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Xamarin VS Oracle APEX

Compare Xamarin VS Oracle APEX and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Xamarin logo Xamarin

Create iOS, Android and Mac apps in C#

Oracle APEX logo Oracle APEX

Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a low-code development platform that enables you to build stunning, scalable, secure apps, with world-class features, that can be deployed anywhere.
  • Xamarin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • Oracle APEX Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

Xamarin features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    Xamarin allows developers to write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows), which can significantly reduce development time and effort.
  • Native Performance
    Apps built with Xamarin perform as well as native apps because they leverage platform-specific hardware acceleration and compile directly to native ARM assembly code.
  • Shared Codebase
    With Xamarin, developers can use a single codebase for different platforms, making it easier to maintain and update apps across multiple operating systems.
  • Large Ecosystem
    As part of the broader .NET ecosystem, Xamarin benefits from a large collection of libraries, tools, and developer resources provided by Microsoft.
  • Strong Community Support
    Xamarin has a strong developer community and comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to find support and resources.
  • Integration with Visual Studio
    Xamarin integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio, providing a robust development environment complete with debugging, profiling, and unit testing tools.

Possible disadvantages of Xamarin

  • App Size
    Xamarin apps tend to have larger file sizes compared to native apps because of the additional overhead of the Mono runtime.
  • Limited Third-Party Library Support
    While Xamarin supports a wide range of libraries, not all third-party libraries and SDKs are compatible, which might require custom bindings or workarounds.
  • Performance Overhead
    Some performance overhead might still exist compared to fully native applications, especially in complex and resource-intensive apps.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers coming from purely native development backgrounds might face a learning curve when adopting Xamarin, particularly in understanding the shared codebase approach and platform-specific nuances.
  • Platform Limitations
    Certain platform-specific features and UI elements might not be fully supported or might require additional custom code to implement.
  • Licensing Costs
    Although Xamarin itself is open source, enterprise-level features or more advanced tools might require a Visual Studio Enterprise subscription, which can be costly.

Oracle APEX features and specs

  • Low Code Development
    Oracle APEX is designed as a low-code platform, allowing developers to quickly build web applications with minimal hand-coding and complex programming.
  • Robust Integration
    APEX integrates seamlessly with Oracle Database and other Oracle products, leveraging SQL and PL/SQL for powerful data manipulation and business logic execution.
  • Responsive Design
    APEX applications are automatically designed to be responsive, helping applications function well on various devices and screen sizes without extensive additional coding.
  • Security Features
    Oracle APEX provides strong security features, including authentication, authorization, and data protection, with built-in mechanisms to ensure application security.
  • Rapid Prototyping
    Developers can quickly prototype applications using APEX, which is beneficial for gathering feedback and iterating on design before full-scale development.

Possible disadvantages of Oracle APEX

  • Limited UI Capabilities
    The low-code nature of Oracle APEX can mean limitations in the customization of UI components, which may not meet the needs of highly complex or unique user interfaces.
  • Dependent on Oracle Ecosystem
    APEX is tightly coupled with Oracle Database, making it less suitable for environments using a variety of database systems, thus limiting flexibility for some businesses.
  • Scalability Concerns
    While APEX can handle many applications, large-scale or enterprise-level application requirements might expose its limitations in comparison with more dedicated, scalable platforms.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers unfamiliar with Oracle’s technologies, especially SQL and PL/SQL, might face a significant learning curve when starting with APEX.
  • Licensing Costs
    While APEX itself is a free feature of the Oracle Database, the overall costs associated with Oracle's licensing agreements for enterprise use can be high.

Xamarin videos

Pros and Cons of Xamarin Development

More videos:

  • Review - Is Xamarin Forms Any Good?
  • Review - Why Xamarin Is Awesome

Oracle APEX videos

Oracle APEX and E-Business Suite Review (Consultant: Patrick Cimolini)

More videos:

  • Review - Oracle APEX & Progressive Web Apps

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xamarin and Oracle APEX)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Office Suites
0 0%
100% 100
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Xamarin and Oracle APEX

Xamarin Reviews

Explore 9 Top Eclipse Alternatives for 2024
Xamarin.Forms An open-source UI framework that enables developers to conjure up applications for Xamarin.iOS, Xamarin.Android, and Windows from a singular shared codebase. Offers rich features like XAML user-interface language, databinding, gestures, effects, styling.
Source: aircada.com
Top 10 Flutter Alternatives for Cross-Platform App Development
Developed and launched by Microsoft, Xamarin facilitates developers to build apps for iOS and Android by using C# and .NET. It ensures a seamless integration with Visual Studio and lets developers experience a fully familiar environment. The framework provides a single codebase and allows developers to perform app development rapidly.
Exploring 15 Powerful Flutter Alternatives
Xamarin is a Microsoft-created framework for building native iOS, Android, and Windows apps in C#/.NET. On the complexity front, Xamarin apps generally require more focus on memory management and garbage collection tuning relative to alternatives like Flutter. The additional diligence pays dividends in runtime performance when done properly. However, developers with...
THE BEST 34 APP DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE IN 2022 LIST
Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned tool to write native code for apps. Free. Cross-platform. Open-source. An app platform for building Android and iOS apps with .NET and C#.
9 Of The Best Android Studio Alternatives To Try Out
You can also access the required resources at the Xamarin Universal project. You can stay up to date with the latest updates by subscribing to their YouTube channel or blogs. The Xamarin community is most active, and you can get answers to your questions swiftly.

Oracle APEX Reviews

The 11 Best Low-Code Development Platforms
Oracle APEX receives excellent reviews in general, with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars. It does not have nearly as many reviews as OutSystems, but the user satisfaction rate is around 90%.
Source: www.xplenty.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Xamarin seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 28 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Xamarin mentions (28)

  • Wine Releases Framework Mono 6.14 in Taking over the Mono Project
    I haven't been following .NET lately, but AFAIK .NET works on Linux now and "Mono" is basically .NET for Linux... What even are the differences? Sounds like Microsoft just doesn't want to maintain 2 different versions so they're dumping it. Also, > Microsoft became the steward of the Mono Project when it acquired Xamarin in 2016 They probably never even wanted Mono, they just inherited it because they wanted... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • C# Fundamentals
    Mobile Applications: With Xamarin, a cross-platform mobile development framework, developers can write C# code to build native Android, iOS, and Windows mobile applications. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Making an android app with c#
    Xamarin - Basically an older version of MAUI. I would advise against creating new projects on Xamarin since MAUI is supposed to render it obsolete. Source: over 2 years ago
  • App developer
    Microsoft Xamarin: For this you'll need to know C# and .net. Source: over 2 years ago
  • I own a web development company in San Antonio and I'm looking for ideas to support the UTSA students with some sort of free courses or classes
    At my internship, we moved to Microsoft's Visual Studio for C# development from Java, and for application development we use Xamarin which can be used on Windows and Mac. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Oracle APEX mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Oracle APEX yet. Tracking of Oracle APEX recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xamarin and Oracle APEX, you can also consider the following products

Android Studio - Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA

Microsoft 365 - Boost your productivity with reliable access anywhere with services like email, calendar, file sharing, meetings, instant messaging, and Office Online

OutSystems - Build Enterprise-Grade Apps Fast.

Zoho Docs - Zoho Docs is an online document management software that lets you manage and store all your files on the cloud. Share, collaborate and access all your files on multiple devices.

Xcode - Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.

Apache OpenOffice - Apache OpenOffice is an open source, office document productivity suite.