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Head of Technology & Governance at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Allows for quick application building, but with a hefty price tag to match
Pros and Cons
  • "We have no complaints surrounding both the scalability and stability of this solution."
  • "The technical features are good, but the actual commercialization is out of reach."

What is our primary use case?

We use OutSystems to analyze disparate applications that are about to become obsolete.

As we currently can't afford it, we are still in the testing and evaluating phase.

What is most valuable?

You can use this solution to build applications very rapidly. It can also easily be deployed on mobile devices and applications as well.

What needs improvement?

The biggest challenge for us is the licensing model and the cost of OutSystems. The apps that we are interested in have a very large user-base and OutSystems drastically ramps those costs up.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have dealt with this solution for roughly 18 months.

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OutSystems
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about OutSystems. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have no complaints surrounding both the scalability and stability of this solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use ServiceNow for CMDB and ITSM related needs; we don't use ServiceNow for application development, so for us, the two aren't comparable. I don't have any experience with SericveNow's capabilities in that space. 

How was the initial setup?

Our team had no issues with the technical side of the initial setup. Ultimately, they were able to create prototypes and build apps really quickly. But I think where we failed was with the commercial side of it, in terms of the licenses and the costs surrounding deployment.

I believe our functional labs were up and running within a couple of days; however, we have not deployed it on a wider scale as we can't afford to.

What about the implementation team?

Our in-house team of one or two people took care of everything.

What other advice do I have?

OutSystems is a good solution, but it's not cheap. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of five. The technical features are good, but the actual commercialization is out of reach.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Master Collator at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Effective, easy to use and set up, great community support but the technical support an price could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "We used almost all of the features, themes, styling guide, and approach components. They are useful in our applications."
  • "We had some lagging issues under high data loads, and the solution needed to be customized to improve this."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product for developing applications.

How has it helped my organization?

It improved our output, mostly in the reactive and mobile applications we developed. 

What is most valuable?

We used almost all of the features, themes, styling guide, and approach components. They are useful in our applications. 

What needs improvement?

Technical support could be better, and out-of-the-box performance could be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using OutSystems for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had some lagging issues under high data loads, and the solution needed to be customised to improve this.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support would get a three out of five, as there is some wait time involved and some solutions were not adequate. This is an area for improvement. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Darknet but switched to OutSystems because it offered some more tools and features.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was easy and there are a lot of forums to help, I would rate it five out of five in that respect. 

What about the implementation team?

We had an in-house setup, requiring only one person.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It depends on the use case, but we found the solution to be pretty expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Setup is easy, the solution is also easy to learn and there is a lot of community support on forums to help. Aside from the cost, OutSystems has been good for us. I would rate OutSystems a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Buyer's Guide
OutSystems
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about OutSystems. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Director Technology at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
You can keep running your applications because it's on .NET and hosted centrally
Pros and Cons
  • "One thing I like about OutSystems is that there's no lock-in. You can keep running your applications because it's on .NET and hosted centrally. That's one of the advantages I see there in terms of not having an IT strategy that has a dependency on a particular platform."
  • "The integration points need to be increased. People have also started to adopt this solution for their regular needs. That means it's not only the big enterprises that are adopting this solution. There are also small and medium enterprises that are adopting it. I've read that where you have large deployments, OutSystems starts to crumble a bit. That is the idea that no customer would know at the beginning and would also not like to hit the wall there. When it is on the client, there are a lot of applications already on low-code, and then suddenly you realize that you want to do some big applications, and you face hurdles. This is the general feedback for all such platforms."

What is most valuable?

One thing I like about OutSystems is that there's no lock-in. You can keep running your applications because it's on .NET and hosted centrally. That's one of the advantages I see there in terms of not having an IT strategy that has a dependency on a particular platform.

What needs improvement?

The integration points need to be increased. People have also started to adopt this solution for their regular needs. That means it's not only the big enterprises that are adopting this solution. There are also small and medium enterprises that are adopting it. 

I've read that where you have large deployments, OutSystems starts to crumble a bit. That is the idea that no customer would know at the beginning and would also not like to hit the wall there. When it is on the client, there are a lot of applications already on low-code, and then suddenly you realize that you want to do some big applications, and you face hurdles. This is the general feedback for all such platforms.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been there with OutSystems for two and a half years to three years now. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability could be from multiple perspectives. From an enterprise perspective, it is the stability of the company. For example, most of the enterprise ERPs are SAP, so I don't have to check twice if a product is okay. 

It's the IT strategy a company is taking, which is effectively what they're going to do for the next five years. They're going to onboard a lot of applications onto this platform. So stability-wise, of course, the scale of the company is not so big, whereas large enterprises could say that it's stable as an organization.

Coming to the other part of the stability which is at the platform-stability level, I think that the features and the support that they provide are quite good, and because it is horizontally scalable, so it doesn't matter there.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has good scalability in terms of the target platforms, multi-tenancy, or hosting on multiple clouds.

How are customer service and technical support?

My team has been interacting with technical support and their feedback is good. Their training is good. I think OutSystems provides one of the best trainings out of all similar platforms.

How was the initial setup?

The development environment is quite easy. You install it out of the box, and it works. It's a one-click install there. I have not been involved with Enterprise setup, so I do not have any comments on that.

What about the implementation team?

We primarily suggest the IT and OutSystems work together for the setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

If I talk about enterprise-level implementation, we work very closely with Siemens, which is where Mendix comes from. We are partners with Siemens, and that's where it helps us in developing applications on Mendix because we get good community support there. I'm not sure how things are otherwise. 

For OutSystems, it is more of community support and a kind of library they have, in terms of the reference implementation of libraries, which can be applied.

For the industrial and enterprise nature of work, that is, for B2B scenarios, Mendix fares well. OutSystems might have a slight advantage for B2C scenarios. I would say that they are equivalent in most of the aspects. There are certain features that Mendix provides which OutSystems does not provide. Similarly, there are areas where OutSystems fares good but Mendix does not. I would rate Mendix and OutSystems the same. 

The initial adoption of Microsoft PowerApps is a little bit of a hurdle. If that's overcome, then other things would be reliant. When we talk about PowerApps, we talk about the whole Microsoft ecosystem, that is, Microsoft Flow, Microsoft PowerApps, Microsoft Power Automate, which effectively brings a lot of power in terms of an ecosystem. 

If I have to go with applications related to Microsoft Office 365, I might go for PowerApps. If I need external integrations and things, where they provide premium APIs and things, it becomes a little bit of a challenge. 

Development-wise, PowerApps could provide a free version. They always have but it's quite restricted. If you download OutSystems or Mendix, you could do anything with the free version. That's where, in terms of acceptance, PowerApps gets a little restrictive because you need a license to evaluate it. If it is not restricted, there'll be more adoption. Of course, you can restrict deployment, the size, and all that, but development capabilities should not be restricted.

What other advice do I have?

The value proposition is not clearly visible out of these platforms as yet. Your penetration level will be decided based on if you are able to reach small and medium enterprises. If I compare something like Zoho with OutSystems, Zoho is getting good traction by purely focusing on the small and medium enterprises. These kinds of things could be game-changers in the future. 

That's where the licensing model becomes a little cryptic. Of course, for enterprise, it makes sense at certain times, and it does not at certain times. The licensing models are one of the things that could be improved there and changed in terms of adaptability.

OutSystems is quite a mature platform. OutSystems provides a lot of capabilities as such. However, it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of solution. Based on the needs, the platform that would be the most suitable one should be decided. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
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CEO & Founder at RiskBucket.net
Real User
You need jQuery/CSS skills for customization of the GUI

What is our primary use case?

Created an operational-risk-management and issue-management application.

How has it helped my organization?

We got discounted pricing from them in writing and built for a year, but now they require 50% more.

What is most valuable?

  • Fast for server-side development. 
  • Easy to learn. 
  • GUI is good.

What needs improvement?

  • You need jQuery/CSS skills for customization of the GUI. 
  • Reporting is very light. 
  • No built-in BI.

For how long have I used the solution?

Trial/evaluations only.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Analyst - RAD Technical at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
One-click publishing streamlines our development process
Pros and Cons
  • "I really like the one-click publish feature in OutSystems. In other development tools/languages, it's not as easy. I also like how easily I can manage all my projects in one place."
  • "I think OutSystems needs to improve in many areas. First, sometimes Service Studio becomes really slow and even hangs for long periods. Also, if I have not published my module in some time, and some kind of Service Studio exception occurs, I lose my work."

What is our primary use case?

I am using OutSystems to deliver in-house applications for developing intra-company applications.

How has it helped my organization?

Before OutSystems we used to take six to seven months to build applications. Now, using OutSystems, it just takes two to three months, max. The best part is that one or two developers can create a full application.

What is most valuable?

I really like the one-click publish feature in OutSystems. In other development tools/languages, it's not as easy. I also like how easily I can manage all my projects in one place.

What needs improvement?

I think OutSystems needs to improve in many areas. First, sometimes Service Studio becomes really slow and even hangs for long periods. Also, if I have not published my module in some time, and some kind of Service Studio exception occurs, I lose my work.

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 they need to improve in many areas to make this a great platform.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Marjolein Pordon - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Test Analyst at Squerist
Real User
Useful low-code tests but can't be used for behavioral-driven development
Pros and Cons
  • "OutSystems' best feature is that you can build tests with the flow, so even the tests are made in the PDD framework in a low-code way."
  • "The PDD framework can't be used for the behavioral-driven development way of working."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using OutSystems to build an ERP system and a customer portal.

What is most valuable?

OutSystems' best feature is that you can build tests with the flow, so even the tests are made in the PDD framework in a low-code way.

What needs improvement?

The PDD framework can't be used for the behavioral-driven development way of working. They're working on improving that, but it's taking a long time. OutSystems also doesn't have branching, which means if there's a production issue, it's not so easy to fix.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using OutSystems for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

OutSystems is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OutSystems is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We've had good contact with OutSystems' consultants.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We used a team of OutSystems developers.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise anyone considering implementing this solution that you need a senior OutSystems developer to help your in-house developers because it can be quite hard to work with in the beginning. If you have a senior OutSystems developer who can help with best practices, then you're good to go. I would give OutSystems a rating of seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Deputy General Manager at HDFC Limited with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Is stable and can be easily installed
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a stable solution, and the initial setup is straightforward."
  • "There are not enough resources on the market."

What is most valuable?

It is a stable solution, and the initial setup is straightforward.

What needs improvement?

I think the resource ecosystem could be improved. There are not enough resources on the market.

Multiple LDEV support would be great to have in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using OutSystems for three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been stable so far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It looks as though it will be a scalable solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I would suggest that you go for at least five or six environments. Typically, they provide three environments, and I think you should go for more, perhaps. six environments by default.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate OutSystems at eight.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Associate Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Visual modeling capabilities, drag and drop functionality, allow you to see what you are coding
Pros and Cons
  • "The most important features of this tool are its visual modeling capabilities and drag and drop functionality. You can see what you are coding which makes it easy to understand and maintain. They have also created a big revolution in digital transformation by introducing native mobile app development under the same IDE."
  • "Integrations with external systems with SOAP and REST are easy to implement off-the-shelf, but a developer can always implement specific libraries for other integrations."
  • "Our previous solution had other overheads such as release management, version management, code management, monitoring, etc., all of which are built-in with OutSystems."
  • "There are many tutorials available but they are very basic and good for learning the platform. To develop an enterprise-grade application, advanced tutorials need to be developed to help IT professionals design/develop high-quality/performance applications."

What is our primary use case?

First and foremost, OutSystems is one of the most robust platforms I've ever tried. Our primary goal was to reduce the overall development time and deliver to the customer faster than anyone else can. 

How has it helped my organization?

During the evaluation phase of OutSystems, we realized that it not only reduces development time but also helps in the overall delivery of our project/product. This platform provides our developers the edge they need to create, deploy, change, and manage mobile and web apps quickly and efficiently. With OutSystems' platform, developers can easily develop and build applications that work on any device, as well as cater to the needs of all types of employees, customers, and partners.

Even with it being a low-code platform, we have never encountered a problem that cannot be solved within OutSystems. We developed many enterprise-level applications in half the time when compared to traditional development tools.

Our primary focus is always our customer success and satisfaction. By using OutSystems, we started delivering results quickly to our customer without compromising the quality of the product. Performance and security are key factors for an IT application/product. With OutSystems, these goals can easily be achieved. We are pleased to say that we are making our customer happy by delivering a quality product in less time.

What is most valuable?

It has so many features and almost every one of them is awesome. It makes our development life easier. 

The most important features of this tool are its visual modeling capabilities and drag and drop functionality. You can see what you are coding which makes it easy to understand and maintain. They have also created a big revolution in digital transformation by introducing native mobile app development under the same IDE.

Integrations with external systems with SOAP and REST are easy to implement off-the-shelf, but a developer can always implement specific libraries for other integrations.

What needs improvement?

OutSystems is a great platform if used by those who are experienced. There are many tutorials available but they are very basic and good for learning the platform. To develop an enterprise-grade application, advanced tutorials need to be developed to help IT professionals design/develop high-quality/performance applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

During the initial phase we encountered many issues with the platform that were limiting us but, as we became experienced with the platform, we were able to achieve almost everything that other development platforms can do.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are certain design standards which, if you don’t follow them, will cause many problems in scaling up your product/application. How you use this product depends on your experience.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is not very good but I still give it a six out of 10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using traditional development tools like Java/.NET but the overall development time was longer compared to Outsystems. Also, our previous solution had other overheads such as release management, version management, code management, monitoring, etc., all of which are built-in with OutSystems.

How was the initial setup?

They have pretty good documentation to set up the environment and you just need to follow the instructions.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing could be a concern. You have to pay yearly, even after you have completed your development.

What other advice do I have?

I started using this solution in 2012 and still am using it for many of our customers and internal projects. OutSystems is a robust, low-code platform that can make a big difference in your customer satisfaction. The overall features of the platform and continuous improvement make it more adaptable than other tools.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free OutSystems Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free OutSystems Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.