--- title: Claris FileMaker Reviews meta_title: 'Claris FileMaker Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 578 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Claris FileMaker works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.5 review_count: 578 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-31' parent_category: name: Rapid Application Development (RAD) url: https://www.g2.com/categories/rapid-application-development-rad --- # Claris FileMaker Reviews **Vendor:** Claris **Category:** [Workplace Innovation Platforms](https://www.g2.com/categories/workplace-innovation-platforms) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 578 ## About Claris FileMaker Make tech work for you, not the other way around. The Claris platform is uniquely suited to help businesses like yours build, test, and rapidly iterate customized, integrated solutions faster and more efficiently than any other platform on the market. Unlike other software applications out there that are too lightweight and not customizable or too complex and rigid, Claris is flexible enough to meet your specific and evolving needs. Organizations just like yours — whether they’re SMBs, nonprofits, or educational institutions — use Claris apps to help them run their business the way they want and thereby significantly boost productivity and efficiencies across the board. Learn more — www.claris.com ## Claris FileMaker Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users find Claris FileMaker incredibly **easy to use** , simplifying form design and data collection for various tasks. (9 reviews) - Users value the **flexibility** of Claris FileMaker, enabling seamless cross-platform development and custom app deployment. (8 reviews) - Users love the **easy creation** capabilities of Claris FileMaker, enabling rapid development and deployment of ideas and features. (7 reviews) - Users value the **seamless integration capabilities** of Claris FileMaker, enhancing workflow across various applications and platforms. (7 reviews) - Users appreciate the **customizability** of Claris FileMaker, enabling seamless adaptations to meet evolving business needs efficiently. (6 reviews) - Users appreciate the **flexibility and ease of customization** in Claris FileMaker, enabling tailored solutions without extensive programming. (6 reviews) - Users value the **seamless integration** capabilities of Claris FileMaker, enhancing efficiency and workflow across various platforms. (6 reviews) - Automation (5 reviews) - Customization Options (5 reviews) - Ease of Learning (5 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **learning curve steep** , often requiring assistance to navigate complex features and layouts effectively. (4 reviews) - Users struggle with **navigation difficulties** , finding it hard to manage layouts and references in Claris FileMaker. (3 reviews) - Users find **cost issues** with Claris FileMaker, citing charges for API transactions and high costs for broader use. (2 reviews) - Users find **database limitations** challenging, especially with older templates and concerns over speed in complex applications. (2 reviews) - Users find **difficult customization** challenges in Claris FileMaker due to complex layout and field management issues. (2 reviews) - Users find the **pricing structure too high** for small businesses, particularly when scaling with more users. (2 reviews) - High Complexity (2 reviews) - Limited Customization (2 reviews) - Limited Features (2 reviews) - Users feel the **missing features** in Claris FileMaker limit their ability to fully utilize the product's potential. (2 reviews) ## Claris FileMaker Reviews ### 1. FileMaker is an excellent fast-development database solution for under 150 users **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mat U. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker allows for fast development of both the front-end and back-end of databases. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** No good way to incorporate change logs or code branching. It also doesn't scale well beyond 150 simultaneous users. The effort for a system to run fast on WAN networks requires a good and experienced developer. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** FileMaker is the core database where we have built a contact management and reservation system that generates over 100 million in revenue each year. ### 2. A swiss knive for business processes **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Philippe M. | General manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Creating applications like you and you busines (or association) need them **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** 1) It lacks generic elements. You have to develop everything. eg. You shouldn't have to develop yourself a menu structure, button bar system, mail system. 2) basic functionalities heavily depending on plugins 3) some lay-out behaviour is outdated 4) buggy add-ons **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating apps that we need, like we need them and not like an external developer thinks we need them. ### 3. Share what is valuable **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alex F. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** A highly reliable platform, made to solve demanding business problems using high quality technology components, with a very large and successful track record **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** I liked more the old certification developer program **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** FileMaker is a great tool to solve customer issues related with the business strategy in a variety of process and problems. I get paid to solve customers problems. I need a solid and robust platform to depend on ### 4. filemaker programmer awesome database **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Almost like art, if I can imagine it I can almost everytime make it happen for my clients. New features over the years has made my programming easier and more efficient. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Got rid of runtime. Not happy changes my business model. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Able to create databases for small businesses and I can help them eliminate extra and duplicate software apps by using Filemaker database instead. ### 5. FileMaker: an extremely capable "low code" platform, for 30+ years! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Darren E. | Building Official, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Claris FileMaker has progressed and expanded capability right along with our department's ever-growing need for digital solutions. So much so that we have run the vast majority of our office processes and data through Filemaker for almost 30 years now. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Becuase FileMaker solutions can be fairly easily developed in-house, often by staff that are not traditioinally trained "coders" and dedicated to software development, it is possible for staff time to get absorbed by requests for additional features and new solutuions. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** We create building permits, track plan review, schedule inspections, create letters and reports, as well as many other related functions and tasks. Our data is easily available, in any report format that we care to create. ### 6. Filemaker is best for fast efficient provisioning of business apps using a "low-code" solution. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Biotechnology | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2019 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Fast provisioning, ease of integration, plus ease of training. It's similarity to Excel makes most new users comfortable right away. I recommend the software because it will help new coders to learn how relational databases work. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** The report and screen design tools could use some updating. There is still confusion in representing both queries and tables as similar items in the relationship window. Plus there are a few antiquated methods that if they were to be updated would make it easier to take skills from another coding language and apply them in FM **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** The Filemaker Community has a strong presence on the Internet. You can find tips and tricks, sample databases, tutorials and extended eLearning with some simple searches. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** As we have come to realize that our company is, in essence, a data company, Filemaker has allowed us to manage that data more efficiently and visualize business process trends that we invisible to us. It has also unified the way we collect and manage that data instead of each team member reinventing the layout of an address book. ### 7. Filemaker Is A Top Information Tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jesse S. | Digital Marketing Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Filemaker is a classic application. It works the way computer operating systems work. The ability to share, distribute and create applications is priceless. The ability to collect, categorize, display and use information is unparalleled for a certain class of user, who sits between just a user and a code-writing developer. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** It can be a bit of a memory hog. The interface to databases can be confusing. Some of the new features are window dressing. Text handling is still rudimentary. It is too expensive for the small business user. These people need the power and flexibility but can't afford the high price. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** I needed a reliable and powerful content management system. I used Filemaker to developed a system to collect and organize data, allow for collation, enable cross examination and ultimate gathering the information into a book. I uses Filemaker to create a trivia game that contains over 300K questions and answers. I created an inventory database that managed several different products. We needed a project management database and I use Filemaker to create a database that is integrate with the Mac file system and include time management applications (Calendar, Reminders, Notes) to manage projects of various types. ### 8. Custom Software for Your Custom Needs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Claris FileMaker has approchability such that any power user can get quickly build something useful and also supports complexity so that professions can tackle multifaceted custom problems. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Why can't I download Claris FileMaker Pro right from the App Store? **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** After building a great custom app with Claris FileMaker Pro, Claris FileMaker Server helps share data with teams thousands of miles apart all over the world. The server is giving us the necessary security and backups needed to protect and preserve the mission-critical data. ### 9. Filemaker Fan **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** TOMAS H. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Ease of developing and implementing solutions, Ability to develop tailored solutions quickly. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Performance for multiple users is low, searches are not as fast as some solutions might require. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Administration and operation of any type of business. ### 10. Claris FileMaker can change your life too **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Steve S. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 20, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Claris FileMaker provides a robust and extensive low code platform. I've used this platform sucessfully with businesses of all sizes to solve problems and facilitate solutions. FileMaker represents a unique combination easy of use with deep extensibility. FileMaker is easy to deploy and easy to integrate with other solutions. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** While FileMaker is a powerful ally, it is not always the answer. Sometimes other technologies or techniques should be employed. Luckly, FileMaker provides a robust set of methods for integration. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** FileMaker helps us solve problems for a wide range of customers challenges. ### 11. Powerful low code database app development platform **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jan H. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Easy layout and structure modifications on open databases, accessibility with FileMaker Pro Application an WebDirect **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** WebDirect not powerful enough, cannot change into other databases like with FileMaker Pro **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Management of film festival ### 12. LowCode Love **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Myles D. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** The lowcode easiness and quick way to jump into development is amazing. Pair with a free CRM like FM Starting Point - I can have a great starter solution to show a new customer within a few hours! **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Pricing can get confusing sometimes depeding on customer size. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Making database customization more accessible to a variety of industries and not being pigeon-holed into industry-specific software. ### 13. An essential tool for my job **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pietro G. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Ease of use and long-term stability over the years **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Not easy on integration with web services **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** It enables me to have detailed control over my business ### 14. FileMaker developer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pavlo P. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** You can create powerfull database with minimum efforts **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Layout objects characteristics (size, position, color, fonts) are static; FileMaker Pro runtime is deprecated **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Automating property control ### 15. Swiss Army knife for business apps **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joe K. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Flexibility... Whether your solution is 100% native FileMaker or if it connects to a dozen APIs or other sources, FileMaker give one interface for users to conduct work. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** public facing sites for difficult and many do not understand the limits of WebDirect **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Various projects... but today we are importing the property data from NYC and writing features to handle tis data ### 16. Easy to use and very capable **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker is easy to start using to accompish simple tasks, but leveraging other aspects of the platform make it very capable. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Would like some more standard coding capabilities without having to use plug-ins. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** FileMaker eliminates spreadsheet abuse. Not only are reports easy to generate and see where the business is heading, but the information is easily shared across the company. ### 17. Great customizable database option for small and midsize businesses **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kate N. | Director of Operations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 15, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** We have used Filemaker for over 15 years and have been able to customize our database around our business needs. With relatively little experience with the program we were able to construct a basic database to track key business metrics, and have since built in additional integrations and features. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** In order to utilize some of the integrations and features that are more complex it did require us finding relationships with outside vendors, which will come at an additional cost. Something to budget for if you foresee wanting to grow your program into something more robust. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows us to create a customized database application that can be used by office and field staff. ### 18. I have used Filemaker for over 20 years to manage my business **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Printing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Easy to use and I am able to quickly implement new solutions to meet challenges as they arise **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Some of the older pieces of the software haven't been updated in a long time and make setting certian option time consuming **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Normal business processes (job tracking, invoicing, job orders, etc) ### 19. Solution Developer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** How quickly you can develop and deploy a solution. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Marketing from Claris and current path of software platform is not clear to me. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Create custom solutions for customers instead of them using "off the shelf" / "one size fits all" software for their business. ### 20. Cross platform with ease **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Benjamin H. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Cross platform and ease of integration with other tech **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Pricing structure is no where near simple **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** My business is built on FileMaker development ### 21. Very advanced powerful software. Not the easiest to use, very customizable. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Isaac G. | Technology Coordinator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 13, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** You can make a custom solution for about anything. It's amazing what this software is capable of. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** It's not the simplest tool to use. It's a steeper learning curve than other solutions out there. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it for a few databases in our organization housing data for several departments. ### 22. Build your business with Claris FileMaker **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Beth Anne L. | Business Manager, Information Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Claris FileMaker is highly adaptable. It can be used for all industries and makes the perfect solution when you need custom software. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** The investment to develop custom software can be significant, so if there is an out of the box solution it may be more cost effective. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have built our CRM and invoicing system on FileMaker. We love being able to integrate with other software and tweaking the system for our needs. ### 23. Fast desktop database deployment **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richard T. | Analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** I have used FileMaker Pro for 30 years and it is a very easy to implement database application. Excel users that import their data into FileMaker will discover that searches and summaries become quick and easy. Different layouts are simple to modify and it is a cinch to create different screens for, for example, data entry, a table, labels, and more. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** It used to be that I could, relatively affordably and easily, deploy custom solutions to my customers, but it seems a bit more difficult now. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use FileMaker to keep track of quotes, purchase orders, and meter installations, as well as monthly data import and summaries from a variety of sources. ### 24. Speed and control in the services offered. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 07, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** The possibility of creating quick solutions and connecting them to other platforms. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** I have no disadvantages in using the solution, probably the lack of FileMaker Go for Android. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Providing quick services with clients, generating reports, archiving them, quick information search. ### 25. Sr. Project Manager, FileMaker Developer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Low Code, flexible, inexpensive, easy to use **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Cost of Certification tests and lack ofsponsored material for test prep **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Authentication with LDAP, DNS ### 26. Strategic **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Arts and Crafts | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Integration with data from multiple sources **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** A serious online platform similar to Airtable **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Manage cultural projects and report expenses to founders ### 27. We have used FileMaker for many yearsw and find it the most reliable , useful and accurate software. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Barbara L. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 17, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Most helpful in entering data and sorting readily **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** no downside at all, reliable, easy to use software **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Useful in documenting and sorting case histories for our sensitive government clients. ### 28. I’m a lifer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 06, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** For my whole career, FileMaker has allowed me to create great solutions for my clients, and it's only getting better. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Very few things that the community seems to agree on end up making their way into the product. You might listen more to your customers, and less to your internal people, especially on the big things like what Claris studio should and should not evolve towards. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rapid development of large solutions ### 29. Most flexible low code platform for developers of all levels **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Flexibility and cotinuity of a product that knows the importance of low code application. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Web platform is still in the works, this is missing to make the platform complete. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating customized workflow automation software for goverment, non-profit, small to medium sized businesse. Excellent integration features. ### 30. Good and simple database software. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tiago L. | Eng., Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 19, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Simple database that can be used at home or in a small office company- **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Not as powerfull as a full fleged database like Access or SQL. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Contact database. ### 31. It's anything you need it to be… **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dean W. | Senior System Admin, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 02, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** From a development standpoint, it couldn't be easier. Even users new to creating databases can be up and running very quickly. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Support can be very slow. While it's actually owned by Apple, the support does not live up to their normal standards. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** It serves as our primary application for IT ticket management as well as billing, device and password tracking, and I'm sure there's a few other things I'm forgetting. ### 32. Great Data base tool **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nassim N. | Manager, Compliance, Regulatory & Quality system, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Holds up a large amount of data. Excellent database tool for a large-size enterprise or industry. It can be used for all departments, such as quality control, quality assurance, finance, marketing, inventory and supply. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** We have been using this application for over eight years, and it constantly improves. We integrate this platform with other applications which we use. It requires constant maintenance and up-date which is a good point. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Manage the data base for interdepartmental project improvements and daily data base access. ### 33. Database for anyone **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Quoc V. | Director Of Technology, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** It is very easy to get started with Filemaker. You can get a new database or application running in no time. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** There are a lot options...maybe too many. The pricing is a bit steep. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was able to create a database to store COVID-19 information for my school. ### 34. Powerful tool with major flaws **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marc-André D. | Database developer / analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 22, 2022 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** -If you know what you're doing, the time you can save building a complete app around a database is phenomenal. -Ease of use. -Referencing system that helps update something at only one place. -Fast learning curve that potentially helps you learn pro code languages later faster -Versatile: with enough coding, you can easily replace several software with one or integrate with others through APIs **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** -The marketing around it is super annoying. They keep pushing the low code aspect of it, which is detrimental and not what they should concentrate on. They could be much more today. -Because of that marketing, too many non-developers jump on board with this. This can be a good thing for people using it for personal uses, or very small companies. Unfortunately, when you don't know what you're doing, it doesn't matter that the software is easy to use. The code always break somewhere and someone will pay for it. I can't count the number of times we had a client wanting to save homemade software that was not kept up to date and poorly coded. It's almost impossible to do it right when it's a mess; it's always better to start from scratch, and people don't appreciate the amount of time needed that could have been saved if done right the first time. -Licensing is expensive and sometimes hard to sell to clients. -A few hard-to-debug errors that are unlogical and only happen because Filemaker was too strict implementing a functionality, while at the same time not following what every single other language does for the same thing. You will probably need to visit forums often to dig deep. -When things get complex, it will be a lot slower than any pro code software would be. You really need to know every corner of Filemaker and how to use it to optimize everything so you can delay the slowdowns as much as possible. -Record locking can be a good thing, but there should be tools to control it because it will ALWAYS lead to record squatting, which will cause problems. -Poor printing management **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** Do not do "anything" with it. Follow lessons and good programming dos and don'ts. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** -Building complete ERP software that can take care of every nook and cranny of a company. -Relatively low cost customization of software. Clients could ask anything and it will always be possible. -Build personal development tools and libraries ### 35. From Low Code to Advanced Applications - Filemaker is a leader **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ryan B. | Director of Marketing, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Filemaker is incredibly flexible and comes with many templates to get you started with your App. Training resources are available everywhere. Getting your first app launched and in team members' hands usually takes just a couple of days. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** I would love to see improvements in font handling inside the Filemaker Pro desktop application. When building apps and choosing a font, the list is cumbersome to browse and cluttered with ALL machine fonts. This area needs improvement. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** I highly recommend going through in-person training with Chris Ippolite of iSolutions. Chris also does an incredible training series available on LinkedIn Learning. The information in these training sessions will get you started in the right direction. You can also find many bite-sized Filemaker lessons on YouTube that will help you learn new techniques that will help you improve your apps. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Filemaker allows my marketing team to build custom applications with little to no support from our IT Department. The Apps perform as we need them to and do not contain a bunch of fluff you would get from off-the-shelf tools. ### 36. It's very easy to learn and we can do all the stuffs which we normally do with other complex lang. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Puja K. | Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 09, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** The best part is we don't have to write the long codes just for UI design, which helps us to save lots of time. In short, it's a LOW CODE, NO CODE & a PRO CODE. For the most part, drag and drop programming. Its a Cross-platform (Mac OS X, Windows, iOS). Its includes starter solutions so we don't have to start from scratch. We have got very interesting addons in the new FM version . We can now use the Siri Shortcuts and Apple's Core ML. Use Near Field Communications (NFC) tag reading. Its easy to Integrate the external API's and use inside it, like Google API's, AWS and many more. Its Plugins extends the functionality and helps us to optimiz our solutions and do lots of cool stuffs using this like Audit, Barcode generator , communicate with UI and many more. JSON data creation and parse is easy as it has lots of inbuilt funtions which helps us to do it. Its had built in support for importing exporting excel, cvs, tab-formatted. Back Up feature . Scripting is easy . FM Documentation is good and easy to understand. For each user login type we can specify the privilege to access the file and ready /write. and it has Claris FM Community which helps us to solve our queries , They provide FM Custom Funtions to use inside our applications which save our times to write a long codes. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Commonly, applications close unexpectedly. It shows not responding and doesn't let us do anything. It's bit slow when we have lots of data to handle. It's unstored calculated fields may slow down execution and reading . It's expensive. If we are a Window user than we are limited to use some of its cool feature, Like ML ,but we can still use this if make our own ML API and access it inside FM. Some of its Plugin is also expensive. even if its very old platform, but very limited firms uses this , so this is a big problem for FileMaker Developers. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** FileMaker is very easy to learn , so you don't have to spend money on getting any training . If you have small firm and you want to manage or things, you can simply build your own custom app well FileMaker does provide it's pre build solution so you want have to start from scratch. It's provide a lots of Aadon which is quite easy to put it into your solutions. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** E-commerce business, we usually have sales, fulfillment, invoice, product, inventory, purchase, contact mgt features and lots more. ### 37. Swiss Army Knife Low-Code Development Platform **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stuart M. | FileMaker Pro Developer Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 10, 2022 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Easy and quick to prototype and implement custom applications. Easy to automate workflows and processes including integrating with other software, web services and APIs **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Web form building and access for high-traffic websites. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Custom software as unique as your business. Presales scheduling and reporting consultant utilization. Post-sales operations (PSO), project tracking, consultant hours, expenses and reporting. Information databases. Variable data printing. Professional sports coaching and analytics. CRM, Time-billing, Invoicing, Inventory management, and Manufacturing. ### 38. Many capabilities **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 12, 2019 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** I like that FileMaker has the potential to store and maintain many different types of information. You can generate reports of various complexities. We have also set up a sort of mail merge capability that allows us to create lists to create letters using templates. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker is a bit complex to learn. However, many parts of it are straightforward. It has taken numerous training sessions for me to understand the basic methods of working with our database. We also hired an outside company to set this system up. I wish that it could connect to other outside databases. Also, I wish that updating records was easier. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** Get training and make sure that records are inputted using a standard practice **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** This stores and archives a lot of information, and makes accessing the information very easy. It is helpful for pulling up information easily. The reports that it can generate are used regularly. ### 39. Very useful if you can manage it **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 28, 2022 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** FIlemaker is completely customisable to suits our needs because we fabricate it as we need it **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Sometimes hard to program if you don't master it :-) **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** We manage everything with FM : offers, billing, project management, products, time tracking by project, ... ### 40. Filemaker **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** John R. | IT Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 09, 2017 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** It manages our inventory, invoicing, quoting as well as many other things that we need to to operate. We like the fact that we can program it to do what we want it to do. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Some of the tools are a little hokie. it has issues with some of the tools that we use for making it look like we want it to. It also is a little slow. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** you need someone that can program **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Its a one stop program for our salesmen to find inventory as well as be able to quote out of it. ### 41. Relational Database Use in a Vascular Surgery Practice **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sebastian C. | Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2019 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Filemaker Pro permits text editing and graphics insertion in any field the user creates. The database can, therefore, be easily customized for any business **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** There does not seem to be a cloud version of this database. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** I strongly recommend use of this database. It does not require extensive knowledge of programming. When I began using it in 1984, I had no experience in programming but was still able to create fairly sophisticated databases. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** As Filemaker Pro increased in complexity I tweaked my software as needed to keep up. Use of this database eliminated the need for dictation and transcription. I still use it today. I’ve written specific templates for the common disease categories I see, i.e., venous, carotid, aneurysm, arterial, I select the appropriate template and then by cutting, pasting and editing, I incorporate the history presented by the patient I'm seeing at the moment, and then perform the hands-on physical examination. There is a dropdown menu of diagnoses, treatment plans, and risk/benefits. I select the appropriate one(s) and thoroughly discuss with patient and family why that plan is recommended. I then return to my desk and print, and fax or email my completed consultation to the referring physician. ### 42. Been Using for years as Peer to peer - Now cloud is a game changer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adam S. | Founder/Owner/General Manager, Staffing and Recruiting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 09, 2022 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Easy access at any time. Great customer service **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** I like it all. So much more it can do. I hope someday I can utilize the massive power of this application. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** My team is located all over the world. The ease of collaboration is impressive. It's seamless and user friendly ### 43. FileMaker for Business **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Layton H. | Information Technology Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker helps our business solve some of our eCommerce needs. There is an infinite amount of programming possibilities inside of FileMaker and anything is possible. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker is extremely difficult to learn how to use without previous knowledge and/or programming experience. Not very end-user friendly at times. Can be difficult even for experienced IT professionals without prior experience. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** FileMaker has enabled us to create databases that link our online sites to our cloud ERP system. Without FileMaker, we would not be able to scale the way we have now. I believe that there are better alternatives, but FileMaker has helped us get where we need to go. ### 44. Eighteen years of using FileMaker virtually every working day. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nick L. | Technical Manager & Director, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2016 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** FileMaker is a powerful, mature and deep technology which contains an amazing array of tools and features. This enables the developer to create most things they want in a single file which can be deployed on OS X, Windows, iOS or through FileMaker Server to a web browser on any device. FileMaker also integrates well with other systems and is the perfect customisable system to place at the centre of a network of other systems, for example on top of a SQL based database. The reason I have used Filemaker for 21 years and continue to use it every day is because I like using it, because it is a pleasure to use. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** The area that most requires improvement, in my view is the security model. It is secure and works well but is time consuming to set up and the security model cannot be copied from one file to another. This creates more work than one really wants to undertake when building a secure shared system. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** FileMaker has a great future, it has transformed itself from a desktop / LAN environment to a viable cloud based environment and is extremely accessible whilst also having many hidden depths as the user / developer becomes more sophisticated. It is important to learn what FileMaker is good at and how to get the best out of it. That range of goodness will solve most data driven challenges faced by SME's and workgroups in larger businesses. It is generally a pleasure to use. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Built a super fast sailboat class archive system Built a super fast online image archiving and management system Built a super fast web site CMS (Deskspace CMS) Built a legal practice management system (Deskspace Classic) Built a Post Production workflow management system. Built a general purpose mobile App framework deskspace App Framework. ### 45. All in one. Full-Stack solution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jimmy M. | Ingeniero de desarrollo de software, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** You can do everything in one place, as a full-stack developer you will find it very useful, intuitive and most of all, fast. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** You are in a completely closed ecosystem. Although recent versions improve interoperability with other software through RESTful and API, you still are very limited. **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** It is a close ecosystem. If your requirement should interact with other services, you will have difficulties. Yes, there is an API (extra charged), but it does not compare to your own coded app. The cost is based on your concurrent users: Not only you will need FileMaker Server but also pay as many users you will need to support. So yes, easy of use and deployment of your solution keeps with a price. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am a .NetCore/SqlServer/FrontEnd developer. I am fully aware the limits of the scripting language used in FileMaker, and the frustration when it comes to integrate with other services. But even those, I find FileMaker an extremely useful tool. Whenever I need to solve something in a hurry, make a dummy just to prove a concept, or deploy a solution enterprise wide with a tight time constraint; filemaker makes my work get done fast and production ready. ### 46. 10+ years on the platform **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Ease of use, easy to create functional demos for a new feature, Claris's continued investment in the platform and working to make it easier to work with other technologies, a robust community of developers that share ideas and techniques for others to use. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Lack of proper versioning, lack of excellent debugging on the server ( both when running scripts PSOS and top call stats ). **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Everything from simple solutions to manage customer interactions to complex solutions that leverage multiple technologies to integrate multiple systems and move large amounts of data around while improving workflow and processes to increase productivity and simplify data entry and management. ### 47. Claris FileMaker is very helpful for small business **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anup Ranjan N. | Sr. Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** It helps in rapid development and works on various platforms and can be integrated to many application. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** It gets a little slow when we have millions of data. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helping business managing Customer, invoices, purchases and POS ### 48. Flexible and primitive **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Matt W. | S, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** The flexibility of adding features is helpful. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Simple DIY building and expansion. Useful for smaller businesses **Recommendations to others considering Claris FileMaker:** Research other options along with this one **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Finicky use on iOS devices ### 49. Great features and tools in Claris FileMaker 19 **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ravee T. | Information Technology Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** Easy and fast to develop and deploy with supporting mutil-platforms including Web-Direct. Cleris Connect also make so easy to Integrat apps. **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** Reporting is quite challeaging. It take so much time to load when the databas has a lot of records ( > 10,000 records) ExcuteSQL is very usefull tools in FM but very slow if you use too much. Which is bad when you do reporting. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Jason and Jacascript in FM19, we managed to moved Outlook Carlendar into intrigated Calendar within FM platfrom. Also Restful API help us getting Call logs, text messages from RC. With these solution we manage to reduce workflowand increase productivity ny not openning another apps to look for info. ### 50. Quick turn around, easy to get into **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francois A. | General Counsel, HR Director & Corporate secretary, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Claris FileMaker?** It's a dynamic solution that doesn't require mad programming skills. The basic understanding of how data relates to itself will allow a user to build complex custom solutions for their needs **What do you dislike about Claris FileMaker?** I wish it was easier to purchase what you need straight off their website. I have an organization which wanted to update our server but if you want to do so without you need to purchase additional licenses to go with it. **What problems is Claris FileMaker solving and how is that benefiting you?** Customer management, invoicing and time management for our team employees. We also use it for our IT inventory ## Claris FileMaker Discussions - [Can I create a correlation between inventory and customer database?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-i-create-a-correlation-between-inventory-and-customer-database) - 4 comments, 1 upvote - [What is the best way to integrate with Google Calendar?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13940-what-is-the-best-way-to-integrate-with-google-calendar) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Hello how easy is it to apply for help with framework coding in our files?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/12192-hello-how-easy-is-it-to-apply-for-help-with-framework-coding-in-our-files) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [What is FileMaker Licensing for Teams?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/licensing-for-teams) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Sending the same message to a found group.](https://www.g2.com/discussions/33205-sending-the-same-message-to-a-found-group) - 1 comment - [View Claris FileMaker pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/claris-filemaker/reviews?page=2§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-31+19%3A49%3A26+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=f28db060-87b9-4a5d-b8b2-850e9bd050b2&secure%5Btoken%5D=7451a8e266d4514f6eb6e1c5fb0b4eaf5ca666993f0b97397e24f8ea103edaa4&format=llm_user) ## Claris FileMaker Integrations - [Apple Mail](https://www.g2.com/products/apple-mail/reviews) ## Claris FileMaker Features **Administration** - Application Deployment - Native Deployment - Data Security - Access Control - Scalability - Lifecycle Management **Functionality** - Ease of Use - File Management - Multi-Language Support - Customization - Straight-Out-the-Box Functionality - Help Guides - Patching & Updates **Application Design** - UI Code Extending - Programming Code Extending - Customized Branding - Application Templates - Workflows **Automation** - Workflow Automation - Workflow Mapping - Real-Time Updates **Data Control** - Data Migration - Data Synchronization - Data Security **Development** - Application Templates - UI Code Extending - WYSIWYG Editor - Collaborative Development **Publishing** - Application Deployment - Platform Compatability - Lifecycle Management **Agentic AI - Low-Code Development Platforms** - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance ## Top Claris FileMaker Alternatives - [Salesforce Headless 360 Platform (formerly Salesforce Platform)](https://www.g2.com/products/agentforce-360-platform-formerly-salesforce-platform/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (3,766 reviews) - [Quickbase](https://www.g2.com/products/quickbase/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,533 reviews) - [Zoho Creator](https://www.g2.com/products/zoho-creator/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (153 reviews)