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Adobe ColdFusion vs Oracle Application Express (APEX) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe ColdFusion
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
27th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
26th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Adobe ColdFusion is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 6.0%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Application Express (APEX)6.0%
Adobe ColdFusion1.4%
Other92.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

OA
SDE at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Rapid development has improved enterprise workflows but still needs a more modern ecosystem
One of the best features of Adobe ColdFusion in my experience is how quickly I can develop and deploy applications. The rapid development capabilities really stand out, especially the built-in tags and functions that simplify database interaction, form handling, and API creation. It allows me to focus more on business logic rather than focusing on boilerplate code. I also find the debugging and logging tools helpful, such as being able to trace errors and monitor performance directly from the administrator. It basically speeds up troubleshooting significantly. If I had to choose one feature of Adobe ColdFusion that saves me the most time or reduces my workload the most, I would say the rapid development capabilities, especially the built-in tags and database integration features. That has saved me the most time because Adobe ColdFusion makes it very easy to connect to a database, execute queries, and handle data with minimal boilerplate code. Overall, it allows me to spend more time focusing on optimizing logic and improving user experience rather than dealing with infrastructure and repetitive setup tasks. One additional feature of Adobe ColdFusion that I can mention is the security capabilities. Adobe ColdFusion provides helpful tools for securing applications, such as role-based access control, session management, and built-in protections against vulnerabilities like CSRF and XSS. This feature basically reduces the amount of custom security code that we have to write.
Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software developer at QV Systems
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Overall, Adobe ColdFusion has been a very reliable and productive platform for us."
"Apart from providing a mature, reliable, consistent platform, Adobe also offers outstanding customer service and product support."
"We save enormous amounts of time in development using this tool."
"No need to import libraries from outside the environment."
"My client has been able to improve productivity with the use of the tool. The solution has them develop several tools that addressed their specific needs. They have become more efficient and safe with the use of the product."
"This tool was very easy learn, yet powerful enough to manage many sites on a single instance."
"I would like to say that its best feature is its different kinds of connectors. We have lots of in-built connectors."
"The ability to write SQL queries was very helpful as we did not need to bother our DBAs in writing stored procedures for simple tasks."
"By using Express, we are able to load the data and integrate it into our data map."
"In our experience with Apex, we find that minimizing reliance on HTML and JavaScript is preferable, especially considering our background as seasoned programmers adept in PL/SQL. Incorporating HTML and JavaScript can pose challenges due to potential compatibility issues when updates are made to JavaScript. We also make use of JAPER report integration for generating reports, a practice integral to our reporting procedures."
"One of the most valuable features is that we can develop everything locally and deploy it for different kinds of operators in different locations, so we can do our job in one piece. The benefit of that is that others can use these applications. They connect to the internet to do these kinds of applications based on the permissions for those users."
"I particularly enjoy the web builder capabilities, especially the Page Designer. It offers so many elements or components to choose from, which is a major plus for me."
"The valuable features are charts, reports, and search engines."
"The solution can efficiently translate from English to another language including Arabic using the XLIFF format."
"I like that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is powerful and attractive, allowing my organization to modernize forms within two months. I also found its PWA feature very powerful because you can produce substantial mobile applications."
"Oracle APEX is very easy to use and comes with a lot of ready-made components that speed up the process of creating reports and dashboards."
 

Cons

"The solution needs to improve its adaption capability with a third-party company. I want to see more communities or open knowledge resources with the tool."
"ColdFusion’s third-party authentication is currently limited to just a couple of companies, like Google and Facebook, and a few third-party SAML authenticators. From my personal perspective, adding LinkedIn and Microsoft would greatly benefit me."
"Installation of the server software was formidable due the number of configurable options."
"Need to be able to Be able to inject Python, Java, Groovy, or PHP code into a CFML page."
"There is not much third party authenticators in this solution"
"Overall, Adobe ColdFusion is a good product, but one area in modernization of the ecosystem can be improved."
"Previously when I was trying to create some data, it was very difficult to get real-time data from Workfront."
"Connections to the application pages are not handled well and at times more than one user can be accessing an application with the same ID."
"We would like to see tighter integration with the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure."
"I would like to see easier integration into active directory authentication. Also, maybe integration of JavaScript frameworks would resolve some issues."
"Oracle Application Express would be improved if you could use it on a mobile platform."
"Regarding features, the solution lacks the ability to integrate with different databases. Also, I feel that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is exclusively designed for other Oracle tools."
"The user interface needs to be improved. It should be more user-friendly."
"One area for improvement in Oracle APEX is its workflow orchestration capabilities."
"Oracle should implement vertical and horizontal data segmentation in APEX's security framework, so Dev teams don't need to do any heavy lifting in the APEX screens. This is a common issue in enterprise apps. It would be nice to seamlessly integrate Git repositories into the development process since the current solution can result in overlapping work or an eventual overwrite. The provided example apps are great, but they could benefit from some added documentation in the "explanation screens"."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a very effective solution and worth the price."
"If you really want to save money, there is a free open source CFML engine (former Railo, now Lucee) out there."
"The tool's pricing is high but it's totally worth the investment."
"The solution is free if you are using on Oracle database."
"Oracle Express comes with the Oracle license, it is a bundle."
"If you have a license to Oracle database, you can access APEX."
"When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free."
"I believe that the solution's pricing is high."
"The solution is free."
"When buying the data license, APEX is included."
"There is a trial version available that can be used free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I have only tried it with an Oracle database, not with other databases. For beginners, understanding the installation process can be challenging because documentation is limited. It is hard to unde...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Oracle APEX
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Inspirus, Promisan, Webapper, Giva, Frontech Solutions Inc, Digicon, ITX Corp, Wall Street Magnate, SimulTV, ten24 Digital Solutions, Prospective Medical Data International Inc, Alcatel-Lucent
Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
Find out what your peers are saying about Adobe ColdFusion vs. Oracle Application Express (APEX) and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
882,744 professionals have used our research since 2012.