OutSystems Reviews

We are using all aspects of OutSystems. We use it in almost all of our applications, application development, migration, and modernization. Basically, we use it for almost any traditional technology like .NET and Java.

OutSystems requires only one skill set for both the frontend and backend. As the world is heading towards scarcity of resources, this is a major advantage.

The visual program of OutSystems is one of the major advantages of this solution. Because of this, we don't need to have a separate skill for the front and backend services or extensions, it only requires one skill set. 

Another valuable feature is the speed of the entire implementation of the solution. 

The solution is ground up, it follows exactly what the developer does. The product could be improved if there was a shortcut, or predefined, predictable templates provided. Infusing AI that would automate the process would be game-changing. 

On a logical level, if data on a form is automated, it would be great if when required, the developer can then go and look for it. 

I have been using OutSystems for seven years.

Technical support is good. They are responsive and knowledgeable.

The initial setup of OutSystem is very simple. I would rate the implementation a four out of five for ease of setup.

The solution is not open source. It is a platform that is given free of cost to the developers. When it comes to commercial use, there are restrictions and costs. 

I believe they have two pricing options. One is approximately $4000 USD a year and the other is approximately $10,000 USD a year.

Obviously, you need to incur your own infrastructure costs or maybe even your own server. Other costs come in the form of security, maintenance, and the amount of data required to be held in the cloud.  

The implementation of the solution is fast, but the challenge is that the guy who is on the ground needs to understand the framework. The framework you are building makes a difference.

Overall, I would rate OutSystems a nine out of ten.

We use OutSystems for the same purpose as Mendix, but we recommend Mendix for mobile applications and OutSystems for B2C or B2B web portals. OutSystems has strong features for creating web-based portals or eCommerce marketplaces.

Mendix supports Java, while OutSystems supports .NET. We are using the latest versions of OutSystems. We are partnered with Mendix and OutSystems. We have access to their partner portal, so we don't need to worry about developing applications, proofs of concept, or prototypes using OutSystems.

OutSystems has on-premise and cloud versions. It can be deployed on AWS, Azure, or GCP. OutSystems is available as a Platform-as-a-Service, as well. OutSystems can be hosted on Azure, GCP, or AWS, and you can deploy OutSystems components on OutSystems PaaS. 

The architecture of OutSystems is quite simple, and the features are similar to Mendix's. OutSystems has connectors for different enterprise apps and solid reporting capabilities. You can also integrate with any content management platform like SharePoint or Adobe Enterprise Manager, or something like that. You can also create and integrate workflows. 

We'd like OutSystems to add stronger workflow-based automation similar to what Appian offers. It needs more workflow modeling and RPA features.

I have been using OutSystems for the last three years.

Like Mendix, OutSystems has a highly scalable and flexible architecture. 

We are an OutSystems partner, so I have an excellent rapport with alliance managers and their technical architecture team and technical support. They're incredibly supportive. I rate OutSystems eight out of 10. 

Positive

We are using almost all the local solutions, including OutSystems, Mendix, Appian, etc.

Setting up OutSystems is straightforward. 

OutSystems isn't expensive. It's very similar to the cost of Mendix. If customers have a good relationship with OutSystems or Mendix, they can get a better price. The solutions have a similar pricing model, including licenses for single or multiple users.

I rate OutSystems nine out of 10. OutSystems is the market leader in the local area space on the Gartner Magic Quadrant. As a user, I can say OutSystems is on par with Mendix, and the features are similar, so now it depends on the use case. 

For example, some customers prefer Mendix because they have SAP ecosystems, so they will go with Mendix because it offers native SAP support. Mendix has SAP adapters that are all license-free. These are cost reasons people might choose Mendix. However, there are some cases where an SAP might go for OutSystems because the license is a bit cheaper.

My company uses OutSystems for developing mobile applications and web applications.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a low-code tool with which it becomes very fast for users to create something and to show the creation to the customer much faster than any other technology.

In OutSystems, cloud management is an area of concern where improvements are required. Searching through the logs is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required in OutSystems.

I have been using OutSystems for half a year. My company has a partnership with OutSystems, and we have a lot of certified engineers.

OutSystems has some issues with stability. When OutSystems is used as an enterprise solution or has millions of users, then there are some stability problems with your stability. When millions of users use your application, the management of the databases and caching systems is sometimes not that efficient in OutSystems.

It is a scalable solution.

My company deals with small and medium-sized businesses.

The solution's technical support is good, especially owing to its documentation part. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup of OutSystems is easy.

The solution can be deployed in a few hours.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. A user gets access to the user interface and some applications that you can install on Windows, making it a process that one person can do.

OutSystems is an expensive product. My company has to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. I am unsure about how much my company spends towards the solution's costs, but its cost runs into thousands of euros. There are some additional costs towards which certain payments are to be made, considering that one needs to pay for the end user who uses the solution.

I know about the competitors of OutSystems. I didn't choose any of the competitors of OutSystems since it was a product that already existed in my company.

A person is required to maintain the solution.

If someone needs to show their customers really fast results of the development phase of an application, OutSystems is a very good solution that is expensive at the same time.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

OutSystems is a versatile development platform that I find incredibly useful for various purposes. It is great for building both web and mobile applications, making it suitable for large enterprises and small to mid-sized businesses across different industries like banking, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. With its visual development, pre-built components, and easy maintenance, OutSystems has significantly expedited software development in my experience, offering a rapid and efficient solution for a wide range of applications.

In comparison to other local development platforms, OutSystems is quite advanced. While every platform can benefit from ongoing enhancements, OutSystems seems to have most of the features I, as a software professional, would look for. I have started working with it, and I find it to be a genuinely cool and effective platform for my development needs.

OutSystems is already on the right track for improvements. They plan to transition from their cloud platform to a cloud-native architecture, emphasizing infrastructure scalability and the integration of Docker containers, which is a positive step forward. I would also like to see OutSystems improve its integration capabilities, especially with emerging technologies like AI and GPT. Integrating with AI and GPT models could enhance OutSystems' functionality and help it easily adapt to new trends and concepts in connectivity and artificial intelligence in future releases.

I have been using OutSystems since 2011.

I would rate the stability of OutSystems as a ten out of ten.

OutSystems supports both horizontal and vertical scaling, and I find it quite easy to scale applications when needed. Adding a front-end server to a cluster, for instance, is a straightforward task that takes just a few minutes. As long as you follow OutSystems' recommended application composition and architecture, scalability is not a problem, and I would rate it a solid ten out of ten for scalability. In our company, around eighteen to nineteen developers are actively using OutSystems to develop applications for our customers. For mid-sized applications with OutSystems, you don't require large teams. OutSystems encourages small teams to use agile methodology. Typically, you need an engagement manager, a tech lead, and two to three developers for a medium-sized project. Additionally, a solution architect may be necessary initially, and then one tech lead and two developers are often sufficient for ongoing work.

I have had a positive experience with OutSystems' tech support. They offer a guided learning path, well-structured documentation, and a valuable component repository called Forge. Their community is also quite active, with fellow users and even OutSystems champions and family members providing assistance. In addition, they have a stable support process where you can create a support ticket, and the OutSystems team will reach out to help with any issues. Overall, I'm satisfied with the support available from OutSystems through their various resources.

Setting up OutSystems is straightforward, and even citizen developers can quickly learn and start building software with it. While complex applications may require professional expertise, OutSystems provides numerous prebuilt components and features, such as UI components for creating beautiful interfaces and easy database design tools, making it accessible even for those without extensive design or development experience. It is also user-friendly when it comes to handling logic, integrating with third-party services, and working with APIs. Overall, I find it to be a great and user-friendly platform for software development. The deployment process in OutSystems involves using a tool called Lifetime, which acts as a control console for managing different environments. When you purchase an OutSystems license, you typically receive three environments: development, QA, and production, along with a separate Lifetime environment. Lifetime keeps track of application versions and modules deployed on servers in each environment. It alerts you when an environment is outdated compared to a new version in development. Lifetime also checks references and other prerequisites before deploying releases from one environment to another, making the deployment process straightforward and well-managed.

OutSystems licenses are not cheap, but they fall within the range of standard pricing. It is not very expensive or overly budget-friendly; it is more in the middle, making it an average-cost option for organizations.

Before using OutSystems, I explored other tools like APN and Automation Anywhere. However, I found OutSystems to be the best fit because it offers both rapid application development and flexibility. Unlike some other tools, OutSystems allows you to integrate with third-party libraries and technologies like .NET, Java, BigQuery, and more, making it a more flexible and easily adaptable platform.

I would definitely recommend OutSystems to others. Overall, I would rate it as a ten out of ten.

For some of the business processes, we want the process owners to be able to set up their own flow-throughs, process flows, workflows, etc. They don't need to have any kind of prior coding experience. They should be able to establish workflows for their respective processes by just dragging and dropping elements as part of self service without relying on IT (where possible).

OutSystems has really brought about citizen developers in my organization without any real coding experience to be able to develop their own work slows in their area of work.

The flow editor is the most valuable feature. It is simple and intuitive, and it can guide you step-by-step.

From an ecosystem perspective, it has a highly integrated flow editor, user interface, and data logic behind it. It has a very connected local ecosystem.

One of the biggest areas for improvement is that every time an existing data element is modified, it creates a new data element. It doesn't really modify that particular data element. So, a user has to follow an extra step of removing the existing data element and bringing in the new and modified data element that is being added, which sort of goes into negative productivity.

I have been using this solution for about four and a half years.

OutSystems' tech support is very good. They're fairly responsive.

It is one of the good solutions available in the market. I would rate OutSystems an eight out of 10.

I am using OutSystems in internal workflow processes for approving expenses.

The solution has helped us, but it's no longer a strategic choice for us. We are not investing anymore in this platform. We realized the value of using OutSystems if you have an internal development capability. We've been using the solution mostly in outsourcing for development tasks, and it doesn't make much sense to us, to pay the amount for the solution for the capital gains to go to the external provider we use for the development.

If I have a large team of developers, eventually using the solution would make sense. That's not the case. In my business model for IT, I do not have any internal development capability. I'd rather do it without a rapid development platform because the savings go to the provider. It doesn't go to me. I have to pay for the ticket and then I have to pay additional costs for the development. It doesn't make any sense. It is a good solution and technology, it only does not fit our use case.

The most valuable feature of OutSystems with discipline and the development processes. Instead of each developer doing tasks on their own with their own approach, et cetera, the solution would help bring some organization to the development process. 

I have been using OutSystems for approximately five years.

We did not experience a time when the solution did not perform, the solution is stable.

I rate the stability of OutSystems an eight out of ten.

The solution can scale. However, the catch is the pricing has become more and more expensive in the last few years. Consumption is increasing, and the price has increased a lot.

We have approximately 200 users using this solution in my company.

The support is not provided by OutSystems themselves. It's the service vendors, the integrators. There is a shortage of skilled workers that are knowledgeable of the tweaks of the platform and the shortcuts that can increase the productivity of using it.

We are using ServiceNow and it's depicted as a container for OutSystems. It's not the same, but it has the capability of doing some type of rapid development, and we are using it more and more.

The largest obstacle currently associated with OutSystems is its high cost and limited availability of skilled personnel. Despite being a rapid application development platform, having a highly skilled individual familiar with the platform can be much more beneficial than an inexperienced individual. Because there is a shortage of people with the necessary OutSystems skills, utilizing the platform can become expensive. This makes little sense, considering that a rapid application development platform should be accessible to the average person. However, having a highly skilled individual can greatly increase productivity, making the cost worthwhile.

I rate the initial setup of OutSystems a four out of ten.

I have not seen a return on investment using OutSystems.

OutSystems is expensive, and they changed the pricing model in the last couple of years.  It's changing too much and it's becoming unstable. They are constantly shifting their prices based on users, courses, and other factors.

To ensure that we will be able to benefit from leveraging internal development capability, I would suggest using a tool, such as OutSystems. With this solution, it is possible to increase the average productivity of the existing team of developers. Even a small increase of two to three percent can lead to significant gains. However, if there is a limited number of developers, it may be difficult to realize substantial productivity gains from using OutSystems.

I rate OutSystems a seven out of ten.

We use it to help our clients generate certificates. They needed an app to help them record and have data. It allows them to take the certificate number, check if it is authentic and if the equipment that the ticket number is issued against is working perfectly.

The drag-and-drop feature is very valuable.

The tutorials for the solution should be updated.

We have been using this solution for about a month and are currently using version 11.

The solution is stable and doesn't require many server resources, so I don't think there are stability issues. They have enterprise and have been around for a long time. Some of the tutorials we use were created in 2014, and we still use them.

The initial setup was straightforward. Once we registered, we installed it and were able to start work immediately. It took approximately 24 hours to set up.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good but can be improved by updating the tutorials available. I advise people considering the product to ensure they have their data somewhere to generate a certificate. Additionally, I advise them to do their own research. The application makes life easier.

My engagement with the solution was primarily as a private contractor for our banks. We were doing several RPA developments for banks. So they had some processes whereby they wanted to use a low-code approach. They wanted to create workflows out of that. That's what I was focusing on.

Their drag-and-drop functionality is amazing. Their visual layout designers tend to be way better than the ones that I've seen - even compared to something as simple to use as Power Apps.

It's easy to set up the solution.

The product is mostly stable. 

One of the things that they could do a little better is the performance speed of the UI refresh. It sometimes seems a little choppy, depending on what sort of machine power we have. I have a moderately powered machine, and I still found that the reload of the UI was not the most accurate, and I would have to reload the same page a couple of times to get the reflection of the right information. 

It's frustrating in that if you forget to refresh, you're showing somebody the wrong thing, and your bosses aren't happy with you.

The documentation needs to be more robust.

Their UI reach refresh rates could be perhaps better. There's a lot of heavy focus on the client being able to create, to refresh quickly. I don't know what that mechanism looks like for them. 

The integrations that have been created for automated testing, et cetera, should be a big area of improvement for them. If they could think about creating better integrations or opening up the integration space to get more hooks into more automated testing frameworks and platforms, it would be a nice little addition to their whole arsenal.

OutSystems has an opinionated approach to how it will save the data in the back and how it will create application architecture. So they have components, and they have the ability to break things into smaller pieces, however, if I was ever to try and take the system that OutSystems created and try and replicate and take that code base, for example, and put it into a .NET IDE, it doesn't work. Ever. That was sort of a bummer for me.

One of the things that I keep hearing from people is, "We are going to use low-code applications of platforms to create a very basic proof of concept," and that is where their inclusions end. However, to use that proof of concept of complex work, we need to go back to the Javas, and the .NETs, and the C++ of the world. The ability to get that code over and make it work in these different IDEs was not well thought through.

I've used the solution for a year and a half. 

Except for the issues around screen refreshes, its stability is okay. It's fine. It's comparable to PowerApps.  

I've also used Microsoft PowerApps.

Clients were also using UiPath.

The initial setup was straightforward, however, initially getting my feet wet, and kicking it off, can be difficult. The documentation at that moment in time was lacking. It was a very basic, here's how you do a hello world kind of thing, and everything else that followed those instructions were based on the same simple idea. If they could just start making the documentation a bit more realistic with real-world situations, they'll definitely be helping their clients a lot.

There isn't a lot of maintenance needed. There only needs to be one person maintaining the product.

My advice would be more for OutSystems. They need to make documentation foolproof. They need to make it easy enough for anyone to read and get it up and running. From OutSystems's point of view, they would prefer not to have people struggle for installations, so they should make it really super quick. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

OutSystems is easy to use. 

I have been using OutSystems for six months.

OutSystems support is okay. 

Setting up OutSystems is easy. It take one or two hours. 

The price is okay. OutSystems isn't expensive. It's a mid-range solution.

I rate OutSystems nine out of 10. I recommend evaluating it as a POC first. If everything is okay, you can start.

Our use case is mainly for the manual control systems.

There are about 20 developers using this solution in my company.

The scratch coding is useful. The solution is easy to understand.

React is very easy to use for an experienced software developer.

It's difficult to do the component version control. I would like them to add more studying materials.

I have been using this solution for about six months.

Some systems have over 1,000 end users. It's very stable for heavy duty operation.

It's scalable.

Technical support is good.

For one developer to use, the cost is around $5,000.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.