No-Code vs. Coding. When It Works and When Not? [2024 Low-Code SaaS Examples]
Should you run your SaaS business on no-code platforms, or is it better to stick to the good old approach and write it using one of the programming languages? When are no-code and low-code platforms like Bubble.io good, and when should you avoid them?
What are the 5 main criteria for deciding on a no-code platform vs coding? In this article, I’ll answer all these questions for you. This will be a non-biased comparison of no-code platforms to the programming languages approach. And the best part is I’ll do it all for you quickly in 5 minutes.
Why No-Code and Low-Code Platforms Are Good
First of all, I’m really happy that we have so many no-code platforms these days. The no-code approach opens doors for many new people to try the software and SaaS business.
With it, aspiring entrepreneurs can quickly put together a prototype and validate and market it. No programming skills are required. You can learn it in weeks, not years, like with programming languages. Also, you can hire a no-code developer, and if you’re lucky and your software idea has some prebuilt template on a no-code platform, you can get your MVP developed 3-5 times faster and cheaper.
In my agency, we built our website using drag & drop no-code builder, and our internal company tools using a low-code approach. Can you build anything you want with no code? Let’s find out.
5 Criteria For Deciding No-Code vs Coding Approach
- Your Circumstances
What kind of founder are you? Bootstrapper, startupper, employee or programmer? Depending on your current circumstances and available resources, you might be limited to using only a no-code approach or be free to pick whatever looks better.
- Problem & Audience
If you’re building software for your own company, then you probably don’t have high requirements for its reliability and user-friendliness. But if you build customer-facing SaaS to make money on it, you’ll need to create something of high quality and scalability. While a no-code solution works better for simple in-house tools, it may not be the best fit for any production-ready, highly loaded-application.
- Feasibility
Our main stack at our agency is Python, Django, and ReactJS. But we don’t pick it for any kind of software. We can’t build hardware drivers with this stack. Right? Similarly, there is not a single no-code platform to enable you to build anything you need.
- Available Templates
For our client GoFlooring from the US, we built their custom CRM software with Python programming in only 6 weeks. Why? Because we built similar software many times before and just re-used our template & libraries.
If we’d go and build similar software with Bubble.io, we’d spend more time and budget. Because there is no ready-to-use Template for CRM for Flooring agencies. The main advantage of no-code platforms is not Drag & Drop builder; it’s their pre-built library of templates for many cases. The speed and budget of the development will highly depend on whether there are ready-to-reuse templates and libraries for your specific software. Be it a low-code or coding approach.
- Custom Code
The last criterion for deciding between low-code and Coding approaches is whether your software idea needs custom complex programming within a no-code platform. At the moment when you start to add Custom Code to the no-code platform, the whole idea of this approach starts to diminish. You’ll now need to hire a no-code developer and a regular software engineer and manage them together.
It’s like web app development. You need to hire a front-end and back-end developer or find a full-stack Python/ReactJS developer, for example. It’s more expensive to build the same app with 2 devs than with 1 full stack. But finding full-stack is always a bit harder.
These days, finding a full-stack developer that can do no-code and programming is even harder.
What Are Some Of The Most Popular No-Code & Low-Code Apps?
I’d be honest: finding some popular, million-dollar SaaS businesses built with no code is difficult.
These are some of the relatively popular mobile apps built with low-code platforms:
- “The Cycles App” built with Adalo
- “Qoins” built with Bubble.io
- “Pearson Automotive” built with AppSheet
- “Oyez Review” built with Thunkable
Websites, Landing Pages, E-commerce Stores, relatively simple CRM and data management workflows, simple internal business tools, Blogs and Content Management Systems, Community Platforms and Forums, relatively simple catalogs, listings, and marketplaces—all these apps can be successfully built with no-code and low-code platforms if there is no need for complex logic.
But, if you go outside of the box…
What Can You Not Build With No-Code Platforms?
These days, it’s obvious that no-code usually goes as far as testing and prototypes, and once there is money in the house, founders re-build the app from scratch with code and software engineers.
Why? Because you can’t easily build all these applications w/o writing a lot of custom sophisticated code, even if you’re using Low-code platforms.
Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Airbnb, Amazon, Slack, Netflix, Spotify, Salesforce, Zoom, Hubspot. Also, you can’t build a lot of Machine Learning and AI, as well as virtual and augmented reality apps, and so on and on.
Unfortunately, no-code and Low-code platforms are simply not on that level yet. You’ll still need a very good software engineer for all the complex stuff.
How Do You Decide if You Can Use No-Code Platforms or Not?
The algorithm is very simple and easy to follow.
The only circumstances you have to consider No-Code & Low-Code Platforms for your software are:
- It’s technically feasible to build your software with a selected No-Code platform
- There is a ready-to-use template for your app
- And you don’t have time & money to build your SaaS by hiring software engineers
In all other cases, go for an old good way of building & launching your tech startup or a business tool. And I promise you, you’ll never lose. However, in the future, my suggested algorithm might change with the evolution of the No-code platforms.
If you are interested in having my in-house developers build your SaaS product or maybe having me as a mentor? Then follow the link and register for a free introductory call!