Alpha Anywhere vs. GeneXus

The speed of development from concept, through development and delivery of the end product is so impressive [with Alpha Anywhere]. There is an impressive array of genies and helper functions meaning that you can focus on what matters, the end user experience. It is not a "No code" solution but it is a very impressive "low code" solution which allows detailed access under the hood to tweak the applications to your own needs and the needs of your clients.

Develop a large and complex product, integrated with multiple tourism service providers, reservation systems, and e-commerce sites, with constant needs to adapt to changes and innovation in business and technology, with a small development team that must have a lot of business knowledge

• Our company had been creating small business applications since the 1980's, when we used DBase IV (don't laugh... that's what was available). Then, we got more "sophisticated" with Microsoft Access. Clearly, we would always be limited with what we can do with those two programs. By accident, during an Internet search, we saw and ad for Alpha Anywhere (back then, it was called Alpha V). After working with the 30 free trial for just two weeks, we retired Access, for good. The best part was Alpha's flexibility in its use of "back end" data tables. That allowed us to use existing Access tables as we redesigned the front-end program (Alpha ships with its own DBF system, but we prefer SQL-Based tables). You can choose, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, Access, Paradox (actually, too many to name) for your tables. You can even create links to Excel spreadsheets or QuickBooks Tables. It's outstanding!
• Alpha allows developers to create very large and very complex programs. However, it's also a great choice for RAD (Rapid Application Development) for those who need to be up and running quickly or for less experienced programmers. Actually, the interface truly allows for "codeless" development of your application (more on that later). That means you can design a fully functional application, without typing a single line of code. They have some examples on their website.
• My favorite part of Alpha is that it is constantly adding features and functions that allow us to do more with our applications. In fact, one of my biggest problems is that I need more time to learn and practice the added features as fast as they are introduced
• Prior to Alpha Anywhere, we never considered creating/developing "mobile" applications (for tablets, smartphones, etc.). Alpha created a unique "panel" system that makes those application work great... and allows for the design of very sophisticated Apps.

Incentivized

• It allows to focus on the solution instead of seeing technical or implementation limitations as it is multiplatform.
• Development times are shorter due to its easy implementation and on the same platform manage the database, services and front.
• Being multiplatform allows us to implement the solution in different technologies.

• I really enjoyed product when the database was a part of it, less maintenance
• Converting to the cloud has been challenging
• Security setup should be simpler, like Softr or Stacker

• Some errors at building time that are difficult to figure out. In the deployment and executions, sometimes you get errors not easy to figure out.
• Now it's fast, but when you create a large solution, it slows down.

Usability of the tool by a developer who is well trained in the use of GeneXus and with good judgment is excellent. It allows them to know good practices in the generation of code for the database as well as for the backend and the frontend. It allows us to achieve better standardization within the development team and to present solutions and solve complex problems in a very simple way.

Sometimes the support takes a little while, but in the end they always have good answers and the people who answer you are very prepared even for questions outside of GeneXus.

Incentivized

Alpha Anywhere is a full-stack IDE. It’s no code and low code, but you can also custom code if you need to. About 10% of our application is no code. 80% is low code and 10% is custom code.

GeneXus has a wider approach in terms of the platform it supports. It has been in the market evolving with technology changes for more than 30 years. It has a better business model for the users, instead of charging for the amount of developments we make or the amount of users we have, it only charges per developer station.

• Allows for a great return on investment since you can quickly become very productive and complete more projects and applications in a shorter period of time with hand coding and the normal programming headaches of PHP, C#, Angular, etc.
• You can afford to take on more and smaller projects since they will require far less time to complete than more traditional development environments.
• Alpha Anywhere is continuously updated coming out with new features and capabilities on essentially a daily basis. Continuous improvement and frequent updates allows you to always stay ahead of the curve and competitors.
• Alpha Anywhere allows you to offer lower cost solutions that will be completed in less time and that will be much easier to support and maintain.

Incentivized

• Being able to work with a multidisciplinary but small team of professionals with a lot of focus on the needs of the business
• GeneXus to take care especially the permanent evolution of the technology