Bubble Review: AI Coding Platform

Our Review Rating System

We employ a 5-star rating system for all the AI tools we review to give you a comprehensive idea of the overall utility of each tool.

Five stars: Editor’s choice
Four stars: An excellent choice
Three stars: Meets some of our standards
Two stars: Doesn’t meet our standards
One star: Not recommended

Our team of experts has awarded this AI tool an overall rating of four stars because Bubble offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface for creating a wide range of digital products, from web apps to mobile apps. It empowers entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses to turn their ideas into reality without the need for traditional coding skills.

What is Bubble?

Bubble is a powerful no-code platform for building interactive, multi-user web and mobile applications without the need for traditional coding.

We were happy to see it offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface for creating a wide range of digital products, from web apps to mobile apps, and provides features for designing, hosting, and scaling these applications. Bubble is known for its versatility, allowing users to build everything from social networks and marketplaces to games, and more.

How Does Bubble Work?

Bubble offers an intuitive and user-friendly drag-and-drop editor that allows you to focus on building the best digital product. With Bubble, you can create a wide range of web applications without needing to write a single line of code. From building chat platforms and news feeds to designing dynamic web pages, Bubble's capabilities are vast and versatile.

Our team discovered that it also offers integration options with popular services, making it a flexible solution for individuals and teams looking to bring their software ideas to life quickly and cost-effectively.

Key Features

Bubble boasts a range of features that we found to be useful and valuable:

Workflow Editor: Bubble provides a visual workflow editor that enables you to build out logic for your application. You can determine what happens as users navigate through your app, allowing you to create real-time interactive features such as chats and news feeds with ease.
Design Freedom: Bubble offers total design freedom. You can create pixel-perfect designs, insert images, icons, videos, maps, and more, all without any prior knowledge of HTML or CSS. The responsive editor ensures that your apps look great on mobile browsers right out of the box.
Hosted Infrastructure: Bubble takes care of server maintenance, infrastructure, and operations. You don't need to worry about setting up web servers or managing deployment. Moreover, there are no hard limits on the number of users, volume of traffic, or data storage, ensuring scalability.
Expansion and Engagement: You can develop an engaged customer base with Bubble's features like email and SEO that integrate seamlessly with tools you're already using. Measure and track behaviors to make better decisions as your product and business evolve.
Collaboration: Bubble is designed for both individuals and teams. You can collaborate with up to 40 team members in real-time, allowing anyone on your team to make changes and provide feedback without the need for coding expertise.

Pricing Options

Bubble offers various pricing plans to cater to different needs and stages of development. Here are some of the available plans:

Free Plan: Ideal for learning how to use Bubble, it is perfect for projects that are under construction. This plan includes development versions, API connector, component library, 1 app editor, 50k workload units per month, and 6 hours of server logs.
Starter Plan: Best for launching your app and testing, the Starter plan is recommended for MVPs and simple tools with small to moderate user bases. It includes everything in the Free plan, plus live app, custom domain, recurring workflows, basic version control, 175k workload units per month, and 2 days of server logs.
Growth Plan: This plan is suitable for consumer projects with complex functionality. It includes everything in the Starter plan and offers 2 app editors, premium version control, two-factor authentication, 10 custom branches, 250k workload units per month, and 14 days of server logs.
Team Plan: Designed for scaling projects with high usage, the Team plan includes everything in the Growth plan, offering 5 app editors, sub-apps, 25 custom branches, 500k workload units per month, and 20 days of server logs.
Enterprise Plan: Geared towards those who require maximum security and scalability, the Enterprise plan is customizable and includes all features from the Team plan plus additional options like choice of hosting location, centralized admin, dedicated server, priority support, enhanced security, and custom workload units.

Pros and Cons of Using Bubble

Bubble brings a host of advantages to the table, but it also has a few drawbacks users should be aware of when deciding whether to use the tool.

Pros

Launch Sooner: Building an application in Bubble is much faster than traditional development, allowing you to bring your product to market sooner.

Save Time: Traditional development can take weeks or even months. Bubble bridges the gap between design and development, saving you precious time.

Iterate Faster: With Bubble, anyone on your team can make changes, not just developers, enabling rapid iterations.

Lower Costs: Building a fully functional web application with an in-house engineering team can be expensive. Bubble provides a cost-effective alternative.

Easy to Use: Bubble is user-friendly, making it accessible to beginners, and eliminating the need for technical expertise to get started.

Powerful: Bubble is capable of building fully-functional and scalable applications. It can be extended using Javascript plugins and APIs.

Cons

Learning Curve: While Bubble is user-friendly, there is still a learning curve for those who are entirely new to the platform.

Limited Control: Advanced developers may find Bubble limiting in terms of fine-tuning the code.

Scalability Challenges: While Bubble offers scalability, extremely large and complex projects may eventually require custom coding.

Alternatives to Bubble

When it comes to no-code and low-code platforms, Bubble is undoubtedly a powerful choice. However, it's essential to explore alternatives to determine which platform best suits your specific needs and requirements. Here are some alternatives to Bubble we also tested and reviewed to help you make an informed decision:

Outsystems

OutSystems is a no-code/low-code platform that offers a wide range of features and tools for application development. The platform stands out for its efficiency and speed in delivering high-quality applications. It's simple to use, allowing users to create apps rapidly without delving into the intricacies of coding. OutSystems provides built-in tools that simplify and expedite application development, making it a solid choice for organizations seeking to streamline their development processes.

Microsoft Power Apps

Part of the Microsoft Power Platform, Power Apps offers low-code development opportunities, especially for end users and citizen developers. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft's ecosystem of services and allows connections to third-party applications through APIs. Power Apps is an efficient choice for project teams and organizations looking to develop user-facing applications quickly, saving time compared to full-stack development.

Salesforce

Salesforce is renowned for its powerful and comprehensive features, making it a significant player in customer relationship management, sales, and marketing. Its scalability and flexibility make it suitable for businesses of all sizes and industries. The cloud-based platform ensures easy access to data from anywhere, enhancing its usability for businesses with remote or distributed teams.

Zoho Creator

Zoho Creator is an excellent choice for individuals and companies looking to create web and mobile applications without prior coding experience. The platform offers an array of features and tools, simplifying the development and deployment process. Its high level of customization allows users to create tailored applications that meet their unique requirements efficiently.

Key Takeaways

To sum up, we found Bubble to be a game-changer in the world of app development. Our team was impressed by how it empowers entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses to turn their ideas into reality without the need for traditional coding skills. With its intuitive interface, impressive features, and a range of pricing options to suit various needs, Bubble is a compelling choice for those looking to build digital products efficiently and cost-effectively.

Whether you're a solo creator or part of a large team, Bubble provides a platform that fosters innovation and creativity in the digital landscape.

Rating 4/5

How We Tested Bubble

When evaluating Bubble as a no-code development platform, we considered several key criteria to provide a comprehensive review of the tool. Here are the four primary criteria and our opinions on each:

1. Ease of Use: One of the primary factors we assessed was how easy it is for both beginners and experienced users to create applications using Bubble. We found that Bubble's drag-and-drop interface and visual workflow editor make it remarkably user-friendly, allowing individuals with minimal coding experience to quickly build functional apps.

2. Flexibility and Versatility: We examined the platform's flexibility in terms of application types and industries it can cater to. Bubble excels in this area, offering a wide range of customization options and supporting diverse use cases, from social networks to e-commerce platforms. Its ability to integrate with various services and databases enhances its versatility.

3. Integration Capabilities: Integration with external services and APIs is crucial for modern app development. We found that Bubble offers an extensive library of pre-built integrations with popular services, making it convenient to connect your app with third-party tools. Furthermore, its no-code API connector allows for connecting to almost any JSON or XML-based API, which we found to be a valuable feature.

4. Scalability and Performance: To assess Bubble's suitability for projects of different scales, we evaluated its performance and scalability. Our testing revealed that Bubble can handle small to medium-sized projects with ease, and its hosting and infrastructure management capabilities are robust. However, for extremely large and complex applications, it may require custom coding to maintain optimal performance.

BUBBLE | THE BEST AI TOOL EVER?