DhiWise vs Locofy: Understanding the Key Differences

Don’t we all love production-ready code? Don’t we all love that mobile and app-building flexibility that takes quick care of the frontend workload? Well, if these are some of your priorities— say frontend support, faster app shipping with built-in design tools, and even an app preview to see how things are coming together in reality— nothing beats DhiWise and Locofy as the go-to resources.

Despite being two of the cornerstone app development tools, DhiWise and Locofy are nothing alike. In fact, each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses— allowing you to build and develop an app— according to your highly specific requirements. So to understand both these platforms better, let us delve deeper and discuss the differences that actually matter to the developer in you:

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Core features

Both DhiWise and Locofy support design-to-code conversions. Yet, there is a difference in how each resource approaches app development. Locofy is only about design to front-end code conversion. And the preferred tech stacks include React and HTML— meant strictly for building single-page, basic applications.

DhiWise, on the other hand, offers React and Flutter as the front-end technologies of choice. This functionality means a better selection when it comes to building curated mobile and web applications. 

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Design-to-Code, but how?

Both these tools support design-to-code. However, with Locofy, you can sync the Figma offerings with the Locofy plugin, making way for faster builds. Yes, DhiWise isn’t as fast, but it is better. First of all, it doesn’t need a plugin to import the Figma designs. Instead, every migration and syncing instance takes place right on DhiWise platform.

Also, DhiWise takes the guesswork out when it comes to converting design to code. This means every Figma component (well, nearly) is accurately identified. And even if there is a miss, you can always customize the actions and widgets on the platform itself. And all of that explains why the time taken is a bit more as compared to Locofy.

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Code quality

Let’s talk code, shall we? When it comes to the design-churned code, Locofy doesn’t actually excel. With HTML being one of the offerings, the design components aren’t converted to rich code but boilerplate with <div> tags. Yes, the code is readable but the same isn’t structured, nor is it reusable.

DhiWise excels in the code quality department. It accurately recognizes almost every design component— including TextFields, buttons, and more. And what’s better is that the code is reusable, works relatively well with native UI components, is completely readable, and is also very well structured. Despite all of that, DhiWise has arrangements to keep the code complexity to a minimum— meaning that as a developer, you would hardly need to brainstorm to find the right element in the boilerplate.

As far as similarities are concerned, both DhiWise and Locofy offer cent percent code ownership— allowing users to export the code outwards and use the same, as desired.

And yes, DhiWise incorporates Tailwind CSS as part of its app development process, allowing developers to further lower the grunt manual coding and attain better development speeds. In comparison, Locofy relies on vanilla CSS. 

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Development Experience

DhiWise offers the best experience to the developers, all thanks to the simple and resourceful UI/UX. You also get access to reliable plugins for added functionality, including the likes of Android studio, VSCode, and Figma— all dedicated to making the designs and code syncs faster. Finally, there is Sandbox support and Vercel deployment functionality to test the application beforehand.

Locofy, on the other hand, has one plugin, no Sandbox support, and no database support. Yet, when it comes to pre-launch deployment, it supports both Vercel and Netlify. 

And that’s how DhiWise and Locofy fare when pitted against each other. What makes them similar is how they approach app development: design-to-code, the ability to share developments with the team via version control, support for app preview, and error-free code. However, it is the usage that separates them.

If you are into wholesome app development with a focus on API integrations, support for navigation, and multi-screen development, DhiWise should be your go-to tool. And if you are in it for speed, error-free coding, and database-independent development— you can consider Locofy. In the end, the choice depends on your preferences, period.