---
title: "Low-code costs US$8 to US$25 a seat; 2 of 5 platforms won’t print a price"
summary: "What five low-code pricing pages said as of September 2026, a 50-user internal app priced in rupees with GST, and the DPDP duty an app built on customer data carries."
url: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/does-application-development-software-help-organization
format: Note
desk: "SaaS & business software"
published: 2024-12-03
facts_checked: 2026-09-30
author: TechBag (The TechBag Journal)
tags: ["low-code","application development","Zoho Creator","Power Apps","Mendix","OutSystems","Appian","pricing","GST","DPDP"]
cover: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/covers/does-application-development-software-help-organization.png
---

# Low-code costs US$8 to US$25 a seat; 2 of 5 platforms won’t print a price

*What five low-code pricing pages said as of September 2026, a 50-user internal app priced in rupees with GST, and the DPDP duty an app built on customer data carries.*

Note · SaaS & business software · By TechBag · Published 2024-12-03 · Facts checked 2026-09-30 · Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/does-application-development-software-help-organization

Three of the five low-code platforms an Indian business is most likely to shortlist print a price; two do not. Zoho Creator lists US$8, US$20 and US$25 a user a month on annual billing; Microsoft Power Apps Premium lists US$20 a user a month, falling to US$12 with a 2,000-seat commitment; Mendix lists from €918 a month for one app and €2,295 for unlimited apps.[1] [2] [3] OutSystems and Appian publish tiers and units but no number.[4] [5] The 2022 version of this post said application development software “helps an organisation” and quoted a custom-app cost against a cheaper builder. We could not find a source for either figure, so both are gone.

## What the five pricing pages say

Zoho Creator is the only one of the five with a per-user price at every tier: Standard at US$8 buys one application, Professional at US$20 and Enterprise at US$25 buy unlimited applications, all billed annually, and local taxes such as GST are added.[1] Power Apps publishes one paid seat, Premium at US$20 a user a month billed yearly, with a 250 MB Dataverse database; the US$12 seat needs 2,000 licences and a sales conversation, and the page says its prices are “for marketing purposes only”.[2] Mendix prices per app rather than per user, with cloud compute billed on top and Premium by quote.[3]

OutSystems prices on Application Objects, the count of screens, database tables and API methods, with about 150 for a typical medium-sized app, plus named end users; every figure is “get an estimate”.[4] Appian’s tiers are “priced per user, per month, per app” with no amount for any of them.[5]

**Figure: Per-user low-code seats run US$8 to US$25 a month; the enterprise platforms price per app or by quote**

*Published list price per user per month, US$, annual billing, September 2026*

Zoho Creator Standard

one app

US$8

Power Apps Premium, 2,000+ seats

US$12

Zoho Creator Professional

unlimited apps

US$20

Power Apps Premium

US$20

Zoho Creator Enterprise

US$25

|  | Value (US$) |
| --- | --- |
| Zoho Creator Standard | 8 |
| Power Apps Premium, 2,000+ seats | 12 |
| Zoho Creator Professional | 20 |
| Power Apps Premium | 20 |
| Zoho Creator Enterprise | 25 |

Source: Zoho Creator and Power Apps pricing pages; Mendix, OutSystems and Appian pages carry no per-user figure · as of 30 September 2026 · Power Apps US$12 requires 2,000 or more licences; Mendix (€918 or €2,295 a month per app), OutSystems and Appian are not per-user list prices and are omitted

## A 50-user internal app, worked in rupees

Take one internal application, 50 users, a year, at the ₹83 to the dollar TechBag’s guides use. On Zoho Creator Standard that is US$4,800, about ₹3,98,400, and ₹4,70,112 once 18% GST is on the invoice. On Power Apps Premium it is US$12,000, about ₹9,96,000, or ₹11,75,280 with GST.[1] [2] On Mendix Standard the same app is €11,016 a year before cloud compute, because the price is per app.[3] The second app is where the models diverge: Zoho Standard needs an upgrade to Professional, Power Apps Premium already includes it, and Mendix charges again or moves you to the unlimited plan.

TechBag countTechBag count

Of five pricing pages read in September 2026, three carry a number (Zoho Creator, Power Apps, Mendix) and two carry only units and tiers (OutSystems, Appian); one of the three, Power Apps, calls its price indicative. Four name a free edition on the pricing page: Zoho Creator Free, Mendix Free, OutSystems Personal Edition and Appian Community Edition.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

## Does it help? Only if someone owns the data

A low-code platform helps when the app would otherwise not be built, and it costs when the app is built by someone who does not own what it stores. A visitor register or a lead form built by a business user on customer data still makes the company a data fiduciary under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The DPDP Rules, notified on 13 November 2025, bring the security-safeguard and breach-intimation duties into force on 13 May 2027, and the Act’s schedule sets a penalty of up to ₹250 crore for failing to keep reasonable security safeguards.[6] [7] So before the first seat is bought, three questions: which region the tenant sits in, who can export the data, and who deletes the app when its author leaves.

Our view

Our view: for a team of under 100 building its own internal tools, Zoho Creator’s printed per-user price and Power Apps’ place in a Microsoft estate make them the two to trial. Mendix, OutSystems and Appian are platforms for a development team that will ship many apps to many users; ask for the quote only if that team exists. In every case, get the price in rupees with 18% GST shown and the data region named on the order form.

How we did this

Figures as of 30 September 2026

Prices are read from each vendor’s public pricing page: Zoho Creator (US$, annual billing), Power Apps (US$, yearly billing, indicative by the page’s own disclaimer), Mendix (€, “from”), OutSystems and Appian (no amounts). INR uses ₹83 to the dollar and adds 18% GST; euro figures stay in euros. No vendor was contacted. ServiceNow App Engine and Salesforce Platform are quote-led and were not read for this note.

Spotted an error? Write to us; corrections are published at the foot of the piece.

Sources

1. [Zoho Creator, pricing (Standard US$8, Professional US$20, Enterprise US$25 per user per month, billed annually; Free edition; local taxes such as GST extra)](https://www.zoho.com/creator/pricing.html) — undated page
2. [Microsoft, Power Apps pricing (Premium US$20 per user per month yearly; US$12 with a 2,000-seat minimum; prices 'for marketing purposes only')](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-apps/pricing) — undated page
3. [Mendix, pricing (Free; Standard from €918 a month one app or €2,295 unlimited apps; Premium by quote; compute not included)](https://www.mendix.com/pricing/) — undated page
4. [OutSystems, pricing and editions (Application Objects and end users; about 150 AOs for a medium app; Personal Edition free; no amounts)](https://www.outsystems.com/pricing-and-editions/) — undated page
5. [Appian, platform pricing (Standard, Advanced, Premium per user per month per app; Community Edition free; no amounts)](https://appian.com/products/platform/pricing) — undated page
6. [DPDP Rules 2025, commencement timeline (notified 13 November 2025; safeguard and breach duties from 13 May 2027)](https://legismith.com/dpdp-rules-2025-timeline/) — 13 November 2025
7. [Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Schedule (penalties up to ₹250 crore)](https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework) — 11 August 2023

Related on TechBag: the [Zoho hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/zoho) covers the suite Creator sits in; the [developer tools guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/devops/developer-tools) is the pro-code side of the same decision.

**Disclosure.** TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

Go deeper on TechBag

- [Developer tools guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/devops/developer-tools) — the pro-code side of the same build-or-buy decision
- [Zoho vendor hub](https://www.thetechbag.com/zoho) — the suite Creator sits in, priced in INR