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When you can't afford development: a review of constructors for apps, games and websites

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Sometimes ambitious project development plans just don’t work in reality. You can’t afford mobile application developers and a website, let alone coding a game, which seems to be something off the charts. However, “we have no money” is nothing more than an excuse for a startup. If you want, do it! Thanks to many constructors that are available on the market, almost anyone can make their plans to improve the product come true, it just takes dedication and diligence. Of course, some things will not work the way you want, and you won’t get professional quality. But for the first stages, “something” is always a million times better than nothing. So let’s take a closer look at useful software builders for startups.

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Top tools for creating mobile apps

Once again: apps and websites builders are unlikely to be able to solve a complex problem, but you can at least make a prototype and test the main hypotheses related to the launch of your mobile application. If they work, you can allocate a budget to develop a professional product, and in this case, these expenses are justified.

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bubble

It positions itself as the most powerful code-free platform that allows you to create an application, both mobile and web — from prototype to launching a client-oriented mobile application with a wide range of functionality. Bubble creators promise that you can create a basic version in a matter of hours. You don’t even need to have a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS to work with Bubble. It also does not require knowledge/skills to deploy a website/application on a web server — the program does everything by itself.

In the constructor, you can create an application design, outline the workflow step by step (for example, from user registration to variations of their activity in the program). You can also upload data, connect the necessary plugins, and customize the functionality.

The platform allows you to authorize users via Facebook / Twitter / Google and create applications where users can interact with each other through internal chats and forums. There are templates for creating applications for an event, for registering for a service, as well as for developing your own task tracker, marketplace, and even CRM.

The tool is also available for free: using this version, you can explore the platform’s capabilities and create your own application. Paid versions offer additional features: for example, access to the Bubble API, the ability to brand your application, and get individual support.

Paid versions start at $29 per month.

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Appy Pie

Appy Pie is a cloud platform for creating mobile applications, websites, task trackers, chatbots, graphics. According to Appy Pie, the tool has 7 million business users.

It allows you to create apps for any platform without coding skills and publish them. The platform works with iOS, Android, Windows, and Progressive app.

The tool allows you to make changes in real-time, you can send push notifications, monetize, view analytics and track location using GPS. Appy Pie supports integration with channels from social networks, blogs and websites. There is a planner tool handy for beauty salon and medical clinic applications. In addition, you can embed your own code using the code page.

The tool allows you to write workflows for user behavior in the application, integrate with such business tools as Slack, Hubspot, Vend, Asana, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, Trello, Todoist, and others, a total of over 300 integrated software.

Platform partners include Accenture (a consulting company with 2020 revenue of $44.33B), L’Oréal, the UK National Health Service, Deloitte (a consulting and audit services company with 2020 revenue of $47.6B).

The basic version of the platform can be used for free. Paid versions start at $18 per month.

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BiznessApps

Positions itself as the #1 app builder for small businesses. Provides templates and solutions for restaurants and food, community, real estate, schools, health, and beauty businesses.

The program has an intuitive design mechanism that allows almost anyone to create an application without special knowledge, taking into account the needs of the audience of your business. Allows you to integrate orders, loyalty programs, reviews, messages into the application, integrate it with other platforms and programs.

The constructor itself contains dozens of functions: from menus, messages, importing contacts and events promotion to a mortgage calculator, integrating audio and video podcasts, a YouTube channel, a QR code scanner, a news section, and much more. It is also possible to send push notifications, track analytics, monitor transactions in the application, and export this data to simplify accounting. It is possible to integrate with a number of payment services and email services.

The app costs $99 per month.

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Mobinecube

A constructor for creating applications without knowing how to code. 132 467 applications have been created and published using this platform that has been installed almost 172M times.

A nice bonus that this tool gives us the ability to automatically monetize the application through AdMob. The apps you create will contain ads and each time the user clicks on them, the owner of the application will receive their share of the income. Mobinecube has tutorials on working with the platform and its functionality.

The creators of the tool promise that it can be used to design any application — from business to educational, from entertainment to gaming and sports. The platform has many parameters in terms of functionality and design that you can customize for yourself. It is possible to send push notifications, add video and audio content, work with Google Maps and source code and create unique functionality, as well as add large databases and work with Google Analytics.

The apps you create can be published on any platform with no download restrictions.

You can use the tool for free — however, you will have to buy one of the paid packages in order to start making money on the application you’ve created. The cheapest starts at €2.99 per month.

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Appsmoment

A constructor for mobile applications of various directions (from ordinary mobile applications to games), which does not require writing any code. There are many themed templates (business, events, music, business, restaurants) and over 100 game templates. You can create apps for Android, iOS, Windows and Kindle. It is possible to edit the HTML code: this way you can customize the code for yourself or copy it to your website.

The platform has a video tutorials section available on YouTube that allows you to learn about the various platform features and integrate them into your application.

Prices start at $15 per month for the starter package.

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GameSalad

The platform allows you to create your own 2D games without knowing how to code, share the developed product with friends and publish games to iOS, Android, HTML5, and macOS. This tool is used by over one million game developers. 75 games that have made it to the top 100 in the App Store have been created in GameSalad.

With the help of the tool, you can combine creating a game with learning programming. In terms of functionality, there is an editor for scenes and actors, the functionality allows you to create attributes, images, sounds, navigation between actors, you can also import graphics and assign scripts to it. There are many templates for basic games.

The basic plan costs $19 per month.

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Top website building tools

Wix

The platform positions itself as a fully functional website builder that anyone — both an expert and a person who does it for the first time can handle.

There are two ways to create a website on Wix: in the editor and using Wix ADI. Wix ADI is artificial intelligence for web design that, based on the user’s answers about the field of activity and the tasks of the site, will instantly assemble a professional site from editable blocks with suitable text and images — all this can then be manually adapted and improved by adding the necessary functions. Wix also has a developer platform that allows you to expand website functionality.

Wix contains over 500 design templates, allowing you to add videos as background and embed animations.

The tool can be used free of charge. Paid plans start at $4.5 per month.

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WordPress

One of the most popular website building platforms. According to WordPress statistics, 40% of sites are powered by their platform, which is used by bloggers, small companies, and Fortune 500 sharks. WordPress can be used by both programmers and people who have never worked with code.

The platform has many themes and design ideas, as well as thousands of plugins that allow you to add the necessary functionality to the site. The tool also provides an opportunity to receive individual advice from the support service — via online chat or email.

There is a free version, the cost of paid versions starts at $3.25 per month.

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Sheet2Site

Sheet22Site is a tool for creating websites with content, filters and maps via Google Sheets without using any code. One of their clients is Harvard University.

The platform has templates for spreadsheets, video marketplaces, user profile pages, regular marketplaces, voting pages, restaurant menu placement pages, and real estate presentations with maps. Besides creating a website from scratch, you can integrate the platform template into a ready-made website: Sheet2Site integrates with WordPress, Wix and your own websites.

Prices start at $29 per month.

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Summary

There are many opportunities to create a mobile app prototype or website that will present a startup’s product to customers. All constructors mentioned in the review are aimed at users who have no previous experience with code. At the same time, all of them provide the opportunity to work with the code and, thus, independently improve the functionality available in the templates if needed.

Some platforms allow not only creating, for example, mobile applications, but also immediately publishing them in app stores and, most importantly, earning income for each download.

The advantage of constructors is that thanks to the many design templates that are already on the platform and are often available for free use, you don’t have to spend money on designers and not waste time waiting for layouts. Each of the constructors is created according to the “take and do” principle, that is, you only need an idea — and everything else (design, functionality, processes, analytics, and marketing tools) can be connected through the platform.

A number of platforms have free packages: the functionality is somewhat limited, but you can study the capabilities of the tool and create your own product. Paid packages start at $3.25 per month.

 

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