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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs Salesforce Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 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

Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd)
Salesforce Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
6th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (9th), Mobile Development Platforms (3rd), No-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 6.1%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Platform is 4.8%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Application Express (APEX)6.1%
Salesforce Platform4.8%
Other89.1%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software developer at QV Systems
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.
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

"The most valuable applications within the organization are primarily data forms and extended reports."
"It's low code, or even no code. It's very flexible, allowing you to achieve what you want. You can customize applications with very little code, which is the best part."
"The database is super easy to use for creating tables."
"Oracle APEX is very easy to use and comes with a lot of ready-made components that speed up the process of creating reports and dashboards."
"You can customize the solution to create a console where only business users can access and download files if they want to extract the data."
"What's most valuable in Oracle Application Express (APEX) is its secure coding functionality, and the solution also has good features."
"You don't have to know a lot of PL because it's built on PL/SQL. You don't need developers. You only need to design a good application that resolves a problem, or many problems, for companies and you're ready to go."
"I like that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is powerful and attractive, allowing my organization to modernize forms within two months. I also found its PWA feature very powerful because you can produce substantial mobile applications."
"The solution scales extremely well."
"The solution is very robust and easy to develop in."
"The low-code approach to Salesforce Platform is highly valuable."
"The reporting tools are very solid."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the unit coordination between sales and marketing when it comes to lead management."
"A fully integrated solution that provides a seamless experience."
"It works beautifully. I haven't had any errors."
"The process and the workflows are amazing."
 

Cons

"There is not a lot of Wiki help or in Google, but there is some."
"You also need an APEX specialist for deployment because not many people use it."
"Oracle is more of a database-oriented solution and is not very flexible in app development."
"Occasionally when trying to un a page, I would be faced with an error number; however, not much information would be provided on the error itself outside of the programming language. It would be nice if more information could be provided."
"The problem of sending emails arises when Oracle Application Express (APEX) is inside Oracle Cloud Infrastructure since it is a bit complicated or difficult to understand where to take care of the setup part to be able to just send out emails properly."
"Apex has effectively incorporated new market trends into its features. The platform's user-friendly nature is notable, guiding developers through the development process. While advanced customization of the user interface with HTML and CSS is possible, the out-of-the-box options often suffice, providing 80-90% of the required functionality. The IDE is commendable, yet an enhancement in the Page Designer to allow a real-time preview of layout changes would be beneficial. Currently, running the page is necessary to visualize layout adjustments, but an immediate preview during the design phase would be a valuable improvement."
"When exporting, we can't export dynamic reports, only static reports. For example, when we want to export charts or tables it is only exported as a static report so we can't drop down on these reports; however, we can see this information when we are on the dashboard itself."
"Being able to only design with HTML and CSS can be limiting as to what can be accomplished."
"It is quite expensive. It has gotten to that point where it is a lot more pricey. It has kind of got its own proprietary language for development. It is probably never going to change, but if it had a more market language for development, it would be easier to find developers. They come at a premium cost, so it is expensive."
"The management of Salesforce could be quite a task. Old and unusable contacts can add up over time. If I could wave a magic wand, it would be to initiate a self-cleaning feature."
"Its documentation and price should be better."
"It could be maybe a bit more user-intuitive."
"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"
"Easier process to move to Lightning Components."
"We have a lot of strategic accounts and large accounts that are tied with all the growth and acquisitions across North America, being able to tag parent-child accounts in an easier fashion would be better. This is the biggest pain point is associating parent to child and being able to align and manage it better. Overall a better parent-child relationship between accounts would be a benefit."
"If you have resellers or distributors, you just need to figure out a way to set up the system in the backend. Since every company is different, it takes a little bit of time to figure that out."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is free if you are using on Oracle database."
"Oracle Application Express (APEX) is free, so this is another magic of the solution. You just get charged for the database license, which I don't need."
"We have a full Oracle E-Business Suite license, and we use that license to develop applications. There's no license required for developing Oracle applications."
"It's a free solution with no additional costs."
"I rate the product's price as ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"The tool is not expensive."
"I would rate it around an eight in terms of price, with one being low and ten being high."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"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."
"I rate this solution a six out of ten for pricing. Though the solution is on the pricier side, it still offers good value for money."
"It is expensive."
"It is very expensive. Its licensing is on a monthly basis."
"I don't know anything about its cost, but I'm sure it has got a nice little price tag that goes along with it."
"The solution is fairly priced."
"It is quite expensive. Its developers come at a premium cost, which makes it expensive."
"It is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise39
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I have only tried it with an Oracle database, not with other databases. For beginners, understanding the installation process can be challenging because documentation is limited. It is hard to unde...
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

Oracle APEX
Salesforce1, Force.com, Salesforce App Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
ADP
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. Salesforce Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.