kikstart vs an agency

The real competition

No-code builders do not produce software a serious business keeps, so they are not the comparison. The genuine alternative to kikstart is a custom development shop: an agency that builds you a web app and a mobile app from scratch.

What an agency gives you

Exactly what you asked for. Bespoke screens, bespoke data model, bespoke everything. It is above kikstart on flexibility, and it should be.

What an agency costs you

• Time. Months to a first version, because everything is written from nothing.
• Money. Every screen, every table, every integration is billed.
• Maintenance. When the agency moves on, the code is yours to keep alive. Security patches, framework upgrades, store review changes: yours.
• Isolation. A bespoke build is one app for one customer. There is no one else's fix to inherit.

What kikstart gives you instead

• Modules written once, maintained for everyone. A fix to Orders reaches every business using Orders.
• A data layer already in place. Server actions, types, permissions and design tokens exist before your first screen does. The mobile app consumes them with the necessary plumbing.
• Per-customer isolation without per-customer code. Your own database, the same maintained modules.
• A path to custom. The enterprise plan publishes the modules into your own repository. Custom code goes on top of maintained code, not instead of it.

When to pick an agency

When your business does something no module covers and no module will. That is rarer than it sounds; most bespoke builds are a store, a booking system or a field app with a different logo.

The agencies we like

The good ones build on kikstart. See Partners.