Adobe ColdFusion and Lucee are two leading web application development tools based on CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) code. Adobe ColdFusion was initially developed to connect HTML and the database easily. With the release of Adobe ColdFusion 2018, a full-blown scripting language with CFML is incorporated along with an IDE. Further, the platform has been updated and enhanced to build more modularized, maintainable, and responsive web applications.
The popularity of CF led to the development of many open-sourced platforms, among which Lucee became a strong competitor for Adobe ColdFusion. Lucee stands up as an alternative CFML engine that employs dynamically typed scripting language for the Java Virtual Machine for the rapid development of web applications.
This article shall give you a briefing on both software by comparing and contrasting each other based on the below concerns.
Price
Adobe ColdFusion 2018 comes with a price tag. Depending on the package chosen, the price varies. CF Standard costs from $2,499, while the CF Enterprise with some enhanced features comes at $9,499 onwards.
Meanwhile, Lucee is free and open-sourced. This stands as a major plus point in choosing between the two, encouraging novice developers to shift towards Lucee instead of Adobe.
Installation and Requirements
Installing Adobe ColdFusion 2018 requires a lot of prior work, such as ensuring the server connection. This is based on the platform you work with.
In contrast, Lucee streamlines the installation process by automatically carrying out server connections. This makes Lucee a stand-alone app and is compatible with Windows and Linux.
User Support
A devoted support team stands by Adobe that can be reached through phone or via online tickets for direct support. They also help with troubleshooting and have readily available testing tools.
Lucee is more of a community-based software. The members of the Lucee Association Switzerland help with the issues arising for its users. However, for larger-scale issues and troubleshooting, third party commercial support services are to be sought.
Language Support
Adobe CF works on CFML. However, it still supports other programming languages such as .NET, ActionScript, and CFScript. Moreover, ColdFusion is a Java EE platform that can be combined with the rest of Java classes and libraries holding some exclusive proprietary functionalities.
Lucee also allows you to work with java classes. But it is also proved to be better than Adobe CF when working with JSON.
Hosting
ColdFusion features a single and central CFADMIN that is accessible only by the HR host. The admin settings are also all global and cannot be customized as per the website.
When compared, Lucee holds a higher advantage with shared hosting, allowing each website to have its web admin. The CFML settings, mail configurations, and data sources can be tailored depending on the application you work with.
Security Concerns
Adobe works best on identifying and removing any securing issues when raised. They break down potential threats and security risks into two categories. Priority scale and Severity scale and work on debugging accordingly. With the release of the latest CF version in 2018, some major security issues like deserialization of untrusted data were solved.
Resolving security threats is a bit of a challenging task for Lucee. Communicating the security issues to its association members takes more time than resolving them. Hence, this process could take a while leading to more complicated issues in-between.
Special features
Compared to Lucee, Adobe ColdFusion carries some special features for the price you pay.
Applications In The Cloud
- With AWS S3 and Azure Blob, data can be accessed faster. Multi-cloud services accessible with the same syntax and a single line of code to get to different databases.
- AWS DynamoDB and MongoDB are used in Adobe CF to work with large data volumes with a built-in interface for NoSQL databases. Unstructured and structured data can be stored and easily converted into schemas and fields.
- Simple messaging services through Azure Service Bus and AWS SNS/SQS. Messaging queue services can be accessed easily, transmitting any data volume.
- Any type of application or service can be run through ColdFusion codes with AWS Lambda holding no administration and with automatic scaling.
Accelerate DevOps Pipeline
- All the REST services can be created and managed via the REST Playground.
- CLI and Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL) Support.
- Create and administer database-independent apps using Object-relational mapping support without writing any SQL.
- Emails can be managed effectively using an SMTP server.
- PDF manipulation with full access to Document Description XML (DDX).
- Mobile apps can be developed via CFML employing Adobe’s built-in integration and Adobe PhoneGap.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that both Adobe CF and Lucee work well with CFML making them worthwhile. Yet, Lucee can be much cheaper with improved speed and shared hosting. However, with Adobe often upgrading their service with regards to certain aspects like security and some features special on its own when creating enterprise standard applications, it stands better at the price you pay.