low-code

Retool launches Workflows to go beyond the front end • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 15, 2022Posted in automation service, backend automation, developers, Enterprise, low-code, retool, Software, StartupsNo Comments

Since its launch in 2017, Retool has made a name for itself by offering developers an easier way to build line-of-business apps for their internal users. Unlike the many low-code/no-code tools on the market today, Retool’s focus remains squarely on developers, despite its helpful drag-and-drop interface. Now, about half a year after announcing its $45 million funding round, the company is expanding its feature set by adding new tools for building backend workflows, too. Retool Workflows, as the company named this new feature, makes it easy for developers to create automated processes like cron jobs, custom alerts and standard extract, transform, load (ETL) tasks, using a similar graphical interface as the frontend tool, all while adding a lot more flexibility than tools like Zapier. “Some people try to put us in the no code-space or something. You’ll never hear us ever saying that,” Retool CEO and co-founder David Hsu told me. “The reason for that is we actually don’t believe in it really. I think if you look at tools like for example Airtable or Zapier or stuff like that, we think that’s really great if you have a simple use case or a medium-sized use case — it’s great for that. But if you want to build a really advanced use case, like an internal tool that an Amazon might build, for example, then Zapier will be able to get you 50% there very quickly, but the remaining 50% basically becomes impossible.” Image Credits: Retool Instead of going for a no-code approach, the Retool team always built its service for developers first. “We believe in the power of code,” said Hsu. He also noted that the trend he sees is that more and more people now learn how to code and that this is the trend he wants to bet on — not dumbing down the coding experience. Workflows fits right in here, he argues, because it’s very hard to build a low-code/no-code tool that allows you to build complex workflows without quickly hitting the limitations of what these tools can do without resorting to writing custom code (though we’ve seen quite a few companies try). Hsu noted that a lot of customers were already hacking the Retool app to make some of these capabilities work for them. But instead of firing off a cron job, they would write a script that would automatically click a button in a custom app at a certain time to kick off a workflow, for example (which is apparently what one of Retool’s customers did). “Developers need the flexibility of code. They want a toolset that speeds up work withoutnarrowing their options,” said Jamie Cuffe, Product Lead, Retool. “Retool Workflows aims to abstract away the tedious parts of building automations from scratch while preserving the ability to write code to solve the problem.” The Retool team argues that building regular cron jobs, with their arcane format, is both time consuming and error prone — and the final result is hard to maintain and debug. “I really think there is no developer-focused workflows product that I’m aware of. That is why we’re launching this,” said Hsu. In addition to running scripts at regular intervals, Retool Workflows can also use webhooks for a more event-driven approach. That means it could be used for alerting, in addition to more traditional lightweight ETL applications. Indeed, Hsu said that most users in the Workflows beta got started with alerting and notifications and then transitioned to ETL use cases over time. It’s worth noting that this isn’t so much an enterprise integration tool for moving data between applications but still squarely focused on getting this data into Retool-based line-of-business applications. “We needed an efficient way to translate product data in our warehouse into timely, insightfulreporting in Slack,” said Joel McLean, director of product growth at RE/MAX. “With Retool Workflows, my team can easily configure our resources in one place and focus only on writing the logic unique to our business.” The new service will be priced based on data throughput. Each Retool plan, including the free one, will come with 1GB of Workflows data for free, with overages starting at $50/GB. For now, Workflows is only available as a hosted service, but the team is already working on an on-prem version. That’s how many of Retool’s customers are already using its app building tool, including the likes of Stripe, Brex, Coinbase and Plaid, so it only makes sense for the company to do the same for Workflows.

Meet Budibase, a low-code open-source web app builder with automations • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in Apps, Budibase, Enterprise, low-code, open sourceNo Comments

While there are differing perspectives on the degree to which no-code and low-code development tools could eventually supplant human software developers, it’s clear that any software that takes care of the technical “heavylifting” is having a huge impact within businesses — in terms of opening app-building to more personnel, plugging the talent gap, and helping existing developers focus on more demanding tasks. A quick peek across the recent funding landscape shows little sign of the no-code / low-code movement slowing. In 2022 alone we’ve seen the likes of Webflow draw in $120 million for a no-code website builder; Softr raise a $13.5 million Series A to help companies build apps on top of Airtable databases; Appsmith secure a $41 million Series B to power customized internal business apps; Retool attract a $45 million cash injection for a similar proposition; and Thunkable lock down a $30 million investment for a no-code mobile app development platform. So despite the broader downturn, it seems that 2022 may have been relatively kind to startups operating in the no- and low-code sphere, something that fledgling Northern Irish startup Budibase is capitalizing on with the announcement of a fresh $7 million tranche of funding to further develop an open source web app builder. Founded out of Belfast in 2019, Budibase allows users to connect to an external data source — such as Postgres, MySQL, Oracle, Google Sheets, or Airtable — and develop internal tools or business apps in minutes. Such apps may include anything from customer helpdesk applications, application tracking systems, and inventory management systems, to admin panels, portals, and forms. Budibase: Example business application in action It’s also worth noting that Budibase also packs its own built-in database based on CouchDB, for those looking to build apps entirely from scratch. “Every enterprise we speak with says the same thing — ‘we have a long backlog of internal tool tickets that are holding us back’,” Budibase cofounder Joe Johnston told ZebethMedia. “With Budibase, enterprises are building internal tools and transforming workflows in days, not months, which is a huge cost-saving and catalyst for innovation.” Open sourced One of Budibase’s core selling points is that it’s open source, which gives companies more flexibility and extensibility, but also allows them to host everything themselves — this is particularly important for enterprises with sensitive data they may wish to protect from the SaaS-y clutches of third-party infrastructure. In addition to the free self-hosted version of Budibase, the company also offers a range of premium and enterprise plans with add-on features (such as SLAs and unlimited automation logs) and a fully-managed hosted incarnation. Budibase is somewhat similar to other players in the open source low-code development space, including the aforementioned Appsmith and Joget which, as it happens, announced its first institutional funding earlier this year via a $2.2 million pre-Series A investment. So this highlights the demand not only for no- and low-code app builders, but also the ability to retain full control over company data and gain full insights into what’s going on under the hood. “Enterprises like this because they have access to the codebase, and they can patch it if they need to [which is useful for] risk mitigation,” Johnston said. Automation for the people Budibase is looking to set itself apart in a number of ways, through more subjective elements such as usability, but also through specific differentiators such as built-in automations comparable to something like Zapier. Indeed, Budibase includes automations that are powered by webhooks and actions that are good to go out-the-box, but which can also be customized by the more technically-minded that want to throw their own scripts into the pot. Such automations can cover any number of use-cases, such as automatically approving (or denying) an employee’s leave request through an internal form, or issuing a new inbound lead notification to the sales team at the start of their shift. “We want to deliver a platform that helps developers and non-developers — but technical employees — innovate and accelerate their workplace,” Johnston said. Budibase automation in action A quick peek at Budibase’s homepage reveals a fairly impressive roster of company logos, from Google and Netflix, to Tesla and Disney. At first glance, it would appear that these are fully signed-up Budibase customers, but alas this is not the case — Budibase uses a tracking tool called Scarf to detect which domains are downloading the open source Budibase software. So this doesn’t really tell us all that much about how Budibase is being used at these companies, whether it’s being tested internally or whether it’s simply curious employees downloading it for their own interests. “Employees from some of the companies mentioned are active in our community,” Johnston said. “For example, Scarf told us Google has pulled down the Budibase Docker image over 150 times.” Budibase had raised $1.8 million in seed funding prior to now, and its latest $7 million “seed II” funding round included investments from SignalFire, Angular Ventures, Techstart, and a slew of angel backers.