Report:
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms
How does Gartner define the Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms market in 2023?
Gartner defines low-code application platforms (LCAPs) as application platforms that are used to rapidly develop and run custom applications by abstracting and minimizing the use of programming languages. Enterprise LCAPs are a subset of this market that target a wider range of developer personas — especially enterprise developers — and provide features essential for application delivery and maintenance in midsize and large organizations. These features include support for high performance, availability and scalability of applications, disaster recovery, security, API access to (and from) enterprise and third-party cloud services, usage monitoring, service-level agreements, and availability of technical support and training.
Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms in 2023
- Publication Date: 17 October 2023
- Document ID: G00785824
- Coverage: Global
- Authors: Oleksandr Matvitskyy, Kimihiko Iijima
- Core Purpose: LCAPs accelerate application development by abstracting the coding for the common reusable software components and allocating developer effort to tasks closer to business outcomes. Use this research to compare and contrast vendors in the global LCAP market.
Strategic Planning Assumptions
No strategic planning assumptions provided.
How was the Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms market evolved in 2023?
- The low-code market is projected to reach $44.5 billion in revenue by 2026 with a CAGR of 19.2% from 2021 through 2026
- The LCAP segment specifically is projected to expand to more than $18 billion in 2026, with a CAGR of more than 20%
- Enterprise adoption is driven by democratization and citizen development initiatives across IT and business units
- LCAPs have emerged as a key component of successful hyperautomation initiatives
- LCAPs are one of the key technologies driving composable business and application composition
- The market continues to expand with more vendors appearing throughout 2022 and 2023
- Six vendors are positioned as Leaders: Appian, Mendix, Microsoft, OutSystems, Salesforce, and ServiceNow
- Four vendors are positioned as Challengers: HCLSoftware, Oracle, Retool, and Zoho
- Three vendors are positioned as Visionaries: Creatio, Globant (GeneXus), and Pegasystems
- Four vendors are positioned as Niche Players: Huawei, Kintone, Newgen, and Unqork
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Include low-code capabilities to develop a complete application consisting of user interfaces for web and mobile channels, business logic and data storage.
- Support a model-driven or graphical programming approach with scripting.
- Act as a runtime platform for applications developed on an LCAP.
What are the common features of top products in the Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms space?
- Support for all stages of the software development life cycle, including deployment to multiple environments, observability and governance controls.
- Support for synchronization of changes from multiple developers working in parallel.
- Custom API generation for the creation of packaged business capabilities and shared APIs.
- Connectors for the most popular business applications, platforms and database management systems.
- Toolsets for testing or support for integration with external test management and automation tools.
Scope Exclusions
- LCAPs used only or mainly for building specific vertical/industry applications
- LCAPs bundled only within some other solution or platform
- Platforms that do not support distributed development across IT and business departments
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Demonstrate a go-to-market strategy and specific pricing for LCAP for cross-industry or general-purpose application development
- LCAP must not be used only or mainly for building specific vertical/industry applications
- Must support development and deployment of applications in a distributed environment across IT and business departments
- Offer both no-code and low-code capabilities for development, versioning, testing, deployment, execution, administration, monitoring and management
- Support data schema and application logic design
- Support composition of internal and external data sources
- Create rich application user interfaces for web and mobile channels
- Enable invocation of external third-party services via APIs and/or event topics
- Provide enterprise-grade features including high availability, disaster recovery, secure access, and technical support
- Meet size requirements: $60M+ LCAP revenue with 100+ enterprise customers (1,000+ employees), OR $25M+ revenue with 5,000+ customers, OR 100,000+ developer community
- Consolidated market relevance index (CII) score of 50% or above
- Direct customers in three or more geographies (North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, China, Japan/Asia/Pacific)
Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting
- Product or Service - High
- Overall Viability - Medium
- Sales Execution/Pricing - High
- Market Responsiveness/Record - Medium
- Marketing Execution - Low
- Customer Experience - Medium
- Operations - Low
Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting
- Market Understanding - High
- Marketing Strategy - Medium
- Sales Strategy - Medium
- Offering (Product) Strategy - High
- Business Model - Medium
- Vertical/Industry Strategy - Low
- Innovation - High
- Geographic Strategy - Medium
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research covers the enterprise low-code application platform (LCAP) market, evaluating 17 vendors based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. It analyzes vendors across multiple criteria including product capabilities, sales execution, pricing, market responsiveness, innovation, and strategic vision. The report includes vendor strengths and cautions, market definitions, inclusion criteria, and guidance for IT leaders on selecting and implementing LCAPs.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: This research should be used by IT leaders, application development leaders, and enterprise architects who are evaluating low-code platforms for accelerating application development. It helps organizations compare vendors, understand market trends, assess technical fit for their use cases, evaluate commercial considerations, and make informed decisions about LCAP adoption. The research is particularly valuable for enterprises looking to enable fusion teams, support multiple developer personas (from citizen developers to professional developers), modernize legacy applications, or implement composable business architectures.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Mandatory features for vendors in this market include: (1) Low-code capabilities to develop complete applications with user interfaces for web and mobile channels, business logic, and data storage; (2) Support for a model-driven or graphical programming approach with scripting; (3) Acting as a runtime platform for applications developed on the LCAP.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Failing to meet minimum revenue thresholds ($60M with 100+ enterprise customers, OR $25M with 5,000+ customers, OR 100,000+ developer community)
- Market relevance index (CII) score below 50%
- Lack of direct customer presence in at least three geographic regions
- Focus exclusively on vertical/industry-specific applications
- LCAP offering only as a bundled component of another solution
- Lack of enterprise-grade features (high availability, disaster recovery, security, technical support)
- Insufficient support for distributed development across IT and business departments
Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?
A: Ability to Execute emphasizes product and sales execution/pricing criteria, focusing on current performance, business viability, sales capabilities, market responsiveness, customer experience, and operational effectiveness. It measures how well a vendor delivers on its promises today. Completeness of Vision emphasizes market understanding, offering/product strategy, and innovation criteria, focusing on the vendor's strategic direction, understanding of market needs, product roadmap, and ability to anticipate future market requirements. It measures the vendor's forward-looking strategy and vision for where the market is heading.
Reference
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, 17 October 2023, ID G00785824
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