The Best Free and Open Source App Development Software Solutions

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Mobile applications have transitioned from being a luxury to now being a requisite for organizations globally. Gone are the days when the process of building a mobile app was considered time-consuming, required months of effort, and a costly matter. With the help of free open source app development software solutions, anyone can build a fully responsive, robust app for their business & operations.
Building an app using open source application development tools doesn’t require you to be a coding expert. The tools use drag & drop DIY interfaces for users making the process more accessible to everyone. The post, here, will list such top open source free app development softwares that you can use to build your app for free without any coding experience along with features of each tool on the list.

Here is a list of 11 free and open-source app development software solutions that are easy-to-use and reliable, have a look:

BuildFire

• What is it: BuildFire is a cloud-based application development platform that is 100% customizable, free, and simple and helps small to large businesses build mobile apps through custom coding and designing.
• Main Focus: It is customizable, facilitates app security, restricts user access for selected content, can be combined with any third-party API or pre-built integrations.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux, Web-based
• Deployment: Open API, On-premise
• Business Size: Small, Medium, Large
• Support: Email, Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls/Permissions, Collaboration Tools, Compatibility Testing, Data Modelling, Mobile Development, Reporting and Analytics, Source Control, Web App Development

PhoneGap

• What is it: PhoneGap is a software development framework/Application development software for iOS which is built using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It operates on iPhone, Android, and Windows and is licensed as per Apache License, Version 2.0.
• Main Focus: It works on cross-platform, is cost-effective, facilitates robust backend support and suppleness in development, has UI libraries to improve User Interface in the system.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API, Cloud Hosted
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls/Permissions, Collaboration Tools, Code Free Development, Compatibility Testing, Deployment Management, Reporting and Analytics, Debugging, Software Development, Web App Development, Mobile Development, Source Control

ApacheCordova

• What is it: Apache Cordova is a mobile app development framework for supporting iOS application development. This application development software is written in C#, C++, CSS, HTML, Java, JavaScript and Objective-C and runs on Android, iOS, Windows 8.1, Phone 8.1 and 10, OS X, Electron (software framework). It is available in the English language and licensed as per Apache License 2.0.
• Main Focus: It facilitates creating mobile apps with HTML, CSS, and JS and targets multiple platforms with one codebase. Apache Cordova can be extended with native plug-ins to add more functionality to the app. The presence of a command-line interface allows creating new projects on different platforms and run on different devices.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Email, Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Collaboration Tools, Deployment Management, Reporting and Analytics, Code-free Development, Compatibility Testing, Mobile Development, Source Control.

Ionic Framework

• What is it: Ionic is a complete open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development that required Node.JS. It runs with a combination of web code, native code and provides full access to the native functionality with the UI of the app.
• Main Focus: It allows Cordova based app building and deployment with a simplified ‘Ionic’ command-line tool. Ionic Framework Software also includes interactive paradigms, typography, mobile components, and an extensible base theme.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Web-based
• Deployment: Open API, Cloud Hosted
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Collaboration Tools, Landing Pages, Web Forms, Data Modelling, Reporting and Analytics, Code-free Development, Compatibility Testing, Mobile Development, Software Development

Framework 7

• What is it: Framework 7 is an HTML based framework used for building apps across platforms. Like the frameworks discussed above, it is free and open-source and is used to build amazing native-like applications for mobile, web and desktop.
• Main Focus: Provides easy view management and navigation support facility, has FastClick Library helping out with click delays for touch UI’s, has a syntax similar to JQuery, has built-in layout grid, customizable themes and colour schemes, presence of flexible router helps quick loading of pages, accelerated CSS animations and transitions.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Code refactoring, Code-free development, Collaboration tools, Debugging, Mobile Development, Software Development, Web App Development

NativeScript

• What is it: NativeScript is one of the most preferred open-source, web app development frameworks that gains its strength from JavaScript, angular, Vue.js and TypeScript in general.
• Main Focus: Has theme builder, robust CSS based styling system, can directly access all native platform API’s from the code, uses native controls plus its applications are usable with screen reader technology.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API, Cloud Hosted
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Code Refactoring, Code-free Development, Collaboration Tools, Compatibility Testing, Debugging, Deployment Management, Mobile Development, Reporting and Analytics, Software Development, Source Control, Web App Development

Flutter

• What is it: Flutter is an open-source platform for developing web/mobile/desktop apps with a single-codebase, usable across platforms. Backed by Google, it is written in C, C++ and DART with Skia Graphic Engine. It is workable on Windows, macOS and Linux, Target: Android, iOS and Google Fuchsia platforms.
• Main Focus: Flutter facilitates fast development with customizable widgets that contain critical platform differences like icons, scrolling, navigation and fonts to provide ideal native performance. Besides, Flutter engine, Dart platform, design-specific widgets and foundation library are significant components of this software system
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API, Cloud Hosted
• Business Size: Small, Medium, Large
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Code Refactoring, Collaboration Tools, Compatibility Testing, Debugging, Deployment Management, Mobile Development, Source Control, Web App Development, Landing Pages, Web Forms

Jasonette

• What is it: Jasonette is a high-level programming language that makes use of JSON based markup to develop apps across platforms (iOS and Android). It is licensed as per MIT licensing.
• Main Focus: Jasonette open-source app development software works like a web-browser, that makes the same code workable across platforms and apps with simple HTML markup interpretation into web pages. It makes use of JSON to get a 100% portable framework for building apps. It is 100% extensible and live changes can be done easily. Plus Jasonette makes merging the existing and new code easier than ever.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Online (Ticket)
• Special Features: Access Controls (Permissions), Code Refactoring, Code-free Development, Collaboration tools, Debugging, Mobile Development, Source Control

iBuild App

Main Features of iBuild App:

• What is it: The platform lets businesses & developers build fully responsive Android & iOS mobile apps using their 1000+ different templates available using their drag & drop feature
• Main Focus:Building apps without any coding experience or IT skills using their pre-built templates, extensions, and access control. Provides 24/5 support, integrate features like tap-to-call & tap-to-email, analytics, RSS/Atom Feed, Events, news, video/audio stream, etc.
• Device Supported: Windows, Mac
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Call/Email
• Special Features:Mobile app distribution, Enterprise app store, Analytics, Pre-built extensions, RSS/Atom feed, Video list, Access control, HTML page, Web page, and others

Appy Pie

Main Features of Appy Pie:

• What is it:Appy Pie allows users to design & develop mobile apps for different industries across all devices & operating systems, including iOS, Windows, and Android.
• Main Focus:Use pre-existing application frameworks to build apps, configurable application templates enable businesses to develop games, shopping carts, customer relationship management apps, and more.
• Device Supported:Windows, iOS, Android
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Call/Email
• Special Features:Third-party Integrations, Customer service, Send push notifications, Appy Pie Chatbot, Ease of use, Technical support, navigation, photo/video sharing, tutorials, workflow automation, and form builder

Apache Netbeans

Main Features of Apache Netbeans:

• What is it:It is an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) that offers features for numerous languages, including JavaScript, HTML5, JavaScript, and Java.
• Main Focus:Giving users intelligent editing tools and making code refactoring simple to build responsive apps at affordable cost.
• Device Supported:Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and BSD
• Deployment: Open API
• Business Size: Small and Medium
• Support: Call/Email
• Special Features:Code formatting, Code folding, personalized keyboard shortcuts, name and parameter suggestions, intelligent code completion, see, add, or modify code templates, and detailed learning resources.

Latching: Finding the Best Open Source App Development Software Solution

With all the basic facilities like smooth IDE, code-free developments, templates, API, Data synchronization, and Analytics, custom software development companies make use of these tools to provide APIs to ease the process of integration with backend services. I hope this succinct comparison amongst some of the most preferred application development software solutions will help your business in creating stunning Android/iOS and Web applications.

Top FAQs

What is Application Development Software?

App development softwares are tools that help in building, maintaining, testing, deploying, or optimizing mobile apps. These tools can be further divided into many categories including low code tools, no code tools, web application development software, game development software, and mobile app development tools.

What are the common features of Application Development tools?

development projects, or writing, editing, or debugging the source code. Some of the most common features of app development software are –

• IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
• Drag & Drop Interface
• Compatibility Testing
• Easy & Quick Debugging
• Graphical UI/UX
• Hot Reloading
• Increased Development Speed

What things to consider before purchasing App Development Tools?

Some of the things to consider before buying any app development software are cost, scalability, compatibility, support, number of platforms, performance metrics, and integrations.