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About WaveMaker

WaveMaker is a scalable, secure, open-standards-based low-code platform that is easy to adopt,embed, and power core enterprise platform

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Pros:

It helps me save time on the op side of the business.

Cons:

The lack of other models of licensing, example: license only for web development - with a lower price.

WaveMaker ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.4
Customer Service
4.6
Features
4.4
Value for Money
4.2

Likelihood to recommend

8.8/10

WaveMaker has an overall rating of 4.6 out 5 stars based on 45 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (45)

Román Josué
Román Josué
Data Science Team Lead in Honduras
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Rapid Application Development? WaveMaker is the answer!

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: When having a project of software development for a web-based app, even if short of time or no, WaveMaker is a great choice as will allow you to spend less time on ordinary tasks and let your developers team concentrate more on the business logic and the functionality of the app.
It really speeds up the development and reduce the time which would take in average.

Pros:

WaveMaker is a great studio to develop web-based applications for Java Developers. As it uses the latest technologies and frameworks your app will be up to date for a long term. It uses the MVC arquitecture, on both frontend and backend, and there's a clear separation between this last two. Something I really like is that WaveMaker is like a combination of code generator for the tedious and cumbersome parts, while you still have full control of everything and can change it as required.

Cons:

I really loved the desktop version, and I'm missing that they no longer support it. My favorite version was the 6.7.0 RELEASE, even if having some bugs, the desktop version was something great!

Pramati Response

6 years ago

Thanks Roman! Really appreciate your time for this review. Keep trying WaveMaker. Regards, #Team WaveMaker

Zarrar
US
, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Wavemaker is the ultimate development platform, comparing to open source

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: This platform is most hidden from anywhere in Google search. When you're looking for website, or software development, you come across a patchwork of tools which are haphazardly used to create a workflow. Anything from database schema tools, front end, back end, security all require a tremendous amount of time and effort. Our case use was creating a video sharing service. We analyuzed WordPress, Drupal, and many others which worked with AWS, CloudFront. The primary reason for choosing Wavemaker was we did not need to install anything, or rely on the multitude of dependencies like in WordPress or Drupal plugins and modules. We wanted to create a custom application but we had little time and budget. We went through many RAD (rapid application development) environments which lacked standardization of libraries like jQuery, HTML5, or even multi platform support like iOS, Anddroind and web. We tried everything and virtually every language including PHP. We realized we wanted to work with Java because of its vast libraries which are mature and time tested. With Wavemaker we were using Java but without being stuck in a boilerplate nightmare or manual coding. With wavemaker, we defined our database schema. Then with a very intuitive GUI were able to construct the various screens with this data and make a very quick but fully functioning prototype with fully aesthetic control, and fully responsive. We were able to configure security, users, role, and permissions very thoroughly right out-of-the-box with any additional Java libraries or customizations. If you're familiar with WordPress, or Drupal, then you know that coming to point of a projects require a host of third party add-ons creating the dependency and update process that is perpetual. Java and Wavremaker rarely needs so many updates if at all every few years. While open source and its many varieties claim to be FREE in cost, and ease of development, as well as ease of usage by end users, after looking at Wavemaker, this is far from the truth. The initial cost of open source projects maybe free, but to develop anything of value and enterprise grade is very costly and filled with hurdles. Wavemaker includes everything one could need to create robust applications for the browser, iOS and Android by automating the most routine tasks and reducing the need to code Java by more than 80%. If you must use Java, and I suggest you do, Wavemaker is it.

Pros:

Ease of use. Every tool imaginable on other open source solutions requiring a plugin or module are already available. The database schema tool is far beyond other third party tools. The GUI form building, data linking, and aesthetic control are that of a desktop app. The level of sophistication is above just rapidly developing and app. Wavemaker is also a very sophisticated IDE for Java. The list of Wavemaker features and uses is beyond the scope of this Capterra entry. Coming from the world of WordPress and Drupal, I have ditched them both in favor of Java and Wavemaker.

Cons:

In the beginning the price and available features were odd. For nearly $10,000 per year you could acquire a Wavemaker license for ONE app. After some time, Wavemaker now offer unlimited app development for $99 per month. So there are no CONS at this point in my experience with Wavemaker. Customer service is awesome.

Ayesha
Ayesha
Manager in India
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Developed a Leave Management system within weeks for our startup

3.0 7 years ago

Pros:

It is fast compared to other players in aPaaS space, feature rich and efficient. Its took only weeks to create a Leave management software.

Cons:

Wave maker can get really expensive, particularly for a start up business like ours. Hope they come up with a better pricing model

Pramati Response

7 years ago

Thanks for the review, Ayesha. Enjoy & keep trying WaveMaker. And do let us know any concerns: [email protected]. Regards, Team #WaveMaker

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source
Source: GetApp

The most affordable and capable platform compared to market leaders in RAD space.

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

We were tasked with creating some internal applications for our firm, we have tried out many platforms like OutSystems and Mendix which proved to too costly and some tools like KissFlow and Zoho Creator which are no where near the capabilities offered by WaveMaker. There are a lot of other tools which claim that they are alternatives to WaveMaker but that is far from truth. WaveMaker offers a variety of functionalities and tools which will enable you to create great business class applications where as the claimed alternatives are just form builders, one observation that we had from our journey of finding a good RAD platform is that most of the tools are just form builders and they claim to be equal to WaveMaker, one interesting fact is that you can create similar applications on Microsoft Excel rather than using KissFlow or ZohoCreator. I would not want to go into details but WaveMaker is a great tool if you are interested in creating great applications. It is affordable and their customer services team is amazing.

Cons:

There is very little you can think of when you are paying a very small amount. WaveMaker is easily the most affordable platform which has so many capabilities. I do not understand why the claimed market leaders OutSystems and Mendix charge so much where as WaveMaker charges only 10% of OutSystems and Mendix. WaveMaker offers great freedom to move your applications out of their platform but OutSystems and Mendix do not allow users to move application away from their platform. WaveMaker is a great tool but I fail to understand why this is not so popular.

Krishna
US
Used the Software for: Not provided
Reviewer Source

RAD platform for Java Web & Mobile applications I have been waiting for

4.0 8 years ago

Comments: WaveMaker is the Rapid Application Development environment for the Java world that I have been waiting for about a decade, to help develop web and mobile applications. Built on latest tech stack (Bootstrap, Angular, Spring, Hibernate etc.) with no vendor lock-in or proprietary code.

Pros:

With the widgets and service building framework you would be able to write a SQL to create RESTful webservice integrate with the widgets in a matter of minutes to create responsive web & mobile applications. Easy to build navigation and assign security for the pages or services with support for multiple roles. The ability to create partial pages makes your UI modular and reusable in many places easily. Custom business logic can be created as handwritten Java services. Seasoned web developers should be able to get trained within a week or so and start being productive. With some training simple functionality, reports etc can even be built by business users having the basic technical background. The platform is a lot more stable now than what it was when I started using 1.5 years ago. Knowledgeable and prompt support helps you get around any issues or help using the platform. Expecting server-side validation framework in the next release, which should help tighten the ability to build business logic on the server side instead of purely relying on client side validations.

Cons:

Expected areas of improvement for coming releases (as of April 2017) Impact to existing application functionality due to platform version upgrades need to be improved by ensuring backward compatibility for all changes and by making the previous version of the platform available for a short period after the upgrade without forcing apps to migrate with no option. Would make it even more suitable for enterprise applications with additional enhancements around configurable server-side validation and workflows. Given that the platform is Angular/JSON heavy, by nature of how search engines work making it SEO ready could a challenge. Overall, I strongly recommend WaveMaker for small companies as well as enterprises looking for a robust RAD platform.

Terence
Principal in US
Information Technology & Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

RAD Platform - hype or real?

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: I had been looking for many years for a platform/framework that would satisfy my need for developing web based and mobile applications. I tried the usual Deamweaver, Embarcedero, Telerik platfoms and none of them lived up to the hype of RAD. I had used Wavemaker (5, 6) many years ago when it was open source and was surprised when they changed to a subscription based pricing model last year. I decided to kick the tires with an evaluation last September... and now I'm a paying customer. My proof-of-concept and proof-of-RAD was based on my skills:
1) I am a quick study wth programming languages & databases but don't have the depth of knowledge
2) I don't have the mastery of Javascript & CSS that is fundamental to modern UI's
3) I did not want to break the bank
4) I needed a single platform for web / mobile development (a single codebase is still a dream)
I was pleasantly surprised by the rich feature set baked into Wavemaker and even though it's not perfect - the support staff is willing to work with you on issues that are not inherently intuitive or doable - it's worth paying for. All in all I am satisfied with the product.

Pros:

The platform is hosted and updated regularly. The features are complete from DB design, import schemas, query, procedures, web services, UI widgets and plain old javascript provide all the tools in a central development environment.

Cons:

There is always the learning curve to deal with but this is normal for any platform. I have yet to find something that is a problem. A few browser artifacts while scrolling and switching between design and runtime mode are minor inconveniences.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Networking, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good tool to make app for POC

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: We can develop apps and good speed but only to POC..

Pros:

Drag and drop of the UI elements which generates the angular js code under the hood.. and single tool for both android and ios app

Cons:

Less scope for customisation.. and less default templates

chris
CTO in UK
Information Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Great Tool but beware pricing

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: We undertook a trial of the product based on online reviews and articles. From a UX point of view and meeting the need for 98% codeless programming Wavemaker is extremely well designed and implemented.
The learning curve is not too steep, although online materials arent as user friendly as the product interface, and within a month we had built our first fully functioning app (reasonably complex) and had gone through UAT and deployment, incredible speed considering from a standing start.
The support team were incredible, very responsive and helpful.
Then towards the end of the trial we contacted the sales team to purchase the monthly developer licence mentioned on this and other sites, unfortunately this option was withdrawn from the market and that the current pricing model is an eyewatering per month per application! This price is justified as it included AWS hosting, bearing in mind a medium AWS EC2 instance cost roughly per month, this clearly points to wavemaker withdrawing itself from the SME market only being interested in very large enterprises running apps that would need XLarge AWS instances. In short excellent tool, but unless you are looking at hosting an expensive bill anyway not really worth undertaking the trial.

Pros:

UX, ease of development and deployment, support team excellent

Cons:

cost model is for large enterprises only, and only for applications that will have a very clear ROI. $99 developer licence no longer available, $24k per year per application. Prior reviewers mentioned at $99 not even a decision to be made, and i would agree but at this price point also no decision to be made but in the opposite direction.

Carlos
Carlos
Head of IT in Brazil
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Amazing tool for develper and their customers

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Is good, but for me the cost is very expensive, once my team is very small.
And... the control of database should be more easy than it is nowadays, for example import and export data could be easier than now... Allowing the developer to create link with their servers, ,strucuture instead of to be hold only inside the database on cloud;
The Help Manuals and tutorial should be update often;
The others function ready to use can be included:
-PayPal (or other);
-Integration with Instagram, Twitter, etc...
-Report tools (for printers);
-IA;
-AR/VR;
-Thinking as community once a developers can help one each other in many projects inside the WaveMaker, onde the project can be considered shared or not.

Pros:

PROS: easy to hadle it; many functions ready to use; Totally SaaS; VCS included and 100% functional; Quickly to test even in many devices;

Cons:

Cons: The documentation need to updated quicky,. There are many features out of date or does not working as expected. For instance: user control and security; export data (dump); camera;

Pramati Response

5 years ago

Thanks a lot Carlos for the detailed review! We will evaluate and try to accommodate your suggestions in our next product releases. Keep trying WaveMaker!

Li-Da
Li-Da
Manager, Supply Chain BPR APAC in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

i have achieved more than expected -- learned and developed first app for my startup within 3 weeks

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

Wavemaker has great customer support (fast response and step by step guidance) which is the major reason I decided to subscribe a plan. A true RAD platform, yet it provides flexibility for complex coding. A cloud platform allow me code anywhere at anytime.

Cons:

Hope there is a special pricing which is more friendly to small startup like mine :) and introduce more prefabs especially in area of payment gateway.

Rodrigo
Developer in Brazil
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

WM enables us to do many times as much with limited headcount.

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: Development speed and less bugs on final developed application.

Pros:

The speed we have from concept to product is paralleled only by much more expensive tools like IBM VisuaAge, currently available only to high end risc workstations. The support is by large the best part in WM. The support team is always solicit and ready to pursue and provide any need for either support or information on how to do things with the tool.

Cons:

WM would benefit greatly if had a planned roadmap ahead in time. Sometimes corrections and new features are expected and hence we face difficulties planning ahead in time without such information from WM product management. We have the release notes, of course, but only a few days before a release is actually made available.

Pramati Response

7 years ago

Thanks for the review, Rodrigo. Enjoy & keep trying WaveMaker. And do let us know any concerns: [email protected]. Regards, Team #WaveMaker

Rekha
India
Information Technology & Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Maarga Systems

4.0 8 years ago

Comments: We have developed two applications for our POC so far. During that phase we found wavemaker is real a Rapid application development tool. Implementation of Security and its features is very easy to apply. We are able to build a professional and responsive ui build in a quick period. All menus are user friendly especially for developers. Navigation and validations are easy to implement. Excellent customer support, whenever we need response for any issue we got the replies on time. Follow ups on pending items by support team and their punctual in replies are highly impressive. Wherever we need any custom function to be implemented we can achieve it using angular JS and Jquery is an added advantage.

Pros:

1. Responsive UI is very pleasant 2. Easy configurable and very well defined Security 3. Functionality can be quickly achieved. 4. Technical Support guidance for any issues. 5. Online References We are able to find many references for Wavemaker which is a vital factor for developers or fresher who start with wavemaker 6. RAD Quickly we can develop apps 7. DB connectivity 8. Versioning control option is good 9. Deployment procedure is simple 10. Backup / restore process is easy to use 11. Interface points / API support are extensive

Cons:

1. Support for more databases would be welcome 2. Error logs can be more user friendly 3. Better support for rich text would be good 4. Ability to create scheduler jobs would be good

Dejan
Information Technology and Development of software in Slovenia
, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Excellent software development environment

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: Experience excellent. I started with version 6.7, and now I develop in version 8.0 and see the progress. I graduated with WaveMaker development platform software, where I presented the tool and developed a web application. I am particularly impressed by your support, which is quick and friendly. I am pleased with the entire team.

Pros:

I am impressed with the development of software platforms and support.

Cons:

I have no bad experiences or observations. I hope that you will continue in the future as well focused on the development.

Martin
Developer in Australia
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Wavemaker 8.x Online review

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: My Experience with this product is that it is outstanding. If its all about speed and accuracy then I give Wavemaker 10/10. The Wavemaker Studio product is very professional and well worth the cost of a paid subscription. Support is always prompt and the engineering support team get my issues resolved quickly. Overall I would not bother looking anywhere else for a product that does what Wavemaker does. All their claims on their website are accurate!.

Pros:

Fast, lightweight and flexible. Easy to adapt to any hosting situation or app store.

Cons:

It is a cloud studio so I have concerns about untrusted environments. Also there were concerns about the default setting for C3PO Database connector.

FABIANO
Developer in Brazil
Computer Software, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Satifaction

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Deadlines.

Pros:

speed development, practicality, online.

Cons:

Price, timezone support, intermediate price for small business

Pramati Response

5 years ago

Thanks a lot Fabiano for the review. Will surely consider your suggestions as inputs for our future product releases. Keep trying WaveMaker!

Giovanni
Italy
Used the Software for: Not provided
Reviewer Source

One of the best RAD

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: Hi everybody, We would like to give our personal review about WM platform. Months ago we were struggling with the choice of a RAD platform to choose in order to speed up our developing process.
We tried many of them with similar architecture, but since we had experiences in the past with the community edition, after a long talk with sales' manager, we ended up buying a licence with WM.
From our point of view this platform it's a great combination for nowadays developers, it allow us to manage the source code in order to personalize as much as we can the code, but at the same time it offer so many options that reduces incredibly the amount of time spent for each project. Support is great, through email and directly from the Online Studio's chat. We had the need of sending several questions and we always had a fast and kind feedback. Plaftorm is being updated often and the road map seems to be very interesting for the future,we hope that small business we'll always be in WM's plans(Even though rate plans seems to be going just for enterprise) PROs: Architecture,Easy of Use,Support CONs: Documentation The only point in which we would work more is the documentation, there's a lack of some usefull information. It would be very nice to have a community in which users can share their questions and their purposes. WM should work on this. Anyway we are really satisfied of our choice.
Great product for the value,
Thanks again,
GeoDataLab Staff.

joel
master of all in US
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great Service

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: It is a very useful and straightforward service available from anywhere.

Pros:

It Just works. Good User Experience. It helps me save time on the op side of the business

Cons:

Some configurations are missing. like automatic late payment management, and also credit card payment paid by the payee is missing.

Pramati Response

5 years ago

Thanks Joel for the review. Will try to include your suggestions in our future product roadmap. Keep trying WaveMaker!

Eduardo
CTO in Brazil
Information Technology & Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

The next RAD generation - Focusing on Business needs

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: With WM, you can develop a entire web application in days, with all the robustness and Security of Java and with the ease of Drag & Drop.

Pros:

We like: The Platform which WM is based (Development with Java for Web) and its User Interface (Drag & Drop). Today, the web development on Java is complex, with multiple frameworks, patterns, annotations, configurations, XMLs and so on. With WM, all of this is abstracted from you, allowing you to put focus on the development of the business needs, reducing dramatically the development time.

Cons:

The lack of other models of licensing, example: license only for web development - with a lower price ;)

Don
Mobile Developer/.Net Developer in US
Hospital & Health Care, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Absolute Best Enterprise Tool Available - Period!

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: The documentation for the Mobile development - currently is a little weak. But, i have emailed a fella named Madhu, and him and Wavemaker's staff has went out of their way to help me - SEVERAL times - and i haven't signed up yet - but I will be signing up this Friday, Aug 26, 2016.

Pros:

Very well put together platform. Very good - no, excellent support. Very knowledgeable staff. They even built a couple of small demo apps for me to help me understand things. Overall - the best Web-Based MBaaS Platform, or in general, Mobile Development Platform on the Web running in a Browser. And - it was originally built by VMWare - another very big Pro.

Cons:

Documentation for mobile a little weak, but they are improving every day, but meanwhile, they have online chat that responds to you in minutes, helps you resolve issues everytime.

Nicholas
IT Director in US
Retail, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Great rapid development platform!

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: There is a bit of a learning curve, but thankfully their email support is top notch. Wave maker allows us to build awesome universals apps very very quickly.

Pros:

100% cloud based, great customer support, tremendous uptime.

Cons:

Very little documentation, or it all seems to be scattered and for an older version. Had to teach myself much of this platform

Greg
Logistics System Specialist in Australia
Government Administration, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Quick and relatively easy platform to develop complicated applications.

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

We have a mass project and desided to give this tool a go with the reasoning that we can take our code at any time anywhere and continue to write it with professional developers when we run short on knowledge. Otherwise with minimal research we have so far been able to develop quite complex applications. The support provided by the wavemaker team is quick and accurate with minimal discussion.

Cons:

As the software develops step at a time it would be great to see more pre built features for the device and the application. Assuming this is mostly used for business development it would be good to see device barcode and peripherals integrated.

Ken
Managing Partner in US
Hospital & Health Care, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

occasional user

4.0 5 years ago

Pros:

I like the low code development capability.

Cons:

I would like a way to access the tool on a sporadic/pay-as-you-need basis. I've developed an application using the tool and I need to make changes every couple of months, but it doesn't justify paying the monthly fee for the months that I don't need the tool.

Pramati Response

5 years ago

Thanks for the review, Ken. We will try to accommodate your concerns into our plans very soon. Keep using WaveMaker!

Nome
Tech in American Samoa
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Really good support and tools

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: The support is paralleled in my 12 years of working in ICT. The tools are also very very powerful and you can actually do a lot with it. So many options I still have not explored.

Pros:

It is easy enough to use. You can literally run an app in a few minutes. On the surface it seems simple but make no mistake. Under the hood there is a lot more customization you can do

Cons:

While it is simple enough to use on the surface. To do really advance stuff there is a steep learning curve. There are a lot of help and training materials available though and of course the stellar support.

Desmond
Systems Administrator in Zimbabwe
Packaging & Containers, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Let's talk Rapid Application Development!

4.0 6 years ago

Pros:

WaveMaker makes it easier and faster for the rapid development of applications. What I like most in using WaveMaker is the built in templates when designing UI.

Cons:

I can be a little difficult to learn to use the software, but when you grasp the concepts you are good to go.

Pramati Response

6 years ago

Thanks a lot Desmond Chigariro for the review. Keep trying WaveMaker!

Vineet
Director, Engineering in India
Used the Software for: Not provided
Reviewer Source

Radically change the entire process of building apps

5.0 9 years ago

Comments: Wavemaker is a boon for startups like us as it helped us build prototypes quickly and effectively. It enabled us to test some of the most difficult potential parts of the system early on in the life-cycle. Finding problems earlier in the life-cycle rather than later was a key benefit. The earlier a problem can be found the cheaper it is to address. It uses wysiwyg visual builder that allows quick app building, and hence for prototyping, the business analyst could directly get it done. The best part is that it is not just for prototyping, we later on went ahead and built upon the prototype to build a full fledged enterprise app. We had an option to pick from a huge bag of themes and templates (for both mobile and web). Also had an option to extend the platform for our customised needs. The first prototype we built was developed in less than week instead of 20+ days as estimated initially.