gain insights into their processes through real-time data and reports. This functionality enables decision-makers to identify bottlenecks, assess the effectiveness of implemented workflows, and make data-driven decisions to optimize processes further.
Kissflow supports its users with a comprehensive support structure that includes detailed documentation, a responsive customer service team, and a community platform where users can exchange ideas, solve problems, and share best practices. This level of support is vital for enterprises that rely on the platform for critical processes and need assurance that help is readily available.