APEX Mythbusters

RADAPEX has successfully delivered and supported thousands of Oracle APEX applications across a wide range of organisations. From small businesses to large enterprises, we repeatedly encounter the same misconceptions. It’s time to clear the air and bust those myths.

APEX is dead

APEX is expensive

APEX is slow to develop with

APEX is not suitable for the Cloud

APEX locks you into Oracle

APEX is not secure

APEX is not suitable for Developers

APEX annoys anti-oracle architects

APEX is dead

Since 2015 we have heard the same messaging from customers about APEX, stating that it will be decommissioned and no longer a supported product from Oracle. Lies!

The opposite has happened, year on year APEX has continued to evolve, Oracle and the community have confirmed:

• A clear product road map with regular updates and releases

• APEX is the most used low-code platform

• Gartner says it scores higher than Power Apps

In 2025, Oracle APEX is the world's most popular enterprise AI application platform that enables you to build scalable, secure web and mobile apps, with world-class features, that can be deployed anywhere - cloud or on premises

APEX is expensive

Oracle APEX is free to use and within minutes you can build beautiful, scaleable, secure web applications. When it's time to productionise your application, costs vary depending various factors such as availability, scalability, performance.

As a general rule, expect to be paying around $120 per month for a safe and secure cloud offering which includes an Oracle license.

APEX is slow to develop with

APEX owes a lot of thanks to the Oracle Database and some respect is required to ensure it is set up and maintained to best practice. With the advancement of low-code and AI, you can now build MVP quality web applications in minutes!

In 2008 (APEX 3.0) I wrote a case study stating that APEX is the most cost effective development tool to produce a web application. Nearly two decades on, I am still yet to be proven wrong! If you have an Oracle license, there is no cheaper, faster, better low-code development platform to produce secure, safe, accessible web applications.

APEX is not suitable for the Cloud

APEX runs inside the Oracle Database, so if the Oracle Database can go there, so can APEX. There are many cloud solutions available for APEX, most popular are OCI and AWS, but lets not forget about GCP and Azure.

APEX locks you into Oracle

That depends and it comes with additional benefits. APEX runs on Oracle Database, yes, but your application logic is standard SQL, PL/SQL, JavaScript, and web components. You’re not tied to a custom runtime.

And for front-end developers: anything you can do with web standards, you can embed in APEX.

APEX also plays well with:

• REST APIs

• Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS)

• External identity providers (OAuth2, SSO, Azure AD, etc.)

So in summary, Yes, you need Oracle to run APEX.

APEX is not secure

One of the benefits of APEX is how powerful it can be! Out of the box you can securely protect data using Authorisation, Authentication schemes ensuring that users only have access to areas and data they have a privilege to see.

Without needing a Cyber Security or Data Engineering degree you can easily apply Oracle Database security (users, roles, row-level security, audit, VPD).

APEX is not suitable for Developers

In the past, it was recognised that it was difficult for more than one person to develop an APEX application at the same time, this is no longer an issue and APEX is an advocate for following development best practices.

Oracle APEX is a strong development tool for building web applications to modern best practices because it sits cleanly in a standard DevOps toolchain: your APEX apps can be exported as files, version-controlled in Git, automatically tested with SQL/PL/SQL test suites, and promoted through environments with CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, or Jenkins. This lets teams treat low-code apps like any other software asset-peer-reviewed, automated, repeatable, and auditable from development through to production.

Oracle APEX gives developers:

• Speed of low-code

• Power of Oracle SQL/PLSQL, JavaScript

• Flexibility of custom coding

• Simplicity in deployment and maintenance

• Scalability of enterprise architecture

It’s the rare platform where developers can be both efficient and powerful without being boxed in by low-code limitations.

APEX annoys anti-oracle architects

We have a full blog post on this.

Summary

Organisations need new capabilities delivered yesterday. By including Oracle APEX within your IT portfolio, you can rapidly deploy modern web applications, integrations, and reports, helping you stay competitive, compliant, secure, and consistently ahead of the curve.