Zoho Creator and Filemaker are platforms that easily create custom apps for your organizational needs. Utilizing these programs a business could easily build apps to manage their invoices, inventory, contacts, and more. Both Zoho Creator and Filemaker are popular and well reviewed which leaves you wondering, "what are the differences between these two programs?"
In this article, we will outline the differences between Zoho Creator vs Filemaker so that you can make an informed decision on purchasing the program that is best fit for you.
It should be noted that as Zoho Authorized Partners we think Zoho Creator offers more features at a price that is more affordable than what FileMaker offers. While they share similarities, Zoho Creator UI is so intuitive you will be able to quickly develop solutions for your organization, automate reoccurring tasks (saving you time), and do a lot more for less money.
Without further ado, here are the differences between Zoho Creator and FileMaker.
* Zoho Creator is hosted on its own secure Cloud infrastructure while FileMaker is hosted on a third party.
Accessibility and Functionality
While on paper it appears that these two app building programs are similar there are major differences that separate them. One of the major differences is their user interface and accessibility. Zoho Creator was built not only for developers and those who know how to code, but also the individual who has never coded a day in their life. This allows users to utilize every app component with a simple drag-and-drop builder.
This simplicity doesn't water down the functionality of their program, because Zoho Creator has features that allow developers to use HTML, Sandbox, Application IDE, CSS editor, Deluge Scripting, SDKs, APIs, and more. With this functionality, a user has a great degree of customization that allows not only simple, but also advanced apps to be built. In addition, the user interface in Zoho Creator can be customized with different themes to fit your needs and preferences.
While FileMaker boasts about its ease of use, it's not quite as intuitive as Zoho Creator and seems more suited primarily for developers/IT professionals. FileMaker does offer a drag-and-drop builder for apps requiring forms and reports, but does not include a drag and drop builder for creating pages.
Getting started Zoho Creator offers 60+ full featured custom apps that are ready for immediate use. They can be used for templates, but they also are complete and ready to be used too. You can view all of these apps over at the App Deck. You will find a number of useful pre-built apps such as...
FileMaker currently has only 3 pre-made templates that you will be able to choose from. You can read more about these templates on their template webpage. These templates are meant to be built upon for your workplace needs. The templates that are provided are...
Zoho Creator automatically will create the native mobile app version, while FileMaker Go will be required for mobile apps to be created if you're using FileMaker.
There are many features to consider between Zoho Creator vs FileMaker, but you will also want to consider the pricing plans between these two app builders. There is a substantial difference in pricing and the features offered between the plans offered by these two companies which are outlined below.
Basic - $10 (per user per month billed annually)
Premium - $20 (per user per month billed annually)
Ultimate - $35 (per user per month billed annually)
Zoho Creator pricing plans vary depending on your storage needs, number of users, and how many apps you will be creating. The Ultimate Plan offers unlimited storage and no cap on the number of apps you can create. See here for more details on Zoho Creator's pricing plan.
FileMaker's offers a number of price plans which you can view here for complete details. Their Essentials plan is $19 a month and is limited to 5 users and the creation of 3 apps. Storage for the essential plan is 2 GB of FileMaker Data per user/per year.
Their next plan is the Standard Plan which costs $39 a month. The Standard plan allows for 125 apps to be built and 6 GB of data to be stored for 5 users.
FileMaker's price plans become more confusing, because you also have the option of purchasing an individual license to use FileMaker's program and than separately buy cloud hosting from Amazon Web Hosting Services to host your apps. You can read more about this option with the link for their complete pricing details above.
Pros
Cons
If you're thinking about transitioning from FileMaker you should know that there is no cost to migrating your data to Zoho Creator. Zoho Creatore has a migration tool that makes it easy to do. The tool is able to import data from .xls, .xlsx, .csv, and .tsv files.
Zoho Creator has the power and features to aid your organization. Start saving time, money, and try it out today! Zoho Creator has a free trial so you can get a feel for how the program works. You do not need to be a programmer to build incredible applications with its drag and drop builder you will be able to build apps in minutes.
Have more questions about Zoho Creator? Contact us! We are highly trained Zoho Partners who are here to help. Click here for a free Zoho Consultation
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