Here are the 8 best app builders in 2022, based on popular use cases.
There are hundreds of no-code app builders on the market. Here’s how to pick the best solution for you, based on your specific use case.
Tech trends are a fascinating thing to watch. But for us, mere non-tech-bro mortals, it can sometimes be hard to get the point. Take these LED masks that turn people into real-life emojis in order to “show its users’ emotions,” for instance. It immediately makes me wonder: what’s going on CES 2022? Are you ok?
Luckily, some trends are much easier to wrap your mind around. No-code is one of them. In a world where virtually every company, institution, artist, association, or even individual might want at least one app or website, giving people a way to create digital products without coding is obviously a game-changer.
Initial fears that no-code products could only lead to massive technical debt have progressively vanished, and according to a recent TechRepublic survey, 47% of enterprises now leverage no-code technology.
App-builders are a particularly dynamic sub-category of the no-code market. Yet, it’s still quite fragmented with a wide range of use cases and various levels of product maturity.
To help you understand what can be done with the current state of the technology and help you pick the right solution for you, I’ve listed the best app-builder for each main use case. And I can’t wait to hear about your favourites too.
What differentiates app builders?
Before starting your search for the best app builder, it’s essential to know what you want to build and to understand the main differentiating points of no-code app builders.
Ask yourself:
- Where do I want to publish my app?
This might sound counterintuitive but many app builders won’t let you publish to the App Store or Google Play. They focus on web apps instead, meaning interactive software hosted directly on the web, like Figma.
If your goal is to publish a native app — one that is meant to live on app stores — make sure to check out the publishing capabilities of your app builder.
- What do I need my app to do?
It’s common for app builders to include simple workflows, such as user logins or newsletter signups. But do you need to import and export data to a CRM? Automate tasks after a page is visited? Personalize content based on users’ history?
App builders can do it all, but the more complex the workflow, the steeper the learning curve. Built-in integrations tend to make things easier. And if you can’t find the one you’re looking for, don’t forget to check whether or not you can embed custom code directly to your app.
- What learning curve am I willing to deal with?
Some app builders let you design and publish in minutes. Others require you to go through hours of online tutorials.
Generally speaking, if you and your team have never worked on an app project before and have a limited understanding of how code works, picking a templated tool or hiring a no-code freelancer could be a good idea.
Don’t hesitate to check YouTube tutorials before you get started to see: 1. whether there is enough material there to answer all your potential questions, and; 2. if you feel comfortable with the content or if it feels too technical.
- How much design control do I want?
If you’re building an internal work app or an MVP, branding and advanced design control might not be a priority. Working with a template-first solution will make your app creation process much easier.
Generally speaking, app builders are a bit behind website builders in terms of design customization and responsiveness, but the market is catching up. That’s part of our vision at Designware, for instance.
The best app builders by use case
Best app builder for internal work apps: Glide
- Publishing: Web.
- Design control: Limited.
- Integrations: Zapier, Integromat, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, Tiller Money.
- Learning curve: Easy.
Glide’s use case is as simple as it gets: it converts spreadsheets into apps.
Let’s say you have a Google Sheet from which you manage all your product inventory. It’s utilitarian but not exactly pretty, and dealing with colleagues messing up data and formulas that they’re not supposed to touch has already taken three years from your life. Glide will pull data from it to create a user-friendly app with nice product pictures and easy-to-use product update forms. Perfect for Dave, from accounting.
Over the last couple of years, Glide has grown in popularity as the most straightforward app builder on the market. As long as you understand how a spreadsheet works, you’ll be comfortable using Glide.
Examples of apps built with Glide:
Best app builder for an enterprise app: FlutterFlow
- Publishing: Android, iOS.
- Design control: Advanced.
- Integrations: Firebase, Google Maps, Codemagic, Stripe, Braintree, Paypal, Github, Algolia, RevenueCat, OpenAI
- Learning curve: Difficult.
For a long-time, app builders were only used by small companies and independent no-coders. Enterprise users — who often have access to developers — continued to rely on custom code for security and ownership reasons. Until FlutterFlow.
More of a low-code than a no-code, FlutterFlow gives professional app builders the ability to build native apps visually. Saving weeks of work in the process.
Unlike most no-code tools, FlutterFlow lets you preview and export your app code, giving you flexibility and control over your final product quality. You don’t have to write code, but understanding how it works is a requirement to get the best out of the platform.
Examples of apps built with FlutterFlow:
Best app builder for a web app MVP: Bubble
- Publishing: Web.
- Design control: Average.
- Integrations: Virtually any app. More info here.
- Learning curve: Difficult.
Founded in 2012, Bubble is the pioneer of app builders. Over the years, it evolved as one the most flexible no-code tools, thanks to its workflow editor, plugin marketplace and API integrations.
Bubble’s goal is to help digital entrepreneurs create functioning MVPs. It has a steep learning curve geared toward more technical users (i.e. integrating APIs) and isn’t exactly the easiest on the eye, but it’s incredibly powerful. If you want users to create profiles, upload and save content, or book appointments for instance, then Bubble is the right choice for you.
Examples of apps built with Bubble:
Best app builder for a mobile game: Buildbox
- Publishing: iOS and Android.
- Design control: Advanced.
- Integrations: Adbox, Facebook, InMobi, AppLovin, Chartboost.
- Learning curve: Difficult.
Games are the most popular category of mobile apps. However, they also require more technical and design skills to build.
That’s what makes BuildBox such an exciting platform. From simple puzzles to 3D arcade games, there’s a lot you can create without writing code. Yet if you don’t have experience using design software, buckle up: you’re in for a wild ride.
You’ll need to learn everything from interaction and 3D design to setting actions, effects, and logic. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but Buildbox is by far the easiest option, especially for a non-experimented game developer. And you can always count on cool templates, multiple tutorials and a very engaged online community to help you get started.
Examples of apps built with Buildbox:
Best app builder for an e-commerce app: MageNative for Shopify
- Publishing: iOS and Android.
- Design control: Limited.
- Integrations: Shopify.
- Learning curve: Average.
There’s no way around it: Shopify is the king of no-code eCommerce. But even though it offers responsive website templates that customers can browse on their phones, it doesn’t let you build native apps. Luckily, there’s an app for that (how meta.)
MageNative turns your online store into an iOS or Android app while adding extra features such as augmented reality and cart abandonment notifications. All perfectly synchronized with your main Shopify website.
Examples of apps built with MageNative:
Best app builder for iOS: Play
- Publishing: iOS.
- Design control: Advanced.
- Integrations: Figma.
- Learning curve: Average.
[Cue up Inception theme song] Imagine building an entire mobile app, directly from your mobile phone. Don’t worry, it’s not gimmicky; Play is one of the most sophisticated app builders on the market in terms of design capabilities.
Placing elements on the screen, sizing them, setting up animations: the entire design process is done in context and therefore becomes highly intuitive. If you only care about iOS users and only need simple workflows: it’s time to Play (sorry.)
Examples of apps built with Play: Play was publicly released in November 2021, after being in private beta for a year. As a result, there are no examples of live iOS apps created with Play yet.
Best builder to build a prototype: Designware
- Publishing: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, web.
- Design control: Advanced.
- Integrations: Custom code.
- Learning curve: Average.
Yes, I’m a little biased on this one, but hear me out: Designware is the first app builder that lets you create custom native apps, as well as web apps and PWAs. No need to choose, no lack of portability.
What makes Designware unique is that nothing is hard-wired: you get to use professionally designed templates if you want to, but everything is customizable. Not to mention fully responsive, thanks to built-in flex properties.
As one of the youngest platforms on this list, Designware’s use cases remain simple to date. You can already create beautiful prototypes for any operating system and screen size, from small mobile devices to giant LED walls (yes, we tried). And of course, that’s just the beginning. #statytuned
Examples of apps built with Designware:
Best app builder for conversational assistants: Voiceflow
- Publishing: web, messaging apps, SMS, IVR, Alexa, Google, in-car assistants.
- Design control: Limited.
- Integrations: Google Sheets, Airtable, API.
- Learning curve: Average.
“Alexa: where can I get a Ph.D. in machine learning?”
Voiceflow might not give you the same bragging rights, but it will let you create impressive chatbots and voice assistants even if you don’t have any technical skills.
Its conversation builder works like an “If This Then That” automation platform. You can create complex conversation flows based on users’ anticipated answers and behaviours, with a simple drad-and-drop interface. All the hard stuff — from natural language processing to publishing features — are already built-in.
Examples of apps built with Voiceflow:
The future of app builders
At Designware, we envision that paying thousands of dollars and waiting for months to create an app will soon become a thing of the past. App builders are going to become the norm, and evolve to enable ever-more exciting use cases and features.
• Built-in NFTs — Like it or not, NFTs have exploded into a $20B sector and are still growing at lightning speed. With broad applications that range from scammy asset flipping to much-needed audit trails and authentication, we predict NFTs will continue to rise in economic value and legitimate utility. Given that NFTs are, essentially, data points within files and software, no-code editors are a natural port of call to allow users to tokenize their apps’ contents.
• Blockchain Storage — As decentralized applications enter the mainstream, there will be greater demand for an app’s data and content to have the option to be stored on and transmitted through a blockchain protocol, rather than the more traditional cloud networks offered by every editor. Blockchain has the capacity to support decentralized security, data ownership, data histories, and more. The challenge, as with much of the blockchain economy, lies in high transmission (“gas”) fees, but layer-2 rollups may significantly change that in the years to come.
• Game Logic & Content — Traditional game engines like Unreal and Unity are very technical editors, while entry-level options like BuildBox still have a substantial learning curve and are limited to iOS, Android, and Windows (no web, macOS, or console publishing). And so there’s a large gap in the marketplace for accessible, intuitive game creation platforms with universal exporting. As no-code logic flows get more sophisticated, web and app editors can start filling that gap from the shallow end of the pool. The challenge therein is enabling sophisticated gameplay outcomes, advanced graphics, and audio, without a complex UI/UX workflow that becomes a mission for the average user. So far, nobody’s cracked that nut. (Fun fact: the Designware team started many years ago as a game studio, so we love this intersection.)
Our goal with Designware is to create a platform that builds other platforms. We want to change the way sophisticated digital experiences are built, by becoming the go-to no-code platform for creatives, and their end-users on every device.
We already offer advanced design control, but our goal is to allow you to build truly interactive apps that feel unique and custom-coded.
Here’s a sneak peek at our roadmap:
• Databases with great integrations
• Variable content
• Component libraries and multi-themed projects
• More OS-specific options and controls
• Plus, tons more the team is working on
The best part of our job is when we get to hear from our users about what makes a real difference in their day-to-day. So if you’ve been working on an app and still can’t find a way to realize your vision with existing app builders: please reach out and let us know what you think we should add to our product.
