Amazon launches no-code app development platform

(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon is making it easier for wannabe developers to quickly create apps with a new coding offering that requires little to no programming.

The new Amazon Honeycode platform allows users to build mobile and web applications, no matter their level of expertise 

The company says Honeycode is built on "the full power and scale of AWS", and is available in beta from today in certain regions, with more coming soon.

Amazon Honeycode

Amazon Honeycode provides users with a web-based visual app builder that the company says takes a lot of the complications out of development, as well as reducing reliance on shared spreadsheets that constantly need emailing around a business.

Users can choose from a number of pre-built templates, or elect to create their own using the spreadsheet-based set-up, adding in functions and services using Excel-esque formulas

Among the templates available are apps for process approvals, event scheduling, customer relationship management, user surveys, to-do lists, and content and inventory tracking.

Data from these apps is then taken and processed by a database built on AWS, which Amazon says can be scaled up to 100,000 rows per workbook, meaning users don't have to worry about the underlying infrastructure, and can instead get on with building their apps.

Amazon Honeycode is free to use to build applications for up to 20 users, however anything bigger than that will require payment depending on the number of users and the storage needs required.

“Customers have told us that the need for custom applications far outstrips the capacity of developers to create them,” said Larry Augustin, Vice President, Amazon Web Services, noting that Slack has already been signed up as a Honeycode customer.

“Now with Amazon Honeycode, almost anyone can create powerful custom mobile and web applications without the need to write code.”

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Mike Moore
Deputy Editor, TechRadar Pro

Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.