Re: Powerapps vs Smartsheet vs Quickbase
I was in the same position as Mike about a year and a half ago. Jennifer is spot on about Smartsheet and I actually have an end user that uses it. It fits a specific niche and it was easy for them to learn and distribute it to a couple other users. I would recommend it for a specific use case but would have a hard time recommending it for any large or "real" database needs.
PowerApps has a great marketing team so it is easy to fall into their worm hole and think that it can easily do everything they say it can. In reality we went with QuickBase for a few reasons. The first is the lower cost entry point. I'm able to purchase a license from QB and quickly add 20 users for one price. This made it much easier to present during my annual budget meeting. PowerApps is an add on and requires a license for each user which can quickly become expensive.
I am also not a programmer and learn code as I go. In my opinion PowerApps has a steep learning curve and requires a lot more programming knowledge that I was comfortable with. Microsoft bills it as "low code" but I think that is a huge stretch. It is also difficult to implement if you are trying to do something that isn't part of Microsoft's vision, so to speak. A lot of solutions that they market, and even train with, seem to fit too perfectly.
QB on the other hand is a little easier to learn from scratch. However, I recommend that you have a very good understanding of database design because QB is a relational database program which means key fields, relationships, and tables. The community though is fantastic to learn from and it seems like the QB community is much more willing to share knowledge but also share it so everyone can understand what they did.
The one short coming with QB is its "fit and finish". It doesn't have a fancy interface that we see with other companies today, and reports are difficult to customize. I always say it is very plain but it works. Once you get started and comfortable though you can learn some great tricks on customizing the forms but the dashboards and homepage will always be lacking.
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David Semitekol
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PowerApps has a great marketing team so it is easy to fall into their worm hole and think that it can easily do everything they say it can. In reality we went with QuickBase for a few reasons. The first is the lower cost entry point. I'm able to purchase a license from QB and quickly add 20 users for one price. This made it much easier to present during my annual budget meeting. PowerApps is an add on and requires a license for each user which can quickly become expensive.
I am also not a programmer and learn code as I go. In my opinion PowerApps has a steep learning curve and requires a lot more programming knowledge that I was comfortable with. Microsoft bills it as "low code" but I think that is a huge stretch. It is also difficult to implement if you are trying to do something that isn't part of Microsoft's vision, so to speak. A lot of solutions that they market, and even train with, seem to fit too perfectly.
QB on the other hand is a little easier to learn from scratch. However, I recommend that you have a very good understanding of database design because QB is a relational database program which means key fields, relationships, and tables. The community though is fantastic to learn from and it seems like the QB community is much more willing to share knowledge but also share it so everyone can understand what they did.
The one short coming with QB is its "fit and finish". It doesn't have a fancy interface that we see with other companies today, and reports are difficult to customize. I always say it is very plain but it works. Once you get started and comfortable though you can learn some great tricks on customizing the forms but the dashboards and homepage will always be lacking.
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David Semitekol
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