Weweb or Nowa ? For mobile application

Ask us anything
1

Hello there, I have a client that wants a glovo-like mobile application, to import the concept in a country in Africa.

I would like to know your opinion/review on what to choose between Weweb and Nowa.

  • Why not Flutterflow ? Don’t like the vendor lock-in + need full visual customization
  • Why hesitating with Weweb ? Even if there was a huge work done for this kind of need (and Despia which allows a release on app store), it’s not really what it has been made for in the first place
  • Why hesitating with Nowa ? It’s not that old, and I’ve seen some critics about the capacity of Nowa to hold a strong use.

Thanks in advance for your reply and honesty :slight_smile:

2

Don’t know about Nowa, but not WeWeb for mobile native apps. Despia is not native, it’s just a wrapper.

3

Except it’s a native wrapper :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

4

every wrapper has native code that wraps the webview and gives access to native functionality, otherwise it’s called a browser :wink:
wrappers are ok by the way :slight_smile:

2 Likes
5

Thank you, I was thinking the same as you @Broberto. I’m gonna check for some reviews about Despia to see if I change my mind.

Too bad no one knows about Nowa, but this is maybe for a reason ..

Maybe there is another tool I missed ?

1 Like
6

…a native wrapper with iOS smart widget support (btw the only one that’s has them :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:)

7

Hey :waving_hand:

At the risk of shooting ourselves in the foot… you might want to check this out: Play to Xcode · Design mobile apps with the power of iOS & SwiftUI

Right now, it only supports iOS, but it’s a pretty solid way to build MVPs visually in Swift.

Here’s the catch though:
It doesn’t give you prebuilt SDKs or native access within the visual editor. You’ll need to handle that in Xcode using some Swift code.

That being said, if you’re open to hybrid tech like React Native, Draftbit is worth a look:
https://draftbit.com

It’s basically React Native turned into NoCode. Most of what you’re building is in JSX (React’s syntax), which plays really well with AI, since most of the AI training data includes React code + it’s the same scripting language that WeWeb uses.

It’s a complete package, though like any tool, it has its limits - which you’ll come across as you build.

To summarize:

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you’re most comfortable with.

If I had to recommend a path:
Try https://nowa.dev for a few days or weeks. If it doesn’t feel right, give Draftbit a shot (https://draftbit.com).
And if none of those work out, give Despia a try (https://despia.com).

We’re not usually the first tool people choose - and we’re okay with that.
We’ve learned to be the one people turn to when everything else falls short :wink:

1 Like
8

there is many possibilities but if full iPhone/ (ipados/macos possible but made it even accessible)
To be fully transparent, I would not necessary go for Play, because your not primaryly in Android but since you mention that your client wants to import in a country in Africa, the likelihood that the user base is mostly a market for android phones, (don’t know the country, of course if it’s the South Africa and if studies shows a disparity maybe.
Anyway Play is free to try and try out and have Prefab and not that long or complex for the Xcode part that is part also in the process if I understand correctly for Despia to add some mobile native feature in any case where Play would be done in app, and the import from Figma is ok too

anyways so if I were you, I would go for something like Capacitor(free), or Bolt that has now built in feature that uses Expo, Tempo also great (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHtmpNRQEI0 )

or something like Figma into Relay plugin (plugin official) into Gemini JetpackCompose/Android compose

It also depends at which stage you are for the development, background, how no code you seek, have some knowledge in X language or not etc

But yeah note also that there is 100$ to add for the Apple Developper License if wanted there

at the end weweb is great and no lockin has some in app mobile feature, with a code export and nice smoothy editor that can then be used directly into Tempo 30$/month or Bolt/Cursor/..20$/month, Expo is ok for the pricing (if want to have some easier maintenance start at 0$ (updating the app and publishing to users)

weweb is at a price that is hard to beat feature/cost for visual building

Despia is kind of .. expensive imo compared to Capacitor (Open-Source) and from what I see in their respective docs the kind of service is approximately for the the pwa ready but want feature specific native with no code but still with some a little bit
(I’m not sure that it would been appreciated can’t say if Despia allow sharing their docs but the Capacitor one is accessible if you need to know approximately if capacitor can be worth not spending a dime in addition to the visual builder into mobile ready (18$to30$/month)

since let’s assume no apple developer license (100$)

Adding 250$ up to 500 if you want to be able to be able to export to both (?) knowing that doesn’t seem to be a one click deploy, you are paying mostly for the mobile native feature , not for developing and building the app , the one time fee lifetime seems a bit not really a particularly useful with this neverstoping evolving sector we most certainly won’t have the same possibilities for way less imo !

(sorry if feel a bit hard but just trying to stick to my honest opinion whatever the tool (whereas weweb even in the past , or many other !

Just I have to admit that here I find it to be very disportionnate and priced with little to no cost (a bit for some cloud and marketing but allowing access to only the first and last page of a documentation even for paid product, find it kind of tricky for a pricy one

3 Likes
9

Totally agree that tools like Capacitor, Bolt, Tempo, etc. can be great depending on what you’re building and your stack. Especially if you’re Android-first or comfortable mixing in some code, those options make a lot of sense.

Just to clarify a couple things about Despia:

Yeah, we don’t have public-facing docs - but that’s because the docs live inside the editor. Once you’re logged in and building a project, everything you need is right there. If you need the docs, it means you’re building - so you’ll have them right in there via our documentation provider Featurebase.

On the pricing side - I get that we’re not the cheapest. That’s not what we’re going for. What you’re getting with Despia is a fully no-code setup, with one-click builds and deployment to both iOS and Android.

We literally run Apple Silicon hardware on our end so you can build iOS apps without needing a Mac. Just press a button and ship. No Xcode installs, no extra config - nothing.

And unlike some setups relying on open-source community templates (which can break, go stale, or get messy), Despia is fully maintained. It just works. That’s what we focus on - performance, reliability, and not wasting your time.

Anyway, I get where you’re coming from. Feedback like this is always appreciated :raising_hands:

1 Like
10

Thank you all very much for your precise answers.

I didn’t know about Capacitor nor Tempo (which looks quite impressive), but as they are either too recent or code-knowledge demanding, I don’t think I’m gonna go with them for the moment. Really interesting for my benchmark though, I’m definitely gonna keep an eye on them. Thanks also for mentioning Play, but after researches, I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for.

I don’t have any technical background, I’ve been using Weweb and Supabase for one year now, to build a client portal that works. I started a bit to learn SQL, and I can understand basics of CSS and HTML, but still, I’m looking for a no-code platform (where you can add some code, but not as a major part of the development process).

It would be really appreciable to go with Weweb and Despia, as I wouldn’t have to learn a new tool. But as you said @Zacharyb, at the end of the month it could be the most expensive option, even compared to using Flutterflow.

So to sum up ( I didn’t expect that), I think I’m gonna go with Flutterflow this time, because they finally did add the code export feature, and because there are plenty of tutos and a big community. Nowa looks really nice but a bit too recent, and I don’t know if it’s build to hold a strong use. I’m definitely gonna watch its evolution. And finally, I think I’m gonna keep using Weweb for my webapps, but I don’t know about Despia (even if the product is really impressive, so does the support :slight_smile: ).

Thanks again for your time, and would love to continue this discussion as it’s evolving a lot and fast !

11

Flutterflow is the goat in my eyes for no-code mobile native development. Wise choice :slight_smile:

1 Like
12

Mmh @despia man.. you understand that i neither an account nor paid, so docs live inside the editor well, i can access it :confused:
No

Not the despia one but the idea is similar also (for the “nocode” probably more easy to add the line of code but not necessary Despia that makes the process especially way quickier

https://snack.expo.dev/ (expo so react only if i’m correct but you can go for :

Free few examples:
Weweb/supabase > Capacitor/BravoStudio/NativeScript-Vue/PWABuilder etc > use Android Studio with. The integrated Gemini (still free)
End up no lockup not really complex or long and give you cloud if wished assurance on the

Might take few instant to choose what you prefer, but won’t take you long neither, it’s not really a long process,

You can continue use WeWeb + Supabase + BuilderIO for exemple for translating into React, or Swift/Flutter,..

And @despia that’s the thing, a documentation don’t have to be “hidden”, especially for this exact reason, he seem to think it’s a nocode builder while the UI but not really nocode nor a one or two click process neither since the docs page isn’t officially accessible except through the intercom (which show 2 out of all other pages)

https://snack.expo.dev/ /
Expo Orbit etc exist, provide build time for free, with all the transparency

Lastly
at least you should add in your footer in your homepage, especialy for E.U clients of yours (I say that mostly for you but yeah updating the ones from your Oauth google and add your license/privacy/tos page is also important. EU Law for Consumers Is pretty robust, and might not match with the current one (just an advice i personnaly not very care on the detail , but at least it’s more for your protection too !

Any not meant to bitch , just to be frank your answers etc, didn’t quite make me feel like there were way too much space to some asymetrical information (not personal, i often time prefer to praise positivily honestly but i want also to stick to my personal principle whereas recently YC which i openly criticize (without. Any form of motivation to do so, absolutly not bad relation with them, that’s were just something worth writing)

13

[Edit] After taking a deep look at Despia myself I have to say that you’re totally right that making documentation more accessible (outside of the app/editor) is something we need to address promptly, and I’m already looking into ways how we can fix that. Transparency and clarity matter a lot to us, especially as Despia continues to evolve.

Also noted on the EU compliance and legal footer - thank you for flagging that. We’ll make sure those updates get prioritized in our V3 revamp.

@Corner If you’re ever curious to explore Despia hands-on, I’m happy to offer you a free walkthrough. Just let me know at community@despia.com :wink:

Thanks again for sharing your perspective - it’s genuinely helpful!

1 Like
14

@despia Regarding Push notifications, how are you dealing with it ? I’m currently checking with Flutterflow and Supabase, it’s really not convenient (have to also open a Firebase Cloud messaging account, and connect them together, create edge functions etc).

I’m curious about how it is working with the stack Weweb, Supabase and Despia regarding this topic. :slight_smile:

1 Like
15

Hey @Corner - it takes about 5 minutes to set it up in Despia and does not require any code + is free for Unlimited Push Notifications.

How this works: You would have to sign up for OneSignal (we have a Native Integration with them) and complete your NoCode onboarding for “iOS Native” or “Android Native” (as Despia uses the Native Swift / Java Frameworks for optimal compatibility).

After that you will get an “App ID” - paste that in the Despia NoCode Editor - rebuild your app using “One Click Deploy” (we handle all dependencies for you) - and after that you have successfully added Push Notifications.

If you need help with the setup or would like a demo - please feel free to contact us via help@despia.com :wink:

Here is also a video (using Despia V1 - we are currently working on updating all resources and docs for V3) https://youtu.be/So3nNxcQcfQ?si=Cu7we-vsdLOmWaWH

I hope this helps :wink:

1 Like
16

Okay very clear thanks, looks easier than Supabase, FF and Firebase

1 Like
17

That’s the goal :wink: