We use the solution for small applications - not for an extensive system. We use it more as if we had a quick prototype needed or some small application for one department. If one department needs some application or customization of an application, then we use Mendix, so it's more for small things than big things.
Software Test Analyst at Squerist
Easy to set up and good for testing and micro services
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is easy."
- "Mendix needs to think about itself offering machine learning and artificial intelligence."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The one feature that I like best yet, which also makes it complicated, is the microservices. They are really what sets Mendix apart from other platforms.
Since my company also works with Menditect, which makes a test automation tool for Mendix, we are quite involved. My coworkers also leverage Mendix. We really like that it's usable for test automation since not all platforms can due to no unique IDs and things like that. With Mendix, we can use the platform very easily for test automation.
The initial setup is easy.
What needs improvement?
Mendix needs to think about itself offering machine learning and artificial intelligence. That's going to be the future.
I really like that they're already working on new features. Nevertheless, to really be on top of things, they will need to do more in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
For how long have I used the solution?
I’ve used Mendix for a short period of time - maybe half a year. OutSystems I’ve used a little bit longer.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It’s definitely stable for small applications. With bigger applications, you really need to look into servers and make sure that you also have that setup right. Mendix can also help you with that, so they have a community that can help you set up the right things.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale.
Of course, you need to do things for that yourself. It's not that Mendix has it in its platform. It gives you options to help you with your scalability. However, you need to do quite a lot for yourself as well.
I'm working for a test company and we work with quite a few clients. We have seven clients that use Mendix.
How are customer service and support?
For us, technical support was very good. Sometimes I hear that people have other experiences. however, for us, our experience was excellent. When we called or when we had a question, they helped.
The community is very good as well. If you go to their website, you will see that they have a community that can help answer questions. If you ask a question there, people will answer and help you. The support in that is great.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
At the moment, I am using OutSytems.
How was the initial setup?
For small applications, it definitely is easy to set up. From my coworkers, I understand if you want bigger applications, it's harder to adapt. However, that's what we see with all the local platforms.
I also worked on another platform where deployment could easily take hours. Yet, with Mendix, it was minutes. That was really good. It’s so fast.
What about the implementation team?
We did the deployment ourselves. We handled the development, testing, acceptance, and the full lifecycle in-house, and we did the deployment ourselves. That was agreeable to everyone.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I wouldn't know about the exact pricing as we are so-called “hired help” and we have no influence on licenses. We also do not have a license of our own. We use our client’s license if they use Mendix. Therefore, I can’t speak to the costs involved in having it.
What other advice do I have?
I am just the software tester. So, I test the quality of applications built in Mendix. So, I do not sell. I am just a very enthusiastic user.
I’m not sure which version I am using and if it is the latest or not.
I would recommend potential new users start with an assessment on what they really need the application to do and then see if Mendix can really help and if it's applicable for their application. Mendix can be used for many things. However, there are a few best uses and also some that are not so compatible with Mendix. A new company must first make sure before they start to understand if Mendix fits the needs.
I’d rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chief Technology Officer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
Valuable business process management tool with low-code requirements
Pros and Cons
- "The features that I have found most valuable with Mendix are its business process management and its minimal low code, both from an interface perspective and from a process perspective."
- "Mendix is slightly less scalable than I'd like."
What is our primary use case?
We have a loan origination platform. What we're looking to do is have a dynamic process whereby, based on a variety of inputs, we can tailor the journey. At the moment, we're debating how that kind of journey works and if we put some kind of workflow in place, then firstly, this becomes a living documentation and, secondly, it's quite easy to be flexible as to how to adapt each journey rather than correcting one great big process. We wanted to break it up into smaller journeys. If each stage is isolated it becomes easier for each change that you want to make. That was the logic.
What is most valuable?
The features that I have found most valuable with Mendix are its business process management and its minimal low code, both from an interface perspective and from a process perspective. With Camunda, we were looking at it from our business process standpoint. Appian and Mendix were one size fits all.
What needs improvement?
In terms of what could be improved, of course I'd like it to be highly secure and highly scalable. Security is paramount to us. Scalability-wise, we don't necessarily have a huge volume.
From a scalability perspective, at this particular stage, it's not necessarily a top priority.
For how long have I used the solution?
We started this journey with Mendix just a couple of months ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a flexible and stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Mendix is slightly less scalable than I'd like.
We have 30 internal users. The issue for us is, from a low-code interface perspective, how do we deal with external users?
How was the initial setup?
The installation is fairly simple.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale of one to ten, I would give Mendix about an eight. I'd probably put Appian about the same and Camunda I would say is maybe a six.
I would recommend Mendix, but obviously, for the right use case. That's the point.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Systems Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The ability to easily use web services and export and import files of different kinds is good.
Valuable Features
The most valuable features of Mendix includes the most vital logic building component called the microflows which cuts down the need to write code and instead using logic blocks to interpret the way the function should work. As part of microflows, there are ways which gives the developer flexibility by writing code using Java actions. There also other vital features like the ability to easily use web services and export and import files of different kinds.
Improvements to My Organization
The main way in which this product has improved my organisations functions is the ability to promote agile methodology and rapid development. It also allows users see what has been developed quicker than writing physical code. This means it allows us to test out different scenarios with ease and also changing entities and attributes are easier than ever. Another way this system has helped is the ease of releasing the product we are developing on different platforms whether it be desktops, tablets or phones. Being built using bootstrap also helps with the responsiveness of the system.
Room for Improvement
The area of this product that needs improving is the templates in which the user uses to create documents. As it stands it is not very intuitive and not pleasing to the eye.
Use of Solution
I have been using Mendix as a system for almost nine months.
Deployment Issues
There have been no issues with the deployment.
Stability Issues
There are a few bugs when new versions are released which sometimes affects the program when it is run.
Scalability Issues
I have had no issues scaling it for my needs.
Customer Service and Technical Support
7/10 - I haven't needed to ask them for much but the Mendix community which also includes some developers in Mendix help to solve issues in less than 24 hours which I was impressed with.
Other Advice
The Mendix developers and community continues to add useful features and add ons to the system which makes it better in every iteration.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chief Innovation Officer & Board member at TimeSeries
Provides Cloud Foundry-driven cloud environment with one-click deployment
Pros and Cons
- "Suite allows you to easily and smoothly integrate with pretty much anything. It is also cloud-enabled. It provides a full Cloud Foundry-driven cloud environment with one-click deployment."
- "It could use a more comprehensive widget creation studio in the IDE."
How has it helped my organization?
We are able to service our customers in a way that differentiates us. This makes us more competitive and able us to expand our business.
What is most valuable?
- Integrates - Suite allows you to easily and smoothly integrate with pretty much anything.
- Cloud-enabled - It provides a full Cloud Foundry-driven cloud environment with one-click deployment.
- Digital execution - Mendix provides a complementary program to drive digital execution, so you not only get a platform but also instruction on how to leverage it best.
- Super fast - I can develop full apps in weeks instead of years.
What needs improvement?
It could use a more comprehensive widget creation studio in the IDE.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Software Architect at a tech services company
The platform helps set up a proper software development architecture on an enterprise level
What is most valuable?
There is not one feature that is better than the others. All are good because it is a platform and the features work well together.
The power is in the entire solution provided. You have one answer for:
- MDD - Model Driven Development
- DTAP - Develop Test Acceptance Production environments
- Visual web app editor
- Visual database editor
- Mobile and web app development
- The ability to deploy to any major cloud hosting system, like AWS, Azure, and now SAP cloud.
- Integrated support for Agile software development and the SCRUM working method.
- Strong front-end development options out-of-the-box, easy to extend new features, and isolating front-end functionality, yet giving the possibility to integrate with the platform.
How has it helped my organization?
We can deliver six times faster than working with regular third generation languages.
Also, the platform helps set up a proper software development architecture on an enterprise level.
"Security by design" is also a phrase for Mendix.
What needs improvement?
I see little to no improvements to its core functionality since Mendix 7 was rolled out, creating web apps for businesses.
From Mendix 6 until 7, options on creating mobile apps have improved, but offline capabilities are not mature enough. Still, this gets a good focus within the company, so I believe this will be something of the past soon enough.
For how long have I used the solution?
I worked at Mendix in 2014. I did not stop using it when I left the company in 2015, so three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes, the Mendix Cloud out-of-the-box does not support autoscaling.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would give the technical support a 10 out of 10 rating.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with many third generation languages (Java/.NET /PHP) and have found that you still need an extra third party software next to the development environment provided to come up with the same toolset as the Mendix platform.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was both straightforward and complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The prices are fair for an enterprise product that has a target audience of big companies/enterprise companies.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Not applicable. I am a Mendix consultant delivering Mendix solutions.
What other advice do I have?
It is a great platform that will help you solve hard business problems in a digital way.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: An official implementation partner.
Associate at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
I was able to construct real doable software in a very short time and show working POCs to the client.
What is most valuable?
The single most beneficial feature is the rapid development and prototyping of the product. I was able to construct real demoable software in a very short time and show the client. The technology is a no-brainer and allows me to focus on the business of the client over mastering or wrestling with the software. Not only do I create workable software, but due to the high-level nature of how logic is written (using Microflows akin to Business Processing Models), a business person can clearly understand the code itself.
Their attention to detail and resistance to feature bloat to maintain the platform’s elegance and simplicity drives the platform’s success in integrating business an IT. They have implemented the right features, like easy integration mechanisms, robust configurable security, database and client device portability, a project and team work portal and much more to deliver valuable solutions, fast.
How has it helped my organization?
During an implementation of a Rules Engine for Credit Risk and Loan Eligibility which integrates various Credit Bureaux data systems for online loan applications, we experienced some performance issues. We then broke out into four teams to find optimizations of which three teams were technical and one was business analysis. The team who came up with the best solution, was the business analysis team. Since they could understand the flow of logic in the microflows, they could reorganize certain calls and optimize the process to gain the few milliseconds we needed to bring the application inside it's non-functional performance requirements.
This example shows that something that used to be confined to hidden alleys of the IT department was solved by business people with knowledge of the business process : Mendix enables a frictionless interaction between the business and IT domains to produce integrated solutions rather than point optimisations.
What needs improvement?
Reporting isn't Mendix' strong suite. The Business Modeler is amazing for rapid application development but the Reporting lags behind. Mendix relies on third party products who specialize in reporting to supplement their product. Other areas where they could improve are already on the roadmap, for instance clustering and NoSQL databases. Generally speaking the community and R&D are on the ball when it comes to features that their client base desire.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used this product since 2010, that is six years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Deployment is straightforward and very solid.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is not a problem, although you might have to tune your environment for its use cases since the out-of-the-box configuration, like any app, is for general use cases, but there is no real problem here.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability requires a bit more expertise but is not insurmountable, at least not for any of the products we have developed, which includes Big Data climate sensor systems, GIS, Risk Decisioning, Lead/Queue Management, Loan Origination/Loan Applications both online- and agent-based channels like phone/email/web/mobile etc.
How are customer service and technical support?
Generally support is friendly, helpful and professional. There are two channels of support, the Forum and the Support Portal.
The community is very active over the Forums and included the participation of the Core R&D team.
The support portal does have a few minor problems but when you make Mendix aware of this, they strive to accommodate the pain-points. In no way do these pain-points prevent Mendix from finding a temporary workable solution. For instance, if I am unable to log a bug for a client because of an account restriction, they would log bugs on my behalf. After that communication is followed up on properly and I'm pretty happy with the process, except that their support portal is in the Netherlands, so there is a slight time difference if you are working in the Americas.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Mendix is a first-rate business modeling solution. We have evaluated other solutions which focus more on the technology and gives developers too much flexibility with which they could hang themselves. This sounds counter-intuitive, but in real fact Mendix is a modeling solution that evolves upward in the software evolutionary chain, in that it is business-centric instead of being tech-centric; you model instead of code. We've been stuck in the code-mode for decades. Modeling isn't a new concept but it is hard to craft a first-rate modeling solution which Mendix has done a great job at.
Using the modeler frees you from technological burden and gives you more space to focus on mastering the business of the client.
How was the initial setup?
Setup is an easy wizard installation process. It is straightforward and downloads and installs missing dependencies like the Java Runtime and SDK.
What about the implementation team?
We have done both in the past, but mostly it is done in-house. As the product matured over the past few years, we became completely independent of vendors, since everything required is well documented and supported. In cases of emergencies, a quick forum post is enough to fill missing gaps.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Despite high licensing costs, the time and cost of development is dramatically reduced. On average our timelines are in the range of five to 10 times faster than choosing a more traditional software approach. Licensing costs are on negotiation basis, and this works for countries with weaker currencies and global economic disadvantages, like countries in Africa.
What other advice do I have?
Find people who are willing to try something different, people with a teachable attitude. Mendix is a paradigm-shift and might not appeal to ego-centric developers in their comfort zone who want under-the-hood control. Instead they should be business orientated, concerned with delivering working software fast and interacting with clients.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Business and Solutions Architect at a tech company with 51-200 employees
The tool chain allows one to model the business in the easy-to-use Business Modeller, then to deploy the app server with the model,
What is most valuable?
Mendix provides the big-picture to the detail and the detail to the big-picture and they do that well. The tool chain allows one to model the business in the easy-to-use Business Modeller, then to deploy the app server with the model, deploy the DB schema to the database and have it running with : One click. They wrap all of this detail, in a big picture platform by integrating everything into the software development life cycle that provides the techies with the detail of what to do next and the business owner with where things are and how long they will take. The most valuable feature is being fast without painting yourself into a corner.
How has it helped my organization?
Mendix has helped to dissolve the divide between “business” and “IT”, between business speak and technical jargon, between classical project management and disciplined agile delivery. It reduces friction to deliver projects iteratively and reduce time to market and helps change the organisational culture, if the culture is open to this. In short, Mendix has improved our ability to delight our customers.
What needs improvement?
We need better support for master data management, consuming corporate dictionaries and exporting the models to others. We also need better reporting and visualisation as this is a critical part of each app and currently the reporting side has to rely on external BI tools. Additionally, we need better support for quickly integrating with external data sources without writing code or reliance on ETL tools. A Mendix profiler will also help and lastly, a multi window business Modeller so that one can use the Modeller more productively on two monitors.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used it for six years, since 2010.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
There are very rarely issues with the deployment.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have had Mendix apps that were not maintained properly and left to tick over that were difficult to keep stable and upgrade due to large databases and insufficient resources : This is more due to a lack of engineering than anything related to Mendix. But because Mendix makes things easy, clients often feel like it does not require the same engineering disciplines and this sets up a client for deployment, stability and scalability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Generally there have been no issues scaling. Keep in mind that Mendix runs on a RDBMS as its main persistent store and as such will scale with the data base. We find that the Mendix App server is only the bottle neck on tight loops over LOTS of data and when using dynamically calculated values. However, this is not typical use cases for Mendix and can be avoided by using microservices that do tight loop/ETL, simulation etc. work loads and leave complex business processes to Mendix.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
At times when we hit a serious bug, Mendix has always been quick to respond and fix the issue. The user forums are active and Mendix staff is encouraged to provide answers. In general, quite good. Can always be better but in comparison to other large tech companies, they like to please and help.
Technical Support:We evaluated a number of tools that claimed to offer productivity platforms and model driven development. The success of Mendix is of course using it where it is strong. Mendix is not an BI or ETL tool and we rather use Mendix in collaboration with a number of tools like Blaze, Talend, YellowFin etc. Why Mendix? Its model driven approach is superior rather than a code generator as used by many other productivity platforms. This keeps you fast rather than being fast in the start of the project. A model driven approach makes it possible to focus on solving the problem at hand rather than tinkering with code that has to be maintained in three months.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Mendix is not a "RAD" tool and there really is nothing like it, similar tools have started appearing and the approach is catching on. Model Driven tools differ in philosophy and implementation and needs a different mind set to leverage optimally.
How was the initial setup?
Mendix presents a deceptively simple environment that seems too shallow for many techies, but is not. It does present a completely different paradigm and team culture and to leverage Mendix a change in corporate culture might be required. From us and them, to a integrated innovative whole where technologists can focus on delivering value to the rhythm of business demands. Convincing classical techies might be a challenge and this often limits the success of implementations.
What about the implementation team?
We started off by seeding our team culture the Mendix culture by working with them on a number of projects. Since then we have grown a number of teams for ourselves and our clients. Advice: Get a Mendix Engineer to seed the different culture and flourish from there, it will put your investment on a faster benefit-track. However, this is not required and growing organically might work depending on your lead Mendix engineers’ propensity to innovate, integrate and deliver business value.
What was our ROI?
ROI is dependent on the importance of a “fast time to market”. If a fast time to market is not a determinant, then write assembly or C, else Mendix might have a part to play.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Mendix can be expensive if you stare at the bottom line and compare it to traditional tech - which is flawed. Think big picture and time to market with a few bright resources rather than micromanagement and a army of developers and it might lead one to realise that saving a number of salaries, training, career building and hand holding might be a bigger saving than your average capex/opex watching manager can see. Mendix is negotiable on licensing and will try to make the project where possible.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We had a look at OutSystems, some open source initiatives and BPM tools.
What other advice do I have?
Mendix requires adoption from the top and support for the teams that implement it to not be ham strung by IT. Do not approach Mendix like a “traditional” IT shop will : It requires a close integration with business, driven by Business for Business by IT rather than by IT for for business. It requires a model driven approach to solving problems that provides speed gains when describing solutions in its language rather than designing everything from scratch, think different, leverage models, accelerate delivery, speak business.
They have good attention to detail and keep things simple and clean.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are a client, a partner and we sell Mendix to our clients
Software Developer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Enables rapid development; Sprinter management tool provides project overview
Pros and Cons
- "The integrated security saves a lot of time, especially when it comes to setting up user-roles and security. Also, database updates work automatically. There is no need to write queries to update the database, once you make an update."
- "Needs multiple database connections so an app can directly read/write data to/from multiple databases. This would enable easy splitting of big applications that have complex entity relationships."
- "I would also like to see automatic adjustment to the Java Heap, whenever an application load becomes too much for the application. It could also use hot database replication."
What is our primary use case?
Mendix is used to develop an application that is used by the business to achieve business goals, such as easy data interaction, data storage, reporting and monitoring of business assets, and ticketing.
How has it helped my organization?
Easy document generation saves a lot of time. The integrated security also saves a lot of time, especially when it comes to setting up user-roles and security. Finally, database updates work automatically. There is no need to write queries to update the database, once you make an update.
What is most valuable?
- The ability to rapidly build applications.
- Built-in management tool called Sprinter gives everyone involved in the development of the application an overview of the current state and progress of the application being built.
- Supports collaborative development which minimizes the risk of having multiple developers working on a single piece of code.
- Easy to integrate with both RESTful and SOAP web services. This is helpful because a lot of applications are dependent on others for data. For example, if you were to develop an app that does a background check on employees, you would integrate to systems like TransUnion to feed data to your application.
What needs improvement?
They need to enable multiple database connections so an app can directly read/write data to/from multiple databases. This would enable easy splitting of big applications that have complex entity relationships.
I would also like to see automatic adjustment to the Java Heap, whenever an application load becomes too much for the application.
It could also use hot database replication.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What other advice do I have?
I would give it an eight out of 10 because of the ability to rapidly build apps with Mendix. You could actually build an application as someone from the business side is explaining what the solution requires.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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