IBM MobileFirst vs OutSystems comparison

IBM and OutSystems are both solutions in the Mobile Development Platforms category. IBM is ranked #13, while OutSystems is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. IBM holds a 2.0% mindshare in MDP, compared to OutSystems’s 20.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of OutSystems users who would recommend it.

IBM MobileFirst

Read 3 IBM MobileFirst reviews

287 Views
128 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

OutSystems

Read 52 OutSystems reviews

2,743 Views
1,628 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM MobileFirst

OutSystems

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

IBM MobileFirst and OutSystems are products in the realm of mobile app development platforms. While OutSystems offers comprehensive features that justify its higher pricing, IBM MobileFirst is favored for its support and affordability.

Features: IBM MobileFirst provides robust security measures, integration with existing enterprise systems, and offers reliability for businesses focused on security and compatibility. OutSystems stands out with rapid development capabilities, a large array of pre-built templates and components, and expansive development tools for diverse scenarios.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM MobileFirst offers a flexible deployment model with strong on-premise and cloud support, praised for prompt customer service. OutSystems simplifies deployment with a modern cloud-native approach, providing broader accessibility and flexibility for a more efficient experience.

Pricing and ROI: IBM MobileFirst is noted for competitive setup costs, offering value for businesses prioritizing security and compatibility. OutSystems requires a larger upfront investment but yields higher ROI through enhanced productivity and reduced development times.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems

April 2025

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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

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mobile App Platforms (7th)

OutSystems

Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Rapid Application Development Software (3rd), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM MobileFirst is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OutSystems is 20.5%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms

Featured Reviews

Manan Thakkar

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.

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Bireswar Das

Business Unit Head - Government Business at YASH Technologies

A low-code platform for the development of mobile and web enterprise applications

To illustrate a case, the customer initially had a private cloud, essentially a data center hosted within it. They needed a disaster recovery solution, which would involve using a public cloud. This situation led to some deployment challenges due to the hybrid nature of their setup. However, once we implemented the solution for them, they were extremely satisfied. The process was not only effective but also quite speedy. To be more precise, we completed it in around 100 days, even though they initially requested it to be done in four months. They were very pleased with the efficiency of the implementation.

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

"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."

"IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels."

"I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well"

"You can go huge - so it is definitely a scalable solution."

"Reduces the manual labor in compiling and deploying applications and generating procedural code (by reducing development bureaucracy/processes, resulting in real gains). The LifeTime Server approach, requiring just a few steps to publish applications in production environments, is fantastic."

"We can quickly develop an application using the tool."

"The architecture of OutSystems is quite simple, and the features are similar to Mendix's. OutSystems has connectors for different enterprise apps and solid reporting capabilities. You can also integrate with any content management platform like SharePoint or Adobe Enterprise Manager, or something like that. You can also create and integrate workflows."

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

"Let's assume a project in .NET, native .NET, or Java takes around 12 months. In OutSystems, we can build that application in four to five months."

"Integrations with external systems with SOAP and REST are easy to implement off-the-shelf, but a developer can always implement specific libraries for other integrations."

"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."

More OutSystems pros

Cons

"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."

"Currently, in mobile applications, we don't have push notifications."

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

"The documentation needs to be more robust."

"The tool needs to improve the efficiency of its widgets."

"Mobile apps need improvement."

"One of the biggest areas for improvement is that every time an existing data element is modified, it creates a new data element. It doesn't really modify that particular data element. So, a user has to follow an extra step of removing the existing data element and bringing in the new and modified data element that is being added, which sort of goes into negative productivity."

"OutSystems could improve by being more like GitHub. It would be more helpful for us for division management and version control for our application."

"The integration points need to be increased. People have also started to adopt this solution for their regular needs. That means it's not only the big enterprises that are adopting this solution. There are also small and medium enterprises that are adopting it. I've read that where you have large deployments, OutSystems starts to crumble a bit. That is the idea that no customer would know at the beginning and would also not like to hit the wall there. When it is on the client, there are a lot of applications already on low-code, and then suddenly you realize that you want to do some big applications, and you face hurdles. This is the general feedback for all such platforms."

More OutSystems cons

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 product is expensive and I would rate its pricing a seven out of ten. You need to pay a yearly subscription to use the product."

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

"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."

"It is very high price."

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

"The solution is expensive. The platform is not suitable for all of my clients. I work with labor unions and other smaller organizations that would not be able to afford the platform's current pricing model. It would be beneficial if there were a scaled-down version or a tiered pricing option that would allow me to build an app or a web app that is more cost-effective for my clients. Currently, the platform's pricing is too high for many of my clients, who would not be able to afford something in the $50,000 to $100,000 range."

"You should contact OutSystems for more details but my opinion is that it is not for small business budgets."

"I believe they have two pricing options. One is approximately $4000 USD a year and the other is approximately $10,000 USD a year."

More OutSystems pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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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 that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...

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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 applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...

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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 how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...

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Comparisons

Ionic vs IBM MobileFirst

Compared 100% of the time

More IBM MobileFirst Competitors

Appian vs OutSystems

Compared 20% of the time

ServiceNow vs OutSystems

Compared 14% of the time

Mendix vs OutSystems

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs OutSystems

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs OutSystems

Compared 7% of the time

More OutSystems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Mobile App Platforms

May 2025

Download IBM MobileFirst product report

Buyer's Guide

OutSystems

May 2025

Download OutSystems product report

Also Known As

MobileFirst, Worklight

No data available

Overview

IBM Worklight helps organizations extend their business to mobile devices.

IBM

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

Sample Customers

UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions, Gruppo Unipol, Raymond James Financial, Toshiba GCS, CST, ABK-Systeme GmbH, BNP Paribas

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

Buyer's Guide

IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems

April 2025

Free Report: IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems

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