Low-code Hall of Fame: DronaHQ

DronaHQ is a drag-and-drop front-end low-code platform targeted at businesses aiming to create effective internal tools and optimize workflows. Both engineers and citizen developers can use this platform to develop admin panels, dashboards, CRUD apps, database GUIs or APIs, and operational applications.

DronaHQ profile

As mentioned earlier, DronaHQ is a front-end platform. What does this mean? Basically, such a low-code platform allows the development of various frontend applications based on business data sources (like databases, 3rd party apps, or internal processes). The platform makes it possible to develop apps across dev, beta, and production environments. You can separate data, APIs, and users across these environments for the apps that you’re building.

This way, low-code frontend builders like DronaHQ, AppSmith, or Retool stimulate collaboration among colleagues and empower teams with robust internal tools. Before we dive deeper into the builder’s features, let's make sure we talk about the same thing. To cut a long story short, internal (or admin) tools are various software that a business develops internally to streamline business processes and optimize daily operations across departments.

In this regard, DronaHQ offers a powerful UI builder, Visual Controls, Rule Engine, Built-in database, Workflow & Automation builder, not to mention connectors, one-click deployment, security, and analytics features. 

With Drona HQ, you can:

• Build automation flows, dashboards, and dynamic forms;
• Centralize and organize data;
• Check out insights and reports. 

In the studio, you can build user-friendly forms in just a few clicks with Autogenerate forms. You can generate forms in some straightforward ways like:

1. Connectors
2. Sheets
3. Control
4. Raw JSON
5. Upload CSV

If you need to craft forms using custom logic, it’s easy. Just drag and drop fields like text boxes, scan barcodes, and so on into the DronaHQ studio. The platform also improves user experience by employing a dynamic rule engine and data-binding algorithms that automate routine tasks.

Finally, integrations. DronaHQ integrates with Airtable, Apache CouchDB, Asana, Bitly, Firebase, Freshdesk, GitHub, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira Work Management, Jira Software, LinkedIn, MySQL, PostgreSQL, ProxyCrawl, and many others. Check out the full list of integrations here. 

What’s inside

All in all, creating a web app gets easier with a rich variety of pre-built controls. Whether you need to create simple or complex forms and turn processes into workflows, the platform might be a reasonable bet.

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Let’s see what DronaHQ offers to its users: 

Drag and drop builder

The platform has an intuitive UI builder powered by drag-and-dropping UI elements, resizing, adjusting, and personalizing them.

150+ UI controls

Users can choose from 150+ in-built controls like Tables, Grids, Card lists, Charts, and Dashboards. All these building blocks are very responsive and native across different devices.

Layouts

Various layouts and columnar design fundamentals are great for building responsive apps. You can edit all CSS properties to generate eye-pleasing interfaces.

Web/Mobile

DronaHQ-based applications are accessible as web and mobile apps by default.

Let’s go further. What about APIs? Well, DronaHQ provides support to integrate new APIs and Databases and make GraphQL APIs experience even better. 

• Import open API 3.0/Swagger docs. Upload Swagger or Open API 3.0 JSON file and auto-create APIs if you have already added the connector. This makes adding services from various 3rd party SaaS products a lot easier.

API & DB Connectors:

• Firestore. If you need to develop a custom user interface based on your data, integrate Firestore with DronaHQ. Once you do, you can read and write to your Firestore Collections and do whatever you want with it. 
• Google Cloud Storage. What about uploading files to Google Cloud Storage? If you intend to develop apps while using the powers of Cloud Storage, it definitely makes sense. This way, you’ll optimize response times, customize data storage, and create disaster recovery plans.

Pricing plans

Talking about pricing plans, it’s worth noting that DronaHQ offers unlimited users for each plan. The company offers two options: cloud or self-hosted. Take a look at the platform’s features for the cloud-hosted plan:

These four plans are pretty straightforward, so you can check each specification in detail here. 

Pros and cons

So how can one decide whether DronaHQ is a good choice? Let’s summarize the platform’s pluses and minuses to give you a bigger picture.

Pros

• The platform has all the features you might need to support your low-code development initiatives;
• Drona HQ is synonymous with creating beautiful interfaces in a few minutes without dealing with code;
• Queries and APIs are reusable;
• You can debug the entire action flow with breakpoints and analyze each and every request and response;
• Powerful customization capabilities;
• The platform is great when working with table data and connecting to a database.

Cons

• There’s no instant chat support; 
• The Integrations can be much better and offer more options;
• It takes time to explore the platforms’ potential.
• No compatibility with Flash files.

User reviews

As commonly known, user reviews are critical to purchasing decisions. Now let’s see how people evaluate the platform: 

“I really like the concept. I can create light, function-specific apps, and they reside in a single container app., So the work gets uncluttered, no overlapping of workflows”. - Source: g2crowd.com

“DronaHQ definitely boosts your application development speed while heavy lifting all tech elements. No code ain't magic: you still need the right competencies. Good understanding of data structures and business process flow.” - Source: g2crowd.com

“The integration of web applications to mobile, very minimal changes to make it available on mobile. One platform to access our more than 50 applications under one umbrella. One authentication for all the applications and security is taken care of on the native side, so security is less of a concern for you”. - Source: Gartner. 

“I've been using DronaHQ for my backend development, and it has greatly reduced the development time needed to complete an application, web or mobile. The builder is fun and easy to use, and for customizations, when I'm not familiar with how I can accomplish on no code, I write my code and patch it in using DHQ for the backend for the database (their Sheets) and Workflow and Automation Engine. They know what they are doing!” - Source: g2crowd.com

Verdict

Let’s sum things up. First, citizen developers can build powerful mobile apps on top of databases or APIs with no code. Second, companies of all sizes can build internal tools that drive faster operations and better business outcomes. 

Let’s sum up the platform’s key features: 

• Ready-made templates;
• Responsive design capabilities;
• User Administration;
• Analytics capabilities; 
• Business Rule engine;
• Developer Console;
• Open API;
• 3rd-party integrations;

I guess that with more than 3000 applications built and 1 million+ users supported, DronaHQ is a reliable choice for citizen developers and project managers. Anyway, you can try it for yourself, as the builder offers a free demo to test its features and decide whether it’s a match or not.

Drona HQ alternatives

As you can see, Drona HQ is a great tool for building apps. However, what about getting familiar with other low-code/no-code builders that you can use in conjunction? Take a look at these platforms:

• Retool
• Budibase
• Appsmith
• Mendix
• Airtable
• Appian
• UI Bakery

Hire low-code experts

Software development with little coding is getting more and more popular worldwide. Nowadays, citizen developers can develop apps and launch MVPs in no time. However, often you require an experienced technological partner to get the maximum result.

Do you look for low code/no code development experts? With 8+ years of low-code development experience, our team helps companies deliver robust applications that cater to specific business needs. Our seasoned consultant team provides expert advice on low-code platforms for companies willing to innovate. We’ll help you define your very first steps so you can start implementing your low-code strategy from day one.

‍P.S. By the way, we write about trends in low code. Subscribe to our blog to get the latest insights right in your inbox.