GoodBarber, an app builder based on the island of Corsica, prides itself on user experience. That is letting anyone create beautiful looking apps without any technical knowledge. Many app makers are focused primarily on features. But GoodBarber’s approach is to put design front and centre.
This does not mean that GoodBarber skimps on features, though. In fact, there are numerous content integration options available within most categories. These include: social networking, news/articles, calendars, audio/video, and now a dedicated app builder for eCommerce. Their Progressive Web Apps are complete with SEO descriptions and responsive design for all browsers. Best of all, you can publish them without going through the iOS or Play Store.
Whether it’s for a standard or ecommerce app, GoodBarber’s aesthetic imperative is ever-present, often allowing you to select from several different layouts for each section. This, combined with the choice of more than 50 different templates (each with their own colour scheme and font style), creates a vast amount of flexibility within the design of your app and can lead to some very unique creations.
So from the outside, it's a beautiful machine, but what's happening under the hood? Let's have a look:
GoodBarber screenshots
GoodBarber Pricing
Standard
One progressive web app with 200GB of storage. This costs $35 for a shopping app.
Full
One progressive web app with 500GB of storage + One Android native app. $95 for a shopping app
Premium
One progressive web app with 1 TB of storage + One Android native app + One iOS native app for iPhone + One iOS native app for iPad. It’s $255 for the shopping app.
Note: prices are for yearly subscriptions.
Pros & Cons
Choice of design templates:
Not only great looking, original templates, but the fact that they’re all highly customisable, with hundreds of fonts and feature layouts, means you can truly create a unique app to call your own.
Team management:
GoodBarber gives you the option to add anyone to your project, inviting them via a simple email. This is really useful, and with this system you can also thoroughly customise their access.
Features:
Surprisingly, GoodBarber also does well with the range of features they offer. You can find anything from Loyalty rewards to user chats and video players.
Progressive web app:
In other words, your app works as a fully-functional website with its own domain, including SEO keywords and sitemaps. They are responsive and mobile-friendly, and we have to say we are quite impressed with the results.
Can be pricey:
You pay for the high quality of the apps, and because Apple forced app makers to enable manual review. This means publishing an iOS app can be expensive
Paid add-ons:
You have to pay extra for certain add-ons. For example, adding a Loyalty Card to your app will cost an extra $80 per year.
Rating details
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
Ease of use |
| The latest update introduces a simplified wizard and intuitive editor. It’s now easier than ever to change global styles, add content and play with different features. A nice addition is that once your trial period has ended, they offer you the chance to extend it if you’re still working on your app. |
Design, flexibility and templates |
| GoodBarber really shines when it comes to their choice and design of templates. The editor also handles changes to the template mid-way through your project very well, without losing content. There is a great choice of connector layouts also. |
Languages | The builder and site are available in 6 languages, while there are 18 app languages available to create your app in, more than most other app makers. | |
Platform Support | iOS Android PWA | In addition to what GoodBarber charges you’ll have the following fees: Google charges a $25 one-off fee. Submitting an app to Apple is more expensive: you need to have an Apple developer account ($99 per year), and pay an extra $29 for 4 app submissions (initial submission + 3 updates) to GoodBarber. iOS review is free for Shopping apps. Their progressive web apps are quite impressive though, so this could be a good cheap option if you want an app / website combo. |
App features | ||
Ad support | | Ad support is available on all plans. |
Push notifications | | A generous 500,000 a month with the Standard plan. 2M with the Full plan, and unlimited with Premium. |
Location-based Services | | GoodBarber have a Geofencing plugin to push notifications based on user location. You get 6 free ones with the Full and Premium plans. |
E-commerce |
| GoodBarber now has a dedicated solution for ecommerce apps (it’s a separate platform). Find our full review here. |
RSS feed options | | An RSS connector allows you to add a custom feed, otherwise Blogger and WordPress are also available. |
Adding your own HTML code | | Goodbarber have a HTML connector in which you can link to a URL or input your own code for a customised page. |
Social media integration |
| Yes, aside from Facebook-, Twitter- and Instagram-dedicated connectors, you have many other photo and video social integrations available. |
Loyalty features | | All loyalty and club card features are available as add-ons: Loyalty Card ($80 / year), Loyalty Card + Club Card ($120 / year), and Couponing ($60 / year). |
Newsletter tool | | No newsletter integration available. |
Advanced Features | ||
Team Management | | GoodBarber is one of only a few app makers that allow you to add team members with different access levels to an app project, and it’s very useful. Not available on the ‘Basic’ plan. |
iBeacons | | Possibly the only app maker we tested that offers them. You get 6 with the Full and Premium plans. |
API available | | The GoodBarber API option is included in the Premium plan, or you can pay $4 per month to include it within the other plans. |
Testing | | There is a mobile app viewer available, MyGoodBarber, as well as a in-editor live previewer. |
Analytics | | Available on all plans. |
Reseller Program | | $200 a month for unlimited classic apps. $99 review per iOS app. For classic and shopping apps, it’s $500 a month. 12 free iOS reviews a year, $99 per app thereafter. |
Support |
| There is a useful online help centre, and you can send questions to support. The help centre is thorough and the support staff are very helpful but can be a little slow at getting back. The GoodBarber blog is also a great resource. |
Fun Factor |
| Customising a new app’s global style settings makes it fun to see it change before your eyes. The editor is responsive and fast, and it gets better when you discover the advanced options. |
Overall rating |
4.5/5 | GoodBarber really is top of its game in so many areas: the range of integrations, features and flexibility of design. They are also keeping ahead of the game by regularly adding new features. One of the best app makers on the market at the moment. |
Conclusion
GoodBarber’s design ideals have paved the way for a surprisingly flexible app-making experience. Allowing for team management is a nice addition that I’m surprised isn’t more common with other app makers.
Every update we’ve reviewed introduced changes to the editor that makes it easier to customise your app. It’s a real joy to play around with different settings and see your app preview transform in real time.
GoodBarber, with their flexibility, are great for a wide range of app, especially ecommerce and CMS-based apps. For example, if you want to create any kind of digital publication, they have some of the best features out there. Perhaps I’d try another app maker, though, for ecommerce.
We’ve reviewed a few GoodBarber versions so far, and they are consistently adding new features, which means we think they show great promise for the future. Still, for now, they offer a great balance of aesthetic-driven, user-friendly focus and features, making it one of the best app makers out there.
FAQ
Is it easy to cancel my subscription?
Yes, you can do this from the GoodBarber back office, once you’re signed in. You basically just click a button and leave a comment as to why.
There are no charges associated with cancelling your account.
Is the price for one app?
Yes, the prices are per app. But you can publish this app to multiple platforms such as iOS, Android or the web.
If you want to create multiple apps (for yourself or to sell them), have a look at the Reseller option.
About Florian
He’s also a father of two, so that’s his excuse for the peanut butter on his keyboard.
