Knack

Avantages

Great intuitive interface, great software, fair pricing. Now that EU servers are available this makes it a great product for users like me who hold client data and need to comply with EU data privacy laws. I am already delighted with the product, but have seen a beta version of the new builder which in my view takes the produt from excellent to perfect. As a non-technical user (I am no more than a competent excel user) I had never thought I could build my own functioning application. With Knack, I can.

Inconvénients

The standard support hours are based on the US working day so that means we in Europe have to wait. Having said that, if there is an emergency there is 24 hour response there. This is a minor niggle and I guess when Knack grows to dominate the world they will put more support on.

Avantages

The top 3 features I like are
1. the software is easy to create tables, and make relationship connections.
2. The User Manual is comprehensive.
3. The Templates provide real examples of the logic an relationships.

Inconvénients

HTML does not seam to allow a Full Window Width display of Tables.

Avantages

Easy to create web-based apps. Can achieve a variety of tasks using 3rd party tools. You can embed your app in your website.

Inconvénients

The interface is slow and limited. Can be quite clunky and frustrating and trying to work out how to achieve something with the help of Zapier. Customer support stinks. No one is ever able to sort any issues and if you make the slightest mistake or accidental you could break the whole app and be needing a backup which they charge , they quote 1-3 hours usually and takes 3-5 working days so not particularly business friendly. Javascript locks up occasionally in the back end and you're either left waiting and nothing happens or nothing happens when you click the save button. Fairly expensive considering how unpolished the software is and how woefully awful their customer support is. The reliance on Knack/Zapier/Webmerge integration doesn't always work seamlessly and learning to implement it yourself can result in duplicate Webmerges which cost a lot of money too.

Avantages

When I found this software, I nearly jumped for joy. I had been researching no-code database apps for a long time, and this really seemed to fit what we needed it to do. Hats off to Knack for an original-concept.

What's great:
- App building on the backend AND front end. You create your data modules, decide your schema, then decide how it shows up to the users. Set your logins, set the access levels, etc. It's amazing.
- It's extremely easy. Once you get the hang of it, you can make nice looking apps in little time.
- The API is very easy to use and powerful. We us it to build special CMS apps that allow our customers to update content on large interactive touch screens. The data is always reliable.
- The app is responsive, so users can can access public or their private data from mobile devices. It opens up many possibilities for businesses to use this as a CRM, CMS, Accounting, or even a field-service database.
- The in-app support through the chat is great. Staff members are responsive and helpful.

Inconvénients

Take this with a grain of salt. When your whole business runs online like ours, you get used to the idea that no software is ever perfect. There is always something that will grind your gears. Here's some things about Knack that need improvement:
- Community support - my major gripe about Knack is the responsiveness to the community. There are many active users who contribute a lot of great content, ideas, and issues that need solving. Response from Knack in the community is practically non-existent. Even just to say "Good idea, we'll add that to our list"...just let people know they've been heard! Also, in my opinion, there's some very standard features that I can't believe aren't built yet. Sometimes it seems they work on features for a very small niche audience, rather than things that all users can benefit from. (Like drag and drop sorting of records)
- Minimal design freedom on the front end - You can make an app that is extremely functional, but there's not a lot of ways to customize the look and feel of that data for the users. So you may solve some great business issues with Knack, but chances are it won't look super pretty.

Avantages

- Lives up to the "no code" billing many other platforms tout, but with Knack you can actually build a feature-rich app without coding.
- Zapier integration recently improved, greatly expanding the capabilities of the app
- Out of 10-15 database apps I tried, the learning curve was shorter and support documentation was more useful with Knack
- Easy to implement and strong user security/user roles implementation
- Unlike many business-focused app builders, Knack is designed for many users in structure and in pricing model, so it's the best for customer-facing applications (including ecommerce websites)
- Basic subscription plan includes all the features most will need, unlike many apps that pull 1-2 critical features into their mid-tier and enterprise plans.

Inconvénients

- Pricing plan options are slim, and the base plan is a bit more expensive than others in the similar tier.
- Very difficult to style the app in an attractive manner without a fair amount of CSS and/or Javascript understanding (though the standard design is fine and mobile friendly). Limited options for customization in the dashboard.
- Main troubling issue is with how pages and views get created with every menu and link you add..causing a quickly overwhelming page structure and sitemap. Biggest related caution is that when simply deleting a menu item, you could also be deleting an entire page or detail view without clearly being told that (and no way to recover it).