Alpha Anywhere vs. NetBeans

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Alpha Anywhere
Score 9.9 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
The Alpha platform is a unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct "no-code" and "low-code" components. The vendor says that using the Alpha TransForm no-code environment, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the…
$35
NetBeans
Score 7.1 out of 10
N/A
NetBeans is a free and open source platform and integrated development environment (IDE).N/A
Pricing
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Editions & Modules
Alpha TransForm (no-code component)
35/month
Alpha Anywhere Business
$1,499/year
Alpha Anywhere
$1,499/year
Alpha Anywhere Business Pro
$2,499/year
Alpha Anywhere Enterprise
Call Us +1 781.850.4600
Volume Discounts
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsQuestions? Call us: +1 781.229.4500
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Features
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Low-Code Development
Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Product A and Product B
Alpha Anywhere
8.4
4 Ratings
0% below category average
NetBeans
-
Ratings
Visual Modeling8.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Drag-and-drop Interfaces6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Security8.84 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform User Management8.94 Ratings00 Ratings
Reusability9.24 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Scalability8.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Small Businesses
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.0 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quixy
Quixy
Score 9.9 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.0 out of 10
PyCharm
PyCharm
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(6 ratings)
7.8
(22 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
Alpha AnywhereNetBeans
Likelihood to Recommend
Alpha Software
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.
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Open Source
NetBeans is extremely user friendly and easy to start developing complex applications. Adding and configuring external libraries is much simpler than in Eclipse. It is highly cost effective and most of the latest framework based libraries required are automatically downloaded to the projects. The overall tool is also light weight and consumes less memory as compared to other competitor tools.
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Pros
Alpha Software
  • 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.
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Open Source
  • Debugging - Save time hunting down errors by stepping through the code to find the root of a problem.
  • Refactoring - Easily rename classes and variables or make other structural changes using built-in refactoring tools.
  • Service management - NetBeans integrates seamlessly with web application servers like Tomcat and GlassFish.
  • Source control - Works well with Git and other version control tools.
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Cons
Alpha Software
  • 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
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Open Source
  • NetBeans [should] work smoothly with systems having less RAM. Systems with less RAM face trouble with NetBeans.
  • File open history also requires improvement. Once NetBeans is restarted, all files are closed automatically and there is no shortcut to open last opened files.
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Usability
Alpha Software
No answers on this topic
Open Source
Netbeans enhances my coding work, shows me where I have errors and helps find variable instances. I would be lost without find/replace in projects functionality as I use projects as templates for new projects. Occasionally the code hints aggravate me, but I understand that it is actually making me a better coder, working to get the 'green light' of a clean file with no errors or clumsy code.
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Support Rating
Alpha Software
No answers on this topic
Open Source
NetBeans has a very strong user community. We can find solutions here for almost all the problems we face. In addition, we can forward NetBeans Support teams the problems we cannot solve. We can get quick feedback from the support teams, but I generally try to solve my problems by following the forums.
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Alternatives Considered
Alpha Software
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.
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Open Source
It works very smoothly as compared to other tools . The problem of restarting and reimporting the projects is not in the netbeans IDE . The front end development features are good . Netbeans connector is one of the best thing which enables us to deeply integrate netbeans IDE with google chrome browser
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Return on Investment
Alpha Software
  • 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.
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Open Source
  • By working on Netbeans I just learned one more tool and can teach others about it. One should learn every tool so that it might help someday if another editor is not available and you have to use different software for your work.
  • Compiling code became easy as it is not a feature of normal text editors. Only IDE can do this.
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ScreenShots

Alpha Anywhere Screenshots

Screenshot of Inspection Solutions is a mobile business app designed for inspectors who need to inspect construction vehicles in the field, but showcases functionality relevant to many other field apps. The app includes the critical features now required in modern field services apps, such as offline capability, bar code scanning, voice annotation and digital ink. It is a native-quality hybrid app created using the Alpha Anywhere V4 rapid mobile application development and deployment platform.Screenshot of Pumpjack Pro is a sample application for Alpha Anywhere designed for inspecting pumpjacks - those machines that look like bobbing horse heads above oil wells. Features include: 
- Pass/fail buttons
- Photo capture
- GPS location capture
- Indicator meters
- A popup cheat sheet
- A popup video
- A signature capture control
- Offline operationScreenshot of DevCon 2016 is an offline-capable mobile/web application for navigating the Alpha Software Developers Conference. Although this is a real, working application it also makes a great sample application for anyone who wishes to build a Conference Schedule Application in Alpha Anywhere.This application was created using out-of-the-box Alpha Anywhere functionality with a minimum of custom JavaScript so it is easy to modify. Developers can make modifications to this sample inspection app directly from within the Alpha Anywhere IDE. 
- Updates Against Live SQL Data
- Works offline
- Can be Used as a Web or Mobile Application
- Can be Modified for Your Own UseScreenshot of Alpha TransForm Data Colleciton AppScreenshot of Alpha Anywhere Punch List appScreenshot of Alpha TransForm inspection app