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IBM MobileFirst vs Salesforce Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM MobileFirst
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Mobile App Platforms (6th)
Salesforce Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (9th), Rapid Application Development Software (6th), Low-Code Development Platforms (6th), No-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM MobileFirst is 3.7%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Platform is 6.7%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Platform6.7%
IBM MobileFirst3.7%
Other89.6%
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

MT
Senior Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Streamlines development of hybrid applications, and has ability to integrate device-native code
It was a cakewalk for us to develop mobile apps for three different platforms using IBM MobileFirst. Since it was a consumer application built for large-scale events, it was very crucial for us to manage application compatibility with all sort of devices. With MobielFirst, we could actually achieve this with very little trouble. With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product.
Sharmila-K - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Transformations and Infrastructure Delivery Manager at a university with 10,001+ employees
Integration processes improve but scripting requires effort
The updates, pricing part, and upgrades to the products are some of the most valuable features with the Salesforce Platform.With the Salesforce Platform, I have minimal experience of approximately one and a half years. I get minimal exposure, once every three or two months, especially during holidays. The Salesforce Platform is connected to the cloud, which is beneficial. When it is integrated with different tools such as Microsoft BI Analytics, it helps us analyze much better. Currently, the integration itself is tricky as we have to use extensive scripting. It should be more of a plug-in and use solution. That is the only issue I see, but otherwise, I appreciate it.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well"
"IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels."
"With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming technology. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product."
"It's an easy platform for salespeople to quickly and efficiently be able to track an opportunity."
"It is a great platform. It's definitely an improvement from the GCP application that we were using previously."
"We've done a solid job managing past account history, enabling us to quickly review past activities and the contacts we've engaged with. Now, Salesforce has integrated a LinkedIn feature, streamlining the process by eliminating the need to manually input data into LinkedIn separately. This integration adds LinkedIn profiles to customer profiles, enhancing efficiency. They've also introduced a sales console platform."
"The solution provides a preferred method of backing up data."
"We haven't had any issues with stability so far."
"What we like the most about it is the fact that it helps us track the record of our projects. It keeps everything on one interface, facilitating the operations and planning."
"The low-code approach to Salesforce Platform is highly valuable."
"The process and the workflows are amazing."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improved support for native device functions."
"There are issues with push notifications, especially for Windows mobile apps. JSONStore also crashes abruptly at times."
"The solution's UI is horrible."
"The reporting functionality is not very intuitive."
"I would like to have integration with Google."
"They should provide access to data quality tips and tricks to make it better."
"The back end really isn't user-friendly at all."
"It does need very specific resources to help deploy it and buy in from the users. It's one of those items it's pretty disruptive and if it's not deployed properly and if it doesn't get utilized efficiently, it won't be effective."
"A company needs to carefully consider how they set up Salesforce in order to ensure it benefits them."
"The solution offers upgrades at a slower pace. The solution needs to keep up with competitors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost depends upon various factors. Size of the overall application and product usage matter a lot. For an enterprise-grade application, this certainly comes out as an economical solution. However, for small-scale applications, it can turn out to be on the higher side."
"rice-wise, the solution is reasonable for what we're getting."
"Costly, but it is the top product in SaaS/PaaS. Pricing is more for large to enterprise level companies."
"The licensing is per user per month, which we took out a contract on a long time back. It's really an okay price for what solutions are available and for how many features and what kind of functionality you get."
"The product's additional features can be expensive."
"I haven't had to buy Salesforce, however, I have heard it's $1500 a user."
"The licensing is on the expensive side, but most clients engage in negotiations to reach a more favorable agreement. For stand-alone or medium-sized clients, it can be relatively costly."
"The cost is reasonable for the corporations I work for. I would say an average would be around $100 per month per user."
"It is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise39
 

Questions from the Community

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Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform is not easy or intuitive to deploy. The difficulty will be impacted by the type of application that you are trying to use the platform to build. Organizations tha...
Do you build applications using low-code or pro-code builders on Salesforce Platform?
At my organization, we have only used Salesforce Platform's low-code builder. The reason for this is not because we do not like the pro-code option, but because we do not see the need of using it, ...
 

Also Known As

MobileFirst, Worklight
Salesforce1, Force.com, Salesforce App Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions, Gruppo Unipol, Raymond James Financial, Toshiba GCS, CST, ABK-Systeme GmbH, BNP Paribas
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Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MobileFirst vs. Salesforce Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.