The Forrester Wave™: Low-Code Platforms For Professional Developers, Q2 2025

Low-Code Platforms For Professional Developers Vendor Product Comparisons 2025

Key features and pros and cons of top Low-Code Platforms For Professional Developers products:

Microsoft - Leaders

Pros:

Exemplary vision with unflinching focus on AI-infused use cases and AppGen's potential to disrupt both software development and core economics of enterprise applications
Superior roadmap that balances innovation with core product and commercial improvements
Product leads in AI with AppGen as core focus, multiple AI services included in base license, and agent-building framework (Microsoft Copilot Studio) natively available
Superior features for managing large communities of decentralized developers based on real-world case studies
Strategy of providing basic version for free in enterprise agreements has led to broad adoption and large enthusiastic community

Cons:

Complexity and frequent changes in Power Platform's various interconnected pricing models and SKUs confuses customers
Only available as Azure cloud service, so customers can't deploy to other infrastructure
Customers cite UX development and high-scale data scenarios as areas for improvement

OutSystems - Leaders

Pros:

Superior and aggressive goal of avoiding categories and trade-offs of traditional software market segments through best-in-class AppGen platform
Strong roadmap balancing critical core improvements with requisite AI enhancements and plans for technical differentiation in areas like mobile development
Superior in UX development and suits highly custom B2C web app and mobile experiences
Data modeling tools stand out
Mentor AppGen authoring experience shows promise and can generate simple CRUD apps and dashboards entirely from prompts
Customers praise UX development capabilities, features for driving component reuse, and scalable architecture

Cons:

Pricing structure is unpublished and requires pricing team to create estimate for potential purchases
Features for governing large populations of developers through custom policies and processes are not yet mature
Core IDE is too technical for serious citizen developer strategies
Customers describe consumption-based pricing model as difficult to predict

ServiceNow - Leaders

Pros:

Clear vision to deliver world-class AppGen platform with significant AI features with pragmatic focus on AI governance that resonates with risk-averse IT audience
History of useful innovations and strong roadmap
Large marketplace of platform add-ons and third-party applications
Mature capabilities in both process automation and integration, enabling it to win against DPA industry's traditional leaders
Superior features for empowering citizen developers and governing through access controls, portfolio management, etc.
IDE provides different experiences based on developer's technical depth
Differentiates in AppGen with prompt-based development available for full stack of components, including code for new integrations
Customers praise platform's workflow capabilities and general flexibility

Cons:

Platform pricing model is unpublished
Only available as managed cloud service or on-premises
Customers criticize licensing complexity

AgilePoint - Strong Performers

Pros:

Laser-focuses on technology differentiation through modeling language with goal to facilitate AI-enabled dynamic processes on top of existing IT investments
Pragmatic and credible roadmap and innovation approach demonstrated by continued competitiveness, substantial R&D budget, and soon-to-be-released AppGen features
Pricing structure is published, transparent, and reasonable
Excels in DPA with core modeling component proven for complex workflows
Provides full reporting module out of box at no additional charge
Superior features for custom governance policies and portfolio management with wide array of monitoring reports and user-friendly settings
Can be deployed on-premises or to multiple clouds
Customers praise platform's usefulness for complex workflows and intuitive learnability

Cons:

No third-party ecosystem to speak of and partner roster is small
Has no prebuilt genAI actions
Testing tools are minimal
Customers note keeping platform documentation up to date is a weakness

Appian - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strategy focuses on difficult business of enterprise orchestration and application development, not little departmental apps
Well-balanced roadmap between core engineering improvements and requisite AppGen and agent-building features
Unlike many vendors, includes entire platform and wide range of automation features in single SKU
Platform is balanced and pragmatic with no significant flaws
Superior automation and orchestration features including full complement of supporting services (RPA, rules engine, case management, process mining)
Superior reporting enabled by data fabric
Superior security practices and features for developer access controls based on emphasis on government and regulated enterprises
Customers praise platform's development speed and reliability

Cons:

Pricing structure is published without dollar figures
Customers criticize vendor's comparatively slow adoption of genAI
Refreshingly hasn't embraced AI-fueled flights of fancy currently fashionable in tech (which may be viewed as both strength and weakness)

Mendix - Strong Performers

Pros:

Vision of 'a world where ideas become outcomes' made credible by superior roadmap - most thoughtful and comprehensive plan for applying AI using low-code across SDLC
Large marketplace for add-ons and applications
Superior capabilities in UX development, mobile development, and data modeling (integrating native and external data stores)
Provides Git-based version control out of box
Comprehensive toolset for agile planning
Recently received FedRAMP certification
Customers praise platform's power, ecosystem, and infrastructure options

Cons:

Pricing isn't published in sufficient detail to estimate actual purchase price
Currently lags in AppGen capabilities despite prominence of AI in roadmap
IDE unsuitable for citizen developers
Features for governance guardrails to aid large citizen development implementations are weak
Customers criticize lack of governance features and decision to retire simplified citizen development environment

Pegasystems - Strong Performers

Pros:

Vision to enable AI-based 'autonomous enterprise' with strong history of R&D leading to innovation
Early entry into AppGen race with release of Blueprint product
Roadmap builds on strengths and includes novel but credible product plans
Provides comprehensive orchestration and automation toolset with components for case management, RPA, complex rules, process mining, and ML - all proven in real world
SDLC tools for version control, testing, agile management, deployment, and governance are exemplary
App Studio remains beautiful citizen developer experience
Customers praise commitment to innovation, version control features, and suitability of App Studio for citizen developers

Cons:

Pricing isn't published on website with sufficient detail to estimate purchase price
IDE is highly opinionated - platform inelegant for bottom-up data-first development
UX tools aren't aimed at highly customized pixel-perfect experiences or standalone frontend projects typical of low-code industry
Full Dev Studio is much more complex than App Studio
Customers note finding Pega developers is a challenge
Past legal woes may concern some buyers, though higher court overturned original verdict and case is working through appeals

Salesforce - Strong Performers

Pros:

Extraordinary partner roster and platform marketplace
Large and enthusiastic community
Wise and dramatic pivot to platform-first vision and message (in Agentforce)
Recent innovations and roadmap focus largely on genAI and agents
Pricing is published and doesn't produce same complaints and confusion as other large vendors
One of first platforms to market with genAI tools that customers are using in real world
Strong security practices
Flow component for process modeling backed by respected MuleSoft iPaaS (through separate subscription)
Ongoing improvements of DevOps and SDLC tools
Customers praise Flow automation component and are bullish on vendor's AI plans

Cons:

Mobile development provides comparatively few specific tools and control
Only available as cloud service
Customers criticize cost, vendor's tendency to overpromise on roadmap, and complexity of platform's permissions sets
Forrester takes issue with 'digital labor' messaging

HCLSoftware - Contenders

Pros:

Vision, roadmap, and innovation differentiated by two focus areas: 1) best-of-breed frontend-centric multiplatform development (desktop, web, mobile, wearables, kiosks) aimed at professional developers and 2) go-to-market and feature set for modernizing HCL Domino (Lotus Notes) applications
Benefits from competitive partner network and support from parent consulting company
Pricing is transparent and offers several structures based on different user types or sessions
Among strongest in assessment for low-code UX development and mobile development - generates native code for multiple mobile platforms
Professional coders commonly use as pragmatic path for multiplatform development and component reuse
Strong integration capabilities with middleware supporting 400+ connectors
Provides automated testing tools and industry-typical RBAC for developers
Customers appreciate ability to generate native code for multiple platforms, support for component and service reuse, and licensing model

Cons:

Focus areas are useful but niche
Developer community is small
Virtually no features for building genAI and ML apps
Weaknesses in data modeling and managing/governing many developers and apps
Iris and Leap IDEs aren't well integrated
Customers note report building and process engine as areas for improvement

Oracle - Contenders

Pros:

Making thoughtful strategic choices with APEX - optimizing underlying modeling languages for AI generation and using it to build new applications in Oracle portfolio
Great advantage is pricing: simple consumption model based on storage and compute, doesn't charge for additional users
Offers flexible deployment (uniquely among low-code products from megavendors)
Competitive UX tools
Range of AppGen features consistent with stated strategy
Useful tools for developer RBAC and portfolio management that underpin Oracle's internal citizen development work
Customers praise APEX's pricing structure and adjacency to Oracle database

Cons:

APEX lacks significant partnerships with large systems integrators and consultancies that enterprises generally prefer
Core weakness is medium-code design philosophy - working directly in languages like PL/SQL and SQL is core authoring experience
Few connectors and is Oracle-database-centric for integration
Few genAI and ML features
Only supports PWA for mobile development
New workflow engine is nascent
Tools supporting SDLC like version control and testing are not robust
Customers criticize overreliance on coding languages and don't see workflow component as mature yet
Declined to participate in full evaluation process

Retool - Contenders

Pros:

Vision is product driven and focuses on providing elegant abstractions aimed at professional coders to make them more productive while still allowing them to code
Product philosophy and pitch are unique among successful low-code vendors
Web UI and mobile development tools are strong and compare favorably with most incumbent enterprise platform vendors
Integration tools are solid and support multiple protocols
Platform is backend agnostic
GenAI features provide useful multimodal actions in core logic modeler
Customers uniformly praise customer service and value code-level flexibility

Cons:

Partner ecosystem and community are relatively small
Has no platform marketplace
Platform investments seen as strictly practical rather than innovative
Roadmap is practical but addresses obligatory AI enhancements and functional gaps like process engine
Platform is feature light compared with competitors - many useful abstractions expected of low-code platforms are absent
In practice, writing (a lot of) code isn't optional - it's required
Typical SDLC functions for versioning, CI/CD, and automated testing require third-party products and integrations
Customers see version control and tools for working with data and large datasets as areas for improvement

SAP - Contenders

Pros:

Significant partner ecosystem and dedicated marketplace serve low-code offerings
Products are SAP-centric and integrated into app portfolio through guided extension wizard
Strong process automation engine including supporting technologies like RPA
UI builder is elegant no-code experience and provides robust visual engine for client-side logic plus granular design canvas
Supports native mobile app development for multiple platforms
Roadmap includes some strong AI enhancements for AppGen and agentic use cases
Customers praise Build Process Automation's ability to manage complex processes within SAP ecosystem

Cons:

Products presented and used primarily as extension platform for SAP's crown-jewel business applications
Low-code tools are just part of this - separate pro-code offering is 'code optional' but includes some low-code elements only for backend work
Fragmented product strategy is confusing and lacks conviction
Roadmap is mixed, leaving core product issues unaddressed
Backend development is weakness - Build Apps experience doesn't support relational data modeling, serious backend work must be done in separate Build Code IDE
Customers regard low-code app building capabilities as SAP-centric and less functionally mature than more common low-code offerings
Did not provide reference customers for evaluation

Unqork - Contenders

Pros:

Core point is right: Pure model-based development with interpreted language on vendor-managed codebase and platform is smart way to build software instead of getting bogged down in maintenance and technical debt
Roadmap reflects renewed focus on challenges like version control along with obligatory AI enhancements
Provides rich and flexible frontend component that compares well with stodgy incumbents
Solid workflow and automation engines supported by simple rules engine
Useful reporting and typical developer access controls
Partnered with iPaaS leader Workato, significantly expanding integration possibilities
Commendably FedRAMP certified
Provides some use case accelerators that win deals against competitors in target industries like insurance
Customers appreciate richness and speed of frontend development

Cons:

In Forrester's judgement, vendor's sales and marketing focus has taken precedence over addition of features that enterprises want
Ecosystem remains small
Known for public crusades ('enterprise no-code,' 'codeless architecture,' 'regenerative applications') which may not resonate with all buyers
Most other features in assessment are absent or light
Customers see version control, CI/CD, and integration into DevOps toolchain as critical weaknesses to address
Did not provide reference customers for evaluation

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2025?

A: Microsoft, OutSystems, ServiceNow

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders in a Forrester Wave evaluation are vendors that offer the strongest current product offerings and have the most robust strategies in the evaluated market. Leaders demonstrate superior performance across both current offering capabilities and strategic vision. They typically excel in key functional areas important to buyers, maintain strong customer satisfaction, show clear market differentiation, and have credible roadmaps for future innovation. In the context of this low-code platforms evaluation, Leaders represent vendors that provide comprehensive, enterprise-grade platforms with strong AI capabilities, superior features for managing developer communities, proven track records with large enterprises, and clear visions for the future of application development and the evolving role of AI in software creation.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Low-Code Platforms For Professional Developers in 2025

Low-Code Platforms For Professional Developers Vendor Product Comparisons 2025

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2025?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

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