Claris FileMaker vs. Microsoft Access

Claris FileMaker

173 Reviews and Ratings

Microsoft Access

842 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Claris FileMaker	Score8.2 out of 10	N/A	Claris' FileMaker is presented as a Workplace Innovation Platform, and is used to create a custom app. Manual processes can be automated with Claris FileMaker Pro, and apps can be created to manage contacts, track inventory, organize projects, etc.	$21 per month per user
Microsoft Access	Score7.7 out of 10	N/A	Microsoft Access is a database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools.	$139.99 per PC

Pricing

Claris FileMaker

Microsoft Access

Platform Subscription: $21
per month per user
Individual desktop license: $594
one-time fee

Microsoft Access: $139.99
per PC

Pricing Offerings
Claris FileMaker	Microsoft Access
Free Trial
No	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

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Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Claris FileMaker	Microsoft Access
Considered Both Products	Claris Crissy Loughridge CFO in Finance and Accounting at Watermark Management (Staffing & Recruiting, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker I've used Microsoft Access, and it doesn't compare to Filemaker. The Filemaker software system is robust and had the ability to expand and work with other programs. I have a small business, and I can say that for a small to medium sized business, I do not think there is a … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Claris FileMaker I chose FileMaker over a custom DB with Azure and SQL Server because of the low code nature of FileMaker. And we needed ease of access with Apple products so we didn't use Microsoft Access. Incentivized Helpful? Carl Schwarz Business Owner in Product Management at Schwarz Software (Computer Software, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker MYOB has great accounting features but doesn't have the customisability or features to create the business management system that will do what you want it to do. Using a FileMaker Pro solution for business management and MYOB/XERO for the accounting is a great combination. Micro… Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Claris FileMaker Access is very complex leading to longer deployment, more user training, and therefore higher costs. Caspio is decent but quite limited in its native ability. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Claris FileMaker FileMaker Pro is the chaotic, cumbersome and non-integratable little sibling of MS Access. And even MS Access can't be taken serious in a medium sized company. FileMaker Pro can not even be compared to serious products like OutSystems and Sitecore. It's also not free... whereas … Incentivized Helpful? Lynelle Ehart Executive Assistant at Lakeside School (Education Management, 201-500 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker I haven't used another product like FileMaker Pro. Previously (at other jobs), I would email my needs to our maintenance and catering staff. Incentivized Helpful? Sam Goodwin President of HOCOA San Diego in Customer Service at Home Repair Network San Diego by HOCOA (Consumer Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker I am now using WORKetc for my CRM, and there are more benefits to me and my business using this software than using FileMaker Pro. WORK Etc Benefits: CloudBase, App, Email Response Update Project Automatically, Invoicing, Reports, Tags, Some quick add features Work Etc. Cons: … Incentivized Helpful? David Simpson President in Information Technology at .com Solutions Inc. (Computer Software, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker Some developers really like Visual FoxPro - but it has been discontinued by Microsoft and is no longer supported. FileMaker offers improved developer productivity. Incentivized Helpful? Joel Brache Senior Technologist in Customer Service at OneStrand (Publishing, 51-200 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker The most direct competitor to FileMaker Pro is Microsoft Access. If you understand the way Microsoft Access works, then you can probably get more functionality and features in Microsoft Access. With that said though, FileMaker is much easier to learn and develop in. I tried … Incentivized Helpful? James Kelly Filemaker Developer at Storganise Ltd (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker I used to work with Access some years ago, and liked the rigid structure. It had rules that were easy to adhere to, and once learnt, it was a powerful way to collect data. When I discovered FileMaker, I had to completely unlearn what I had thought were the boundaries of data … Incentivized Helpful? Jeroen Aarts Co-founder in Information Technology at Otico Software (Computer Software, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker As compared to other tools, FileMaker is a more robust and backwards compatible tool. As a product is always has had a stability that is unseen. I have developed solution over the years that even after 15 years are still used and loved by customers. As compared to programming … Incentivized Helpful? Linda Mitchell Director of Information Technology in Information Technology at Evangelism Explosion (Religious Institutions, 501-1000 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker I compared FileMaker to Microsoft Access - and am so pleased I selected FileMaker - it was a clear choice to create a database - provide management tools within the database to some users and then give access to many users through the web interface. With Microsoft or other … Incentivized Helpful? Donna Volante Office Manager at BC Express, Inc. (Construction, 11-50 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker FileMaker was so much easier to use and much more flexible. I tried creating a database in access and just got frustrated. In the early 1990's my boss loaded FileMaker 2.0 on my computer & told me to see what I could do with it. With no formal programming training, I created … Incentivized Helpful? Patrick Cranston President, Cranston IT, Inc. in Information Technology at FileMaker Inc., an Apple subsidiary (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker Access is similar to Filemaker but has several disadvantages. - no mobile app access - not cross platform (only supports windows) Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Claris FileMaker Any software suite that has database functionality. i.e. MS Access, InfoPath Incentivized Helpful? Gary Teuber President in Professional Services at G-Tekk, Inc. (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Claris FileMaker Microsoft Access - No contest QuickBooks - as a front end to QuickBooks, no contest compared to other solutions on the market SQL - No contest for ease of use and single tool functionality for building front- and back-ends that work on all devices Incentivized Helpful?	Microsoft Scott Herring Database Support Specialist in Information Technology at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (Education Management, 201-500 employees) Chose Microsoft Access FileMaker Pro focuses more on data collection in a single, flat file while Access allows for relationships to be drawn between data tables the reduces duplication. I have not worked with FileMaker Pro for several years but found it to be very unwieldy for my needs which were … Incentivized Helpful? Stephen Swan DBA in Information Technology at Indiana Wesleyan University (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Microsoft Access FileMaker is much more robust for sharing amongst users. However, Microsoft has proven useful in its availability to our user base as well as helping drive complex needs to a centralized solution. Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

Features

Claris FileMaker

Microsoft Access

Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Claris FileMaker and Microsoft Access
Feature	Claris FileMaker 8.4 3 Ratings	Microsoft Access - Ratings
Visual Modeling	7.33 Ratings	00 Ratings
Drag-and-drop Interfaces	6.62 Ratings	00 Ratings
Platform Security	9.52 Ratings	00 Ratings
Platform User Management	8.73 Ratings	00 Ratings
Reusability	9.03 Ratings	00 Ratings
Platform Scalability	9.33 Ratings	00 Ratings

User Ratings
	Claris FileMaker	Microsoft Access
Likelihood to Recommend	8.6 (51 ratings)	5.0 (99 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	5.0 (7 ratings)	10.0 (15 ratings)
Usability	8.7 (7 ratings)	7.0 (5 ratings)
Availability	8.0 (2 ratings)	8.0 (1 ratings)
Performance	5.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Support Rating	1.0 (6 ratings)	6.4 (5 ratings)
In-Person Training	8.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	5.0 (2 ratings)	10.0 (1 ratings)
Configurability	5.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Ease of integration	- (0 ratings)	8.0 (1 ratings)
Product Scalability	8.0 (1 ratings)	5.0 (1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale	5.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale	5.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)