GuavaFramework: The App Platform You Buy Once Instead of Renting Per Builder
The data model, screens, permission engine, workflow and auto API that every Guava product is built on, set up once, owned by you, running on a ~$30/month server, with builders and users uncounted.
Every low-code application platform is rented, and the meter is on people. OutSystems entry pricing is around $36,300 a year for roughly 100 internal users. Mendix is custom-quoted, and independent comparisons put equivalent builds at 5–10× the transparent platforms. Retool is $12 per user per month on Team and $65 on Business. Whether it meters the builders, the app users, or both, the platform gets more expensive precisely as your software gets more useful.
GuavaFramework is the opposite model, and it is the same platform GuavaCRM, GuavaERP and every other Guava product is built on. WhiteGuava sets it up on your own cloud, hands it over, and then it is yours: no per-builder licence, no per-user app fee, no renewal, and the only ongoing cost is roughly $30 a month for the server, for any number of apps, builders and users. It covers the application-building job, define objects, fields and links with no migration scripts, auto-generated forms and list views, Kanban, calendar and dashboard views, client and server scripting, a permission engine down to the field, workflow with states and approvals, scheduled background jobs, an automatic REST API and webhooks for every object, a print-format designer, and full audit and versioning, plus AI schema and scripting tools built directly in.
Low-code platforms meter the people who build apps, the people who use them, or both, so the platform costs more precisely as your software gets more useful. GuavaFramework is a one-time setup, then about $30/month for the server (roughly $1,800 over five years), for any number of apps, builders and users. It is the same platform every other Guava product is built on, with AI schema and script tools included.
What per-builder platform pricing is really charging you for
A data modeller, a form generator, a permission engine and a workflow builder are mature and broadly the same across the serious platforms. What the per-builder or per-user price rents is hosting, the vendor’s margin, and a licence that scales with adoption, the exact thing you want to encourage.
The model also boxes in your engineers. Server scripts, custom endpoints, background jobs and native code are walled off behind a developer or enterprise tier, or disallowed. Each environment, dev, test, production, can be its own line item. And the AI that drafts a schema or helps write a script is a Copilot or Mentor add-on.
Every plan, side by side
This is the price picture at list price, annual billing, before tax, with the basis each one scales on. The final column divides each annual total by GuavaFramework’s ~$430/year server-and-AI cost.
| Plan | Basis | Per year | AI assistant | vs GuavaFramework |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GuavaFramework (self-hosted) | flat server | ~$430 | Built in (~$3–5/mo usage) | N/A |
| Retool · Team | per user | ~$1,440 (10) | Add-on credits | 3× |
| Bubble · Growth | per app | ~$1,900 | Partial | 4× |
| Power Apps · Premium | per user | ~$2,400 (10) | Copilot | 6× |
| Retool · Business | per user | ~$7,800 (10) | Add-on credits | 18× |
| OutSystems · entry | ~100 users | ~$36,300 | Mentor | 84× |
| Mendix · equivalent (est.) | custom | ~$50,000 | Partial | 116× |
The transparent platforms are affordable at a small builder count and expensive at scale; the enterprise platforms start expensive. GuavaFramework is flat, and it is the tool WhiteGuava itself builds on.
What runs when someone opens an app you built
A request comes in, passes through the screen and logic layers, hits the model and permission engine, and reads or writes the database on your cloud. The diagram shows the layers, client, app layer, model and permissions, automation and AI, and your cloud.
Everything GuavaFramework does out of the box
Every module below is part of GuavaFramework from day one, including the auto REST API and server scripting that sit behind a developer tier elsewhere. Explore what each covers, then check the feature matrix.
Idea to running app, working
This is the path from a rough idea to something your team uses every day. The AI assistant helps most at the first step and the last; the rest is the standard flow.
What renting OutSystems, Mendix or Retool will never give you
Feature lists converge. What separates an owned platform from a rented one is structural, whether adoption costs money, whether your engineers hit a ceiling, and whether an app can be switched off.
The AI is built in, not a Mentor or Copilot add-on
WhiteGuava adds the AI features builders actually use straight onto GuavaFramework as a custom module:
- Draft with AI, describe a process in plain English and get a first-pass data model (objects, fields and links) to refine instead of starting from a blank screen.
- Script assist, in-editor help writing server and client scripts, formulas and report queries against your own schema.
- Ask AI, a sidebar assistant that answers questions over the live data in any app you build, respecting each user’s permissions.
- Layout generation, generates print formats and report layouts from a description, ready to tweak in the designer.
Every low-code vendor now sells an AI builder assistant as a paid seat or a credit pack. Because GuavaFramework’s source is yours, it runs on metered API calls, a few dollars a month.
GuavaFramework is the platform the rest of the Guava Product Suite is built on, including GuavaCRM, GuavaERP and GuavaHR. Own the platform and you can build alongside them.
Who GuavaFramework is built for
GuavaFramework is the right call for teams that build their own internal software:
- Businesses that run several internal tools and portals and do not want a per-builder or per-user platform bill.
- Engineering teams that want low-code speed without giving up server scripts, custom endpoints and native code.
- Companies that need to own and host the platform their internal apps run on, for portability or compliance.
- Teams already using a Guava product who want to build alongside it on the same platform.
- Anyone who has priced OutSystems or Mendix and wanted a flat-cost alternative.
How you get GuavaFramework
It is a one-time engagement, not a subscription:
- WhiteGuava deploys GuavaFramework on your cloud account (Azure, AWS or your choice), branded for your business.
- We set up your first app or apps, your roles and permission model, the integrations to your other systems, CI and deployment, and switch on the AI module.
- We hand over full admin access, the database, the source and documentation. From that point the platform is yours.
- Ongoing, you pay only for the server, around $30 a month, plus a few dollars of AI usage. Support and further builds are available if you want them, never required.
OutSystems at its entry point: about $181,000 over five years, rented, and metered on users. GuavaFramework: a one-time setup, then about $1,800 in server cost over the same five years, for any number of apps and users.
Want the platform WhiteGuava builds on, as your own?
WhiteGuava sets up GuavaFramework on your cloud, builds your first apps, wires in your integrations, switches on the AI, and hands it over. One-time setup, then about $30 a month for any number of apps and users.
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