Benchling vs. Mendix

Benchling is especially well suited to groups or contexts where there are many users who do not have a coding background but need a seamless and structured approach to data. Benchling is particularly useful in cases where there are data flows from instruments and other devices where the data can be deposited in an automated fashion. It is likely less appropriate or useful to users who are just looking for a general data warehouse solution.

Incentivized

I think it's well suited if you have data available and you want to create customized solutions for different types of users. Mendix is very good at doing that. It allows you to do it very easily. So those are good use cases.

Incentivized

• Excellent easy to use and beautiful UI
• Great customer support and training
• Has no code ways of retrieving and depositing data

Incentivized

• Using Mendix you can build an application in a week compared to building the same application in Java in 1 month.
• You can simultaneously build applications for all kinds of devices (Desktop, Mobile and tablets).
• All in one tool, in Mendix Modeler you can manage databases, webservices, Mendix code , Java code, etc.

• Some of the integrations can be a bit spotty so it depends on what kind of data source you are integrating
• Sometimes new users are not always aware of all the various functionality that Benchling has - can do better to provide more user awareness of more complex features

Incentivized

• Earlier versions lacked in UI/Ux. This is still improving.
• Since everyone and anyone can create custom add ons (widgets), Mendix could improve their quality checks (but not as rigid as eg Apple).
• Upgradeability used to be somewhat of an issue. Version 7 looks to be handling this better than previous versions.

Drawing from my hands-on experience with Mendix, I can confidently state that the platform aptly fulfills our needs for web application development. Mendix stands out by providing a marketplace replete with pre-built templates and widgets. This feature empowers users to leverage readily available components, hastening the development process and contributing to an enhanced overall usability of the platform.

Incentivized

I think their support system is really professional. They answer question quickly and accurately. They have a ticket system that allows to track the current status of a request. The only point for imporvement is a way for me to postpone an answer. Tickets get closed automatically after some time. I feel that the user should have the option to change to an on hold status, allowing for more time to respond to a ticket.

Incentivized

Benchling was much more of a full stack solution and provide much more features that were relevant to the group. Airtable was more of a generic way to manage large amounts of data, but the complexity was still high for the types of data that would be need to be managed and there would need to be some workarounds. Overall Benchling was selected since it also had an electronic lab notebook feature which was very useful to associates in addition to its data workflows.

Incentivized

Because most of our apps work closely with our main system (ERP) and other tools, we went with Mendix. It's good at easily connecting with lots of different systems, which is exactly what we need. Another thing we like about it is that it can handle growth well, and its pricing is straightforward and easy to understand.

Incentivized

• It had a positive ROI in terms of reducing the amount of time spent on data movement and curation by associates
• It had a positive ROI in terms of increasing the number of insights from structured data
• It reduced the number of data entry and analysis errors by associates which led to a positive ROI in terms of efficiency and reducing time wasted by tracking down errors in data

Incentivized

• Without Mendix we could not have been where we are now. A development platform as Mendix can make the difference in a constantly changing environment.
• Upgrading to newer versions of Mendix is a breeze when you stay within a main version (e.g. M6.x to Mx6.x+1) and even between versions (Mx5 to Mx6) most of the time it is no problem at all and there are only minor changes needed to upgrade.
• Learning Mendix is simple. Just start playing with it and see for yourself how easy it is and feel the joy of developing applications.