Oracle Application Express
Application development platforms
Low-code development platforms
Application development software
Rapid application development (RAD) software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$122 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Energy and utilities
- Banking and insurance
- Healthcare and life sciences
What is Oracle Application Express
Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a low-code web application development platform for building data-driven applications on Oracle Database. It targets developers, database teams, and IT departments that need to deliver internal apps, forms, reports, and dashboards with SQL and PL/SQL-centric development. APEX runs in the Oracle Database stack and provides browser-based development, declarative UI components, and built-in security features. It is commonly used to modernize spreadsheet- or Access-style solutions and to create departmental applications with tight database integration.
Tight Oracle Database integration
APEX runs close to the Oracle Database and is designed around SQL and PL/SQL, which reduces impedance between the app layer and data layer. It supports rapid creation of forms, reports, charts, and interactive grids directly over database objects. This architecture can simplify governance for teams already standardizing on Oracle Database. It also enables performance patterns that rely on database-side logic and security.
Declarative development for CRUD apps
APEX provides wizards and declarative components for common application patterns such as data entry, approvals, and reporting. This can shorten delivery time for internal business applications compared with fully custom frameworks. The browser-based IDE supports iterative development and quick UI changes without rebuilding client apps. It is particularly effective for database-backed line-of-business applications.
Enterprise security and administration
APEX includes built-in authentication and authorization options, session management, and protection features that align with Oracle platform controls. Centralized workspace administration supports multi-team development and environment separation. It integrates with Oracle ecosystem capabilities (for example, database roles and identity options) that many enterprises already use. This can reduce the need for separate security tooling for basic app scenarios.
Oracle-centric deployment requirements
APEX is primarily intended for applications that run on Oracle Database, which can limit suitability for organizations standardizing on other databases. Deployment and operations typically follow Oracle infrastructure patterns (on-premises or Oracle Cloud), which may not match teams expecting lightweight, database-agnostic hosting. Licensing and infrastructure decisions often depend on the broader Oracle stack in use. This can increase switching costs compared with more platform-neutral low-code tools.
Customization can require coding
While many features are declarative, advanced UI behavior, complex workflows, and bespoke integrations often require JavaScript, PL/SQL, and SQL expertise. Teams without Oracle development skills may face a learning curve compared with tools that emphasize visual logic builders end-to-end. Managing large codebases and shared components still requires disciplined engineering practices. This can reduce the advantage of “low-code” for highly customized applications.
Primarily web app focused
APEX is optimized for browser-based applications and data-centric interfaces rather than native mobile experiences. Mobile use is typically delivered via responsive web design or wrappers rather than full native app tooling. Organizations needing rich offline-first mobile capabilities may need additional technologies. This can add complexity for mobile-heavy requirements.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Always Free (OCI Free Tier) | Free | Permanently free Always Free APEX instances (up to 2 APEX Development Service or APEX on Autonomous Database instances with ~20 GB each). No charge for app users/developers/apps. See resource restrictions in docs. |
| APEX Application Development Service | Starts at $122/month (estimated for 2 ECPU + 20 GB) | Fully managed APEX service on OCI. Pay for compute (ECPU) and storage consumed. Example compute listed as $120.08 per 2 ECPU per month (billed hourly while running); storage $2.31 per 20 GB per month. Not charged by number of app users/developers/apps. |
| APEX with Autonomous Database | Starts at $502/month (estimated for 2 ECPU + 20 GB) | APEX deployed with Autonomous Database (Transaction Processing or Data Warehouse workload types). Example compute listed as $499.97 per 2 ECPU per month (billed hourly while running); storage $2.31 per 20 GB per month. BYOL discounts may apply for Autonomous Database. |
Notes: Prices on the APEX pricing page are consumption-based (compute and storage) and the "Starts at" values are estimates for a 31-day month at 2 ECPU and 20 GB storage. ECPU is billed hourly while running. Additional OCI services used by an application may incur extra charges.
Seller details
Oracle Corporation
Austin, Texas, USA
1977
Public
https://www.oracle.com/
https://x.com/oracle
https://www.linkedin.com/company/oracle/
