low-code-no-code-development

Low-Code/No-Code Platforms: Democratizing App Development

The low-code/no-code movement is rapidly changing how applications are built. Low-code platforms use visual editors and pre-built components so even developers can accelerate work, while no-code tools let non-programmers build complete apps without writing code. For example, Bubble describes low-code as requiring “minimal coding to build websites, web apps, and mobile apps,” using drag-and-drop builders. These tools dramatically reduce development time and effort. The trend is driven by business demand: Gartner predicts that by 2024 roughly 65% of companies will be using low-code platforms for development, and by 2026 about 75% of all new applications will be built with low-code tools. Organizations view these platforms as strategic: a 2024 KPMG study found 81% of companies consider low-code development strategically important. In short, low-code/no-code is moving out of IT silos and into business teams, as the share of non-IT developers is expected to rise from 60% in 2021 to 80% by 2026.

The low-code/no-code market is booming. Several analyst firms forecast explosive growth over the next decade. Research & Markets (via GlobeNewswire) estimated the global low-code platform market will reach $187 billion by 2030 (up from $10.3B in 2019) at ~31% CAGR. Grand View Research forecasts a similar surge (around $86–100B by 2027). Statista and other sources likewise project the market at tens of billions by the mid-2020s. Forrester and Gartner anticipate that most new software projects will involve low-code/no-code: Gartner famously predicted 70% of new apps by 2025 will use low-code or no-code technologies (up from ~25% in 2020). Ninox’s analysis of Gartner research confirms this momentum: by 2024 about 65% of companies will be developing on low-code platforms, and by 2026 roughly three-quarters of all new applications will use low-code.

Adoption is highest in large enterprises: one estimate suggests 75% of large organizations will be using four or more low-code tools by 2024, for both IT-led and “citizen developer” projects. Similarly, surveys show business leaders feel the pressure: a 451 Research/TechRepublic report from 2017 found 82% of firms said citizen developers (business users building apps) are increasingly important to their organization. Indeed, roughly 60% of custom apps today are reportedly built outside traditional IT departments. This shift is fueled by digital transformation demands: companies need more apps and automations, but face developer shortages and cost pressures. Low-code/no-code platforms help bridge that gap.

Why Use Low-Code/No-Code?

Low-code/no-code delivers concrete benefits for businesses and citizen developers:

  • Speed of Development: By using visual editors and pre-built modules, teams can build apps much faster. Forrester notes low-code can make development “as much as 10× faster” than traditional coding methods. Quicker prototyping and iteration lets businesses respond rapidly to new opportunities.
  • Lower Costs: Faster development means lower labor costs. Companies save on expensive developer hours. Forrester also estimates low-code platforms have seen huge growth (about 50% annual growth at one point) and that low-code development is “10 times the speed of traditional processes”.
  • Broadened Workforce (“Citizen Developers”): Low-code tools empower non-technical staff. Business analysts, marketers, and subject-matter experts can build solutions without deep coding skills. Bubble’s CEO emphasizes that low-code allows “business users with no technical background” to create new features. In practice, many organizations now encourage internal citizen development. One survey found 82% of businesses anticipate their citizen developers will grow more important in the next two years.
  • Agility and Innovation: Low-code platforms make it easier to experiment. Companies can prototype or customize apps without tying up IT. Gartner suggests by 2026, three-quarters of new apps will be built on low-code, driven by automation pressure and talent shortages. This agility is crucial for digital transformation.
  • Cross-Platform Reach: Many low-code tools can automatically generate multi-device applications. For example, drag-and-drop interfaces often produce web and mobile versions from the same design. Platforms like Microsoft Power Apps integrate with other services (e.g. Azure, Teams) to deliver enterprise-scale solutions without custom coding.

In summary, low-code/no-code is seen as a strategic enabler: it shifts application development from backlogged IT onto the front lines of the business. KPMG reports that over 80% of surveyed companies say low-code is integral to their strategy. As one Gartner analyst puts it: the need for digitization and shortage of programmers makes low-code the “future of software development”.

Top Low-Code/No-Code Platforms

There is a wide range of low-code/no-code platforms tailored to different needs. Below is an overview of some popular tools and their focus areas:

  • OutSystems – A leading enterprise low-code platform. OutSystems lets businesses rapidly build full-featured web and mobile applications that can run on cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments. It supports modern development needs (e.g. DevOps, multi-cloud deployment) and offers AI-assisted automation. OutSystems is often used for mission-critical enterprise apps, legacy system modernization, and multi-channel experiences.
  • Mendix – A Siemens-owned cloud-based low-code platform designed for both web and mobile apps. Mendix emphasizes model-driven development via a visual IDE with drag-and-drop components. It supports the entire application lifecycle (development to deployment) and claims to make collaboration between IT and business seamless. Mendix is popular in industries like manufacturing and healthcare, often for rapid application delivery and automation projects.
  • Microsoft Power Platform (Power Apps) – Microsoft’s suite of low-code tools for business apps. Power Apps (along with Power Automate, Power BI, etc.) provides a familiar Microsoft ecosystem approach: connect to data (e.g. Dataverse, SharePoint), drag visual components, and use the Power Fx formula language to add logic. It is designed for users and organizations already in the Microsoft world. The Power Platform is marketed as enabling custom apps and workflows with “minimal hand-coding”. Teams can leverage enterprise security and scale from Azure services while empowering line-of-business developers.
  • Appian – An enterprise-grade low-code PaaS known for process automation and case management. Appian’s platform combines low-code app building with built-in tools for business process management (BPM) and robotic process automation (RPA). It is often used in sectors like finance and government where complex workflows and compliance are important. Appian’s visual interface lets teams design apps for web and mobile, embed AI services, and iterate quickly. (In 2022, Appian even launched a “lowcode4all” program to train citizen developers.)
  • Zoho Creator – A business-focused low-code platform for custom apps. Zoho Creator provides a simple drag-and-drop interface and pre-built modules (forms, reports, workflows) aimed at small to mid-sized companies. Users can quickly create data-centric applications (e.g. inventory management, CRM, internal dashboards) without deep programming. Zoho emphasizes fast time-to-value; its site notes users can build apps “10× faster with low-code” than from scratch. The platform also integrates with other Zoho products and popular services.
  • Bubble.io – A pure no-code platform for building web applications. Bubble provides a fully visual editor: you place design elements on pages and define workflows (logic) without writing code. As Wikipedia notes, Bubble “allows users to create web applications through a visual interface without writing code”. It’s popular among startups and non-technical founders because it can produce complex multi-user apps (with databases, user accounts, API integrations) entirely through visuals. Bubble also recently supports some low-code (scripting) for custom scenarios, but it’s essentially aimed at citizen developers and prototypers.
  • Webflow – A no-code website and webapp builder. Webflow is less about custom enterprise logic and more about design-driven development. It provides an advanced visual HTML/CSS editor so designers can build responsive websites and animations without code. Webflow hosts sites and generates clean code, making it a favorite for marketing teams and creatives who want full control over website design without front-end coding. (It’s been described as “the next generation of Wix or WordPress,” with usage in about 0.6% of top sites.)
  • Other Tools: Beyond the above, numerous niche and general-purpose platforms exist. For mobile apps, tools like Glide and Adalo let you build smartphone apps from spreadsheets or templates. Airtable and Notion can serve as low-code backends or dashboards. AppSheet (Google) and Quickbase focus on data-driven business apps. Zapier and Make (formerly Integromat) enable workflow automation (often considered no-code integration tools). Each platform has its own strengths, but all share the goal of democratizing app development.

When choosing a platform, consider factors like target user (IT vs business user), integration needs, mobile support, pricing, and enterprise features (security, scalability). Forrester and Gartner regularly evaluate these vendors (e.g. Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for LCAPs”), but a quick way to compare is to test their free tiers or demos against your project requirements.

Tutorial: Building a Web App with Bubble

To illustrate how easy no-code can be, let’s walk through creating a simple web application using Bubble.io. Suppose we want to build a basic to-do list app that stores tasks and marks them complete. The steps below demonstrate the typical workflow on a no-code platform:

  1. Sign Up and Create a New Project: Go to Bubble.io and sign up for a free account. Once logged in, click “New App” and give it a name (e.g. “MyTodoApp”). Bubble will create an empty app workspace.
  2. Design the Data Model: No-code apps still need to store data. In Bubble’s Data tab, create a new “Data Type” called Task. Add fields like Name (text) and Done (yes/no). This defines the schema. Bubble also provides a default “User” type for login, but for our simple app we can skip user accounts.
  3. Design the User Interface: Switch to the Design tab. Drag and drop visual elements onto the canvas to build your page. For a to-do app, you might add an “Input” element for entering a new task name, a “Button” labeled “Add Task”, and a “Repeating Group” to display the list of tasks. A Repeating Group in Bubble can be bound to the Task data type so it automatically shows all entries. Inside the Repeating Group, add a text element to display each task’s name and maybe a checkbox to mark it done. Bubble’s editor lets you visually arrange elements and set properties (colors, fonts, etc.) without writing HTML or CSS.
  4. Add Workflows (Logic): Next, define what happens when users interact. In Bubble, this is done in the Workflow tab. For example, create a workflow for the “Add Task” button: When Button Add is clicked → Create a new Task. Set the fields of the new Task: Name = value of the Input element, Done = no. This means whenever the button is clicked, Bubble will insert a record into the database. Similarly, set up a workflow on the checkbox (or a separate button) to Change a thing: set Task’s Done field to yes. Bubble’s workflow editor is visual – you choose “events” and “actions” from menus.
  5. Display and Update Data: The Repeating Group we added will automatically list all Tasks. In its data source, set “Do a search for Tasks, sorted by Created Date”. Inside the group, bind the text element to “Current cell’s Task’s Name”, and the checkbox to “Current cell’s Task’s Done”. Now when the app runs, newly created tasks appear in the list, and checking the box updates the database via your workflow.
  6. Run and Test: Use Bubble’s preview mode to test the app in your browser. Enter a task name and click “Add”. It should appear in the list. Click the checkbox to mark it done and see it update. Bubble manages the communication with the server/database for you.
  7. Deploy: When satisfied, you can deploy the app. Bubble offers hosting, so you can publish to a custom domain or use Bubble’s subdomain. The app is now a live web application built without writing code.

Throughout this process, notice how Bubble’s visual IDE simplifies each step. You never wrote SQL or HTML; you just configured elements and logic. As Bubble’s documentation explains, the platform provides “drag-and-drop functionality and reusable components” so users with little coding experience can build full-featured apps. In practice, apps built this way are limited mainly by the platform’s features. However, you can extend Bubble with plugins or its own (optional) scripting for more complex needs. For many business use cases (forms, dashboards, internal tools, simple consumer apps), no-code platforms like Bubble can deliver a working solution in days instead of months.

Conclusion

The rise of low-code and no-code platforms is transforming software development. Driven by digital transformation and a shortage of programmers, these tools enable rapid app delivery at lower cost. Industry analysts agree that low-code/no-code will power the majority of new applications in the coming years. For business leaders and citizen developers, the appeal is clear: tools like OutSystems, Mendix, Power Apps, Bubble, and Webflow let non-experts create custom software that was once out of reach. Organizations adopting these platforms report faster innovation and more agile operations.

As one Gartner analyst summarized, the need for agility is “driving the low-code boom”. With continued improvements (like AI-assisted development and tighter integrations), the capabilities of low-code/no-code platforms will only grow. For anyone looking to build applications – from internal dashboards to customer-facing products – it’s worth evaluating these platforms. For example, a business leader could take Bubble.io for a test drive and see how quickly an idea becomes a working app. The trend is clear: software development is no longer confined to traditional programmers. In the near future, most companies will use a mix of low-code/no-code tools to empower every team to create the solutions they need.

Sources: Industry reports and vendor documentation.