Best for
Best for enterprise IT organisations that want AI-generated applications as governed visual models and the freedom to run them on their own cloud or servers.
- Enterprise
AI App Builders Comparison
Mendix vs. Thunkable
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for solo makers and small teams that want to describe a mobile app, then refine it visually or in code and publish it to both stores.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Mendix | Thunkable |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value Free tier; Standard from $1,090 / month The Standard tier is $1,090 / month for a One App plan and $2,725 / month for Unlimited Apps. Cloud resources are charged on top of the subscription in both cases. Premium is quoted by the vendor. | Free plan; paid from $18 / month Billed yearly; billed monthly the same plans cost $19, $59 and $189. Every plan carries a monthly AI token allowance, from 2,000 on Free to 100,000 on Advanced. Enterprise and education plans are quoted on request. |
| Free trial | Free tier with no commitment and no credit card required | Free plan with 3 public projects, 5 screens per project and no published apps |
| Output | Enterprise web and mobile applications and AI agents, built as visual models executed by the Mendix Runtime | Native iOS and Android apps plus web apps, published from one project |
| API | Yes, apps publish REST services with OpenAPI documentation and OData or GraphQL services | Not stated |
| Hosting | Mendix Cloud on AWS, Mendix on Kubernetes, Mendix on Azure, SAP Business Technology Platform, private cloud or on-premise | Not stated |
| What it generates | Enterprise web and mobile applications, AI agents and orchestrated processes. Maia is the agentic AI built into the platform, and Maia Make executes multi-step development autonomously from requirements to working software, generating into visual models rather than raw code | Native iOS and Android apps plus web apps, generated from a written description by the AI Builder and then editable screen by screen |
| Stack and frameworks | An application model built in Studio Pro and executed by the Mendix Runtime, not a generated source tree. Custom logic is added through Java Actions and JavaScript Actions | Drag-and-drop designer with blocks, plus a built-in code editor for direct edits alongside the AI |
| Auth and database | Apps deployed to Mendix Cloud run on PostgreSQL and cannot be configured to use another database; self-managed deployments support MySQL and MariaDB, Oracle, SAP HANA and SQL Server | Local tables, Google Sheets, Airtable, Webflow, the Firebase Realtime Database and Cloudinary; user sign-in through the Firebase Authentication REST API |
| Hosting and deploy | Mendix Cloud on AWS in multiple regions, with at least an acceptance and a production environment per licensed node and daily backups kept up to a year depending on the plan. Also Mendix on Kubernetes, Mendix on Azure, SAP BTP, private cloud and on-premise. Free apps sleep after roughly an hour of inactivity, run a single instance and get 0.5 GiB of database storage | Published from the platform to the Apple App Store, Google Play and the web on a custom domain, with TestFlight for iOS beta builds |
| Payments | No payment handling in the platform itself. A provider is added from the Marketplace, where Mendix publishes a Stripe Checkout Connector and partners publish further Stripe and Adyen integrations | Yes, in-app purchases through RevenueCat, plus AdMob for advertising |
| Access to the code | The artefact is a visual application model rather than a repository of hand-written source; custom Java and JavaScript enter as Java Actions and JavaScript Actions | Compiled builds rather than a repository: downloading an Android app sends an APK by email, and publishing sends an AAB to upload to the Play Store. No source-code export or Git sync is documented, so edits stay in the builder |
| Deployment | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum | Chat, Community forum |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Live online demos and webinars, On-site training | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Enterprise | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | AWS, SAP, Siemens Teamcenter, Stripe | more entries Firebase, Google Sheets, Airtable, Webflow, Cloudinary, OpenAI, Google Maps, Google Translate, RevenueCat, AdMob, OneSignal |
Add a tool
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
- Starting price Mendix Free tier; Standard from $1,090 / month Thunkable Free plan; paid from $18 / month
- Free trial Mendix Free tier with no commitment and no credit card required Thunkable Free plan with 3 public projects, 5 screens per project and no published apps
- Deployment Mendix Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Thunkable Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Company size Mendix Enterprise Thunkable Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Support Mendix Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum Thunkable Chat, Community forum
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Mendix
Strengths
- Free tier with unlimited users and one environment per app, no credit card and no commitment
- Runs on public cloud, private cloud, Kubernetes or on-premise, unlike most tools in this category
- Bring your own LLM, whether frontier, open-source or private, and connect existing data without migrating it
- Apps publish REST with OpenAPI documentation as well as OData and GraphQL services
- Backed by Siemens and named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for enterprise low-code nine years running
Limitations
- The step from the free tier to Standard is $1,090 / month, with no small paid plan in between
- Cloud resources are billed on top of the subscription, so the listed price is not the total
- Standard support runs 9 AM to 5 PM with a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee; 24/7 support, high availability and multi-region failover need the quoted Premium tier
- Free apps sleep after about an hour of inactivity and are capped at 0.5 GiB of database storage
- Apps deployed to Mendix Cloud are locked to PostgreSQL
Thunkable
Strengths
- AI Builder turns a written description into a working, fully editable project
- One project publishes to iOS, Android and the web
- Visual blocks and a built-in code editor sit side by side, so edits are not limited to prompting
- Documented data sources and integrations cover Firebase, Google Sheets, Airtable, OpenAI, RevenueCat and more
Limitations
- The free plan has no private projects and no published apps
- Every plan meters AI use by token allowance
- Live published apps are capped below the Advanced plan
- Private projects fall back to read-only if the subscription lapses
Plans
Pricing
Mendix
- Free $0 No hidden fees, no commitment, no credit card. Full platform access for exploration, prototypes and small applications, unlimited users, one deployment environment per app.
- Standard, One App $1,090 Per month, starting price, cloud resources extra. Agile project management, collaborative multi-user development, up to 3 environments per app, operations dashboard, identity provider integration, vertical scalability, support 9 AM to 5 PM and a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee.
- Standard, Unlimited Apps $2,725 Per month, starting price, cloud resources extra. The same platform capabilities as the One App plan; the difference is scope, not features.
- Premium Custom Quoted by the vendor, cloud resources extra. Adds a private marketplace, flexible environments, horizontal scalability, high availability and fallback, multi-region failover, 24/7 premium support and a 99.95 percent uptime guarantee.
Thunkable
- Free $0 2,000 AI tokens per month, 3 public projects, 5 screens per project. No private projects and no published apps.
- Accelerator $18 Per month, billed yearly ($19 billed monthly). 20,000 AI tokens, 5 public and 1 private project, 10 screens per project.
- Builder $37 Per month, billed yearly ($59 billed monthly). 50,000 AI tokens, unlimited public projects, 10 private projects, unlimited screens, 1 live published app, custom branding.
- Advanced $99 Per month, billed yearly ($189 billed monthly). 100,000 AI tokens, unlimited private projects and unlimited live published apps, priority support.
- Enterprise Not stated Quoted on request, for teams. A separate education plan covers students, teachers and districts.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Mendix
- 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.
Thunkable
- 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
Mendix https://www.mendix.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-06
Thunkable https://thunkable.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-12
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.