Comparison of Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro for Novices and Experts

FileMaker is actually a database management application that started as an MS-DOS-based system, but now it runs effectively on the Macintosh platform.

It features a drag-and-drop and GUI-interface options for simple and easy control of data. It’s available on several different platforms, and the recent version features more templates and themes for the creation of iOS databases. It can easily get connected to SQL databases, for example, SQL Server and Oracle by the installation of an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver.

However, the application went through major changes, and currently features software that allows you to manage your data, one of the advanced options is the Popover button, which appears while a user clicks or taps it.
Microsoft Access is available as part of the MS Office suite, with the Jet database engine, and provides support for all applications for example Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and so forth. It does the job well as a back-end software while having front-end provision from a data source such as Oracle, Sybase, etc.

The size on the hard disk drive is 160MB. Access facilitates information storage of 1TB on the SharePoint hosting server, but only allows 2GB storage space in a single data file.
To make a good decision, we explained the particular features of each below.

Database-Building

FileMaker Pro features objects for example layouts, templates with summaries, texts, and plug-ins to create the database.

It makes use of texts and third-party plug-ins to access the data source. Scripts are also used to access the database.

In MS Access, you can easily include several objects, such as forms, tables, reports, queries, data access pages, any SEO Reseller program, modules and macros. MS Access runs on the Visual Basic Applications (VBA) which is its development language, with a subset of Visual Basic.

Security

FileMaker Pro features AES-256-bit file encryption to secure information on a server or desktop, which is usually used to protect confidential data by the US federal government.

MS Access data files can easily be secured by uploading on MS SQL server. It provides extra protection by giving workgroup security and safety, which requires account information, which you can use to stipulate if any person is provided read-only or even read-and-write rights.

Cost

For a user of FileMaker Pro, it costs USD 10.00 monthly on an annual basis.
For a user of FileMaker Pro Advanced, it costs USD 20.00 monthly on an annual basis. To control a database server, you can use the expertise of FileMaker WebDirect, which costs on the basis of its users.
It costs USD 60.00 monthly on an annual basis for 6 users, and $ 280.00 for 60 users. It costs diversely for volume licenses, which can easily be installed on more than one computer system.

Verdict

Looking at the pros and cons of FileMaker Pro and MS Access, it can be made clear that users with a paid license of FileMaker Pro can easily gain access to the FileMaker Server without cost. To run the solution on an iPhone or iPad, it is possible to download the FileMaker Go software, which can be acquired free of charge from the Apple Store.

MS Access is for developers who’re used to Microsoft Office and its apps, while FileMaker can easily be used by non-programmers who’re newbies to database encoding, due to its drag-and-drop user interface.
If you are a novice to database management system, then use FileMaker Pro because it has some free features with the state-of-the-art user interface.