In 2023, creating a no-code application has become more accessible than before. We have numerous options that empower users to effortlessly create something extraordinary.
In this review, we will explore the pricing, features, capabilities, and overall performance of Bubble.io, a robust no-code development tool.
Whether you are an experienced developer or a beginner without coding experience. Bubble.io is set to revolutionize your app-building journey. Join us as we examine this innovative platform and reveal how it simplifies the process of turning your app ideas into reality.
What is Bubble?
Bubble.io is a no-code app development framework that allows you to design, develop, host, and scale applications without the need to write any code.
Although Bubble lets you build web applications without writing any code, it’s more than just that. Bubble aims to empower individuals without traditional app development knowledge to create, host, and scale applications. This vision distinguishes Bubble from other no-code platforms.
Bubble provides four key tools:
- A WYSIWYG page designer and style editor.
- A visual workflow editor for adding actions and events.
- A database hosted in the AWS cloud.
- Automatic capacity scaling to accommodate app growth.
Bubble is not just about coding; it’s like all-in-one assistance for building and growing apps. It handles things like managing SQL databases, monitoring uptime, and capacity upgrades. Usually, these tasks require specialized expertise from individuals or groups for development and maintenance. By encompassing these aspects, Bubble lowers the development costs and changes the landscape for founders who are not tech experts, enabling them to create fully functional apps on their own.
Bubble apps rely on an active internet connection at all times, even on rendering, because their dynamic pages are processed on Bubble’s servers.
Bubble Pricing
Like SaaS platforms, Bubble pricing varies based on whether you choose to pay monthly or annually. The only difference is the amount you pay for your app. The features, support, and security remain constant regardless of your chosen payment frequency.
Bubble offers five plans:
- Free Plan
- Starter Plan
- Growth Plan
- Team
- Enterprise
With the free plan, you can get access to Bubble’s fundamental features however, it will not let you deploy your app or try out its advanced capabilities. The lowest price you can anticipate for an app is $25/$29. If you’re looking for advanced features such as back-end triggers, they are exclusively offered in the Growth plan (professional plan) for $115/$129 monthly.
The Learning Path with Bubble: Ease or Challenge?
Generally, it’s pretty simple. Creating your app design and linking workflows to elements such as buttons and input fields is relatively easy, allowing for the creation of an MVP within a few months and even quicker with growing expertise. Bubble has substantial resources in recent years to develop a comprehensive documentation section for new users. Additionally, there are multiple online courses, boot camps, and coaches to help you in the learning process.
Learning the basics might take a few weeks while becoming a skilled developer will take several years. In essence, your app’s complexity should align with your level of experience. While it is feasible to create a basic MVP without any prior experience, a more ambitious project will require a higher level of expertise. Beginners or inexperienced developers may unintentionally overlook fundamental yet critical aspects, such as securing the app with privacy rules.
In general, I would recommend you spend at least two weeks learning the basics before starting your project. In the first week, the focus will be on understanding the basics and getting into the best practices. Setting up your app for the first time might be quick, but fixing things later can take a lot of time if they were not set up initially. Starting with an imperfect app allows for a clean canvas to learn and experiment, you can set up numerous pages and explore various methods without the need for removing them later.
Professional agencies can complete an app in 4-6 weeks by utilizing their experiences, preset modules and templates, sometimes multiple developers, and detailed project plans. If you are a beginner, be prepared to spend at least double that time on your project.
Is Bubble Significantly More Efficient?
Certainly, there is no absolute answer to this question, it depends on the specific project and framework being compared to Bubble. Generally, Bubble is highly efficient. Compared to traditional development, Bubble can deliver similar results at approximately 70% lower cost and 80% faster.
Using no code to automate processes, gather data, and organize your company can make a significant difference, especially for companies still relying on spreadsheets and unable to find suitable off-the-shelf software. Even a single employee with no-code experience and a solid understanding of your business can create database systems and automation capable of transforming your business.
Plugin Ecosystem of Bubble
A comprehensive Bubble review would be incomplete without exploring how it enhances its features through user-generated extensions. Similar to WordPress, which gained popularity by allowing users to extend its basic features through plugins (currently powering over 75 million websites), Bubble follows a similar approach. It provides a plugin store that has expanded to include a substantial number of useful additions to Bubble’s features. When you encounter a specific challenge on the forum or Twitter, you’ll discover that there is a plugin designed for that purpose. Additionally, an increasing number of available plugins are personalized for Bubble.
However, it’s essential to admit that the plugin store is not flawless and is worth addressing its limitations. A valid concern shared by numerous professional developers is that depending on a plugin for crucial features in your app involves entrusting those functionalities to a third party, often with limited knowledge about them.
Will they provide customer support? Will the plugin receive updates to remain compatible with Bubble’s evolving engine? Will developers be there for the long term? While many plugin builders offer high-quality plugins with detailed documentation and quick support, the plugin store itself lacks a comprehensive review system. It doesn’t show stats on bug reports, developer communication, compatibility, or the external tools they use.
These are genuine concerns that lead many agencies to avoid plugins entirely and, instead, create their own solutions or address the issues through alternative means. The positive aspect is that Bubble provides several options for this, minimizing risks, as we’ll explore below:
Integrating Bubble with Other Services
Bubble has various ways of connecting to third-party services:
The API Connector allows you to establish connections with a wide range of APIs. Instead of creating separate plugins for each API, the connector enables you to configure the header, parameters, and call body, providing access to a broader range of potential services.
Common examples include:
- Signing into the website using your Gmail or Facebook credentials.
- Processing payments through services like PayPal.
- Converting currencies with the latest exchange rates.
The SQL Database Connector allows you to connect with SQL databases and execute queries directly from the app. It currently supports MySQL, PostGres, and Microsoft SQL.
The Plugin Ecosystem also provides various plugins that perform similar functions but simplify the implementation process. For example, plugins like Stripe payments add actions, such as accepting payments and initiating subscriptions in your app, without requiring knowledge of how to set up an API call. Additionally, Bubble recently introduced an updated Zapier plugin, allowing you to build connections between your apps using simple commands.
Bubble’s Performance
Bubble performs quite well. You can set up quick-loading pages, handle substantial amounts of data, and anticipate it to perform as well as with any comparable app within the segment you’re developing. While online discussions occasionally show frustrations among builders seeking optimal performance, in many cases, the challenges stem from their own lack of experience in building rather than shortcomings in Bubble itself.
There are aspects where Bubble has room for improvement, which may or may not be relevant to your app. We will highlight important ones to guide your research before choosing Bubble:
- Handling large amounts of data (millions of records) can challenge Bubble. While searching through well-structured databases often works efficiently, frequent changes to extensive data put Bubble to its performance limit.
- Bubble generates page rendering on the server side, leading to a consistent slight delay in page load beyond the developer’s control. Unlike WordPress plugins that enable caching static HTML files, Bubble depends on serving content quickly. While developers play an essential role in efficient setup, there are limitations in the underlying technology that may be beyond their control.
Conclusion
Bubble stands out as the most advanced platform. However, it is vital to understand its capabilities and limitations before deciding to take on a significant project. The Bubble is designed for building browser-based web apps integrated with a database. It operates with a continuous internet connection and entails a commitment, as you cannot export your app’s design or workflow. The functionality of your app relies on the continued existence of Bubble and any utilized plugins in the future.
No-code has limits, but Bubble stands out as the platform with a few limitations. It genuinely emerges as the top choice for building a SaaS.
