Visual LANSA Reviews & Product Details

Visual LANSA is a low-code, Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that allows you to build mobile, responsive web or desktop applications (Windows, browser, mobile devices) for cloud (AWS, Azure) or on-premises (Windows, IBM i, Linux). LANSA’s unique single language concept insulates developers from worrying about browser, mobile and server compatibility, allowing them to focus on building applications with the advantage of low-code simplicity when you can and full-code business logic when you need it. LANSA incorporates an integrated meta-data repository and business rules engine to protect data integrity and reduce application development and support effort. LANSA has an application framework which provides the architecture, infrastructure and plumbing code of a pre-built commercial business application. Its zero-code prototyping tool, which includes built-in security, navigation and flexible searching, is a ‘living’ prototype because it evolves into a finished application as real components are snapped into it. The framework provides a desktop-style user experience in the browser that enables users to work on multiple tasks concurrently and switch between them easily and seamlessly.

Seller

LANSA

Discussions

Visual LANSA Community

Languages Supported

English, French, Japanese

Solution Type

All-in-One

Overview by

Nichole Ballesteros

Value at a Glance

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

4 months

Return on Investment

21 months

View More Pricing Information

Top-Rated Alternatives

View All Alternatives

User Insights

Average based on 82 real user reviews.

Implementation Time

4 months

Perceived Cost

$$$$$

Visual LANSA Reviews FAQs

Generated using AI

Last updated: Nov 04, 2026

What is Visual LANSA, and what problem is it built to solve?

Visual LANSA is a low-code development platform for building and deploying enterprise applications. It combines visual development with traditional coding to help businesses modernize and integrate IT systems, then maintain and evolve those applications.

What languages does Visual LANSA support?

Visual LANSA supports 3 languages: English, French, and Japanese.

What company sizes and industries is Visual LANSA the best fit for?

Visual LANSA is most represented among mid-market and enterprise teams, with reviewer-reported use concentrated in several industries.

Company size: Mid-market organizations (51–1,000 employees)
Company size: Enterprise organizations (more than 1,000 employees)
Industry: Information technology and computer software
Industry: Logistics, supply chain, and warehousing

How long does it take to implement Visual LANSA across a team?

Implementation timelines vary, but 1–3 months is the most commonly reported range. Other teams describe shorter or longer rollouts, including cases that had not yet gone live.

Time to go live	Relative frequency
1–3 months	Most common
3–6 months	Also reported
Under 1 month	Also reported
6–12 months	Less common
Never / not yet live	Less common

What customer support options does Visual LANSA provide, and how do users find the overall support experience?

Support is available through 24/7 live-rep assistance, with self-service and contact options such as FAQs/forum, email/help desk, and chat. The support experience is often described as responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful, though users also point to cases where troubleshooting information or documentation did not fully resolve an issue.

What is the experience like for teams switching to Visual LANSA from another tool?

Moving to Visual LANSA is often tied to modernizing older IBM i and legacy applications, including environments built with RPG or tools such as Synon, HCL Notes/Domino, and PowerHouse. Users describe replacing screen-based or older applications with more modern interfaces while reusing existing data and business logic, and using a shared development environment to build across platforms. The transition can involve learning new development approaches and planning a gradual rewrite, but the appeal is faster development without maintaining separate codebases for each platform.

What features or capabilities could make Visual LANSA even more useful?

Visual LANSA could be more useful with clearer guidance and smoother tools for diagnosing and improving applications. The most recurring improvement areas include:

Expand documentation, examples, and troubleshooting guidance so developers can resolve issues and learn features more easily.
Improve the debugger, error messages, and overall development-environment performance.
Simplify installation, setup, upgrades, and deployment workflows.
Strengthen version-control and testing support, including integration with common developer tools.

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Rob D.

V.P. of IT

Retail

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

12/12/2017

"Visual Lansa an excellent choice for low code development."

5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Lansa will allow you to develop web applications with a single skillset. You can create web and mobile applications from one code base. You can deploy Lansa applications on-premise or to the cloud. Lansa has a framework that makes it easy to create full-blown applications with very little code. Anyone that uses an I series will benefit from Lansa's wholly integrated environment. Lansa is the most straightforward and complete web development toolset that I have found. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

I wish Lansa integrated with other testing tools. It would be nice if the software had a built-in unit testing environment. You can build your unit test environment using Lansa without much difficulty. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Visual LANSA:

I would Highly recommend Visual Lansa Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Visual LANSA solving and how is that benefiting you?

With Lansa we wrote a sophisticated mobile ordering application for our stores in a few months. By implementing our store ordering application, we have saved labor and increased the accuracy of our orders. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Carles C.

Software Developer

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 7/6/2018

"Visual Lansa V14 SP2"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Discover the efforts of the company to integrate, for its development platform, mechanisms that align it with other products competition Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

Rhythm a bit slow in the integration of market technologies Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Dinesh P.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 7/2/2018

"Lansa has made the experience of developing applications a fun experience"

5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

The use of Material Design is a great feature, as is using source control Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

I could not see the purpose of Composer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

8/29/2018

Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.

"Business analyst review"

5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Powerful, efficient language which is easy to modify as well as maintain Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

Will need to check in/out during modification per programmer, sometimes it’s difficult to have multiple tasks completed at one time Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Marlon V.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

2/15/2018

"Visual Lansa Programmer"

5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

What is a Visual Language and is it object-oriented? Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

So far, nothing, just that I would like to receive tutorials and other help regarding Visual Lansa. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Visual LANSA:

Simply test the product and you will see that it is an excellent Visual programming language. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Visual LANSA solving and how is that benefiting you?

The day-to-day of the bank's core system at the institution where I work is easy to program and has a lot of help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Automotive

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

7/3/2018

"Web development and deployment made easy"

4/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Coming from a native iseries background with a team of RPG programmers, Lansa (WAMs) has allowed us to deliver modern looking applications with more functionality than before without the need to learn many new skills. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

Version control was always a concern so I'm glad there is now a recognised solution on offer Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Wholesale

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

2/15/2018

"Lansa focuses on the technology we focus on the business."

4.5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

The repository for us is the key. We keep our business rules in the meta data and can leverage those rules to rapidly develop. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

Not sure there is anything I dislike. I feel like we can bring in young developers that know other languages and get them up to speed quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Visual LANSA:

Lansa does a good job insulating the developer from newer technology by handling the complexity and allowing the customer to code based on business need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Visual LANSA solving and how is that benefiting you?

Web B2B solutions that help our customers stay competitive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Claude E.

Sr. Programmer Analyst

Insurance

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/13/2017

"Visual Lansa has been great"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Coming from the green screen development side the IDE has been a lifesaver with all the bells and whistles. I'm still learning everything it can do for me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

Hostmonitor, checking in/out of components Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Warren R.

Software Developer

Hospital & Health Care

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

Originally submitted 8/8/2016

"Lansa - Designed for Integration"

4/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Lansa gives us the ability to write code that can operate on both an IBMi operating system as well as the Windows environment, which allows us to use one code base in order to write commands for either system; the exact same program will function the same way regardless of the operating system (with the exception of a few system-specific commands). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

It's very easy to fall into performance "traps". Our application has a great deal of client/server interaction, and it will often bottleneck while waiting for communication. The built-in file reader is also not the most efficient (it will process every record that matches the keys, regardless of further limiters such as the where statement). They do, however, provide solutions to address these issues; since the same code functions on either the client system or the server, we can write it to execute on the server, and build customized SQL database queries which allow for much more complex searches that complete far more rapidly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Visual LANSA:

If you're a multi-platform client needing one code base to run on multiple systems, Lansa is a good fit for you. Even if you're not, however, they have multiple other products that can integrate with Visual Lansa (such as Composer, LongRange, etc) that can provide a great deal of benefit to your organization when combined with Visual Lansa. It's definitely worth looking into. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Visual LANSA solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are an ISV generating and deploying clinical & billing software to a larger number of customers. We have a large "legacy" application written in Synon/RPG, designed for operation on an IBMi OS. We needed to modernize the application to run in a Windows environment, but also wanted to keep the database in this system (instead of attempting to convert & rewrite), as well as being able to leverage existing code instead of having to rewrite the entire application from the ground up.

Lansa allowed us to pursue this goal. With a single coding language that generates output that runs on both Windows & the IBM system, there is no need to maintain two different sets of programs. We can call and execute existing RPG programs (reports, calculations) without having to rewrite them off-the-bat. This allowed us to create the screens, designing them how we wanted, rewriting where necessary, and snapping everything into Lansa's provided framework.

We also have a need for communication with outside entities, and have used Lansa Composer for conversion of data from our database to the expected format from other organizations, or vice versa (including being able to use standards such as HL7 or NCPDP). Lansa Composer / Lansa Integrator have allowed us to consume Web Services as well, directly from the application, instead of having to build & design from a third-party service. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Pierre L.

Senior Analyst / Developer

Computer Software

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 8/3/2016

Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.

"Visual LANSA, our technology partner to solve our business problems"

5/5

What do you like best about Visual LANSA?

Repository based development and the Framework technology. The combination of these two things makes creating and maintaining applications a breeze. The RDMLX language will be familiar to IBM i professionals and very easy to learn for anyone with a bit of OO experience. The repository acts as a central place for all things created by your team. This makes teamwork simple and efficient. The Framework technology leads you into new Windows or Web applications really fast. I also like the fact that Visual LANSA can help you with your legacy applications as well as new applications. Because in the real world, you simply cannot re-write everything, salvaging and re-using existing stuff that already works and modernizing it is a safe way forward. The IDE is very smart and intuitive. It's totally integrated with the repository and it truly facilitates the developer's job. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Visual LANSA?

The Framework “merge” process. If multiple designers are in the same Framework then the process of merging their respective designs is a bit of a pain. I realize that multiple designers in the Framework only happens on very big projects but we went through that and it could have gone better. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Visual LANSA:

If you are an IBM i shop with developers using procedural programming, VL will get you into the OO world very smoothly. We went thru this at our shop and it was a success. If you already have an OO background, VL should be easy for you. As with anything new, make sure to set aside some time for training and experimenting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Visual LANSA solving and how is that benefiting you?

We have modernized a huge existing (legacy) ERP application with Visual LANSA and RAMP (VL's sister product). This allowed us to breathe new life into our feature-rich application and allowed us to sign new customers. We also used the product to build new Web modules that are now part of our offering. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.