IBM MobileFirst vs OutSystems comparison

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IBM MobileFirst

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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: September 2025).

IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems

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Helped 868,787 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:

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

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Rapid Application Development Software (4th), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM MobileFirst is 2.5%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OutSystems is 16.1%, down from 21.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
OutSystems	16.1%
IBM MobileFirst	2.5%
Other	81.4%

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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Sukrut Joshi

Manager India Sales at Nitor

Enables users to develop applications quickly and has a responsive and helpful technical support team

The time to market is quite good. We can quickly develop an application using the tool. OutSystems is developed using .NET and Java. We can easily find technical resources who have worked on .NET and Java and leverage their previous knowledge to develop OutSystems applications. It can also be used for application development. If an end-user does not want to use the solution after two to three years, OutSystems sends the source code and the applications to the end-user. There is no dependency. It’s one of the major factors I found quite good in OutSystems.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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"

"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."

"Our previous solution had other overheads such as release management, version management, code management, monitoring, etc., all of which are built-in with OutSystems."

"I really like the one-click publish feature in OutSystems. In other development tools/languages, it's not as easy. I also like how easily I can manage all my projects in one place."

"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."

"The tool makes the development process easier."

"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."

"The visual program of OutSystems is one of the major advantages of this solution."

"We can do the validation before calling the API."

"The flow editor is the most valuable feature. It is simple and intuitive, and it can guide you step-by-step."

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."

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

"While I can't speak to the market impact, as a developer, I've seen significant reductions in development time across different versions of our applications. One area for improvement would be the UI controls in Service Studio. Sometimes, controls don't appear in the IDE, requiring us to check them in the web browser instead. Overall, our experience with OutSystems has been positive, though improvements in UI development would be welcomed."

"The solution's testing framework needs to be improved, and the workflow should be slightly more mature."

"The asynchronous processing and multithreading tasks for which the current resources of the platform are very generic and not built for the end-user. Any asynchronous jobs have to be constructed with an end-user dashboard to allow inspection of the status of the activities."

"The tool's weakness is its focus on the solution only. Other than that, it's pretty easy to use for both technical and non-technical people. However, the tool lags in automation. For instance, we've used Python for scraping and other automated tasks. So, I believe automation is an area where it could improve."

"The PDD framework can't be used for the behavioral-driven development way of working."

"The tutorials for the solution should be updated."

"I like the OutSystems platform. I am working on integrating it with another platform using APIs, however, it has proven to be difficult. The main issue I am facing is obtaining authorization tokens as well as access and refresh tokens. It may be due to my lack of knowledge of APIs as it is new to me."

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."

"OutSystems was open to a deal that worked for both sides."

"I believe they are very strict with their pricing platforms, or the pricing policies, and it changes."

"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's not cheap. It's pretty expensive."

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

"It is not an expensive product, especially if you have access to more features and deal with more projects."

"Pricing could be a concern. You have to pay yearly, even after you have completed your development."

"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

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

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

Appmobi Mobile Enterprise Application Platform vs IBM MobileFirst

Compared 59% of the time

Ionic vs IBM MobileFirst

Compared 41% of the time

More IBM MobileFirst Competitors

ServiceNow vs OutSystems

Compared 13% of the time

Appian vs OutSystems

Compared 11% of the time

Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs OutSystems

Compared 11% of the time

Mendix vs OutSystems

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs OutSystems

Compared 8% of the time

More OutSystems Competitors

Product Reports

Mobile App Platforms

Download IBM MobileFirst product report

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.

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

IBM MobileFirst vs. OutSystems