Best for
Best for founders and freelancers who want one project published as a native iOS app, a native Android app and a web app without writing code.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
AI App Builders Comparison
Adalo vs. Zoho Creator
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for teams that want low-code apps with a native mobile version out of the box and the option to host them anywhere, including their own servers.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Adalo | Zoho Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; paid from $36 / month Annual billing is the rate shown by default; monthly billing costs 20 percent more. Plans differ mainly in published apps (1 on Starter, 2 on Professional, 5 on Team), editors and storage. Publishing to the stores also needs an Apple Developer account ($99 / year) and a Google Play developer account ($25 one-time), both charged by Apple and Google directly. | Not stated |
| Free trial | Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing | 15-day free trial, no credit card required, defaulting to Professional features; a free edition covers one custom application |
| Output | Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project | Custom web applications with a matching native iOS and Android app, plus portals, business processes, integration flows and BI dashboards |
| API | Yes, a Collections API and a Notifications API, plus custom actions against any REST API | Yes |
| Hosting | Not stated | Zoho's cloud, AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, or installed on your own servers on-premise |
| What it generates | Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project, assembled on a multi-screen canvas or built and edited by prompting the Ada assistant | Custom web applications with a native iOS and Android app for every app built, plus PWA support and built-in mobile device management, and beyond single apps portals, business processes, integration flows and BI and analytics. CoCreator, powered by Zia, builds the app from a plain-language description, and conversational analytics answers questions about a dataset in plain English |
| Stack and frameworks | Visual no-code editor with more than 200 drag-and-drop components; a developer mode allows private custom components, and a marketplace adds third-party ones | A drag-and-drop builder over an app schema with more than 40 form field types; custom logic is written in Deluge, Zoho's own scripting language |
| Auth and database | Built-in hosted Postgres database with relational collections; outside data through external collections over REST, Google Sheets and Xano, which can also supply external users | Role-based access control with single sign-on, IP restrictions, automated user management and SAML and Active Directory integration for large organisations |
| Hosting and deploy | Published to an Adalo-hosted domain or a custom domain, and from paid plans to the Apple App Store and Google Play | Zoho's cloud with auto-scaling and data centres in multiple geographies, or deployment to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, or installation on your own servers on-premise. ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certified and SOC 2 compliant |
| Payments | Yes, Stripe payments collected inside the app | Payment fields run through pre-integrated gateways, configured once and then reused by workflows; Razorpay, Cashfree and PayPal appear in the documentation, and which gateways are available depends on the data centre and the country and currency configured |
| Access to the code | Custom components rather than an exportable codebase. A component is bootstrapped outside Adalo with the create-adalo-component tool, which needs Node 10.2 or newer and developer mode enabled on the account, and is published with npx adalo publish, either publicly or privately. Code otherwise reaches an app from the outside: custom actions call any external REST API, and the Adalo API, documented for the Team and Business plans at up to 5 requests per second, reads and writes the app's collections and triggers push notifications. The developer documentation covers building and publishing components and does not document exporting an app's own source | The Deluge script behind every component can be read and edited in the Application IDE under Developer Tools, and an application's Deluge Script can be downloaded as a .ds file; that export is refused when a report in the application shows data from 150 fields or more |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Community forum | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Stripe, Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Google Maps, Xano, Airtable | more entries Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho People, Zoho Analytics, Zoho Desk, Zoho Flow, Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle E-Business Suite, QuickBooks, SharePoint, Google Workspace, PayPal, Stripe, Razorpay, Twilio, Zapier |
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Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Free trial Adalo Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing Zoho Creator 15-day free trial, no credit card required, defaulting to Professional features; a free edition covers one custom application
- Deployment Adalo Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Zoho Creator Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Company size Adalo Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Zoho Creator Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Support Adalo Email helpdesk, Community forum Zoho Creator Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, Community forum
- Output Adalo Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project Zoho Creator Custom web applications with a matching native iOS and Android app, plus portals, business processes, integration flows and BI dashboards
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Adalo
Strengths
- One project publishes as a native iOS app, a native Android app and a web app
- Ada, the AI assistant, is included on every plan with no token or usage charges
- Built-in relational Postgres database, so no external backend is required to start
- Flat monthly price with no usage-based or per-action charges
Limitations
- The free plan can build and test but cannot publish an app
- Published apps are capped per plan, so shipping several apps means moving up tiers
- App store publishing needs paid Apple and Google developer accounts on top
- Email support runs on a response-time SLA of three, two or one business days depending on the plan
Zoho Creator
Strengths
- Every app built comes with a native iOS and Android app, not only a responsive web view
- Runs on Zoho's cloud, on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, or on your own servers on-premise
- CoCreator, powered by Zia, builds an application from a plain-language description
- Payment fields are built in and route through pre-integrated gateways
- ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certified and SOC 2 compliant
Limitations
- Zoho does not print figures on the pricing page, so plans can be compared by content but not by cost without asking for a quote
- The Standard plan is limited to a single application; unlimited apps start at Professional
- Custom logic uses Deluge, a scripting language specific to Zoho
- AI model allowances and cloud function calls are capped per plan and per user per day
- Which payment gateways are available depends on the data centre and the currency configured
Plans
Pricing
Adalo
- Free $0 Unlimited test apps and screens, 500 records per app, 1 editor, Ada AI assistant. No publishing.
- Starter $36 Per month, billed annually. 1 published app, 1 editor, 5 GB storage, web and app store publishing, custom domain.
- Professional $52 Per month, billed annually. 2 published apps, 5 editors, 25 GB storage.
- Team $160 Per month, billed annually. 5 published apps, 10 editors, 125 GB storage.
- Adalo Blue Not stated Enterprise offering with dedicated infrastructure, custom monitoring, on-premise deployment and connections to data sources without an API. Priced on request.
Zoho Creator
- Free edition $0 One custom application, for individuals and small teams exploring low-code development.
- Standard Not stated Amount not published. 1 application, 20 custom and 50 ready-to-use AI models, 5 data sources, 5 custom connectors, 50 cloud function calls per user per day.
- Professional Not stated Amount not published. Unlimited applications, 100 custom and 250 ready-to-use AI models, 15 data sources, 10 custom connectors, 100 cloud function calls per user per day.
- Enterprise Not stated Amount not published. Unlimited applications, 100 custom and 250 ready-to-use AI models, 30 data sources, 20 custom connectors, 200 cloud function calls per user per day, with advanced integrations and analytics.
- Flex Custom Quoted by Zoho for tailored requirements.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Adalo
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Zoho Creator
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Adalo https://www.adalo.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-12
Zoho Creator https://www.zoho.com/creator/ · no check date recorded yet
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.