Appcelerator (discontinued) vs. AppSheet

I do not think I can recommend Appcelerator at this point due to the issues with Appcelerator studio, lack of good debugging support, lack of thorough documentation and forums and the additional cost overhead of licenses. The pros are just that it allows for cross-platform development. However, Cordova does a much better job of it and excels at places where Appcelerator currently struggles

Incentivized

If you need to manage special assets with unique characteristics and keep data in spreadsheets, Appsheet is ideal for replacing these sheets with a system. Once you start using it, you find yourself trying to move everything into Appsheet. It is perfect for generating internal software that would otherwise never be developed due to programming costs.

Incentivized

• Adds structure to your code through Alloy framework.
• Easy to integrate with iOS SDK and to build and run iOS apps.

Incentivized

• Calculations - I have several apps that do some pretty complicated calculations, and decision making to build things like Shopping Lists for a Kanban assembly team, where the app will help a stocker determine whats low in a kanban assembly line stock box.
• Document generation and record keeping - I have an app that users digitally sign and receive PDF contracts, and the system automatically records all records from the transaction. Everything is held in files on YOUR OWN DRIVE (Google Drive) so when you're done with the project or AppSheet you DONT loose your data.
• Client/Customer Management - I follow the old school "Swimming with Sharks" model for client retention and customer engagement, and have built several small customer tracking tools for local businesses. This tool is limited ONLY by your imagine and desire to learn.

Incentivized

• It is very hard to debug your code. Breakpoints never worked for us even with the latest Appcelerator Studio and we had to rely on log statements to debug.
• There is a need to purchase licenses from Appcelerator to run the code on a device or for creating iOS distribution builds. This is an additional cost when you have already paid for Apple developer program for precisely these things.
• If things are broken due to lack to support between Appcelerator and a new iOS version, you pretty much have to rely on a new version release from Appcelerator for the issue to be fixed.
• It is difficult to create enterprise distribution builds where the distribution certificate is owned by your organization's team and you only have a development certificate for the same.
• The forums on developer.appcelerator.com are seldom helpful. It is hard to find solutions for issues even on other forums like stack overflow.
• Documentation needs to be improved.

Incentivized

• Once the tables / UX Views get way too many in number, it can become a little daunting to manage. This part of the UX may need something really smarter.
• Ability to Undo.
• Could provide more UI Look and Feel options. BTW, the new Graphs look great, but have some bugs, while the new INPUT() feature is a great addition too.

We are still less than 10 users and probably may continue to be so. But, this being a franchisor set up, could be of use to other users like us.

It's just great. The usability is the best thing about Appsheet. You must choose which things will really be used later. You have to be careful of not generating something too big and then it feels like something that need to be learned. This is something that resolve problems, but you had to be able to think before doing. It will not solve problems itself. You need to find the problem, think a solution, and then use appsheet to make this solution a reality

Incentivized

AppSsheet has a support group and they show videos to help app builders. Though I have truck drivers' hours and can't join the webinars. Support groups with better assists me on a Saturday evening or a Sunday that I have time off. It's hard to watch videos driving down the highway.

I did everything on my own

Incentivized

Appcelerator makes you write a structured code whereas Cordova just packages your code and you are free to structure it. Appcelerator bridges your javascript code with native code and that would make it run faster than javascript code in Cordova apps. However, with recent mobile browsers, you would hardly notice any performance deterioration with Cordova apps. Appcelerator struggles with issues related to its IDE, debugging, documentation and forums and additional costs. Cordova makes it much more simpler to develop cross-platform apps with better developer support, debugging support, documentation and forums minus the additional costs.

Incentivized

The ease that AppSheet provides to the developer is limitless. Before starting with AppSheet I used other software, but they didn't give me the tools at my fingertips.
When I learned about AppSheet and everything it could do, I understood that it was what I was looking for, the ease with which everything is related within the app with a few clicks is impressive.

• We were able to build and deploy a mobile app with Appcelerator. However, the platform still has issues and does not cover our needs as much as some of its competitor like cordova does.

Incentivized

• A good impact in general at the beginning since the free version allows great development so the investment in the implementation is of knowledge and time.
• As a consultant I have expanded my services through this platform including new low code application building services.