Low Code vs Traditional Development

How is low code development different from traditional development? What advantages does the former offer over the latter, and vice versa? If these questions are revolving around your head and you are wondering which approach would be best suited for your projects or business, you have found yourself at the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss what low code/no-code development is, draw its comparison versus custom code or traditional development, look for the pros of one over the other,  and understand what can be the right choice for you based on your objectives. Let’s start with the definition of traditional development.

Traditional Development (High Code)

Most of us are familiar with traditional development (also referred to as custom software or custom code development). This approach involves writing plenty of code to develop an application. Also, traditional development requires an appropriate tech stack and the developers need to be proficient enough at it. They need to be well-versed with the related technologies and frameworks.

Low Code or No-Code Development

On the other hand, low code and no-code development are about building software applications with little to no coding required, respectively. Low code development platforms allow novices to use drag and drop interfaces to create applications instead of writing lengthy codes.

Low code and no code are often considered the same but aren’t actually. Their name itself tells us about the difference between the two. Low code development implies that ‘some’ level of coding would be required to build the application. It caters to those developers who are new to the programming world and possess only basic coding knowledge and skills. Speaking of no-code development, it is directed toward business users (or citizen developers) who have no idea whatsoever about the technicalities involved in application development.

Advantages of High Code Over Low Code/No Code

Here are a few reasons why traditional software development (or high code) wins the race over low code/no-code development.

1. Build As You Want

With a traditional development process, developers can create custom code and build applications the way they want. There are no limitations whatsoever. You can integrate as many features as you would like to have into the application. You have the freedom to choose the technology, tools, APIs, and whatever required to create the desired app.

2. Better Control

In traditional software development, developers have a higher degree of control over how their application is written and structured.

Cons of Traditional Development

Traditional development does possess some drawbacks else low code wouldn’t have existed in the first place, right? Here are some associated cons-

1. Requires Core Skills

A skilled developer won’t consider this as a con obviously, but since we are drawing a comparison with low code development, this can be considered a con. Traditional development requires programmers with good coding skills, and who are aware of the know-how of building a successful app. We haven’t yet considered the involvement of designers and QA engineers who are equally important to creating a standout application.

2. Costly Affair

Whether you code it yourself, have an in-house team, or outsource it to a software development company, traditional development can often be quite an expensive affair. It is because it takes a village to develop a good software application. The effort, time, and resources that go into it, not just by developers but designers, testers, and many others, do make traditional software development costlier than low code development.

Read: In-house vs Outsourcing: Pros and Cons Explained

Advantages of Low Code/ No-Code Over Traditional Development

There must be some reasons why low code/no-code came into the scene and gained a lot of traction.

1. Easy and Faster Development

It is relatively easy to develop an application using the low code approach in comparison to the traditional approach. Since it eliminates the need to code manually, the application gets built in a much shorter period.

2. Boon For Non-Coders

This was the primary reason why low code/ no code got introduced so that people who don’t know how to code or have little knowledge about it can also build apps efficiently.

Cons of Low Code/No-Code Development

While low code development may seem an efficient and convenient approach to citizen developers, it tags certain limitations with it.

1. Lacks Quality

Quality-wise, low-code apps do not come anywhere close to the apps built using the traditional or high-code approach. This is because a low code platform consists of an auto-generated code designed to support a wide range of platforms and use-cases whereas traditional development focuses on a specific deployment environment or application architecture.

2. Fewer Customization Options

Unlike in traditional development where you can perform as many customizations as you would want, low code platforms offer very limited opportunities to customize an application or control how it functions.

When Should You Use Traditional Development?

Take a look at some use cases for traditional software development.

1. For Complex Applications

Any application that possesses a high level of complexity calls for a traditional development approach. A low-code platform doesn’t have enough functionalities to cater to every aspect of such applications.

2. To Build a Long-term Solution

Traditional development should be your ideal approach if you are building a product keeping in mind the future aspects. You get complete access to the code to tinker with in the future, unlike low code development which provides developers with only limited access to the code.

When Should You Use Low Code/No Code?

Adapting the low code/no-code approach would be suitable in the following cases-

1. Business Analytics and Processes

This is an ideal approach to building dashboards or reporting tools to support business analytics. In addition to this, the low code development approach is ideal for those apps that support simple business processes such as customer data collection or vendor contract approvals.

2. No Coding Experience

Business users who have little to no coding experience can adopt the low code/no-code approach to build applications rather than relying on the IT team for the same. The straightforward user interface and design process enable them to develop apps with minimal dependency on the IT department.

The Bottom Line

Low code isn’t a replacement for traditional development, it can never be. It’s just that it is more useful to adopt this approach at times rather than going for custom software development. We would suggest keeping the right balance between the two strategies. Identify where it makes more sense to incorporate low-code approaches into your workflows. These two approaches to software development present an excellent opportunity where they can be used in tandem to drive speed and innovation.