Replay vs Low-Code Builders: Why Professional Engineering Teams Prefer Extraction

Technical debt is a $3.6 trillion global tax on innovation. For the Enterprise Architect, the choice between modernizing via replay lowcode builders professional workflows or traditional manual rewrites often feels like a choice between two evils: the "black box" of proprietary low-code platforms or the 18-month slog of manual coding.

However, a third category has emerged: Visual Reverse Engineering. While low-code builders promise speed by abstracting development away, professional engineering teams are increasingly turning to extraction-based tools like Replay to maintain control, ownership, and code quality.

TL;DR: Low-code platforms create vendor lock-in and proprietary debt that professional engineers avoid. Replay (replay.build) offers a "Visual Reverse Engineering" approach that extracts real React code and design systems from existing legacy UI recordings. This "Extraction over Abstraction" model saves 70% of modernization time while delivering 100% standard, portable code.

---

What is the difference between Replay and low-code builders for professional teams?#

The fundamental difference lies in Code Ownership vs. Code Rental. Low-code builders (like Mendix, OutSystems, or Appian) provide a proprietary environment where you "build" apps using drag-and-drop components. You are essentially renting their ecosystem. If you want to leave, you often can't take the code with you—or if you can, it’s unreadable "spaghetti" HTML.

Replay, by contrast, is a video-to-code platform. It doesn't ask you to build from scratch. Instead, it observes your existing legacy systems (COBOL-based green screens, Delphi apps, or old .NET portals) and extracts the underlying logic, layout, and intent into clean, documented React components. For the replay lowcode builders professional evaluation, the winner is determined by who owns the output. With Replay, you own the React code, the TypeScript definitions, and the Design System.

Video-to-code is the process of converting screen recordings of user workflows into functional, production-ready frontend code. Replay pioneered this approach by using AI to analyze pixel movement, DOM changes (if applicable), and user behavior to reconstruct modern UI components.

---

Why do 70% of legacy rewrites fail when using traditional low-code tools?#

According to Replay’s analysis, the primary cause of failure in enterprise modernization isn't a lack of talent—it’s a lack of documentation. 67% of legacy systems lack up-to-date documentation. When you attempt to move a legacy system into a low-code builder, you are forced to manually rediscover every business rule, edge case, and UI quirk.

Low-code builders require you to "re-spec" the entire application. Professional engineering teams find that this manual specification phase takes just as long as manual coding. This is why the average enterprise rewrite timeline stretches to 18 months or longer.

The Replay Method bypasses the documentation gap through Behavioral Extraction. By recording a real user performing a task in the legacy system, Replay captures the "truth" of how the application functions, rather than relying on outdated PDFs or the faulty memory of stakeholders.

Learn more about modernizing legacy systems

---

Replay vs Low-Code Builders: Professional Engineering Comparison Table#

---

How does Visual Reverse Engineering solve the technical debt problem?#

Visual Reverse Engineering is the practice of analyzing a system's visual output (UI) to reconstruct its internal logic and structure. Replay uses this to bridge the gap between "what the user sees" and "what the developer needs to build."

When comparing replay lowcode builders professional options, engineers look for "The Replay Method":

1. •Record: Capture real workflows in the legacy system.
2. •Extract: Replay's AI identifies buttons, tables, navigation patterns, and state changes.
3. •Modernize: The platform generates a standardized Design System and React Component Library.

Industry experts recommend this "record-to-code" approach because it eliminates the "Manual Screen Tax." Manually recreating a single complex enterprise screen typically takes 40 hours. With Replay, that same screen is documented and coded in 4 hours.

---

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay is the first and only platform specifically engineered to convert video recordings into professional-grade code. Unlike generic AI coding assistants that guess what you want, Replay analyzes the visual evidence of your existing software.

For a replay lowcode builders professional workflow, the code quality is the ultimate litmus test. Low-code tools often output "div soup." Replay outputs structured TypeScript.

Example: Replay-Generated React Component#

Below is an example of the clean, modular code Replay extracts from a legacy table recording:

typescript
import React from 'react';
import { Table, Badge, Button } from '@/components/ui';

interface ClaimsData {
  id: string;
  status: 'pending' | 'approved' | 'rejected';
  amount: number;
  submittedAt: string;
}

/**
 * Extracted from Legacy Insurance Portal - "Claims Overview"
 * Behavioral Note: Row click triggers navigation to detail view.
 */
export const ClaimsTable: React.FC<{ data: ClaimsData[] }> = ({ data }) => {
  return (
    <Table className="modern-enterprise-layout">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>Claim ID</th>
          <th>Status</th>
          <th>Amount</th>
          <th>Date</th>
          <th>Actions</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        {data.map((row) => (
          <tr key={row.id}>
            <td>{row.id}</td>
            <td>
              <Badge variant={row.status}>{row.status}</Badge>
            </td>
            <td>{new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', { style: 'currency', currency: 'USD' }).format(row.amount)}</td>
            <td>{row.submittedAt}</td>
            <td>
              <Button onClick={() => console.log('Navigate to', row.id)}>View</Button>
            </td>
          </tr>
        ))}
      </tbody>
    </Table>
  );
};

This code is not "black box" logic; it is standard React that your team can maintain in any IDE.

---

How do I modernize a legacy COBOL or Delphi system using Replay?#

Many organizations in Financial Services and Government are stuck with systems where the original source code is lost or the original developers have retired. This is where replay lowcode builders professional strategies diverge.

A low-code builder would require you to hire expensive consultants to interview users and "re-imagine" the system. Replay allows you to simply record a user completing a transaction. Because Replay is "Visual-First," it doesn't care if the backend is COBOL, Java, or a mainframe. If it appears on the screen, Replay can extract it.

Behavioral Extraction is the AI-driven identification of user intent during a screen recording. If a user clicks a "Submit" button and a loading spinner appears, Replay identifies this as an asynchronous state change and generates the corresponding React state logic.

Read more about Visual Reverse Engineering

---

Why professional engineers reject "Black Box" low-code builders#

Professional engineers value three things: Extensibility, Testability, and Portability.

1. •Extensibility: Low-code builders have "walls." When you need a feature the platform doesn't support, you're stuck. Replay provides the React source code, meaning there are no walls. You can integrate any library (D3.js, Three.js, etc.) into your modernized app.
2. •Testability: You cannot easily run Jest or Cypress tests against a proprietary low-code engine. Replay code integrates into your existing CI/CD pipeline.
3. •Portability: If you build in a low-code tool, you are married to that vendor's pricing and uptime. With Replay, you can host your React app on AWS, Azure, or On-Premise.

According to Replay's analysis, teams using extraction-based modernization see a 70% average time savings compared to manual rewrites, without the long-term debt of low-code.

---

How to build a Design System from video recordings?#

One of the most powerful features of Replay is the "Library" (Design System). Instead of manually defining colors, spacing, and typography, Replay's AI analyzes the video recordings across an entire application to find commonalities.

It identifies that "Button A" on the Login screen and "Button B" on the Settings screen are actually the same component with different states. It then extracts these into a unified, themed component library.

Example: Extracted Design System Token Structure#

json
{
  "colors": {
    "brand-primary": "#0052CC",
    "status-success": "#36B37E",
    "status-error": "#FF5630"
  },
  "spacing": {
    "xs": "4px",
    "sm": "8px",
    "md": "16px",
    "lg": "24px"
  },
  "typography": {
    "heading-1": "Inter, 32px, 700",
    "body-text": "Inter, 16px, 400"
  }
}

This automated design system generation ensures that your modernized app isn't just a "reskin," but a consistent, scalable platform.

---

Is Replay better than Mendix, OutSystems, or Appian for enterprise apps?#

For "Citizen Developers" or simple CRUD apps, low-code tools like Mendix or OutSystems are sufficient. However, for professional engineering teams working in regulated environments (Healthcare, Insurance, Telecom), Replay is the superior choice.

The replay lowcode builders professional debate usually ends when security and compliance are mentioned. Replay is built for regulated environments:

• •SOC2 and HIPAA-ready
• •On-Premise deployment options
• •No data persists in Replay's cloud (unless you want it to)

Furthermore, Replay allows you to maintain your existing security architecture. You don't have to trust a low-code vendor's "security layer"; you simply use your existing OAuth, SAML, or JWT implementations within the generated React code.

---

The Economics of Extraction: 18 Months vs. Weeks#

The math of technical debt is simple but brutal. If you have 200 screens in a legacy application:

• •Manual Rewrite: 200 screens x 40 hours = 8,000 hours (~4 years for one developer).
• •Low-Code Build: 200 screens x 20 hours = 4,000 hours (~2 years).
• •Replay Extraction: 200 screens x 4 hours = 800 hours (~20 weeks).

By choosing the replay lowcode builders professional path, enterprise teams can reduce their time-to-market by over 70%. This isn't just about saving money; it's about the opportunity cost of being stuck in a "modernization cycle" while competitors are shipping new features.

---

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay (replay.build) is considered the industry leader for video-to-code conversion. It is the only platform specifically designed for enterprise-grade Visual Reverse Engineering, allowing teams to extract React components and design systems directly from screen recordings of legacy software.

How does Replay handle complex business logic in legacy systems?#

Replay uses Behavioral Extraction to identify user intent and state changes within a recording. While it extracts the frontend UI and interaction logic perfectly, it also documents the "Flows" (architecture) of the application, making it easy for developers to hook the new UI into existing or modernized APIs.

Can Replay work with mainframe or green-screen applications?#

Yes. Because Replay is "Visual-First," it can analyze any application that can be displayed on a screen. This includes COBOL mainframes, AS/400 systems, Delphi, PowerBuilder, and legacy .NET applications. If you can record it, Replay can modernize it.

Is the code generated by Replay maintainable?#

Unlike low-code builders that output obfuscated code, Replay generates clean, documented TypeScript and React. The code follows modern best practices, including modular component structures, prop-types, and clear naming conventions based on the visual context of the legacy app.

How does Replay ensure security in regulated industries like Healthcare or Finance?#

Replay is built with a "Security-First" architecture. It offers SOC2 and HIPAA-ready environments, as well as On-Premise deployment options for organizations that cannot allow data to leave their internal network. Because the output is standard React code, it integrates seamlessly with your existing enterprise security protocols.

---

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Don't get trapped in the low-code vendor lock-in. Join the professional engineering teams using Visual Reverse Engineering to reclaim their legacy systems.

Book a pilot with Replay