IBM MobileFirst vs Xamarin Platform comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM MobileFirst and Xamarin Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well""IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels.""With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming technology. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product."

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"We were able to optimize the service organization for one of our clients.""The cross platform ability is a great asset.""Xamarin is well-integrated with Visual Studio so it will feel very familiar to you once you start.""Test Cloud, Calabash, SpecFlow, and Xamarin.UITest are the features which can’t be ignored because just writing code doesn’t mean your app will run flawlessly. You need to test your app on each possible device and configuration, which you can do easily.""The most valuable features of the Xamarin Platform are that it has cross-platform development, one code base serves a purpose on both, and the grid layout is a lifesaver.""For me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java. Xamarin enables me to do so.""Plugins like MvvmCross make a developer’s life easy.""The most important impact is the reduction in product lifecycle costs."

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Cons
"There are issues with push notifications, especially for Windows mobile apps. JSONStore also crashes abruptly at times.""I would like to see improved support for native device functions."

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"The monitoring of the remote devices is not good as it should be extended along. It would be useful if the log is more integrated with the central console. I am not sure it can be accessed but it would be better.""They need to take a step towards independence from the UI platform. It takes a lot of time to adapt the native controls.""We need to think about partnering with IBM because there is a need for a big data partner; someone who has machine learning and can help us connect the app to big data.""From time to time, it is a bit harder to code some specific scenarios compared to the native approach.""For those who use only XAML to design the UI, it would be better if there was a better XAML previewer or designer.""I feel that the Android AppCompat library creates a lot of issues. A lot of development time is often wasted solving these issues.""Xamarin's profiling tools are only available for the highest tier of MSDN subscription and compatibility with platform-native profiling tools is rather lacking. This causes friction when working on performance-related issues.""The recent move to .NET MAUI is a big change that's affecting a lot of the good features."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Cost depends upon various factors. Size of the overall application and product usage matter a lot. For an enterprise-grade application, this certainly comes out as an economical solution. However, for small-scale applications, it can turn out to be on the higher side."
  • More IBM MobileFirst Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."
  • "For personal use, the Community Edition is free."
  • "This is a free product, so there is zero investment on licenses and IDE."
  • "Xamarin is available under several licensing arrangements. Each developer needs one license at least. All features, especially the Profiler, unlock only with the highest tier."
  • "It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."
  • "Xamarin is free, or comes with Visual Studio. Therefore, it is very profitable."
  • "The price of the Xamarin Platform is not expensive. However, the price of the solution depends on the application that is made. For example, if you have small applications, it's different from large or enterprise applications."
  • "There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."
  • More Xamarin Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
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    Top Answer:Xamarin.Forms reduced the effort and time to build and market our solution, market our features, and get our solution into production.
    Top Answer:You can build in Xamarin without paying any money. What costs money is the IDE, Visual Studio, Professional, or Enterprise edition. What would cost you money if you're building apps for the Apple… more »
    Top Answer:There are issues with Xamarin, such as when you run into errors doing something called linking. When you build your solution, you can use Linker, which can give you errors if you don't link properly… more »
    Ranking
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    7.9
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MobileFirst, Worklight
    Learn More
    Overview
    IBM Worklight helps organizations extend their business to mobile devices.

    Xamarin is an open-source platform for developing modern and performant applications for iOS, Android, and Windows using.NET. Xamarin is an abstraction layer that manages how shared code is communicated to the platform's underlying code. Xamarin is for developers with the two following goals:

    • Cross-platform sharing of code, tests, and business logic.

    • Writing cross-platform apps in C# with Visual Studio.

    Xamarin allows developers to share an average of 90% of their program across platforms. This enables programmers to achieve native performance, look, and feel on each platform while writing all of their business logic in a single language (or reusing existing application code).

    Xamarin applications can be created on a PC or a Mac and compiled into native application packages, such as an .apk file for Android or an .ipa file for iOS.

    Xamarin Platform Features

    Xamarin Platform has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Complete binding for the supporting SDKs: Xamarin includes bindings for almost all of the underlying platform SDKs in iOS and Android.
    • Java, C, Objective-C, C, C++ Interop: Xamarin gives you the ability to use a variety of third-party code by providing tools for directly invoking Objective-C, Java, C, and C++ libraries.
    • Modern language constructs: Xamarin applications are written in C#, a modern language with many capabilities that Objective-C and Java do not have, like lambdas, LINQ, parallel programming, generics, and more.
    • Strong base class library (BCL): Xamarin apps use the .NET BCL, a large collection of classes with streamlined features, like powerful XML, database, serialization, IO, string, and networking support, among others.

    Xamarin Platform Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing the Xamarin Platform. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Native UIs and APIs: Xamarin delivers comprehensive access to each platform's native SDK and UI controls, projecting the entire native API of each device into C#. Therefore, the apps you develop are native instead of write-once/run-anywhere programs that look alien on every platform. Xamarin provides you access to all of the capabilities that distinguish each platform.
    • Share code between platforms: With Xamarin, you can share all code across platforms while providing a native user interface tailored to each individual device. With Xamarin, you can execute the same C# code on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. With Xamarin, your software is compiled to a native binary rather than being interpreted, in contrast to other cross-platform frameworks. Even in the most demanding situations, native compilation provides users with excellent app performance. Xamarin provides responsive, multi-user input and feedback, fluid scrolling, sophisticated graphics and animations, complicated data visualization, and realistic high frame rates for games.
    • Code with C#: Write shorter, more concise, and more maintainable code by leveraging advanced language features, such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), delegates, lambdas, events, garbage collection, and many other features. With Xamarin's fully extensible platform, you can include libraries written in C, Objective-C, C++, or Java. In C#, you have access to the entire native ecosystem of components and libraries.

    Sample Customers
    UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions, Gruppo Unipol, Raymond James Financial, Toshiba GCS, CST, ABK-Systeme GmbH, BNP Paribas
    Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm23%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Real Estate/Law Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm29%
    Music Company14%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Computer Software Company14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Educational Organization8%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business47%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise60%
    Buyer's Guide
    Mobile Development Platforms
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems, Mendix, Salesforce and others in Mobile Development Platforms. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM MobileFirst is ranked 13th in Mobile Development Platforms while Xamarin Platform is ranked 5th in Mobile Development Platforms with 37 reviews. IBM MobileFirst is rated 8.4, while Xamarin Platform is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of IBM MobileFirst writes "It provides access management for the enterprise user as well as for the consumer". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Xamarin Platform writes "It's about to be retired and replaced with an inferior product, but offers excellent cross-platform development capabilities". IBM MobileFirst is most compared with IBM MaaS360, Ionic, SAP Mobile Platform and Microsoft Azure App Service, whereas Xamarin Platform is most compared with Appium, Ionic, OutSystems, Apple Xcode and Mendix.

    See our list of best Mobile Development Platforms vendors.

    We monitor all Mobile Development Platforms reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.