The 8 best no-code app builders in 2025

Remember when you had to know how to code in order to build an app? We've moved on from that world: no-code tools are here to stay, and they're powerful enough to let you build almost anything you can think of without ever typing function().

I've been working with no-code apps for a while, and as a die-hard tinkerer, I have a serious soft spot for them. For this article, I researched and considered over 100 different platforms, exploring each one and then conducting extensive testing on the top contenders.

Here are my picks for the eight best no-code app builders—whether you're looking to flesh out that personal project or create a brand new SaaS product, one of these will get you to the finish line quickly.

The best no-code app builder software

• Softr for complete beginners

• Bubble for a balance between power and ease of use

• Zapier Interfaces for automation

• Glide for creating simple mobile apps

• Bildr for flexibility

• Backendless for advanced control over your data and infrastructure

• FlutterFlow and Firebase for building for multiple platforms

• WeWeb and Xano for modular, scalable apps

Building an app without code: The requirements

Most tools that let you build apps without code divide the process into three parts:

• Structuring the database, which will hold all the information your users will input and request as they use the app.

• Composing the user interface, where you'll create the screens, buttons, and input fields that your users will interact with.

• Building the logic of the app, which, put simply, is determining what happens once an event is triggered; for example, "when the user clicks the 'Open' button… open the pop-up."

The best platforms create a visual programming experience that lets you put together an app exactly the way you want it, without having to code or even deeply understand the way computers think. In addition to making programming more accessible for the non-technical crowd, these app creators also help professional developers save time on building basic features, freeing up their schedule to tackle bigger coding problems.

Here's what I looked for when testing each no-code app builder.

• It's really no-code. No HTML, no CSS, no JavaScript. For all the tools on this list, you don't have to type a single line of code from beginning to end if you don't want to. But if you're skilled, brave, or both, I'm including three more complex options at the end where you can delve into low-code territory—and have more flexibility as a result.

• Ease of use. The visual programming concepts need to be easy to understand. The user interface of all these apps is friendly and intuitive, and the platforms work without major performance hiccups or strange errors. Keep in mind: the easier app builders on this list, while able to deliver good results, can't compare with the power of those with a more demanding learning curve. If you're building a unique product, consider investing the extra time and effort to have as much freedom as possible.

• Help and documentation. Having a good knowledge base is just the beginning. I also prioritized platforms that have good "getting started" articles, interactive guides, videos, and any other resources to speed up your learning and help you solve problems as you build.

• Flexibility. Personal project? Enterprise app? No matter what you're looking to build, these platforms are flexible enough to let you build the features you want. For this reason, you won't find platforms on this list that specialize in internal tools or other niche no-code use cases.

• Community. Documentation only gets you so far, and that's when having an active forum with more experienced builders is useful. These apps have active forums and independent content creators online, so you can kick back in front of YouTube and learn while sipping your coffee.

After signing up for each platform, I opened the suggested "getting started" article and set out to build a very simple CRM app. I created the functionality to add contacts and deals and a simple dashboard to keep it all together. I tinkered a lot, and whenever I got stuck, I Googled the problem and clicked around to find the solution either in forum threads, in the knowledge base, or on YouTube. Finally, I visited each platform's showcase and searched online for apps built with it to gauge how flexible they were and the level of success users were having with it.

One last thing before getting onto the apps: as the founders of Coaching No Code Apps said, "no-code doesn't mean no work." Be prepared to develop new skills and to get in the programmer mindset when you use these no-code app builders.

The best no-code app builders at a glance

Best no-code app builder for complete beginners

Softr

Softr pros:

• Very easy to start using

• Plenty of useful templates

Softr cons:

• Limited advanced logic

Don't be deceived by how simple Softr looks. It may lack the complex vibe we associate with powerful apps, but the range of things you'll be able to build—and the customization options at your disposal—is surprisingly good.

The user interface makes a lot of sense. You won't have to tab out to the documentation to put together the first prototype of your app:

• On the left part of the screen, you'll find the big app settings, a section to add pages, user management controls, and visual themes.

• At the center sits the canvas where you'll stack blocks to build your page. These can be either static blocks (containing information that stays the same, useful to create landing pages and feature sections) or dynamic blocks (where you can display data from the database or embed a simple checkout form).

• Once you click on any block, the block settings open on the right side of the screen. Here you can edit the content, layout, and interactivity of each block.

• Finally, on the top, you can change the width of the canvas to target desktops, tablets, or smartphones, and access the controls to preview or publish your app.

Once you have your user experience ready, it's time to connect data sources. Softr used to only offer Google Sheets and Airtable, but it's growing to include more and more options: it now connects to versatile workhorses like Xano, productivity suites such as monday.com, and good old SQL databases.

I started out from the existing CRM template, and I was impressed by how complete it was—it didn't take me long at all to implement the features I wanted and build an app without code. But if the templates don't cover what you need, the AI app builder tool gets you far—so far that it landed Softr on Zapier's best AI app builders list, too.

Softr also connects with Zapier, so you can create and delete users in Softr whenever you take actions in other apps—for example, create new Softr users from Airtable. Here are a few examples to get you started.

Really, Softr's biggest strength is that it has most of the features of an advanced app builder without the difficulty. If this is the first app you're building, Softr will introduce you to all the concepts and still get you a great result at the end.

Get started quickly with Softr Academy, watch the 10-minute beginner video, and keep skilling up in the YouTube channel.

Softr price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $59/month.

Best no-code app builder for power and ease of use

Bubble

Bubble pros:

• Build nearly anything

• Great for prototypes and MVPs

Bubble cons:

• Workload-based pricing

Bubble has its own visual programming language, making it accessible for beginners to create an app without code, while still providing the freedom and flexibility of a platform on the low-code spectrum. You'll have control over the way your app looks, its data structure, and overall performance. Because of this, Bubble is great for putting together both prototypes and fully-fledged products ready to scale. It's so robust that a few no-code agencies use it exclusively to build apps for their clients.

A normal day in front of the editor involves building the UI with controls similar to Canva, working with data on a screen that looks like Excel, and setting up the logic in a step-by-step way using workflows. The learning curve is steeper than usual, but in a fun way: it's easy to grasp the fundamentals, giving you enough confidence to start building. A few hours in, you'll hit a big roadblock that'll send you over to the forums or YouTube. After experimenting and researching, you'll be able to solve the problem and feel a burst of skill, renewing your confidence and speeding up the building process.

How do I know this? Full disclosure: I've been using Bubble for the past few years, I've written about it in the past, and I've collaborated with the company a few times. I've built six apps with Bubble, and every time I begin a new one, I do a little better. I wrote a piece for the Zapier blog on how to build a simple to-do list app using Bubble, so you can definitely start there if you'd like.

This year, Bubble released an impressive AI page generator. Select the page type, add your prompt, and it puts together a full page with all the elements you need, perfectly laid out. All you have to do is tweak the visuals, connect the data, and set up the workflows.

You can also use Bubble's Zapier integrations to connect it to thousands of other apps—also without any code. Here are a few pre-made workflows to get you started.

If you want an app builder that's flexible and will let you set up all the advanced logic you need to bring your digital product to life, Bubble can help. It won't be an entirely smooth journey if you're a complete beginner, but you'll come out on the other side with a strong app and the skills to keep improving it further.

Get started quickly with Bubble Academy or watch the three-hour crash course.

Bubble price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $32/month.

The best no-code app builder for automation

Zapier Interfaces

Zapier Interfaces is a Zapier product, and you're on the Zapier blog right now, so I understand any skepticism. And I'll be the first to admit that Interfaces is different from the other apps on this list: it's simpler and offers less flexibility. But that's also a benefit, as it's really easy to use. I encourage you to try it out—there's a free plan—to see if it works for you.

Interfaces lets you create a central hub for managing both your external and internal business processes. Using drag-and-drop tools, you can create landing pages to engage prospects or customers, forms to capture leads, client portals to help customers discover resources, and much more. (And when you use it with Zapier Tables, you'll be able to manage all your data in one place.) There are plenty of advanced features, too, like payment collection, password protection, and the ability to embed your own AI chatbot into your app—all from Zapier.

What makes it unique—and why it gets a spot on this list—is that it's an automation-first platform, which means it's easy to connect your app to all the other apps in your tech stack, so you can do things like send leads that come in through a form directly to your CRM or notify a team member when a relevant chatbot request comes through. Here are some examples.

Keep an eye on Interfaces—it's growing at a nice pace. You can learn more in Zapier's guide to Interfaces, or take a look at these templates to see how it works.

Simple CRM Template

A Simple CRM, without all the bells and whistles.

Try it

Try it

Lead Capture Template

Easily capture new leads and email them from within the connected table.

Try it

Try it

Zapier Interfaces pricing: Free for 2 interfaces; paid plans start at $20/month.

Best no-code mobile app builder

Glide

Glide pros:

• Easy to create good-looking apps

• Install apps on your computer or smartphone

Glide cons:

• Very expensive

Even though Glide works well on desktop, the way it structures the layout and functionality of your apps makes it a much better fit if mobile is your target. And the best part is that you won't have to fine-tune the way it looks—it's pretty right out of the box.

Glide calls each page a tab. These tabs can have one of eight available layouts—for example, swipe, checklist, or cards—which establishes their overall look and functionality. The details layout is the one that lets you fully customize the structure of the tab, letting you add components like date pickers, buttons, and other input fields.

One thing I found particularly useful is the fact that you can install the apps you create on your computer or phone with a couple of clicks. This will place an icon that, when clicked, will start a progressive web app—an app that works via the internet, not natively on your device. This is great for testing, sharing, and distributing your app easily. If you want to add it to the App Store or Google Play, there's a service available that'll help get everything ready for the approval process.

AI is in every platform these days, and Glide is no exception. The AI app builder is pretty good and in line with other platforms on this list: write in a prompt, wait a few seconds, and you'll have a prototype ready to customize. It includes the basic pages and layouts, as well as dummy data and images. On top of this, when configuring actions, you'll notice you can quickly add AI features to your apps, such as text or image generation—without having to go through the trial-and-error of API setup.

Glide also integrates with Zapier, letting you trigger workflows directly from the app you're building. Here are some examples.

If you're new to creating apps without code, Glide University is one of the best learning resources I encountered in this category, offering a varied collection of high-quality videos with a focus on the "getting started" content. They show how to use the app effectively and also teach some basic concepts about app building, which will help you nail the best practices faster. From what I've seen in communities, Glide seems best suited to build marketplaces and directories.

Get started quickly with Glide University.

Glide price: Free plan available for individuals; paid plans start at $60/month.

Best no-code app builder for flexibility

Bildr (Web)

Bildr pros:

• Highly visual building process

• Plenty of time-saving features

Bildr cons:

• A bit slow at times

Web apps, Chrome extensions, progressive web apps for phones, and blockchain-enabled apps for Web3—these are the apps that work best on Bildr. What I like the most about it, apart from this flexibility, is the highly visual building process.

If you've ever used Figma, a popular product prototyping platform, the user interface will ring a few bells. If you haven't, then a whiteboarding app like Miro is the next best analogy. You'll see all the pages, screens, and patterns of your app in one big canvas. Need to structure a funnel or a user flow? Rearrange them as needed without having to tab out to your app planning doc.

Despite this intuitive user experience, building a new app in Bildr is more technical than most options on this list. There are lots of elements you can drag and drop on the canvas—form containers, rich-text editor boxes, toggle switches, and many more—and you can customize the properties, styling, connected events, and data. The design follows the logic of CSS, but you don't need to write it at any point: the menus figure out all the settings for you.

When you find yourself reusing the same collection of elements across pages—say, a form with three inputs or a hero section with two buttons—Bildr lets you turn that into a pattern. This makes that collection a reusable you can drop in new pages, helping you save time and create a more consistent user experience.

The dev team has invested a lot in help content. The video tutorials cover every beginner to intermediate topic, from Bildr-specific advice to general app-building best practices. I recommend going through the basics before diving in headfirst: once you grasp the big-picture logic of how Bildr works, you're going to pick up speed and reach your objectives faster.

Get started quickly in Bildr's 101 section.

Bildr price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $29/month.

Best no-code app builder for advanced control over your data and infrastructure

Backendless

Backendless pros:

• Highly flexible

• High control over every part of your app

Backendless cons:

• Steep learning curve

Backendless is for brave, tech-forward folks. It ranks low in ease of use (compared to the other apps that made this list), and it almost failed the "is it really no-code?" test. Why is it on this list, then? Because of its flexibility, documentation, and community.

Let's add some context. The apps we use today can be divided into two main parts: a front end (the user interface, buttons, and input fields we interact with) and the back-end (the range of servers and connected services to store data and process the app's logic). Backendless started as a backend-as-a-service platform, helping developers put together all the databases and services to get a website, app, or cloud service up and running.

More recently, Backendless added a UI builder, letting you create an interface you can then connect to your databases. You can do this with code or without it: the platform has a codeless approach, meaning that you don't have to write code, but the logic and the terms are close to actual coding. This makes the logic-building process slightly more accessible while also serving as a stepping stone to picking up some coding skills later on if you want to.

If you want to keep things on the no-code side, you can connect Backendless and Zapier to move data in and out of your app's databases. Here are a few examples:

The learning curve is scary, but Backendless Missions make it interesting. You'll complete a series of tasks that'll explain how the platform works, how to set up the back-end, and how to connect things together in the front end. And this is the biggest advantage when you pick up Backendless as a beginner: you'll be closer to the actual structure and terminology of app building, which will be helpful when you need to scale, implement a new user interface, or add additional services to your app.

Backendless took me the most time to get from zero to finishing my simple CRM due to the learning curve, but I walked away with a better understanding of how apps work in general. If you want to build new skills as much as create apps without code, it's the best choice to do both.

Get started quickly with Backendless by following the Missions on the dashboard's left-side menu. Learn more about how they work.

Backendless price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $15/month.

Best no-code app builder for creating apps for multiple platforms

FlutterFlow and Firebase

FlutterFlow and Firebase pros:

• Deep control over design and functionality

• Powerful front-end and user experience design tools

• Plenty of testing and analytics tools to support your app

FlutterFlow and Firebase cons:

• Very steep learning curves

• May require code for advanced logic

FlutterFlow was built by two former Google engineers on top of the Flutter framework, an open source standard for developing for multiple platforms. Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and even Linux systems—Flutter can build apps for any of these environments.

But FlutterFlow doesn't take care of everything. It doesn't have user authentication or a database of its own—essential components to create a modern app. For that, it integrates with Google Firebase, a giant of back-end functionality.

I'm currently building a product for a pre-seed startup using this combo. In comparison with other platforms I've used in the past, I love how the user interface components are tuned for mobile experiences, especially in sections where tapping or sliding are the main expected behavior. As for the Firebase part, it takes some time to get used to how document databases work, especially since most no-code tools use relational models. This doesn't affect what you can do at the start—you can still build a good data schema—but you may need extra care when expanding the data model as your app grows to keep data integrity and performance. The learning curve is very steep here, especially since Firebase has so many features—and all of them are so powerful.

Once you're at the top of these learning mountains, you'll come to appreciate all the advantages. FlutterFlow's front-end tools are exceptional, with plenty of settings to save time, keep design consistent, and connect to all kinds of back-end tools. Firebase offers a powerful quick-start package to deploy your app, with a very generous free plan and efficient paid plans once you hit the minimum quota. And the one-click export to the app stores is the most satisfying click of them all.

Before I go, there's an important note I need to leave here: some advanced logic can only be implemented in Firebase's cloud functions, which is full-code territory. Consider using ChatGPT to generate your code and run it there, or connecting BuildShip for advanced back-end logic at a lower difficulty level.

If you've read this far and you're still excited, don't think twice: dive into it. You'll come out on the other side with an accurate understanding of how app development works in general and a set of new real technical skills. If you're still skeptical, do it like I did: pick up Softr or Bubble first, build a few apps to grasp the basics, and then move to FlutterFlow + Firebase for hardcore mode.

Get started quickly with the introduction page, follow this guide to build your first app, and continue your journey in the FlutterFlow Academy video playlist.

FlutterFlow price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $30/month.

Firebase price: Generous free plan available, with plenty of free analytics and testing tools; Blaze paid plan on a pay-as-you-go basis, with different metering depending on features used.

Best no-code app builder for building modular, scalable apps

WeWeb and Xano

WeWeb and Xano pros:

• Great to mix no-code, low-code, and code solutions into a single app

• Enterprise-grade features available

• Extremely flexible combination considering the lower difficulty level

WeWeb and Xano cons:

• Two platforms, two learning curves

• Expensive

If you've been building with Softr, Bubble, and Glide, you'll start to feel their strengths and limitations. Based on this knowledge, you match the best platform to the project needs, even if it's not the one you have more experience with. The WeWeb and Xano combo, adopted by more and more agencies and pro no-coders, could be the best solution if you value modularity, scaling, and efficiency.

To be clear, I'm talking about two platforms here—you can't build a fully functional app with just one. WeWeb handles everything user interface, letting you design all the screens, buttons, and elements. Xano works behind the scenes, powering up the databases, services, and logic necessary to make everything actually work. Both are connected via a range of API endpoints, so you can separate your front-end (the interface) from the back-end (databases and services).

This modular approach is better for a number of reasons.

First, you can use Xano as the central point for your app data, connecting it to as many interfaces as you need: WeWeb for a web app, Draftbit for a native mobile app, Retool to build internal tools for your team. Each of these access points is separated from the others, meaning your users won't ever touch your internal tool infrastructure, for example.

Second, since both apps are integration-oriented, you can easily connect more services to WeWeb and Xano via API to upgrade your infrastructure or add more features. You can add analytics tools, search optimization, machine learning, and many more. If any of these new platforms isn't up to your standards, you can disconnect it quickly and try another one.

Finally, since each platform is focusing on a specific niche of app development—WeWeb in front-end and Xano in back-end—you can be sure they're pouring their resources to become even more specialized and powerful. A full-stack platform (one that offers back- and front-end in a single package) has to make choices on how to upgrade their builder tools, making them either better at one thing or the other.

Regarding scalability, both WeWeb and Xano offer plans that increase the limits as needed, all the way up to enterprise-grade capabilities and compliance. It might not be very efficient when compared with other "full-code" frameworks and hosting solutions, true. But considering the lower difficulty and how robust both platforms are, this is the best option for serious no-coders looking to turn painful problems into big subscription money.

WeWeb price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $49/month

Xano price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $100/month

Other advanced no-code tools to support your app

Before I go, I wanted to namedrop a few other platforms that you can use with these no-code app builders to build better apps. You might have seen them in the writeups above, but you can combine them with almost all of the apps on this list:

• Xano is a no-code back-end-as-a-service tool like Google Firebase. It helps you store data in a relational database model, generating API endpoints that you can use to connect to all kinds of web services (like analytics and machine learning). It's much easier to use than Firebase, too, so give it a try if you want to separate the front-end from the back-end.

• Algolia helps improve and speed up any search process inside your app. If you're dealing with deep databases with thousands of entries, search can slow down or even crash your app. This tool helps to figure out the user intent, quickly sort through your databases, and surface the right information faster.

• BuildShip is a low-code back-end builder. Translation: when you're having trouble setting up a very specific custom logic flow, you can use this platform for building it out step-by-step, and then integrate it with your app. You can configure these via a visual interface or create them with AI by stating the functionality you're looking for.

Build an app without coding

Creating an app without code should be fun, honestly. And by now, you should have a general idea of which platform is the best for your particular project. All the apps in this list either have a free plan or a "free to learn/pay to launch" model, so you can create your account and start experimenting.

One last tip before you dive in: create two projects when starting out. One for the app you want to build, the other one for testing and learning. Whenever you hit a roadblock on your main app, head over to the testing project to brainstorm possibilities and implement potential solutions. This will build up your skills using the app builder while keeping your main project clean as you learn.

Happy building!

Related reading:

• The best AI productivity tools

• Workflow automation: What it is, why it matters, and how you can use it 

• How I launched an app using no-code tools

• How to create a no-code app using popular tools and Zapier

• The best AI app builders

This article was originally published in January 2023. The most recent update was in October 2024.