No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

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
14th
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
4th
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 (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM MobileFirst is 4.2%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Platform is 5.9%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Platform5.9%
IBM MobileFirst4.2%
Other89.9%
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

"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."
"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, and app development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product."
"IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels."
"We use it as a secure proxy server for a mobile app using public internet as well as for its mobile app support features."
"I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well"
"One of the most valuable features is that we are using the IBM MobileFirst, which is actually providing a gateway to all the mobile resources either for the employees or for the consumers."
"When compared to Siebel, the Salesforce Platform is easier to use."
"Salesforce offers control over the opportunities to see where we are and gives me high-level dashboards on each opportunity stage."
"It was pretty easy to deploy."
"Salesforce is the best one out there."
"I like it because of the fact that it lets me know what I'm working on and what I've recently worked on. It also helps me and allows me to do tracking. If I want to go out and find out how many times I've touched customers, I can find that information out. It tracks such information, and we use it. If we send any type of promotions out, it tracks who gets those promotions and how they've responded to those promotions."
"It's very flexible and offers tremendous features for customers."
"This solution gives us a great platform to import and save customer data from various sources, and then manage them using outreach and various plugins to keep activity up."
"The solution has plenty of features that are useful."
 

Cons

"There are issues with push notifications, especially for Windows mobile apps. JSONStore also crashes abruptly at times."
"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."
"Salesforce Platform is a bit expensive compared to other CRM products, which is a drawback."
"It may be slow, but that is relative. When compared to Siebel CRM, which was large, clunky, and extremely slow, Salesforce seemed fast to me."
"Salesforce's mobile app could be better. Also, it could integrate more seamlessly with Gmail."
"Salesforce Platform has a cumbersome interface when creating reports, dashboards, and those types of things. They could be a little bit more simple. The administration has to be an aficionado to do any sort of administration and maintenance, for example, setting up the way you want to modify the lead tracks or functions. These systems tend to be quite cumbersome."
"In Salesforce, every customer is unique and it's not possible to bundle them together effectively if they are from the same company or move companies, et cetera."
"They need an easy way of getting details and then adding to it and then being able to do it in a more simplified way"
"Salesforce's constant rebranding and name changes can be confusing for both customers and partners."
"When it switched to lightning, it threw me for a loop. When they changed the look and feel, I had a hard time finding things and doing what I used to do."
 

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."
"The price of Salesforce Platform is very expensive. There are other solutions that are similar that cost a quarter of what Salesforce Platform does, such as HubSpot."
"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."
"It is an expensive program."
"Pricing and license differ and depend on how much license you are purchasing from them."
"It is expensive."
"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."
"It is quite expensive. Its developers come at a premium cost, which makes it expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mobile Development Platforms solutions are best for your needs.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

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

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
How would you choose between Microsoft PowerApps and Salesforce Platform?
I think it depends on your use case. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise products, PowerApps will work better in your environment. Similarly, if you have a Salesforce integration in pla...
How does Salesforce Platform compare with Azure?
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
ADP
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MobileFirst vs. Salesforce Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.