Ultimate configurability vs standard controls.
Updated October 20, 2020

Ultimate configurability vs standard controls.

Clay Horste | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Progress Kendo UI

We use Kendo UI in a variety of our products. We had been using ASP.net for our client side development and it was just too limited and slow to develop. We started to look for something that would be good for productivity and was going to progress. We have replaced a lot of our old ASP.net code with Kendo and have developed a lot of new products using only Kendo UI for the front end. I have found support spotty at times, but overall, I am quite pleased with the product.
  • I really like the editor control. It just makes having WYSWYG input easy to implement.
  • At first, the Kendo Grid was a bit light on features, but it has grown over the years and is quite full featured.
  • The Window control is really quick to implement and is quite flexible as well.
  • We also found the carts control nicely flexible. Our software is highly configurable and we put the kendo charts into a product that can show any kind of chart and the Kendo chart control was a perfect fit.
  • Kendo keeps adding features and works with newer frameworks. They never stop being relevant.
  • I have found support to be lacking at times. Sometimes my questions just haven't been answered.
  • I do find the datasource a bit challenging to use. It works well if you don't try anything wierd, but after that I feel like I am on my own.
  • I still find their documentation to be lacking. I've worked with worse, but I certainly have found much better.
  • Our customers can see that our products have been modernized. They don't have that 2000s look.
  • Setting up something as simple as a popup window just works and is fast.
  • We don't lose a lot of time trying to figure out how to create something simple when Kendo UI has a component ready to do the job.
  • We have included Kendo grids in our dev project templates and it makes for a fast and easy way to get data back to viewers in a flexible and full featured way.
We have tried Component One's stuff as well as jQuery UI. Component One is good for their grids, but it is easy to get behind with them. jQuery UI just looks stodgy. We also looked at EXT for a bit, but it was too proprietary.

I have worked with Angular Material and Bootstrap more recently. They both work in a pinch, but if you need full featured components, Kendo is the way to go.

Do you think Progress Kendo UI delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Progress Kendo UI's feature set?

Yes

Did Progress Kendo UI live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Progress Kendo UI go as expected?

No

Would you buy Progress Kendo UI again?

Yes

I would go higher, but the learning curve is steep at times and the documentation takes some getting used to. Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty smoothly, but occasionally, you will hit a wall that is hard to scale. Progress has provided troubleshooting tools, but unless you are full time in the Kendo world, they aren't always all that helpful.
To be fair, I haven't utilized their support in a long time. My past experiences were mixed. I didn't always get an answer when I asked one. I'm guessing that hasn't changed much, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. Their forums are okay, but I wish they would just utilize Stack Overflow as their support forum.
Kendo UI is great if you need flexible components that have a standard look and feel. If you are looking for something with a more distinct way of interacting with the user, then you should probably roll your own.

Update: Over time, Kendo has gotten more flexible. If you are good at CSS, then you can make Kendo's components look and feel the way you need. I've used Kendo at 2 firms now and I'm glad it's available where I go. I'm guessing that it is a goto for Microsoft .Net shops.

Using Progress Kendo UI

500 - I really don't know how many developers in my company use it, but I know that it is a lot. I am part of the group that sets the overall direction and look and feel for the company's apps, so I know that Kendo is widely used. We have more than 2000 apps, so Kendo gets used in a myriad of ways in all sectors of the company.
100 - I guess we all support each other. We have internal forums on several platforms and we all answer questions for each other. My group does the majority of answering as we specify the components that get used in apps. We are a MS .Net shop and use Angular with Typescript for the front end.
  • Grids
  • Autocompletes
  • Text Editor
  • Progress bar
  • Kendo is a main part of our base app templates
  • Grids that easily conform to data
  • The drawing library looks interesting
  • I haven't used the date math components, but I would love a better way to manipulate dates.
Nothing better has come along. I'm always on the lookout for new UI libraries and I have tried most of them. Kendo has done a good job of keeping my business. They aren't perfect, but no one has done it better as far as I can tell. I'll keep a look out and my rating may change in the future if they get complacent.

Evaluating Progress Kendo UI and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
I've been using Kendo for a long time now and I haven't had a reason to stop. Every time I start a new application with no constraints, I take the time to see if there is a reason to go in a new direction and so far, there isn't. Kendo has a repeat customer in me.
I don't know if I'd change my evaluation and selection process. You search for a while, see what's new, see what others are using and then try some for yourself. In the end, the cost isn't that big of a factor when you use a front end dev tool to speed up your workflow. The cost will be absorbed (or not) pretty quickly if you are productive.

Progress Kendo UI Implementation

I think the main thing is to get into a Kendo mindset. Components that I've used in the past had a much different mindset and I think it got in my way. Sometimes I would use something different if I felt that the Kendo component was being too obstinate. I would go back later and replace that with the Kendo component when I had time to work with it further.
Change management was minimal
  • Learning Curve
  • Flexibility

Progress Kendo UI Support

ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Support understands my problem
Slow Resolution
Poor followup
Difficult to get immediate help
Support doesn't seem to care
Slow Initial Response
There have been a few times. I know I have mixed reviews, but I was given great support a few times. They will actually play with your code (if you send it to them) and let you know what they see. I was building a mobile app using a container delivery method and I had a control that was very slow. They were able to advise me on how to make it faster after looking at what I was experiencing.

Using Progress Kendo UI

ProsCons
Like to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Feel confident using
Unnecessarily complex
Difficult to use
Slow to learn
Lots to learn
  • Grids
  • Dialogs
  • Editor
  • DataSource
  • Doing anything remotely adventurous
Yes - At first, I thought the Kendo mobile interface was clunky, but useable. Now they seem to have done a good job of joining the 'responsive' gang. It just works. You still need to do some work, but Kendo has done a lot of the upfront legwork for you. A mobile Kendo webapp won't fool an expert into thinking that it's a native app, but it works well enough if you don't need a native app.