Powerapps vs Smartsheet vs Quickbase
Has anyone developed in all 3 platforms? Can anyone give insight on the where they fall short of QB, or perhaps any advantages? I love working in QB, but was recently asked why not just Smartsheet or ...
Forum Discussion
I have experience developing in all three.
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Alison Fisher
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- Power Apps is one piece of the collection of tools required to build an app. You build the user interface in Power Apps, the data source is separate (maybe SharePoint or SQL Server (requires premium license), automations are created using Power Automate, reporting using Power BI or another tool that draws from the data source. Because you can choose your tools and you are starting from a clean slate, there is a lot more flexibility. It's also much harder to develop - because you are starting from a clean slate.
- SmartSheet is great if you are working with flat files but it's not a relational database so if your data has a structure, its going to have limited utility. It's easy to set up sheets but relating them to each other and developing pretty dashboards takes time to learn how to do.
- QuickBase doesn't require you to build a user interface from scratch so that makes it easier to develop apps. It's the only relational database among the three so you can design whatever data structure you need. I'll assume the audience here knows all of QBs other great features...
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Alison Fisher
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with the various platforms. We've been long time QuickBase users and have built out our suite of apps over the past 10 years. However, this past month we were blindsided with a 163% increase (+~$78k / year) and forced to move to an inferior plan. Unfortunately we'll now need to consider alternatives and/or reduce how our businesses/users use the platform so hearing some feedback on alternative options is helpful.
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Alex Patterson
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Alex,
Sadly, this happened to us and I have heard this complaint often. Quickbase gives you a steeply discounted price for a couple years, then all at once doubles or sometimes triples your price (bringing you up to retail). They know once you are using it, it is very hard to leave and I think they take advantage of that. I understand that they need to slowly bring you up to retail, but I find it quite evil the way they do it.
Besides their mobile platform being horrific, it is my biggest complaint with Quickbase.
However, as much as I am a critic, it is because I think Quickbase is overall the best product in the space, and am a huge fan of the platform. I just wish they would take care of a few of the looming issues. And the price gouge is very sad. I hope they read through these posts and try to do something about that. Either start people at a more realistic price point, or slowly increase their subscription costs. The idea that business suddenly are hit with a 100-200% increase is really tough.
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Mike Tamoush
------------------------------Are you using the "Per User" or "Per Usage" model? Our "Per Usage" pricing went way up last year, too, but at least I didn't have to pay extra for all of the users who touch the system once every week or two.
I agree, though, that the low introductory price and then jacking it up sounds like something else I've heard of. "Go ahead, take a hit of this, or try one of these pills, the first one's free!"
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Edward Hefter
www.Sutubra.com
------------------------------Funny, true, and sad all at once. I understand your frustration with the pricing model. We actually use a "Per User" model for our pricing. While it may have its own drawbacks, such as paying for users who have minimal interaction with the system, we believe it offers a fairer approach since it considers the number of active users benefiting from the service. It's unfortunate to hear that your "Per Usage" pricing increased significantly. It does seem reminiscent of certain sales tactics where companies lure customers in with a low initial price and then raise it steeply later on - the old "bait and switch" almost. Transparency and fairness are essential, and we ourselves strive to provide consistent and reasonable pricing without any surprise hikes to our customers.
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Justin White
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