Oracle Application Express (APEX) Reviews

In the public sector, our clients are primarily using Oracle APEX to update their old systems. We have been working on government projects for over a decade, and many of our clients are moving from outdated tools like Oracle Forms and ADA Oracle to Oracle APEX. This shift lets them benefit from APEX's user-friendly, low-code approach, speeding up app development, and keeping them in line with modern web standards, resulting in better efficiency and user experiences.

The most valuable feature of Oracle APEX is its comprehensive set of features for creating user-friendly and visually appealing applications. This includes local development, remote templates, and graphic capabilities. Additionally, the platform offers tools like smart sheets, search wizards, and easy application creation from various file formats, making it highly adaptable. It also excels in configuring workloads and notifications, implementing reports, and allowing seamless attachment handling. The availability of plugins further enhances its value, making it a go-to choice for application development and use.

In terms of improvement, there should be a greater focus on AI and machine learning tools in Oracle APEX. While the platform is evolving, making these tools more accessible and user-friendly is crucial due to the rapid growth of AI and ML. Providing more pre-built packages and simplifying their usage would facilitate the platform's adoption in AI applications and machine learning, ensuring it stays relevant in these rapidly advancing fields.

I have been using Oracle APEX for three years.

I would rate the stability of the solution as a ten out of ten.

It is a very scalable solution. I would rate the scalability as a nine out of ten. Most of my clients are medium-sized businesses.

I would rate the technical support as a ten out of ten.

Deployment in Oracle APEX is a smooth and straightforward process, and we haven't had any issues with it. Even when creating different environment clones, we can easily migrate applications without complications. Deployment is quite efficient, and it typically takes less than an hour, often around half an hour, thanks to the support of a dedicated DBA and the use of the WebLogic application server. For deployment, after completing application development, we export the application files, including standard features. Then, these files are sent to the Logical Manager, who is the application server administrator. They handle the deployment on the WebLogic server.

I find the pricing of Oracle APEX to be very reasonable because it is free when you already have a license for Oracle database. This cost-effectiveness is a significant advantage.

My advice for those interested in using Oracle APEX is to start promptly, as there is a learning curve, particularly if you are less familiar with CSS and JavaScript. In the initial stages, you may encounter limitations when creating more complex interfaces and feature-rich applications, which may require additional effort in terms of CSS and workload. However, for straightforward applications, Oracle APEX is user-friendly and easy to use. Overall, I would rate it as a ten out of ten.

Oracle APEX provides a fast web page for any application or dashboard, enabling users to create ad hoc reports.

The valuable features are charts, reports, and search engines.

The solution's layout could be improved for report generation to allow more configuration.

I have been using Oracle APEX for 15 years.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

The solution’s scalability is not high. 50-60 online users are using this solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

The technical support is very good.

Positive

The initial setup is neither easy nor hard. I rate it three or four out of ten.

We must set up more than five tools to run the Oracle APEX application, including the database, assets, API publisher, Application Express, web logies, and several tools.

The deployment depends on the project and can be handled by one person. It takes less than one month for a single project or another month for other projects.

The deployment process is the same as for other applications. It typically involves analysis, implementation, coding, database package development, design, and front-end development.

The solution is cheap. It's a free solution.

I rate the solution's pricing a six or seven out of ten.

Oracle APEX is a good solution to create web applications quickly and easily, with many options.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

I have developed a small project of business applications in APEX. This tool helps me understand the process and the speed of the application. My primary objective was to know how fast a developer can develop an application with the tool.

The solution is easy to handle. The tool has helped us develop many applications since it supports SQL and NoSQL languages. We are familiar with this language. Also, the solution’s interface design and database design are very easy. It is not so much complex. I have no experience working with other solutions.

The solution’s pricing is high if you use it on the OCA platform. It’s also a little bit costly. However, if we use it on an on-premises Oracle database, the pricing is cheaper.

I have been working with the solution for a few months.

APEX is a stable product.

The solution is scalable and can handle huge amounts of load.

I haven’t got the time to use all of the solution’s features. After I use them I may be able to give a ten out of ten for customer support. Currently, I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Positive

The solution is free if you are using on Oracle database.

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Our company uses the solution for our internal processes such as project management, customer tracking, and opportunity tracking. We have a dashboard that compiles our days and information coming from different applications. 

We also provide the solution to customers. We have one instance on-premises and two or three instances on the cloud. 

We definitely have benefited from using the solution. Normally, IT solutions come into environments to increase revenue, reduce cost, and streamline operations. 

In our case, we have fully streamlined all operations including the RFP process, taking control of efforts, and following up with teams. We have heterogeneous teams for APM for Oracle and SAP for Microsoft. 

It is nice to have a dashboard that combines all efforts, work progress, and results. We get very good value from the solution. 

The solution can efficiently translate from English to another language including Arabic using the XLIFF format. It only takes five minutes to translate the whole user interface.

The workflow engine should be embedded in the solution. It currently is not included and that creates some problems for us so inclusion would very dramatically reduce our challenges. 

I have been using the solution for six years. 

The solution is stable with no issues in six years. 

Frankly speaking, the solution is not as scalable as Appian. When the number of users or requests increases, we work with the VPS provider to increase resources for the virtual machine or the containers. This affects performance tuning from the VP SSL. 

We have a lab with proof of concept for many products including the solution, Mendix, Appian, Symantec, and more recently Power BI. 

Technology changes so we try to stay up to date. This is unrelated, but the Check Point antivirus solution changed names a couple of days ago and I didn't notice. Even with something minimal, I felt that my knowledge was not up to date. 

The setup takes about one week to fulfill the NTP. 

We implement the solution for customers. 

The solution is free with your Oracle license or database and that is a good value. I am able to learn the database and have the solution on top of it with no extra fees. 

We also use Appian depending on use case. When we get a client, we decide which product is better for them based on their use case. We don't have any use cases where we are using both products at the same time. 

For basic cases, we use the solution because it takes around one week to fulfill the NTP.

For rather complicated cases, we use Appian and it takes one to three weeks to reach the first NTP. 

I recommend the solution and rate it an eight out of ten. 

Our company uses the solution as a development platform for client projects that include marketplaces.  

We have five developers and 200 other users. 

The autonomous database is valuable and provides the main structure for code development. 

The solution does not include a default or custom template like other products. 

The PL/SQL format is a bit limiting so newer technologies should be added. We currently cannot write anything beyond PL/SQL. 

I have been using the solution for a few months. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

Customer support is good and gives unconditional assistance. 

I rate support a ten out of ten. 

Positive

One of our customers previously used OutSystems and Mendix. 

The setup is very easy and just takes a few minutes. We can start building applications within five minutes. 

The solution cloud-based so there is no implementation. Everything is almost done already so it takes two clicks to complete setup. 

The pricing is very good and less expensive than Mendix or OutSystems. Pricing is a little bit higher than Microsoft products. 

Extra features can be purchased based on your needs. Identity access management and token authentication are a little bit costly. 

We also use SharePoint for normal application development.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Our company has a partnership with the solution and we use it as a development platform. We have between 500 to 1,000 users. 

The virtual patching feature is valuable. 

The solution does its job by providing the needed protection. 

The easy-to-use format is flexible and can scale. 

The solution does not support the Linux platform. 

I have been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is pretty stable. 

The solution is scalable with no issues. 

Technical support is good and interactions with them are smooth. 

I rate technical support a nine out of ten. 

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward so I rate it a ten out of ten. 

Our company is meeting goals for ROI. 

The pricing is mid-range so is neither expensive nor cheap. 

I rate pricing a nine out of ten. 

Evaluate your implementation team properly before contracting with them. It is important to receive help from the best team in the market.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

We are using Oracle Application Express for user support. We provide users with data for analytics, ad hoc purposes, and to help build daily analytical reports. Also, we are using workflows in artificial intelligence and data science. Providing our users with this kind of data helps them with their data science workflow.

Oracle Application Express is also used to deploy data monitoring for data concurrency, data completeness, and data quality. 

We used many data types and format types, like Excel files. By using Express, we are able to load the data and integrate it into our data map. This makes formatting much easier.

Building dashboards with the solution is easy and quick.

Oracle Application Express would be improved if you could use it on a mobile platform.

I have been using Oracle for 15 years.

I have no complaints about the performance of this solution.

Oracle Application Express is scalable. The size of the software is tied with the license.

Personally, I have not had to contact technical support. If I have any concerns, I will search the internet or ask one of my colleagues who have experienced the same problem.

The initial setup of Oracle Application Express is easy. Deployment was completed in less than four days.

Oracle Express comes with the Oracle license, it is a bundle. 

Prior to using Oracle Application Express, we evaluated Power BI. Power BI can deploy dashboards, charts and reporting, however, Oracle is faster. 

Oracle is faster than Power BI, however, it does require more skill to use. It is not easy for the common user to produce a chart from the data. 

I would rate Oracle Application Express (APEX) an eight of 10 overall. 

I would call them small supporting applications, so we use them when we need a web UI for certain users to show data from our environment, mainly in operations.

One of the most valuable features is the ability to build very fast data-driven UIs. Also, those UIs are web-based and don't require any deployment on the user side. We try to avoid complex add-ons or additions, so we stick to the standard features that APEX provides. We also use it for some workflows and to present data out of services or databases.

I think version control can be improved, meaning the ability to track what has changed from the previous version of the application and to see it in standard tools like the code repository. I know in the last versions they were working on it, but I haven't seen it yet. 

The product deployment could be easier. 

In the past, I've thought about dockerization, or the ability to deliver the application as a docker container, and establish the production environment in a job. 

What I would love to see is more integration. I would like to see easier integration into active directory authentication. Also, maybe integration of JavaScript frameworks would resolve some issues.

We have been using APEX for at least eight to ten years.

The solution is highly stable and we have had no issues with it. On a scale of one to five, where one is highly stable and five is not, I would rate it as a one. 

The scalability could be improved. It depends on the use cases. We will never use this solution for a productive environment with 500 to 1000 users because this would be a bit difficult in my opinion. I would say that the scalability for small applications is good, but the scalability for big applications is bad.

About 100 to 150 people are currently using the solution at my company.
We are continuously building small applications, but we don't plan to use this solution to make big applications. It's very use case driven. When we get a use case that is not big and it's easy to create a web-based application, then we use this solution. So we may extend our use of the solution, but we do not plan to migrate anything directly to it.

On a scale of one to five, where one is easy and five is complicated, I would rate the initial setup as a four.

We always lose a lot of time with our outsourcing partner because we don't host the service on our own. This takes some time, so to create the concept for us between the different environments and to do implement it, I would say it takes a minimum of five days.

When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free.

I would tell those considering this tool that if you have an Oracle environment, it's worth taking a look at. If you don't have an Oracle environment in place, it's the wrong tool. Also, I would tell them to stick to the standard functionalities of APEX and not try to extend it with custom code. We learned that if you stick to the standards the application gives you, it's easy to maintain and it's easy to transfer from one developer to another. If you start to create custom code in hidden areas, it's very hard for the next developer to find the code.

I would rate this solution as an eight out of ten.