Appsheet vs Powerapps - Blog

Koichi_Tsuji · 02-05-2020 03:51 PM

My latest blog released Today, but for my local market, Japan. but please allow me to share in the community as well, just in case.

https://www.appsheet-japan-community.com/post/appsheet-vs-powerapps

tcanelli

I really want to read this but cant get it to translate to English.

Jonathon

Awesome Tsuji, the AppSheet vs powerapps discussion has been very relevant to me and my employer recently.

I very much would like to read your article but I also can’t get it to translate.

Koichi_Tsuji

Hi @Jonathon @tcanelli

Thank you for your comment.
Let me briefly recap the topic I posted on my blog.

I made a title as catchy as possible, it is Appsheet VS PowerApps ??
However, I wanted to stress the point of “question mark” attached to it.

All in all, I expressed my opinion that the comparison between Appsheet and PowerApps should NOT be relevant, because of the reason for the difference in the “category” both web app belong to. Appsheet is for sure deemed as NO-CODE platform. No doubt.
On the other hand, PowerApps is “LOW_CODE” Discussion App Maker vs Appsheet. Thats same thing. App Maker is low code platform.

The words of 1) Low Code and 2) No code, sounds similar. But in fact it is totally and moreover completely different.

I borrow the WIKI definition to encourage the talks. You may see in my blog, there are three subject to define the concept.

App Creator
Core Design
User Interface

In every subject, each app stands on the other side. For instance, App creator. Appsheet can be use by citizen developer without any knowledge over the code as no code platform. Low code platform like PowerApps are said to be for those who dont have IT and code knowledge they could use. This could be typical example the misunderstanding is happening. As far as I observed, we need a sort of code or knowledge about IT to control low code platform. In terms of PowerApps, it looks like we are doing some sort of Visual Basic, Excel VBA etc. For me, it is part of CODE. For me, moreover tool looked like a HIGH code platform.

Even developing simple app just to capture image and location data, Appsheet is ultra simple, while we need to do some sort of coding on PowerApps.

I listed up other reasons that Appsheet and Powerapps is completely different platform, which are not compared as Apple vs Apple, as it is apple vs orange type of relatoinship.

Anyway, if the user do have a knowledge even tiny over the coding or VBA, visual basic or alternative, it is found rather easy to play with PowerApps. Otherwise, it is not.

Low Code platform give flexibility to users to customize the app, like UI stuffs. Thats one of the beauty. For those who dont have HTML , CSS, there is no way for them to control such a low code app.

So the comparison between Appsheet and PowerApps should not be relevant, as we compare apple and orange, that s what i concluded in my blog.

pravse

If anyone in the community is exploring AppSheet vs PowerApps, I have a request — please let me know why? It helps me/us learn. Is it because Microsoft reps are pushing PowerApps? It it because your IT department has already purchased PowerApps as part of an O365 bundle? Is it because of relative weaknesses in the AppSheet product?

And if your company chooses PowerApps instead of AppSheet, again, I’d respectfully request — please let me know why. While we’d like to be chosen every time, there’s times we will not be. I hope we will learn and improve from this knowledge.

Jonathon

@praveen

Corporately its easier to pitch a microsoft product than standalone SaaS products. PowerApps is also marketed to organizations already working in the Microsoft ecosystem with subtle integrations with Sharepoint, etc. Therefore its more likely to be on peoples radars who otherwise would never have considered a RAD product. I’m sure this isn’t news to you and I’m not sure how AppSheet can help with this.

One concern that has been bothering me lately is the long term plans of Google and AppSheet. It is concerning to see how quickly Google was willing to kill AppMaker with no warning to the early adopters. While it is reassuring that I seem to have planted my flag on the ‘winning side’, per-se, that isn’t a gamble I enjoy staking my reputation upon. I wonder what sort of commitment AppSheet & Google Cloud are willing to make with enterprises who decide to use their product?

When pitting AppSheet against other RAD products, AS has remained a pretty obvious choice for me. Unfortunately all of the ease-of-use and related benefits go out the window if the product ceases to exist and the work goes out the window.

Jonathan_S

One concern that has been bothering me lately is the long term plans of Google and AppSheet. It is concerning to see how quickly Google was willing to kill AppMaker with no warning to the early adopters. While it is reassuring that I seem to have planted my flag on the ‘winning side’, per-se, that isn’t a gamble I enjoy staking my reputation upon. I wonder what sort of commitment AppSheet & Google Cloud are willing to make with enterprises who decide to use their product?

This scares me as well. I really like would some assurance this wont happen to appsheet regarding appmaker.

pravse

@Jonathan_S, please see https://groups.google.com/g/appmaker-users/c/Hwvg6YoLtSo/m/RxYtHYmGBAAJ

Koichi_Tsuji

Hi Praveen this link to URL is not working .

pravse

Are you sure? I’m trying it and it works for me.

Anyway, here’s what Amit said there …

Amit Zavery

5:30 PM (4 hours ago)

to App Maker Users

Hi ,

I am VP and Head of Platform at Google Cloud. I drove the AppSheet acquisition because we firmly believe no-code app platforms are a key long-term trend for the industry. We saw that thousands of Google customers were already using AppSheet and we decided to double-down on it. We have clear plans to invest further, and broaden/deepen the capabilities of the platform.

In short, AppSheet is an important and strategic bet for us. I know that the transition off App Maker is painful and there isn’t a perfect mapping to AppSheet. I sincerely empathize with you on this front. As you have seen, we are trying to ease this transition by including AppSheet PRO with your G Suite accounts, and providing training and transition help. Jennifer, Praveen and the AppSheet Google team are trying to help in every way we can. I firmly believe that in the medium-term as we continue to make investments in AppSheet technology, you will realize significant benefits from this transition and it will accelerate your business.

Looking forward to earning your trust back and engaging further.

Thanks

Jonathan_S

Thanks @praveen