OutSystems vs Xamarin Platform comparison

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5,253 views|2,811 comparisons
93% willing to recommend
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1,487 views|1,029 comparisons
92% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

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

Find out in this report how the two Mobile Development Platforms solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed OutSystems vs. Xamarin Platform Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
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 feature is Agile development. I love that you save a lot of time on development and can focus on logic and business requirements.""The most valuable feature of the solution is that it allows users to easily build applications.""OutSystems' low-cost approach has positively impacted our productivity, because we were able to develop faster with OutSystems, enabling us to implement many changes during our sprint.""The tool makes the development process easier.""Refactoring with TrueChange is very simple.""I find it to be a genuinely cool and effective platform for my development needs.""OutSystems is a low-code solution. Most features are like drag-and-drop, so it's pretty easy to work. Thus it helps the organization by saving time for developers.""The most important features of this tool are its visual modeling capabilities and drag and drop functionality. You can see what you are coding which makes it easy to understand and maintain. They have also created a big revolution in digital transformation by introducing native mobile app development under the same IDE."

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"It is a true native solution, and we can use the cross-platform framework.""The cross platform ability is a great asset.""Test Cloud, Calabash, SpecFlow, and Xamarin.UITest are the features which can’t be ignored because just writing code doesn’t mean your app will run flawlessly. You need to test your app on each possible device and configuration, which you can do easily.""You can create one solution in C Sharp.""Cross-platform development saves time and provides consistencies.""It significantly reduces development and test costs, and ensures that there is synergy between the platforms on product features and user experience.""Xamarin makes it easy to create white label applications for all platforms.""The solution's most valuable asset is its shared code base in C# that is better for large apps."

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Cons
"In my opinion, the support and the pricing could be better.""The installation is a bit tedious.""It is hard to find the logic in OutSystems. From an improvement perspective, I want to be able to properly use logic in OutSystems.""The solution is costly.""The integration Studio could be improved. It needs a tool in which we could develop C# code and then integrate into OutSystems. The application could have a better UI.""The latest version of the app generation tools could be more user-friendly.""The product's high price is an area of concern, where improvements are required.""We have performance issues while fetching bulk data."

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"The application platform could be improved.""The recent move to .NET MAUI is a big change that's affecting a lot of the good features.""The solution does not include Hot Reload which is painful because it causes us to wait quite some time for huge builds.""Xamarin Platform can improve if there was a virtual test environment so we did not have to have a Mac system for the iOS testing. At this time You must have a Mac to deploy or generate IBA profiles.""The performance needs improvement, especially the dev tools, and also the ultimate output of the mobile applications.""The solution struggles a little bit with binding libraries.""They need to improve performance, especially for the Android platform. Also, some controls are missing in the Xamarin framework when compared to native controls; for example, the checkbox control.""Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "OutSystems was open to a deal that worked for both sides."
  • "It is still very expensive, so small companies can’t generally afford it... Still, the time saving on development and delivery is worth the value."
  • "You should contact OutSystems for more details but my opinion is that it is not for small business budgets."
  • "Pricing could be a concern. You have to pay yearly, even after you have completed your development."
  • "For a single application, it's too expensive."
  • "OutSystems is a good solution, but it's not cheap."
  • "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 subscription is billed on a yearly basis."
  • More OutSystems Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "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."
  • "For personal use, the Community Edition is free."
  • "This is a free product, so there is zero investment on licenses and IDE."
  • "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."
  • "It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."
  • "Xamarin is free, or comes with Visual Studio. Therefore, it is very profitable."
  • "The price of the Xamarin Platform is not expensive. However, the price of the solution depends on the application that is made. For example, if you have small applications, it's different from large or enterprise applications."
  • "There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."
  • More Xamarin Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping the… more »
    Top Answer:I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code… more »
    Top Answer: We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will… more »
    Top Answer:The platform is easy to learn as many tutorials are available on YouTube.
    Top Answer:Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS. When developers need to utilize certain core features of… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    5,253
    Comparisons
    2,811
    Reviews
    28
    Average Words per Review
    484
    Rating
    8.6
    Views
    1,487
    Comparisons
    1,029
    Reviews
    19
    Average Words per Review
    577
    Rating
    7.9
    Comparisons
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    Mendix logo
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    ServiceNow logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    Unqork logo
    Compared 1% of the time.
    Learn More
    Overview

    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.

    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.

    Sample Customers
    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 Agrcola, Applied Research Associates
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company30%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Government10%
    Program Development Consultancy5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization26%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm25%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Educational Organization13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Educational Organization7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise53%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise35%
    Large Enterprise43%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business47%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise61%
    Buyer's Guide
    OutSystems vs. Xamarin Platform
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems vs. Xamarin Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    OutSystems is ranked 1st in Mobile Development Platforms with 46 reviews while Xamarin Platform is ranked 6th in Mobile Development Platforms with 38 reviews. OutSystems is rated 8.4, while Xamarin Platform is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of OutSystems writes "The visual program provides the advantage of only requiring one skill set for both the front and backend ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Xamarin Platform writes "It's about to be retired and replaced with an inferior product, but offers excellent cross-platform development capabilities". OutSystems is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, Appian, Mendix, ServiceNow and Unqork, whereas Xamarin Platform is most compared with Appium, Ionic, Apple Xcode, Mendix and Microsoft Azure App Service. See our OutSystems vs. Xamarin Platform report.

    See our list of best Mobile Development Platforms vendors.

    We monitor all Mobile Development Platforms reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.