Ionic vs OutSystems vs Xamarin Platform comparison

Ionic and OutSystems are both solutions in the Mobile Development Platforms category. Ionic is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.0, while OutSystems is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Ionic holds a 6.8% mindshare in MDP, compared to OutSystems’s 17.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Ionic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of OutSystems users who would recommend it.

Ionic

Read 14 Ionic reviews

739 Views
680 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

OutSystems

Read 53 OutSystems reviews

7,317 Views
1,756 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Xamarin Platform

Read 40 Xamarin Platform reviews

778 Views
724 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Ionic

OutSystems

Xamarin Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Ionic, OutSystems, and Xamarin Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems, Salesforce, Mendix and others in Mobile Development Platforms.

To learn more, read our detailed Mobile Development Platforms Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Mobile Development Platforms

August 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 867,821 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Ionic is 6.8%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OutSystems is 17.5%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Xamarin Platform is 7.4%, up from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
OutSystems	17.5%
Xamarin Platform	7.4%
Ionic	6.8%
Other	68.3%

Mobile Development Platforms

Featured Reviews

Roche De Kock

Senior Developer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Allows us to create cross-platform mobile apps from a single code base, but should have a complete set of libraries for Capacitor

When they jumped from version 3 to version 4, 5, and 6, they introduced something called Capacitor, which is basically the tool that you use to convert your code to Xcode, etc. They have a few plugins that are still using, for instance, PhoneGap. So, you have to jump between Capacitor and PhoneGap. Their documentation is good, but there are some versioning control issues. For example, if you want to bring up a phone dial-up or a map, you have to decide whether to use Capacitor, PhoneGap, or Cordova. They started writing Capacitor to get rid of PhoneGap and Cordova, but they haven't yet got all the libraries and all the functionalities. They want you to start using Capacitor, but they don't have all the libraries there. They're developing them as they go. So, currently, you have to mix and match the three. When it comes to mobile applications, I would only like to use Capacitor. I don't want to jump between Cordova and Capacitor or have both of them. That's the main thing for me, but they have been working on it. They have started to bring them closer and closer so that you don't have to use two different sets of libraries. They're close to where you don't have to use Cordova or PhoneGap, and you can only use Capacitor. In versions 5 and 6, they have improved it a lot. They can also improve it in terms of publishing to different stores. For instance, I'm using Firebase to make my Ionic app web compatible. If I don't have a Node.js server to host on, I have to host it on Firebase or something like that. Currently, if I need to publish to different stores, such as the Microsoft store or the Huawei store, the only way I can publish to, for instance, the Huawei store is by creating the APK and uploading it. If they can start adding a little bit more integration to publish to different stores, such as the Samsung store, Huawei store, or Microsoft store, it would be good. Currently, there are no problems with iOS and Google Play Store, but for the other stores, you have to do a little bit of a workaround to get things done. Its stability could be better. For me, jumping between versions 3, 4, and 5 was a big problem because it wasn't seamless. Jumping from version 5 to 6 is more seamless. Jumping from version 3 to 5 has been a nightmare because I had to recode quite a lot to be compatible with version 5. I totally skipped version 4 because it was just too quick. Jumping between versions has definitely been a problem for me. If I have to do a lot of plugins and redo a lot of my coding because they're jumping versions, I'm going to look for something else.

Read full review

DhrubajyotiBiswas

Senior Solutions Architect at New South Wales Government - Australia

Helps us efficiently streamline repetitive tasks, but they could provide improved connectors to integrate with outside platforms

The OutSystems' most effective features for speeding up development cycles are the process orchestration and the drag-and-drop updating of business processes. I would recommend it to a friend or colleague, especially if they are looking for a solution that is easy to deploy and helps streamline internal processes. I rate it a six out of ten.

Read full review

Prince Tiwari

Senior Software Engineer at AAPC

Facilitates UI development with XAML, enabling shared UI code across platforms and reducing platform-specific work

I like its simplicity. As someone who didn't start my career as a dedicated developer, I was used to building websites or Windows applications. Transitioning to mobile app development meant learning new languages like Swift or Java. With C# and Xamarin, though, I could leverage my existing skillset. Xamarin, and specifically Xamarin.Forms, let me write my code once and deploy it natively to both Android and iOS. Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform. The advantage is that roughly 90% of my UI code can be shared. This significantly reduces the amount of platform-specific UI work compared to having to write separate UIs for each platform. For the most part, Xamarin's integration with Visual Studio improved the workflow, whether I'm on Windows or Mac. Since I'm familiar with Visual Studio, it provides a comfortable development environment. Additionally, features like Hot Reload and the integration of tools like Copilot help streamline the development process. Overall, it offers a positive development experience.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that I can place the code and escalate data storage. I also like that it's user-friendly. Nothing is complex in Ionic."

"The solution is secure, reliable, and packed with features so we can easily implement apps even in the most complex situations."

"Ionic's best feature is that it's not necessary to write your own custom codes as all the hybrid is provided by Angular."

"Being able to have one set of code is valuable. I don't have to recode for different platforms. I don't have to recode for Xcode, Angular, or Android. So, the biggest feature for me is that it's a hybrid system, and I can have one set of code, and then the tool sets that are in there convert my code for Xcode or Play Store. It makes work a lot easier."

"Because it's a hybrid mobile app framework, it is easy for us to develop iOS as well as Android apps for our customers with the same resource skills. We didn't have to have separate iOS teams and Android teams to build the apps. We still have to use the Apple Xcode for iOS, but the main development happens with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. We don't have to write separate code bases in scripts for iOS and Android. We create apps using web-based technology."

"The most valuable feature of Ionic is the ease of use and the simple connection of the applications. Additionally, the documentation is good in the Ionic application, and beginners can easily learn and download their own application using Ionic. Everyone can easily switch out, their domain, from native applications to hybrid applications."

"It's very flexible for UI development."

"Ionic's best features are its hybrid app development, design, and tags."

More Ionic pros

"The integration capabilities have benefited my customers by providing many connectors out of the box, allowing for the integration of external applications or business applications."

"The most valuable feature is Agile development. I love that you save a lot of time on development and can focus on logic and business requirements."

"It is a stable solution."

"I find it to be a genuinely cool and effective platform for my development needs."

"One of the valuable features of OutSystems is the very small lead time for the delivery of projects."

"The OutSystems' most effective features for speeding up development cycles are the process orchestration and the drag-and-drop updating of business processes."

"OutSystems is a hybrid framework and supports my mobile and web application development needs. This means I don't have to write separate code for mobile applications. It adapts the UI and functionality, whether I'm developing for web or mobile interfaces. All I need to do is provide the layout during development."

"The most valuable features of OutSystems are the user-friendly platform. The drag-and-drop feature is great. I have used other rapid application development tools before, but they were not as advanced as OutSystems. With the previous tools, I had to manually build certain features, but OutSystems does it automatically."

More OutSystems pros

"Xamarin is well-integrated with Visual Studio so it will feel very familiar to you once you start."

"Because of the C# programming language, we can train our .NET developers to learn Xamarin and develop mobile apps easily."

"Xamarin.Forms reduced the effort and time to build and market our solution, market our features, and get our solution into production."

"The platform is easy to learn as many tutorials are available on YouTube."

"Xamarin.Forms exposes a complete cross-platform UI toolkit for .NET developers. The advantage is that a single team can target multiple platforms (Android, iOS, and Windows) on a shared C# codebase."

"The solution is easy to understand and has banking integrated. The shorter development time, the bugging and as well as availability of a lot of documentation on the web. Also the native integration is easy."

"For me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java. Xamarin enables me to do so."

"Xamarin makes it easy to create white label applications for all platforms."

More Xamarin Platform pros

Cons

"Documentation for migrations and compatibility is insufficient."

"The navigation within this solution could be improved; it is currently quite complicated to move through the different tabs."

"Ionic would be improved with dynamic design features."

"Ionic's UI component doesn't always look like the native mobile app."

"They started writing Capacitor to get rid of PhoneGap and Cordova, but they haven't yet got all the libraries and all the functionalities. They want you to start using Capacitor, but they don't have all the libraries there. They're developing them as they go. So, currently, you have to mix and match the three. When it comes to mobile applications, I would only like to use Capacitor. I don't want to jump between Cordova and Capacitor or have both of them. That's the main thing for me, but they have been working on it."

"There is a lack of a community environment."

"The documentation could be improved."

"Ionic is a cross-platform framework, so when we compare Ionic with native Android and iOS, we can see the drawbacks. For example, if you need to work on very high-level aspects of an application such as animation, even if everything else is not putting load on the app, you will still see high load from the server side."

More Ionic cons

"I think OutSystems needs to improve in many areas. First, sometimes Service Studio becomes really slow and even hangs for long periods. Also, if I have not published my module in some time, and some kind of Service Studio exception occurs, I lose my work."

"The initial setup of OutSystems is not easy. It is a very heavy application that requires a lot of hardware and software resources."

"The latest version of the app generation tools could be more user-friendly."

"There is room for improvement in technical support."

"The product's high price is an area of concern, where improvements are required."

"The technical features are good, but the actual commercialization is out of reach."

"Mobile apps need improvement."

"The product could be improved if there was a shortcut, or predefined, predictable templates provided."

More OutSystems cons

"The worst build issue concerns are the caching process MSBuild uses to reduce the build time."

"They need to take a step towards independence from the UI platform. It takes a lot of time to adapt the native controls."

"The architecture in the Xamarin Platform has to improve, there are some features missing."

"For those who use only XAML to design the UI, it would be better if there was a better XAML previewer or designer."

"For beginners, the entire setup can be overwhelming because it involves setting up development environments for iOS, Android, and Windows at the same time if you want to target all three."

"The android application compilation time needs to be reduced."

"It needs offline sync capabilities to store data on devices persistently."

"In Xamarin.Forms, we have the option to preview our UI designs, but the functionality can be limited. So, this is not fully functional. Since I have some knowledge of iOS, where when you write code or design in the storyboard, your design is immediately visible in the preview."

More Xamarin Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The starting cost for the enterprise option is around one hundred dollars per month."

"You don't have to pay anything except for certain projects. For example, Appflow has some costs related to it but you don't have to use it. You can also pay for extra support."

"We pay 50,000 dinars per month."

"You can use the free version, but if you still want to buy it, the price starts from $499/month."

"Ionic is an open source solution, and there are no hidden fees."

"I think most of the plugins for Ionic are open source, and you can do a lot with many of the basic features. However, if you need to use a premium plugin for something like extra scroll list functionality, Ionic will ask for a certain sum of money."

"Ionic is an open-source solution, it is free."

"The solution's open source option is free with no licensing fees."

"It is too expensive for small companies."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to OutSystems. It is an expensive product."

"It is very high price."

"I would rate it five to six out of ten."

"The subscription is billed on a yearly basis."

"I think the pricing for OutSystems is comparable with similar solutions. I would place it somewhere in the middle. We pay for the bundle and don't pay anything extra in terms of licensing and other fees."

"The tool’s licensing is based on the user’s usage."

"For a single application, it's too expensive."

More OutSystems pricing and cost advice

"There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."

"There is no requirement for a license. It is available for free as an open-source product."

"Xamarin is available under several licensing arrangements. Each developer needs one license at least. All features, especially the Profiler, unlock only with the highest tier."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, so it is free to use."

"It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."

"Xamarin is free. There is no license unless you go for some high-end enterprise features. Other than that, everything's free."

"In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, but there are fees for deployment, the API Store and Play Store, and using third-party libraries."

More Xamarin Platform pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mobile Development Platforms solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

867,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

16%

Comms Service Provider

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

27%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	29

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?

The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into t...

See all answers

What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?

I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applic...

See all answers

How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?

We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Xamarin Platform?

Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAM...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Xamarin Platform?

Xamarin Platform is free, and we use an Azure subscription at a relatively low cost for our builds. It offers a good ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Xamarin Platform?

The primary area for improvement is the support for third-party libraries, especially for major providers like Micros...

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

ServiceNow vs OutSystems

Compared 13% of the time

Appian vs OutSystems

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs OutSystems

Compared 10% of the time

Mendix vs OutSystems

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs OutSystems

Compared 8% of the time

More OutSystems Competitors

Verivo Pyxis Platform vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 19% of the time

Apple Xcode vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 18% of the time

Mendix vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 16% of the time

More Xamarin Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Ionic

September 2025

Download Ionic product report

Buyer's Guide

OutSystems

September 2025

Download OutSystems product report

Buyer's Guide

Xamarin Platform

August 2025

Download Xamarin Platform product report

Overview

Ionic is an open-source UI toolkit for developing high-quality mobile and desktop apps with web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic focuses on the frontend UX and UI interaction of an app – UI controls, interactions, gestures, and animations. It is simple to learn and can be used without any frontend framework by utilizing a simple script inclusion.

While previous versions of Ionic were strongly connected to Angular, version 4.x of the framework was re-engineered to serve as an independent Web Component library, with integrations for the newest JavaScript frameworks, such as Angular. Ionic works well in most frontend frameworks, including React and Vue, however some frontend frameworks require a shim to enable full Web Component support.

The official Ionic CLI, or Command Line Interface, is a tool that enables developers to easily construct Ionic apps and offers a number of useful commands. The CLI installs and updates Ionic and also includes a built-in development server, build and debugging tools, and much more. If you are an Appflow member, you may manage your account and carry out cloud builds and deployments via the CLI.

Ionic Features

Ionic has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

One codebase: Ionic is the first mobile app stack that allows web developers to use a single codebase to create apps for all major app stores and the mobile web. Ionic apps look and feel natural on every device thanks to Adaptive Styling.
High performance: Ionic is designed to run and behave well on the latest mobile devices, using best practices such as efficient hardware accelerated transitions and touch-optimized gestures.
Simple, clean design: Ionic is built to function and display well across all popular mobile platforms and devices. You'll be building in style thanks to pre-made components, typography, and an attractive (but flexible) base theme that adjusts to each platform.
Native and web-friendly: Ionic uses native SDKs and emulates native app UI guidelines to combine native app device features and UI standards with the full flexibility and power of the open web. Ionic operates as a Progressive Web App in the browser or deploys natively via Capacitor (or Cordova).

Ionic Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Ionic. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Cross-platform: Create and distribute apps with a single code base. Apps run natively on iOS, Android, desktop, and the web as Progressive Web Apps. Publish once and go anywhere.

Based on web standards: Ionic is developed using cutting-edge web APIs like Custom Elements and Shadow DOM on top of reliable, industry-standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic components have a solid API as a result, and they aren't subject to the whims of a single platform vendor.

Good design: Ionic is made to operate and look great right out of the box across all platforms. Start with typography, interactive paradigms, pre-designed elements, and an attractive (yet extensible) base theme.

Simplicity: Ionic was created with simplicity in mind, making it fun, simple to learn, and available to almost anyone with basic web development skills.

Ionic

OutSystems is a platform for low-code application development that unites design, code, and deployment to simplify development so any business can create innovative solutions in a timely manner. There are various use cases an organization can employ with OutSystems, including:

Customer portals: Through OutSystems, companies can easily create customer portals and mobile applications and deploy them faster in comparison to manual coding. The platform offers businesses the opportunity to develop secure, scalable, and customized applications that support their and their customers' needs.
Internal apps: Using this solution, companies can also build internal applications and portals which can be used for their workforce. Using these, organizations can overcome their internal app backlog, bridge gaps between systems, and facilitate their work process.
Core systems: Custom software for running a business can also be developed using OutSystems. The tool shortens the time for developing core systems and delivers them flexible and personalized to each business' needs.

OutSystems offers faster development and deployment times than hand-coding while delivering unique and personalized solutions to its customers. The main focus of OutSystems is high-performance low code which enables businesses to create functional products that answer their needs. It offers clients the ability to develop enterprise-grade applications with a high level of security.

The product stands out from its competitors as it offers:

Serious applications
Serious productivity
Serious scalability

It ensures its clients that the applications built using this platform are as scalable as hand-coded ones while increasing workspace productivity and evolving applications’ capabilities.

OutSystems Features

OutSystems has various features through which users can develop and deploy highly efficient applications and other products. Some of the features include:

Monitoring: The tool has a feature that allows real-time monitoring of the usage of applications and their performance. All insights are reported to companies via the intuitive interface.
APIs: OutSystems is completely scalable through application programming interfaces.
Security: The product offers its users a high level of enterprise security for their applications as well as for their data.
Mobile: Every application created on OutSystems can be deployed for mobile. The product also provides the option to monitor the performance of applications to detect any issues.
DevOps automation: The product facilitates and shortens the development time of applications through various automation which help users create apps without the help of developers, as well as providing developers with additional resources.
Agile development: Every company that seeks to perform agile development can benefit from the native support this tool provides.
Debugging engine: OutSystems has an integrated debugging engine that can be utilized in the development and deployment processes, shortening the time it takes for developers and businesses to look for issues.
Multilingual support feature: Customers can benefit from support in multiple languages, ensuring their questions are answered understandably.

OutSystems Benefits

The solution offers a wide array of benefits to companies that utilize it in their application development. Some of these benefits include:

Visual development at high speed provides increases productivity for both businesses and users.
The option to integrate applications to a large number of systems without additional complications.
The product adds automation to all levels of development, including front end, back end, and integration, facilitating the delivery of complex applications.
Artificial intelligence (AI) validation ensures the high quality of applications.
The tool offers connectivity with more than 400 systems and existing technologies, allowing companies to save money they would otherwise have to invest in new software.
The multi-platform solution decreases costs for organizations by removing the need for third-party software.
It offers whole-team cross-functional collaboration, which can increase the technological knowledge in a company and raise the overall business expertise.

Reviews from Real Users

Harikrishnan R., a technical lead at Netlink Software Group America Inc, likes OutSystems because the tool helps with validation, offers good features, and is reliable.

An owner at a consultancy thinks OutSystems is versatile with great scalability and great technical support.

OutSystems

Xamarin is an open-source platform for developing modern and performant applications for iOS, Android, and Windows using.NET. Xamarin is an abstraction layer that manages how shared code is communicated to the platform's underlying code. Xamarin is for developers with the two following goals:

Cross-platform sharing of code, tests, and business logic.
Writing cross-platform apps in C# with Visual Studio.

Xamarin allows developers to share an average of 90% of their program across platforms. This enables programmers to achieve native performance, look, and feel on each platform while writing all of their business logic in a single language (or reusing existing application code).

Xamarin applications can be created on a PC or a Mac and compiled into native application packages, such as an .apk file for Android or an .ipa file for iOS.

Xamarin Platform Features

Xamarin Platform has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Complete binding for the supporting SDKs: Xamarin includes bindings for almost all of the underlying platform SDKs in iOS and Android.
Java, C, Objective-C, C, C++ Interop: Xamarin gives you the ability to use a variety of third-party code by providing tools for directly invoking Objective-C, Java, C, and C++ libraries.
Modern language constructs: Xamarin applications are written in C#, a modern language with many capabilities that Objective-C and Java do not have, like lambdas, LINQ, parallel programming, generics, and more.
Strong base class library (BCL): Xamarin apps use the .NET BCL, a large collection of classes with streamlined features, like powerful XML, database, serialization, IO, string, and networking support, among others.

Xamarin Platform Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing the Xamarin Platform. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Native UIs and APIs: Xamarin delivers comprehensive access to each platform's native SDK and UI controls, projecting the entire native API of each device into C#. Therefore, the apps you develop are native instead of write-once/run-anywhere programs that look alien on every platform. Xamarin provides you access to all of the capabilities that distinguish each platform.

Share code between platforms: With Xamarin, you can share all code across platforms while providing a native user interface tailored to each individual device. With Xamarin, you can execute the same C# code on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. With Xamarin, your software is compiled to a native binary rather than being interpreted, in contrast to other cross-platform frameworks. Even in the most demanding situations, native compilation provides users with excellent app performance. Xamarin provides responsive, multi-user input and feedback, fluid scrolling, sophisticated graphics and animations, complicated data visualization, and realistic high frame rates for games.

Code with C#: Write shorter, more concise, and more maintainable code by leveraging advanced language features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), delegates, lambdas, events, garbage collection, and many other features. With Xamarin's fully extensible platform, you can include libraries written in C, Objective-C, C++, or Java. In C#, you have access to the entire native ecosystem of components and libraries.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

MRA, Napa Group, Sworkit, Airbus, Sense Corp, Interactive Gaming Company, Pacifica, Untapp'd, Diesel, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak

Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates

Buyer's Guide

Mobile Development Platforms

August 2025

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems, Salesforce, Mendix and others in Mobile Development Platforms. Updated: August 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

867,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.