I've been using Adalo full time two weeks now to build an app. The concept is interesting and the user interface is simple. However, if you try to do anything REMOTELY advanced with it which is not your run of the mill notes application, you WILL have problems. There are plenty of bugs (e.g. social share button doesn't work, tab bar doesn't pin to the bottom on all devices etc) which are WELL DOCUMENTED and have been there for months, if not years. People on forums have been asking to fix them and there is simply no response from Adalo. This translates into having to put most of your time resolving headaches rather than doing value adding work on your project/app. Other basic features that aren't there are the option to export the code, which flutterflows has. If your app becomes used by real users and you want to add advanced features, that is simply an option that you will need. I am documenting myself about flutterflows because I don't want to take another pineapple in my ***, but it looks like a much better option. I will probably start my project from scratch there... what a waste of time. Don't buy into Adalo please!
I will also add, that their system is essentially designed so that operations that should be easily done locally need to be done with db read/writes. for example, if you want to design a disappearing/appearing menu, the only way to do that is to have flag value in your db that toggles whether the menu is visible or not. This is just BAD design as for one it slows down user experience AF as it requires a db read/write just to open and close a menu, and furthermore, db read/write are essentially what you pay for in your plan. Many other operations require the same db interactions. This increases the number of r/w drammatically. For example I have the premium plan which allows for 30.000 actions per month and I've used 3.000 of them just for easy testing in three days. This is Absolutely NOT suitable for a production application!! I guess price-wise that gets better with Xano integration. However, the UX would still remain slow AF and as Doc pointed out, you can only use that with the 200 usd a month plan... All in all, unless you need to make a Super Basic Application (Mine is just basic, without the Super) keep away from Adalo guys, it's not worth your time...
@@MultiTheflyer I'd 100% second this. Using Adalo is basically an exercise in figuring out workarounds and then figuring out workarounds for the workarounds. I've been compiling a list of "how could this functionality possibly be missing from a no-code app-builder" for months now. Things like "can't apply more than one condition on a conditional action" and "can't use OR logic for conditional visibility". Like anything other than a simple form to enter data and a simple list to display the data is 95% engineering workarounds. Also their support is trash. 72-hour initial response time on a paid plan, months go by without updates for bugs affecting live apps. Steer clear.
@@maxhsilverman I've switched to flutterflow since and it's a platform from another planet compared to Adalo. It's a bit tougher to get used to in the beginning but it can do 100x the things Adalo does and the generated UI/UX is 10x better. If you are experiencing the same hardships as I was I highly recommend flutterflow!
@@MultiTheflyer Thanks man I actually spent a few hours last night getting over some of the initial hurdles and I can definitely see that it's much more robust. Adalo's interface is really well done but behind the scenes it's a nightmare. Any pitfalls I should watch out for as I get into the FlutterFlow?
Thanks for the great breakdown. FlutterFlow seems a no-brainer for 1-2 people. The higher price point and Xano integration starts to make more sense if you have 3+ "developers" since it's a flat price instead of per user. Depending on what you're making, their "app action" limitations could be a problem though. FlutterFlow's code download and GitHub integration are significant differentiators at this point. It's almost surprising FlutterFlow offering those features hasn't made them "must-haves" in the space. Maybe in time.
I made an app in Adalo, but did not manage to make it in FF, even with help of professionals. This app needs to filter by distance. The geolocation feature of Adalo did the job easily. In FF there is a custom function in the marketplace, but we could not make it work.
Hey great point! What was the main functionality of your app? For example was it a delivery or car pooling app that needed to calculate distance? Depending on the exact need a most likely would use a third party platform like buildship and then integrate it in ff like this example- buildship.com/templates/calculate-distance
@@docwilliams wow, thank you for the quick and good response! The app lets you create public events, with a location (Google maps api), and then lets People see events nearby where they are (or a given location).
I just paid for a month of Adalo and it does not feel intuitive at all. After this vid I started a free trial at FlutterFlow and wow, much more intuitive. Feels easier.
Does flutterflow have app actions limitations? i have been using adalo and that is one thing that is making me want to switch i have the pro package but i dont want to have to worry about exceeding my app action limit halfway through the month.
Great questions! No there are no limits on app actions. Depending if your app had a lot of API requests that might change the pricing but on the numbers of users but for app actions in general there not limitations. For the most up to date information I would check flutterflow.io/pricing
I have a very specific question, I faced a big problem with firebase (comes with flutterflow) query operator, it just doesn't allow me to use "in" operator for querying over 30-40 documents (it was 10 couple of months ago), but it is working ok with over 80 now. Does Xano has such limitation? I want to use this filter operator for thousands of documents or users. Or do you know any other no code backend that I can do this with? Thank you
Great question! I would check out Supabase and send them a message via twitter with your current issue. Supabase- supabase.com/ Honestly I might have another solution to integrate as well but I would start there.
Thank you Doc, you break this down so well that you answered all my questions and confusions. I think Flutterflow crashes it although I now have to brace myself to become a kid again and learn. I like the Adalo feature where it shows you a flowchart after selecting a template. Is that something I can have in Flutterflow? Also, what is Firebase used for in Flutterflow?
Thanks, glad you like the content! To answer your question yes FlutterFlow has something similar called FlutterFlow Storyboard- docs.flutterflow.io/getting-started/ui-builder/navigation-menu/storyboard Firebase is used as the database or backend of the application. You can use several different sources but firebase is very powerful and super cheap. It is a little tricky to learn how to set it up but there are tutorials on how to do that as well. So simple put: Firebase allows you to build out the backend to make your app smart and save the data in your app for users.
Great question! It really depends on the functionality of the app you’re building. In general I would go with FlutterFlow but it depends. Feel free to add more details.
Thanks a lot for the video buddy it was really useful! The only question I have is what does it look like once you exported the code from FlutterFlow, can you go back pay $70 and update the code or do you then need to manually coding the new things you want to implement ?
Glad you're liking the content! Great question! Really depends on a few factors but in general I don't think it would optimally work in that way but I could see this being possible, the reservation I have is regarding how updates and new functionality changes FF quickly so not positive moving back and forth like that. I would suggest to talking to the flutterflow team to explain your case and see what they think.
You're a great communicator! I am about to pick a no-code platform for an MVP where users display their content from third party apps into 1 feed via autosync. I am leaning toward Flutterflow. Is there a better option?
Do you know when Flutterflow's ai-gen is going to be distributed? I subscribed to Flutterflow when the feature was announced, but I still haven't gotten any email releasing the feature, and I can't find anything online.
I am very new to app building and Adalo seems doable while flutter flow seems complicated, confusing and speaking a foreign language. As for the apps, One includes the ability to track live with GPS so I know that probably takes Adalo out. The other would need to be able include either videos or links to published videos, links to web pages and the ability to have a store (or sell things on the app). The ability to use affiliate links or something similar too. Does all that sound like only Flutterflow? I am getting more and more confused the more videos I watch 😂 Thanks for any advise and your vids
You're doing a great job and thanks for watching and commenting on so many videos! For what you're looking for I would go with FlutterFlow but it depends on your skill level and your time and energy. Some people want to build it themselves or other rather outsource it out. Either way if you need help cutting down the confusion feel free to message me or book a call here- bookme.name/brandfactoryinc/lite/supercharge-your-business-growth-with-a-strategy-call
Hey Josh great question! Sounds like you’re new here, so wanted to welcome you to the channel. I have multiple in-depth videos of building different types of applications. If you check out the channel and search you can find multiple indepth videos how to use specific platforms and I provide multiple guides and courses for beginners on both platforms. Is there a specific question or feature you’re looking to compare? What are you looking to create for your app or project? Take care!
hey great question i don't! If you want to learn I would follow airdevs www.airdev.co/ for their free course or check out- Coaching No Code apps www.youtube.com/@coachingnocodeapps
@@docwilliams looking to build a web app. Users can put in an email or upload a .csv with emails. They get the data enriched back as a downloadable .csv or directly as a result on the page if it's a single email. Wondering about the "transaction" costs and data storage between the two platforms.
Lol welp I think that can give you an indication of what I think of the current platform. Not all negatives but I get questions if you should use it to scale and see only limited opportunities to pick Adalo against FlutterFlow. It’s not useless, just limited.
I've been using Adalo full time two weeks now to build an app. The concept is interesting and the user interface is simple. However, if you try to do anything REMOTELY advanced with it which is not your run of the mill notes application, you WILL have problems. There are plenty of bugs (e.g. social share button doesn't work, tab bar doesn't pin to the bottom on all devices etc) which are WELL DOCUMENTED and have been there for months, if not years. People on forums have been asking to fix them and there is simply no response from Adalo. This translates into having to put most of your time resolving headaches rather than doing value adding work on your project/app.
Other basic features that aren't there are the option to export the code, which flutterflows has. If your app becomes used by real users and you want to add advanced features, that is simply an option that you will need.
I am documenting myself about flutterflows because I don't want to take another pineapple in my ***, but it looks like a much better option. I will probably start my project from scratch there... what a waste of time. Don't buy into Adalo please!
thanks for sharing!
I will also add, that their system is essentially designed so that operations that should be easily done locally need to be done with db read/writes.
for example, if you want to design a disappearing/appearing menu, the only way to do that is to have flag value in your db that toggles whether the menu is visible or not.
This is just BAD design as for one it slows down user experience AF as it requires a db read/write just to open and close a menu, and furthermore, db read/write are essentially what you pay for in your plan. Many other operations require the same db interactions. This increases the number of r/w drammatically. For example I have the premium plan which allows for 30.000 actions per month and I've used 3.000 of them just for easy testing in three days. This is Absolutely NOT suitable for a production application!!
I guess price-wise that gets better with Xano integration. However, the UX would still remain slow AF and as Doc pointed out, you can only use that with the 200 usd a month plan...
All in all, unless you need to make a Super Basic Application (Mine is just basic, without the Super) keep away from Adalo guys, it's not worth your time...
@@MultiTheflyer I'd 100% second this. Using Adalo is basically an exercise in figuring out workarounds and then figuring out workarounds for the workarounds. I've been compiling a list of "how could this functionality possibly be missing from a no-code app-builder" for months now.
Things like "can't apply more than one condition on a conditional action" and "can't use OR logic for conditional visibility". Like anything other than a simple form to enter data and a simple list to display the data is 95% engineering workarounds.
Also their support is trash. 72-hour initial response time on a paid plan, months go by without updates for bugs affecting live apps. Steer clear.
@@maxhsilverman I've switched to flutterflow since and it's a platform from another planet compared to Adalo. It's a bit tougher to get used to in the beginning but it can do 100x the things Adalo does and the generated UI/UX is 10x better. If you are experiencing the same hardships as I was I highly recommend flutterflow!
@@MultiTheflyer Thanks man I actually spent a few hours last night getting over some of the initial hurdles and I can definitely see that it's much more robust. Adalo's interface is really well done but behind the scenes it's a nightmare. Any pitfalls I should watch out for as I get into the FlutterFlow?
Thanks for the great breakdown. FlutterFlow seems a no-brainer for 1-2 people. The higher price point and Xano integration starts to make more sense if you have 3+ "developers" since it's a flat price instead of per user. Depending on what you're making, their "app action" limitations could be a problem though. FlutterFlow's code download and GitHub integration are significant differentiators at this point. It's almost surprising FlutterFlow offering those features hasn't made them "must-haves" in the space. Maybe in time.
No problem! Yes FlutterFlow keeps getting better and better 👀👀👀
Sold! Thank you Doc, this was really useful and has helped me make a decision. Thanks for this.
No problem! Glad to help!
I made an app in Adalo, but did not manage to make it in FF, even with help of professionals. This app needs to filter by distance. The geolocation feature of Adalo did the job easily. In FF there is a custom function in the marketplace, but we could not make it work.
Hey great point! What was the main functionality of your app? For example was it a delivery or car pooling app that needed to calculate distance?
Depending on the exact need a most likely would use a third party platform like buildship and then integrate it in ff like this example- buildship.com/templates/calculate-distance
@@docwilliams wow, thank you for the quick and good response! The app lets you create public events, with a location (Google maps api), and then lets People see events nearby where they are (or a given location).
@@gmancliffhanger no problem! Ahh interesting idea! Yeah based on that idea I think buildship buildship.com/ and with Rowy www.rowy.io/
I would reach out buildship directly for details-twitter.com/BuildShipApp hope that helps!
I just paid for a month of Adalo and it does not feel intuitive at all. After this vid I started a free trial at FlutterFlow and wow, much more intuitive. Feels easier.
Goodtimes! Keep me posted on your progress!
Does flutterflow have app actions limitations? i have been using adalo and that is one thing that is making me want to switch i have the pro package but i dont want to have to worry about exceeding my app action limit halfway through the month.
Great questions! No there are no limits on app actions.
Depending if your app had a lot of API requests that might change the pricing but on the numbers of users but for app actions in general there not limitations.
For the most up to date information I would check flutterflow.io/pricing
I have a very specific question, I faced a big problem with firebase (comes with flutterflow) query operator, it just doesn't allow me to use "in" operator for querying over 30-40 documents (it was 10 couple of months ago), but it is working ok with over 80 now. Does Xano has such limitation? I want to use this filter operator for thousands of documents or users. Or do you know any other no code backend that I can do this with? Thank you
Great question! I would check out Supabase and send them a message via twitter with your current issue.
Supabase- supabase.com/
Honestly I might have another solution to integrate as well but I would start there.
Thank you Doc, you break this down so well that you answered all my questions and confusions. I think Flutterflow crashes it although I now have to brace myself to become a kid again and learn. I like the Adalo feature where it shows you a flowchart after selecting a template. Is that something I can have in Flutterflow? Also, what is Firebase used for in Flutterflow?
Thanks, glad you like the content! To answer your question yes FlutterFlow has something similar called FlutterFlow Storyboard- docs.flutterflow.io/getting-started/ui-builder/navigation-menu/storyboard
Firebase is used as the database or backend of the application. You can use several different sources but firebase is very powerful and super cheap. It is a little tricky to learn how to set it up but there are tutorials on how to do that as well.
So simple put: Firebase allows you to build out the backend to make your app smart and save the data in your app for users.
What is the difference with weweb?
Great question! I have a video breakdown about FlutterFlow vs weweb- th-cam.com/video/RgLuR0HfdI8/w-d-xo.html let me know what you know.
For property management, flutterflow or adalo?
Suppose that the idea is for property owner, property manager, and tenants
Hey Shawn! Great question! I would go with FlutterFlow
Really good video, thank you.
You are welcome! Glad it was helpful!
For quiz app, which one you will prefer
1. Flutterflow
2.Adalo
out of the two options I would go with FlutterFlow.
Depending of the functionality of the quiz I would prob look at BuildBox or an Outgrow type
Which would be better to make a language learning app?
Great question! It really depends on the functionality of the app you’re building.
In general I would go with FlutterFlow but it depends.
Feel free to add more details.
Thanks a lot for the video buddy it was really useful!
The only question I have is what does it look like once you exported the code from FlutterFlow, can you go back pay $70 and update the code or do you then need to manually coding the new things you want to implement ?
Glad you're liking the content! Great question! Really depends on a few factors but in general I don't think it would optimally work in that way but I could see this being possible, the reservation I have is regarding how updates and new functionality changes FF quickly so not positive moving back and forth like that.
I would suggest to talking to the flutterflow team to explain your case and see what they think.
Great video man!!
Appreciate it! 🙏🏾
You're a great communicator! I am about to pick a no-code platform for an MVP where users display their content from third party apps into 1 feed via autosync. I am leaning toward Flutterflow. Is there a better option?
Thanks! From what you described I believe FlutterFlow would be a great option for.
Keep me posted on your progress!
Merci Doc! I will try flutterflow
No problem! And glad to see your work in the future!
Do you know when Flutterflow's ai-gen is going to be distributed? I subscribed to Flutterflow when the feature was announced, but I still haven't gotten any email releasing the feature, and I can't find anything online.
They are rolling out the feature slowly I believe. I got access a few weeks ago but I would reach out to their team for more info.
@@docwilliams Ok thank you so much!
@@rapidspear5807 no problem!
@@docwilliams can you make a video using it?
@@AustinNorman tell me more about that- what are you looking for me to use? Adalo or FF and is it a specific functionality?
I am very new to app building and Adalo seems doable while flutter flow seems complicated, confusing and speaking a foreign language. As for the apps, One includes the ability to track live with GPS so I know that probably takes Adalo out. The other would need to be able include either videos or links to published videos, links to web pages and the ability to have a store (or sell things on the app). The ability to use affiliate links or something similar too. Does all that sound like only Flutterflow? I am getting more and more confused the more videos I watch 😂 Thanks for any advise and your vids
You're doing a great job and thanks for watching and commenting on so many videos!
For what you're looking for I would go with FlutterFlow but it depends on your skill level and your time and energy.
Some people want to build it themselves or other rather outsource it out.
Either way if you need help cutting down the confusion feel free to message me or book a call here- bookme.name/brandfactoryinc/lite/supercharge-your-business-growth-with-a-strategy-call
@@docwilliams Thank you for your responses and I am glad I found your channel. Before I build I would more than likely need to consult. 👍
It sounds like you've never used these. Are you just comparing what's on their pricing pages?
Hey Josh great question! Sounds like you’re new here, so wanted to welcome you to the channel.
I have multiple in-depth videos of building different types of applications.
If you check out the channel and search you can find multiple indepth videos how to use specific platforms and I provide multiple guides and courses for beginners on both platforms.
Is there a specific question or feature you’re looking to compare?
What are you looking to create for your app or project?
Take care!
I feel the same about Xano integration for Adalo, 200$ ?? How lose clients
yupp it's a deal breaker for me personally.
Do you have a crash course on bubble?
hey great question i don't! If you want to learn I would follow airdevs www.airdev.co/
for their free course or check out- Coaching No Code apps www.youtube.com/@coachingnocodeapps
Adalo vs Bubble?
Depends on the functionality you need for your app.
Can you give me more details?
@@docwilliams looking to build a web app. Users can put in an email or upload a .csv with emails. They get the data enriched back as a downloadable .csv or directly as a result on the page if it's a single email. Wondering about the "transaction" costs and data storage between the two platforms.
Great breakdown.
Thanks!
I've been trying to build a social media app such as LinkedIn ,which people can use for job seeking. Which would be better , Adalo or Flutterflow?
Great question! FlutterFlow
Your review of Adalo was basically just a list of restrictions and annoyances
Lol welp I think that can give you an indication of what I think of the current platform. Not all negatives but I get questions if you should use it to scale and see only limited opportunities to pick Adalo against FlutterFlow.
It’s not useless, just limited.
Obrigado
de nada
i've used adalo for years and the database is sooo slow... happy you put it in your video bc people need to know this. apps will run really slow!!!
🙏🏾🎉 thanks! Yup important to let people know