Backendless

What the product is

Backendless is a full-stack visual app development platform: a codeless backend with a visual database and API services, plus a UI Builder for the front end of web and mobile apps. Its Partner Plan page says it is built for agencies and freelance developers, and the pricing page speaks to individuals and small businesses on its cloud and to medium to large enterprises and established businesses through a self-installed edition. The company contrasts itself with "most low-code or no-code solutions that focus on either frontend or backend". The footer names Backendless Corp. with an address in Plano, Texas. The homepage now also leads with AI automation through FlowRunner, which it presents alongside the app builder.

What you build and how

The backend is the center of the product. Backendless Core is described as a complete mobile backend with user authentication, data persistence, file storage, messaging and custom business logic. You work in a visual relational database with a schema modeler, database views, a graphical data browser and SQL-driven search, and the features page adds caching, a key-value store called Hive, real-time data, pub/sub messaging, centralized logging and geolocation with geofences.

Logic and APIs come in two forms. Codeless is a visual logic builder: you build and test logic in the Console, then deploy and reuse it. Cloud Code covers the coded route, in three forms the features page names: API Services, API Events Handlers and Cloud Code Timers. You can write Java or JavaScript/Node.js and turn it into an API, debug it locally with CodeRunner and deploy it to the cloud. Every deployed service becomes an API microservice with its own native SDKs and REST APIs, and Backendless generates API documentation automatically, which the company says is compatible with many external services, plus client SDKs for iOS, Android, JS and .NET.

User management is part of the backend. The homepage names "18+ third-party authentication providers" and session management tools, along with custom emails, push notifications and scaling on managed serverless infrastructure. The features page lists registration, login, logout and password recovery APIs, social logins, and a multi-tier permission system for files, messaging channels, geolocation data and the database as a whole. It also covers the user lifecycle: landing pages built from templates and published with Backendless or on your own domain, email marketing with customizable templates, A/B testing and user segmentation, and personalized, schedulable push notifications.

For the front end, the UI Builder is a visual editor for web and mobile apps. You assemble visual components and attach codeless logic that reads the Backendless database. The company describes a toolkit of basic building blocks for anything from simple MVPs to advanced apps, plus prebuilt app templates, page templates, custom functions and free App Blueprints. Design control runs through global Themes, extensions built from CSS/LESS, SEO settings, third-party libraries and multiple languages. Delivery is a one-click web deploy with SSL included, mobile through Backendless Viewer and Flutter Shell, and CDN integration.

Mobile is covered two ways. You can build in the UI Builder, or you can code against SDKs. The developer pages list JavaScript, Android, iOS and Flutter. The Flutter SDK targets Android and iOS builds and implements all available Backendless APIs, and the Android/Java SDK does the same. Both come with quick start guides and a real-time database integration guide. A code generation tool produces iOS, Android or JavaScript client code from starter projects such as Login and Chat apps.

The Marketplace extends the platform with plugins and services. The features page names a 2FA login with TOTP, a CSV/Excel import and export plugin, Login with Apple, an image processor, PDF generators, Twilio for SMS and phone authentication, Clearbit, an OpenAI API service, Amazon S3, Stripe for card payments, and AI audio translation, audio transcription and image generation services. Developers can also sell their own templates there.

Backendless also works as a backend for other visual builders. The integrations menu names FlutterFlow, Bubble, Thunkable, Adalo, AppGyver, Bravo Studio, Draftbit, DronaHQ, Retool, UI Bakery, Webflow, Wix, Zapier and Make, and one developer article explains pairing a FlutterFlow app with a Backendless backend.

Hosting is a real choice. The homepage offers three options: Backendless Cloud, a centralized cloud installation with servers in the U.S. and E.U.; Backendless Pro, a dedicated instance on your own on-premise or cloud servers with on-call support, deployed on a Docker architecture and able to connect external databases; and Managed Backendless, the platform installed anywhere and managed by the company's team. The site says you are never locked in and that your data belongs to you, and the developer pages carry a guide to exporting application data, settings, data tables and geopoints.

The evidence from the pages

Backendless has a free plan on its cloud: "register to instantly start building your app on the free plan where you can experience all the features of the platform, no credit card required". Beyond that the pricing page speaks of "affordable paid plans" matched to server resource and database needs and links to a full pricing table. The plan names that appear are Springboard and Cloud 9; the Partner Plan page notes that super scaling is active automatically on Cloud 9 and above, and that the roles-based security system is included on all paid plans.

The Partner Plan has a published price. It lets you create up to 20 apps at once on Backendless Cloud, all on the Springboard plan, which the page describes as having high limits and access to virtually every feature except publishing the app for public use. It costs $75 a month paid annually or $90 a month paid monthly, with unlimited team members. Team members create their own free account and must sign up with a corporate email address. When an app is ready, the Ownership Transfer feature hands it to the client, who must then choose a paid plan; keeping the cloned development version on Springboard costs a $50 one-time fee. Backendless puts no logo or watermark on apps. Partners are vetted, get priority support over the forum and Slack channel, and join a monthly roadmap call.

Backendless Pro is described as having "FREE Licensing" and "Limitless Functionality", installable on a developer's computer, a private data center or a public cloud, with unlimited data retrieval, API calls, cache storage, Cloud Code and push notifications. Managed Backendless is a paid subscription with 24x7x365 monitoring by server administrators and DevOps engineers.

The customers page tells several stories. YTCount started as a side project and has grown to over 60,000 monthly active users on iOS alone. Digital Copel by FUNX offers lessons for children ages 0 to 6. Delevante Technologies used Backendless to build a bolt-on feature and then grew it into a full rebuild of legacy software. A strategy manager quoted on the homepage, Charles F., wrote: "It's nice to learn one tool that meets so many needs."

Who it suits and who it does not

Backendless suits an agency or freelancer who builds apps for clients and wants one backend platform for many of them. The Partner Plan covers 20 apps with unlimited team members and a clean handover to the client. It also suits a team that wants a visual backend and a path into code, since the SDKs, Cloud Code and CodeRunner sit beside Codeless, and a no-code front end on FlutterFlow, Bubble or Adalo that needs a real database behind it. The self-hosted Pro edition and the managed option make it relevant to organizations with rules about where software runs.

The caveats are about clarity and learning. The cloud tiers sit on a separate pricing table, so a founder has to work through them to budget. A platform with a database, logic, UI, messaging, marketplace and marketing tools has a lot of surface to learn before the first app ships.