how to choose a no code platform

Choosing the right no-code platform could be the most important decision when going no-code way. The benefits of no-code are indisputable; it’s faster, cheaper and very easy to learn and thanks to the recent rise in popularity there are thousands of no-code platforms available in the market. But how to choose a no code platform?

It’s great to have thousands of options to choose from but it can be very challenging to find the most suited for your needs. So let’s take a look at a few important considerations to keep in mind when choosing a no code platform for your next project.

Who are you?

This is one of the most important questions to ask before choosing a no code platform.

So who are you?

A developer? Non-technical guy? Any individual who is trying to start a new business? Are you part of an organization looking to automate some processes?

Depending on your answer the platform choices may vary as well as the answer to the question: how to choose a no code tool. If you are a developer you may like a platform which allows you to do custom coding; A non-technical guy who want to create his application himself may like a platform which is easy to use and has lot of ready to use templates and may be a strong community to discuss his problem and get help; An individual trying to start a new business may want a platform where company also provide resources for hire so he doesn’t have to waste his precious time on different freelance platforms looking for experts; An organization may look if the platform provider can give training to their staff, have robust support mechanism, scalability, local data-hosting for compliances, can they export source code if required? Etc.

So here is the list of features you can look for in a platform at this stage –

Features	Attributes
Custom Coding	Must have
Templates	Nice to have
Free Community Support	Must have
Resources for Hire	Nice to have
Free Training Resources	Must have
Country Specific Data Residency	Must have
Paid Training Program	Nice to have
Scalability	Must have
Source Code Export	Nice to have

Also Read : 15 Factors to Look at Before Choosing a No Code Platform in 2022

How to choose a no code platform?

Everyone may have their own reasons for using no-code but two most common users are people who cannot write code and enterprises who want to automate the processes at superfast speed.

Developing any type of application should not be seen as a one time affair and you should be ready for constant changes and upgrades down the line. No-code is not only good for initial development but the acceleration for initial build is also applicable for making changes down the line.

So what do you want to do with no-code?

Create a completely new standalone web or mobile application? Or your organization wants to create a customer facing application or an internal tool for employees? Automate business processes? Create micro services to fill the feature gaps of existing systems? Integrate different applications?

For a standalone customer facing applications your focus should be on UI capabilities, Data capabilities, process and workflow capabilities, Business logic capabilities etc. and the moment you bring in existing legacy systems then it’s all about compatibility, integrations, custom coding and security etc.

So here is the list of features that will help you in choosing a no code platform:

Features	Attributes
Customisable UI	Must Have
Figma, HTML Design Template Incorporation	Nice to Have
Custom Database	Must Have
Easy Integration with other Data sources such as Airtable, GoogleSheet, Firebase etc.	Must Have
Workflow Capabilities	Must Have
Complex Business Logic	Must Have
Easy Integration	Must Have
Multi-tenancy	Must Have

This part is easy; write down what you want to do with it and what particular feature a platform must have to fulfill your requirement and remember the difference between must have and nice to have features.

Why do you want to use no code?

If you are wondering how to choose a no code tool,first figure out why you want to use no code?

For its speed? Cost effectiveness? You want to do it yourself? You want your business users to get involved?

See, why you want to use a particular technology matters. If you want to use no-code for its speed then you may look for a platform that has maximum ready to use templates or If you are looking for its cost effectiveness then you may look for least pricey with max must have features. If you want to do it yourself then you may go for a platform with a better support plan. When you are representing an organization then you may look for a robust platform governance system?

It’s because you don’t know how to code and you have a great idea you would like to test in the market? Then be patient, give a few months to learn. Join the community of the platform of choice. Ask all the questions you have, see what other community members are asking and doing? And before you start to develop your application don’t forget to create your application on a piece of paper, create a full workflow, what data you need to collect, where and how humans will interact etc. iterate a few times then start and if you have chosen a relevant no-code platform and you can develop almost any application using no-code.

As for organization, you should focus on features like enterprise support plans, personalized training plans, source code download etc.

Must Read : Why Your Marketing Team Should Use A No Code Platform

Here are some features to keep in your checklist –

Features	Attributes
Well written documentation	Must Have
Free plan to test before committing	Nice to Have
Ready to use integrations for most popular apps	Must Have
Robust governance mechanism	Must Have
Version Control	Must Have

If you are an entrepreneur who wants to test his idea into the market with MVP then please ignore the hype and hate around the no-code and focus on your goals. Custom developed applications may give you more granular control on UI and scalability down the line but it would take a lot more time and money to bring it to market.

You should also not consider development as a one time affair. You have to continuously implement the feedback and add new features and code is not all that great, after a certain amount of time or in case you lose the original developer then new developers are forced to invest time into researching the codebase they find themselves working on before they can make even small changes. This slows down upgrades and impedes innovation, you don’t want that in early stage startups where employee churn rate is much higher.

For enterprises no-code is still too good to be true, decision makers are not ready to put their trust in no-code. Suggestion here is to start small, train one or two of your developers on a platform of your choice and as many volunteers as you could find from non-IT staff. This will help you understand the benefits of no-code.

Good luck with your No-code journey.
Also Read : How to Build a Web App Faster with No Code?

Things to look for when choosing the No Code Platform

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