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Best App Builders & Makers

Got an idea for the next big app? Or maybe you want an app for your customers to connect with your business? Unfortunately, custom app development costs can easily skyrocket. Developers are expensive and the process can take many months. For the majority of small businesses out there, a DIY app maker, which covers the most basic to the relatively advanced functionalities, is the perfect solution.

To date, we have used and reviewed over forty-three different app creators. After countless hours, we have come up with the list of the best app makers of 2019 for creating personal or business apps for Android or iOS. Check them all out below!

Last Updated:
CompanyRankingRatingPriceDescription
ShoutEm1st9.8 out of 10$22.90 Per Month

ShoutEm Review

A fantastic app maker that offers an intuitive editor, great features across all plans, monetization, a White Label program and more.Full ShoutEm Review »
Swiftic2nd9.7 out of 10$57.00 Per Month

Swiftic Review

An app maker that is really easy to use and is feature-packed. They could improve customer support, though.Full Swiftic Review »
Appy Pie3rd9.6 out of 10$18.00 Per Month

Appy Pie Review

A simple yet powerful app maker that allows you to easily create apps for a wide variety of businesses; from restaurants, to healthcare, and more.Full Appy Pie Review »

Bobile

4th9.5 out of 10$15.00 Per Month

Bobile Review

Bobile gives special attention to ecommerce, but it still provides ample space to build simpler business and personal apps.Full Bobile Review »

Bizness Apps

5th9.5 out of 10$99.00 Per Month

Bizness Apps Review

A fantastic app maker that is great for businesses of any size and kind; offering tons of templates, analytics features, eCommerce, and more.Full Bizness Apps Review »

Aquro

6th9.5 out of 10$9.00 Per Month

Aquro Review

This complete app development and management suite is user-friendly and comes at an affordable price. Customer support is not stellar, but adequate.Full Aquro Review »

AppInstitute

7th9.4 out of 10$42.00 Per Month

AppInstitute Review

With an intuitive builder, full brand control and great customer support, it's no wonder AppInstitute is known as 'the Wordpress for mobile apps'.Full AppInstitute Review »

APPr

8th9.3 out of 10Free

APPr Review

Quickly make a mobile app for your business with this easy and free to use app maker that allows for various features.Full APPr Review »

EachScape

9th8.0 out of 10$149.00 Per Month

EachScape Review

For a little more than the usual price, you can create and develop your apps which ease and confidence, especially with tutorial videos available.Full EachScape Review »

Appery.io

10th9.0 out of 10$90.00 Per Month

Appery.io Review

Make your own app easily with the only drag-and-drop, Cloud-based app maker that offers off-site tutorials and other features.Full Appery.io Review »

GoodBarber

11th9.6 out of 10€20.00 Per Month

GoodBarber Review

A fantastic app maker that offers sleek themes, various connectors for mixing and matching features, one-click updates, intuitive interface and more.Full GoodBarber Review »

AppMachine

12th8.6 out of 10$49.00 Per Month

AppMachine Review

A great app maker that lets you build an app for free (you only pay when you publish it). You also get great promotion services!Full AppMachine Review »

BuildFire

13th8.4 out of 10$49.00 Per Month

BuildFire Review

A simple app builder with social networking integration and the option to get assistance from professionals. Too bad it has not gained attention yet.Full BuildFire Review »

MobiRoller

14th8.3 out of 10Free

MobiRoller Review

MobiRoller can do better by increasing their app count allowance and bringing add-on prices down a bit, but overall, their package is acceptable.Full MobiRoller Review »

AppMakr

15th8.2 out of 10$1.00 Per Month

AppMakr Review

A great app maker that is quite affordable; it offers a novice-friendly creation process, cross platform support, a solid live chat feature, and more.Full AppMakr Review »

Mobile Roadie

16th8.2 out of 10$49.00 Per Month

Mobile Roadie Review

Used by some worldwide famous clients such as Harvard, Katy Perry, and Dallas Mavericks; you can expect posh and functional app creations.Full Mobile Roadie Review »
Also, here are some important things we looked at for our rankings.

What Makes A Great App Maker?

Looking to build an application on your own? Be warned: developing a high quality app from scratch is no small undertaking. But, should you be looking to develop in that direction, check out our definitive list of app programming tutorials. For those of you who want a little bit more assistance, the list of app makers and software above should provide more options; read on for explanations of the criteria we used to rank them.

Support and Resources

Getting assistance and solutions when you need them can be the difference between giving up and continuing on, especially when you're flying solo. Reliable and effective customer support can balance out a mediocre or even lacking FAQ and help section on the website. 24/7 availability is particularly a treat, though it's often only offered as part of a premium plan.

A blog and news section or a newsletter, an active social media presence, and a user community with a forum are great resources, too--as well as provided multimedia tutorials and guides. While not required, learning tools are always appreciated.

Features

Let's get the most important facts out of the way: Will you be able to make an app that translates easily for both Android and iOS? How about Windows 10 or HTML5? Will your app be responsive to different display screen sizes? How does the app maker handle app submissions to different online stores? How about white label branding? Depending on your preferences and needs, responses to these questions may eliminate some choices right off the bat.

When it comes right down to it, an app maker's core functionality is, of course, the platform that allows you to actually create apps. As with any builder, the number of built-in tools, pre-made components, integrations provided, and features you can take advantage of do play a huge part in an app maker's overall rating. However, more than just offering a space to work on apps, some companies go beyond the development phase.

A range of services may be available for use after your app is released: notifications, marketing, analytics, and even automatic app updating. Sometimes, you may be locked in; due to not being able to fully export and take your app with you to another maintenance service. Some companies do allow it, though. We take all of these post-release features into account, as well.

Ease of Use

Without a user-friendly interface, there's little point in paying for a service that's supposed to make things easier than just doing it completely by yourself. The right tools depend on the one using them, of course, but it's no surprise that we prefer app makers that you can use without any coding know-how--most of you probably feel the same. Even a gentle learning curve still takes some time to process, and when your bright ideas just can't wait, a workspace that you can understand right away wins out every single time.

More Looks, More Choices

A huge deal breaker is the amount of templates offered--and how easily customizable the said templates are. Source code editing is also something to look out for, if you happen to be more than a beginner. No matter how unique your idea is, you don't want your end product looking like 100 other apps already out in the market. How an app behaves is crucial, but how an app looks is important, too. Function over form only works when you already know how useful your app is--new users won't necessarily have that knowledge. People dress for success; apps are no different.

Value for Money

An app is always a gamble, regardless of how great the initial idea or how successful the business that it will support already is. You have no way of knowing how the market will react, so unless you have a bottomless budget, it makes sense to look for the best value possible--without compromising the features and functions that you need from the app. Different app makers prioritize different things, and you may find that they may put the same features in different subscription tiers. Choose well!

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41 Comments

    • Marcus G
    •  · 

    Appmakr is no longer allowing new users.

    Reply
    • Shawn
    •  · 

    Amazing list here. For our business, we need an app that is individualized for each customer. We would need them to log in and then all the pages of the app would be only showing the content about their account. It looks like most of these builders are for general info about the business and not meant for managing customer account info. For example, if our customers want to review last week’s report about their project they would need a place where they could go in the app and see a list of just their reports. None of the information in our app would be broadcast to our entire audience. Each customer should only be able to see reports and details about their own account. Any of these do that?

    Reply

  • do an update for biznessapps . . let the consumers know that they DOUBLED the prices and do not honor any of their agreements with resellers. their $250 plan is not $400 with less features and no added value. this is just plain greed, they haven’t created a new feature in 5 years just a plain old html wrapper that anyone can make buying scripts from code canyon. they do not offer phone support. and regardless of the price increase the speed is still very sloe.. they import all the information you add about your clients to their database by using their social sharing tools. which is just WRONG. this company is not honest at all. do your research before signing up.

    Reply
    • nemo9813
    •  · 

    Hey, Im sketching up a fitness app that requires a database, graphs, timers, videos, drag an drop features and in built subscription options. I would.prefer to have native apps across android/IOS….Do you have any suggestions as to which App creator to use for this?

    Reply

  • Hi. I wish to know which app makers, in your opinion, offer the highest level of customization in terms of design and functionality even if some coding knowledge is required. Thanks

    Reply
      • Janus Jarapa ➦ Oliver Hoffmann
      •  · 

      Hi Oliver,

      You might want to check out Shoutem. Not only do they offer 200+ customizable layouts, you can also add more functionality via their extension marketplace. And if you want to build your own extensions, they let you do that too!

      Another app maker you might want to check out is Bobile. It allows you to customize just about everything via code. You can add any element or use any layout you wish.

      Hope that helps! 🙂

      Reply
    • Tejas
    •  · 

    Hey, I want to develop an app which is an educational based and which has in-app files downloads, which makes user to download according to his/her needs which needs a good database. So, which would be the database and framework you would recommend me to work on.

    Reply

    • The app makers here don’t really give much leeway (if at all) when it comes to choosing databases and frameworks. If you want to choose those on your own, you’d have to build an app from the ground up.

      As for which app maker platform is a good fit for building educational apps, you might want to take a look at AppyPie. Their Educational App Builder lets you add an e-book repository where you can upload books and let students download content. You can also sell books, add videos, and more.

      Reply
    • sam
    •  · 

    I’m looking to create an app that allows us to send orders to the plumbing merchants, is this possible ? and which app builder would be best for me? I want to be able to access it on iPhone, android and windows phones and also on computer if possible?

    Reply

    • Hi Sam,

      AppsMoment may just be what you’re looking for. Let us know if it works out for you! 🙂

      Reply
        • sam ➦ Janus Jarapa
        •  · 

        its not letting me sign up for a free trial or anything

        Reply
    • Edward
    •  · 

    I’m looking for an app builder that’s visually as good as GoodBarber (or close) but also includes user management, directory listings with map view (and info page for each point of interest), and a rate & review feature where users can rate & review these points of interest. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Edward,

      You might want to check out ShoutEm. On top of built-in maps and check-in features, they have over 40+ extensions that lets you add more functionality to your app.

      Reply
    • Adam
    •  · 

    Looking for an app builder to create an app for test taking. I have a bank of questions for a specific test that someone could take different amounts of random questions out and take tests over and over. Is there any app builders that can do this?

    Reply

    • Hi Adam,

      Appy Pie is probably the closest with their quiz builder module. I’m not 100% sure if you can randomize the questions but maybe they can help you out with that. 🙂

      Reply
    • carmelo
    •  · 

    hola muy buen aporte gracias, me queda una duda, cuando realizas la app y las subes a los markets, que ocurre si dejas de pagar la subcripcion, la pierdes?

    Reply

    • Hola Carmelo,
      Sí, para la mayoría de las plataformas de fabricantes de aplicaciones, una vez que cancele su suscripción, su aplicación se desactivará. Es posible que desee comprobar con el equipo de soporte de la plataforma que le interesa, aunque – sólo para estar seguro.

      Reply
    • Paul
    •  · 

    Hi. Thanks for a nice list. Which apps are best for ecommerce? We have customers runningvopen cart web shops that would benegit of easy to use apps for browsing and ordering products.

    Reply

    • Hi Paul,

      Your best bet, in terms of overall quality, would have to be Shoutem or GoodBarber. While they are not compatible with OpenCart, they do work with Shopify – which is a much better platform. Plus, GoodBarber is also compatible with Amazon and Etsy. Hope that helps! 🙂

      Reply

  • We’ve made a ton of upgrades at Bizness Apps over the past year that I think you’ll all be very impressed with. Tons of new features, user experience improvements, many new app templates, social media sharing features, marketing features, automatic upload technology, automatic screen shot technology, way too many items to list. And we published a record number of apps in 2016! Looking forward to seeing these reviews updated soon. Thanks for all that you do Conparakeet! 🙂

    Reply
      • Janus Jarapa ➦ Andrew Gazdecki
      •  · 

      Hi Andrew,

      Those sound great! We’ll make sure to take a peek at all the improvements you implemented and get the review updated. Cheers! 🙂

      Reply

      • Thanks Janus! Really appreciate it you taking another look at Bizness Apps and I look forward to your updated reviews! Keep up all the great work over at Comparakeet! You guys rock!

        Reply

  • You might want to update the pricing for a number of these apps. For example, appinstitute is listed at $8/month, not quite accurate. In fact, way off. But thanks for the list of app builders and your thoughts/reviews.

    Reply
      • Janus Jarapa ➦ Javier Diaz
      •  · 

      Hi Javier,

      We wrote these reviews quite a while back, so they are definitely in need of an update. Glad you liked them, anyway. 🙂

      Reply

  • I would like to request you to review Ohoshop (ohoshop.in) eCommerce app builder. It is cloud based platform where local businesses can create their app quickly without any IT or coding skills. I must say it is cost effective and easy to use white label solution.

    Reply

    • Hi Mudra,

      We’ll take a look at it and see if it fits our list. Thanks for the heads up! 🙂

      Reply

  • It’s a good list but I think it’s a bit lacking. I live in Australia, I have tried some of them personally and have good experience with it. They are all very useful for making fast mobile applications and each offers different nice features. IMHO iBuildApp, Mobincube and MobiRoller deserve to be on this list. I am sure that such brands will make your list richer and more qualified. Thank you very much for this beautiful list!

    Reply
      • Janus Jarapa ➦ Arturo Gatti
      •  · 

      Hi Arturo,

      Thanks for the suggestions. We will look into them and see if they fit our list. 🙂

      Reply
    • Adam
    •  · 

    Do any of them work with proximity beacons?

    Reply

    • Hi Adam,

      Yes. Your best bet would have to be Goodbarber, thanks to their iBeacons add-on.

      Reply

  • Which of these app creators will not charge after publishing my app or need to maintain a subscription?

    Reply
      • Janus Jarapa ➦ Fabio Puccinelli
      •  · 

      Hi Fabio,

      Unfortunately, as far as I know, we don’t have what you are looking for in our list.

      Reply

      • Janus, thank you for your reply. Is there one you would suggest in using with the least cost?
        I intend to offer my app for free.

        Reply
          • Janus Jarapa ➦ Fabio Puccinelli
          •  · 

          Hi Fabio,

          APPr might be right up your alley. Their services are completely free to use and you can publish your app for free via their APPr community. Be warned though, if you want to publish outside of the APPr community (or a native Android/iOS app), then you would be paying a pretty hefty sum. Another service I would recommend is AppsMoment as they have a free plan that lets you publish 1 app. They also have a fairly affordable paid Starter plan.

          Reply
      • Joel ➦ Fabio Puccinelli
      •  · 

      Hello Fabio,

      If you are still looking for an app builder which does not require a subscription, I suggest you have a look at Siberian CMS. It’s free, and it’s open-source so you can add your own features and modifications if you want to. You can install it on your server (like you would do with WordPress), and the app you create with it is yours, unlike with all the providers listed here…

      Reply

  • Now if you want to create a branded native app for internal communications then Connecteam is your choice…and it’s free.

    Reply

    • Hi Eyal,

      We will look into this. Thanks for the heads up!

      Reply
        • Matthew ➦ Chris Roberts
        •  · 

        Surprised to see bizapps listed so low and appmakr not listed at the very very bottom. I’m a white label customer, so a little biased, but I know this industry inside and out. Tested all the listed platforms before making a decision, took weeks… Bizapps top 3 IMO if not #1.

        Reply

        • Hi Matthew,

          Biznessapps is great (which is why it scored 8.4), but the others are, in our opinion, more refined and offer more good than bad compared to Biznessapps.

          Reply
    • Joe
    •  · 

    Hmmrr.. all these app creator sites look like they are from the same company..

    Reply

    • They are from different companies, Joe. 🙂

      Reply