The 2 Best No-Code Backend Builders
Build Your No-Code Backend With These Tools
No-code backends provide users with an easy-to-setup and easy-to-maintain database for application development. As visual tools for creating databases and tables, no-code backends are beginner-friendly implementations of popular database technologies, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.
What Are No-Code Backend Builders?
A no-code backend, or Backend as a Service (Baas) gives developers access to all the tools required to create a scalable backend without having to write SQL, set up database servers, or worry about database backups.
To make this more concrete, let’s take a closer look at databases and how they work.
Databases’ most fundamental building blocks are tables. Tables are where the content and data that you show to your end-users is stored.
In the past, creating a database required writing SQL, a popular programming language that enables programmers to communicate with a database. The tools used to create a database were database GUIs, which allow programmers to write and run SQL queries.
Today’s no-code backends have abstracted away SQL behind easy-to-use point-and-click interfaces. Gone are the days when developers had to go through the tedious process of writing this:
CREATE TABLE table_name (
column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
....
);Nowadays, creating database tables, setting data types, building relationships, and defining primary or foreign keys requires little more than a basic understanding of relational databases and how they store data in columns and rows.
On top of creating tables, there is a lot more that no-code backends take care of, such as creating and maintaining your database server, providing cloud storage, and taking care of backups.
No-code backend builders give you everything you need to get a web-hosted database up and running.
So let’s go ahead and explore two popular no-code backends and their capabilities and features.
Top 2 No-Code Backends
Five: A Rapid Development App Builder with a MySQL Database
Five is a rapid application development environment that integrates all steps of application development: backend, frontend, and deployment.
Five gives users an integrated MySQL database. Using Five, developers can:
- Visually create a MySQL database, using Five’s Table Wizard, a rapid and easy-to-use interface for creating database tables, assigning data types, and creating table relationships.
- Build relationships between tables, such as one-to-many or many-to-many relationships, in point-and-click.
- Automatically generate primary keys, which are required to maintain data integrity.
- Import CSV files straight into their database tables.
- Inspect their database schema visually in a database modeler.
These features make Five a powerful database GUI. An added benefit is that Five uses MySQL as the underlying database and allows users to export their database as a database dump. This means that there is no lock-in as users can export their database and host it elsewhere.
To get started with Five, sign up for free access.
Xano: A No-Code Backend
Xano is a popular no-code backend that gives users a PostgreSQL database, which can be created and maintained visually. On top of its database creation capabilities, Xano also gives users an API that lets the database interact with other tools, such as front-end builders.
Here is where tools such as Five and Xano are different: Five gives users everything to build a full-fledged web app.
Xano, on the other hand, is a purpose-built backend provider that only provides users with the database. This means that if you wish to build a web app, you will need to choose another tool to work on top of Xano, such as AppGyver or other no- and low-code front-end builders.
Xano has a free plan that is limited to 100,000 records of data. Its Launch plan is US$85 per month and comes with 3GB of SSD storage and 10GB of image and file storage.
Xano vs Five: Which One to Pick?
Xano and Five can both be used to create a web-hosted database that stores data online. Five uses MySQL and Xano PostgreSQL as the database. For 99% of all projects, either choice is fine: you cannot go wrong with MySQL or PostgreSQL.
The differences between Five and Xano are pricing (Five starts at US$29.99 and Xano at US$85 per month) and purpose: Five is a full-fledged application environment that is best used to rapidly build and deploy bespoke business applications. It auto-generates a web front end for your database backend.
Xano, on the other hand, is a dedicated no-code database. It has more comprehensive API documentation to make API endpoints, for example. And by choosing a front-end builder that connects to Xano, you can combine Xano with almost any front-end to create highly customized interfaces on top of your database.
