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Dev seeking no/lowCode tool that can delight & scale

I have a side-project/problem to solve which I can possibly solve with just Airtable but thought would be a good chance to learn a bit more about other noCode tools. Looking for a tool recommendation to build a web app that matches:

  • has design flexibility for a really nice consumer experience including interface animation, eg Lottie or SVG
  • backend can store images, possibly video, or can gate to AWS S3 without high added cost
  • backend store allows for complex relationships to be built, don't care if is SQL or not, & supports text searching
  • does good responsive designs but would settle for mobile-first with desktop requiring redesign
  • vital doesn't have massively escalating costs if it was widely adopted (have read several scare stories about bubble) or heavily used
  • prefer free or low cost to get started - I'm going to be doing very incremental dev over months, with just odd hours, so can't use a short-term trial to decide.
  • can be extended if I want to add advanced features (I'm a very experienced multi-plat dev)
  • dev experience is low priority - I don't mind difficult tools
  • has export or text-based internal format, so I'm not stuck with some unusable binary if vendor goes under, & can use version control as I go
  • handover to a team is possible - supports multiple developers (this is a low priority but once the basics are there might want to just hire folks)

If you are a vendor and are also interested in having an in-depth, independent article written about the tool, feel free to recommend yourself but be warned if you have weak points, they are likely to be called out. I'm also very fair and happy to rave about truly impressive experiences! This is not a project that's going to happen fast so no promises as to how soon such material would come out. I may also write it up as a series as I go, more Developer Diary style.

Any key points about the selection process I've missed?

(No this is not a pivot from Touchgram but something I wanted to do a better job of than just stuffing odd things into Evernote. As I thought more about what I needed, I realised I've possibly identified a useful niche market, plus want to have real idea of how hard these tools are to build with)

Update

note the emphasis on web app - this is not just a landing page with a couple of forms. The rough design, in my head, combines something like journalling with calendar, rich search and attached multimedia. It's very much a background activity, thinking through the uses but that also makes it a nice low-stress way to evaluate tools without a deadline looming.

  1. 4

    Take a look at https://supabase.io/ it scales very well and to be honest should be the default backend for any no/low code app.

    I built https://versoly.com/ and currently working on a website builder for Supabase. That will also scale easily.

    By using Supabase + Versoly the code created will be open source and if you need to hire developers etc you can.

    Feel free to dm https://twitter.com/volkandkaya if you have any questions.

    1. 2

      Website builder for Supabase, now that has my attention.

      1. 1

        Hoping to share more in the future. Still a lot of missing parts needed for a smooth UX/DX.

    2. 1

      Thanks Volkan, I'd have expected you to respond over on Frontier ;-)

  2. 2

    I think you're looking for Supabase. At least on the backend.

    1. 1

      Thanks @cpursley, you're the second recommendation for Supabase as a backend.

  3. 2

    Wow. It's pleasure to see such clear requirements for the tool 😃

    I'm an Apisful co-founder. It's cloud-based headless cms that generate API and dashboard for your data. You need to build a frontend for your application. But with Apisful, you don't need to care about servers.
    Here are some comments related to your requirements.

    ✔️ backend can store images, possibly video, or can gate to AWS S3 without high added cost.
    Apisful stores media content using AWS S3. Here is Files API. Also, it has an Image Transformation API that allows you to resize images on the fly.

    ✔️ backend store allows for complex relationships to be built, don't care if is SQL or not, & supports text searching.
    Pointer field type is designed to make one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relations. Here is the related API.
    Filtration API helps with text searching.

    ✔️ does good responsive designs but would settle for mobile-first with desktop requiring redesign
    I use the Apisful dashboard from my phone frequently.

    👉 vital doesn't have massively escalating costs if it was widely adopted (have read several scare stories about bubble) or heavily used
    I hope Apisful's prices are clear enough. Check it out, please.

    ✔️ prefer free or low cost to get started
    It's free to start. You can use the free tier as much as you fit it. Also, we're happy to provide a bigger free quota for non-profitable organizations.

    👉 can be extended if I want to add advanced features
    Can be extended with self-written and self-hosted middlewares. Also, we're going to create some frequently asked integrations - auth0 for example.

    ✔️ dev experience is low priority - I don't mind difficult tools
    We struggle to build as simple and clear API as possible. It should be easy to get started with your dev experience.

    ✔️ has export or text-based internal format, so I'm not stuck with some unusable binary if vendor goes under, & can use version control as I go
    Apisful stores and provides data in JSON format. It doesn't have an export button but we can do it for you by request.

    ✔️ handover to a team is possible
    The team member invitation feature is in progress. Apisful will grow with your needs 🚀

    We are not afraid to hear an honest opinion. So, feel free to try Apisful, contact support (or me) in case of questions and issues, and discuss it publicly.

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      Thanks @letstalk. As I said, it's going to be a while but I thought I'd start gathering feedback to think about directions. It's as much about working out what other questions I need to ask, as picking something right now.

      1. 1

        Sure. It's a responsible part of designing to decide on the right tech stack.
        I don't want to push you. Just feel free to contact me if you will need it.

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