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In many of our conversations with our clients, we often hear a lot of misinformation about no-code development platforms. A lot of people view these tools through rather skeptically, questioning their efficiency, scalability, and suitability for complex business applications. It’s important to clarify that while no technology is perfect, the prevailing myths surrounding no-code development often don’t hold up against real-world applications.
Through our experience, we having successfully launched multiple projects across industries such as healthcare, construction, e-commerce, automotive and others, we can confidently say that many of these preconceived notions are either myths or are only partially true. It’s also essential to understand that the capabilities of no-code tools are not binary—while some criticisms may hold a grain of truth, they often don’t tell the whole story. In this blog post, we aim to debunk these myths in a non-salesy way, providing you with a clearer picture of what no-code platforms can truly offer and how they might be the right fit for your next project.
One thing to keep in mind is that most of our experience comes from no-code tools such as WeWeb, Xano, Bubble and Flutterflow. So our opinion applies mainly when using these platform.
1. No-code development is only good for MVPs
You might say that and few years ago and you’d be right. However these days, there are so many platforms that you can use to build enterprise or beyond-MVP grade applications with no-code development platforms.
Ideal example is one of our former clients – Cardino which was built almost entirely on no-code platforms (mainly Bubble and Make). Recently they raised 1m EUR in VC funding and they continue to develop their platform in no-code.
2. No-code platforms are not secure
Let’s split this one into what we agree and disagree with:
We do not agree that by definition these platforms are not secure or they don’t allow to build secure applications. There are industry standards, including role-based access controls, encryption of data at rest and in transit, and regular security audits which these apply.
Try to ask yourself a question – is a dedicated team that build platform for thousands of applications (many of them with private and sensitive data) able to build more robust security mechanism or your team of developers, who can specialize something entirely else than app security.
We agree that given there is lower entry barrier for software development, apps might be built by people with less or no technical background. That means these developers, even though they have appropriate tools for keeping the app secure, will not use them or use them incorrectly.
So when either hiring your internal team or partnering with software agency such as QikBuild, have in mind that to build secure applications, the team must have proper technical knowledge.
3. No-code apps are not scalable
Let’s start by definition of “scalable”. What we mean – it is an app that is able to carry heavy user loads – meaning something about 1 million monthly active users.
In this case, the answer about whether the myth is really a myth heavily depends on a choice of your no-code backend. Some platforms are all-in-one (front-end & back-end) but for the sake of the conversation, we’ll talk mainly about separated no-code back-end – XANO.
With dedicated PostgreSQL database with index management and REDIS caching for API endpoints and individual functions, you can optimize your back-end architecture in a way to keep ultra low-latency for most of your API endpoints even when scaling to huge number of users.
If you want to read a comprehensive review of the Xano no-code back-end, read here.
4. No-code means no control over your app
If we correct the statement to following: No-code means less control over your app, that might be entirely true. But it is not inherently something bad.
Keep in mind that having under control more things means higher chance of screwing something up or introduce bugs to your app. So we often see it as an advantage that helps us to build applications faster and more bug-free. Things that you cannot control in some no-code platforms are beyond your control for some reason.
But on the other hand, let’s be honest there are things that will make your life harder if you don’t have control over them. These will occur, sooner or later during the app’s development. But usually there is always a way how to handle these things either in “nice” or “hacky” way.
5. No-code development will replace traditional development
If someone from no-code community told you this, that person probably live in different universe than we do 🙂
Again, we can rephrase the statement to one that we actually agree with: No-code development will replace traditional development for majority of business applications, but not for deep-tech software.
We think that apps like marketplaces, social networks, directories, CRMs, HR systems, project management tools or most of SaaS apps can be built with no-code development platforms in more efficient manner than with traditional development.
But if we go in direction of super-focused, deep-tech and “rocket-science-ish” applications – at least now you will definitely need to build most of the stuff with full-code approach. These apps are simply too advanced for current no-code development platforms.
6. No-code app development is for everyone
It definitely is not for everyone. For this point – let’s just use LinkedIn post of our CEO – Juraj Ivan to summarize our view of no-code development for non-developers.
Should people without tech background build applications in no-code?
I believe that among no-code community, this opinion wouldn’t be much popular 💔 , but my answer is “mostly no”.
I understand that one of the “pillars” of no-code “movement” is democratization of no-code development. 👨💻 👩💻 And partially that makes sense. But you can’t build complex and scalable apps if you’ve never done app development before. (well you can, but I wouldn’t want to be the owner of such app) 😥
When it doesn’t matter if you have tech background?
When building websites, simple apps with no sensitive data, when the performance of the apps is not relevant or basically when it doesn’t matter if you fu*k up the app’s architecture and security. 🔒
For anything else, I believe that the tech background is required. At the end of the day, no-code development is just another level of code abstraction and you still have to keep the same programming principles in your (no)code, such as: DRY, KISS, SOLID etc….
No-code will not solve database design for you, it just makes it easier and faster.
Conclusion
The goal of this post is not to claim that all no-code platforms are perfect for every use-case. We just wanted to emphasize that there are common misconceptions about the no-code development, which are either false for most of the no-code platforms or they are only partially true. It depends on:
- no-code development platform
- your use-case
- the team you work with
We can help you to choose the right team to work with and choose the right development platform. Let’s see if you use-case might be a good fit for the no-code development.
