Hiring the right Bubble developer determines if your application works reliably at scale or needs to be rebuilt six months in.
This guide covers where to find Bubble developers, what to look for, how much they cost, and when to choose an agency over a freelancer.
We also explain how Goodspeed approaches Bubble development and why teams building serious products work with us.
See our full Bubble agency services and development process.
Why Hire Bubble Developers?
Hiring Bubble developers makes sense when you need speed, cost efficiency, and iteration velocity. Here are the scenarios where Bubble development makes the most sense:
Speed to Market
Bubble applications can be built in weeks rather than months. If you need to launch quickly to validate an idea, capture a market window, or respond to competitive pressure, Bubble development compresses timelines dramatically. Teams regularly go from concept to live product in 4-8 weeks.
Cost Efficiency
Traditional development involves front-end developers, back-end developers, DevOps engineers, and ongoing infrastructure management. Bubble consolidates much of this complexity. A skilled Bubble developer can deliver what would otherwise require a team of specialists, reducing costs by 50-80% compared to traditional development for many use cases.
Iteration Velocity
After launch, the ability to iterate quickly separates successful products from failed ones. Bubble applications can be modified, extended, and redesigned far faster than traditional code. When you discover users need a different feature or workflow, changes that might take weeks in traditional development can often be shipped in days.
Reduced Technical Risk
Bubble handles hosting, security updates, database management, and infrastructure scaling automatically. You do not need to maintain servers, patch vulnerabilities, or manage deployments. This reduces the operational burden and eliminates entire categories of technical risk.
Non-Technical Ownership
Once built, Bubble applications can often be maintained and updated by non-technical team members. Content changes, minor feature additions, and workflow adjustments do not require developer involvement. This gives product teams more control and reduces long-term dependency on technical resources.
Where to Find Bubble Developers
There are several ways to hire Bubble developers, each with different trade-offs around cost, quality, and reliability.
Bubble Development Agencies
For teams building serious products, working with a specialist Bubble development agency like Goodspeed is often the most reliable option.
Goodspeed is a senior-led Bubble agency that focuses on production-grade applications rather than quick prototypes. Instead of assigning junior developers or freelancers, every project is handled by experienced Bubble builders who have shipped complex, real-world products at scale.
The agency model reduces risk. You get structured discovery, proper database architecture, performance optimisation, testing, and post-launch support all handled by the same team. If requirements change or complexity increases, there is continuity and accountability rather than a single point of failure.
This approach is best suited for:
SaaS products that need to scale beyond an MVP
Marketplaces with complex workflows and payments
Internal tools where reliability matters
Founders who want predictable delivery without managing developers day to day
Goodspeed has launched over 200 Bubble applications and is a Bubble Gold Partner. Their work has supported products featured in BBC, Sky News, ITV, and The Telegraph, giving teams confidence that the application will not need to be rebuilt once real users arrive.
For teams prioritising long-term stability over short-term cost savings, an experienced Bubble agency is often the safest place to start.
Talk to Goodspeed’s Bubble developers to discuss your product, timelines, and technical requirements, and get a clear view of whether an agency-led approach makes sense for your project.
Freelance Marketplaces
Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer host thousands of Bubble developers at varying skill levels and price points.
Rates range from $10-15/hour for developers in lower-cost regions to $50-150/hour for experienced specialists.
The advantage is flexibility and cost. You can hire for specific tasks, scale hours up or down, and often find developers available immediately. The disadvantage is quality variance. Freelance platforms do minimal vetting, so you must evaluate developers yourself. Some freelancers are excellent. Many are not.
Freelance marketplaces work best for smaller projects, specific fixes, or when you have the technical knowledge to evaluate work quality yourself.
Bubble's Official Marketplace
Bubble maintains an official directory of certified developers and agencies. Developers listed here have passed Bubble's certification process, which provides some baseline quality assurance.
The marketplace is useful for finding developers with verified Bubble expertise. However, certification tests platform knowledge, not necessarily business understanding or project management capability. You still need to evaluate portfolios, check references, and assess communication skills.
Vetted Talent Platforms
Platforms like Toptal and Arc specialise in pre-screening developers. They claim to accept only the top 1-3% of applicants, handling technical vetting so you do not have to. Rates are higher than general freelance platforms, typically $75-200/hour, but the quality floor is significantly elevated.
These platforms work well when you need individual contributors with guaranteed competence. They are less suited for complex projects that require team coordination, project management, or strategic product guidance.
What to Look for When Hiring Bubble Developers
Technical Bubble knowledge is table stakes. The real differentiators are experience, judgment, and communication.
Anyone can complete Bubble's certification program or build a simple CRUD application. But production-grade work requires deeper understanding: how to structure databases for scale, how to optimize workflows for performance, how to handle edge cases that only appear under real-world usage, and how to architect applications that can evolve as business requirements change.
Here is what separates competent Bubble developers from inexperienced ones:
Relevant Portfolio
Ask to see applications similar to what you want to build. If you are building a marketplace, look for marketplace experience. If you are building a SaaS product, look for SaaS experience. Generic portfolios showing simple CRUD applications do not demonstrate capability for complex builds.
Pay attention to scale. An application that handles 50 users is different from one that handles 50,000. Ask about the largest applications they have built and the most complex technical challenges they have solved.
Database Architecture Understanding
The biggest technical problems in Bubble applications relate to data structure. Poor database design creates performance issues, makes features difficult to add, and can require complete rebuilds to fix.
Ask how they approach database design. Listen for discussion of normalisation, privacy rules, scalability considerations, and how they handle relationships between data types. Developers who treat database design as an afterthought will create problems that compound over time.
API Integration Experience
Most serious applications need to connect to external services: payment processors, email providers, analytics platforms, CRMs, and custom APIs. Bubble can connect to any REST API, but doing so correctly requires understanding authentication, error handling, rate limiting, and data mapping.
Ask about the APIs they have integrated. Look for experience with complex integrations, not just simple webhook connections.
Performance Optimisation Knowledge
Bubble applications can become slow if built without performance considerations. Page load times, search functionality, and complex calculations all have specific optimization techniques within Bubble's architecture.
Ask how they approach performance. Listen for discussion of page weight, search constraints, backend workflows, and when to use recursive workflows versus scheduled API workflows.
Communication and Project Management
Technical skill is useless if the developer cannot communicate progress, flag problems, or collaborate on requirements. Evaluate how responsive they are during the evaluation process. Ask about how they handle scope changes, timeline updates, and problem escalation.
For agencies, understand their project management approach. Who is your point of contact? How often will you receive updates? How do they handle change requests?
How Much Do Bubble Developers Cost?
Bubble developer rates vary widely based on experience, location, and engagement model. Here is a realistic breakdown of current market rates:
Developer Type | Hourly Rate | Typical Project Cost |
Offshore Freelancer | $10-30/hour | $2,000-10,000 |
Mid-Level Freelancer | $40-75/hour | $5,000-25,000 |
Senior Freelancer | $75-150/hour | $15,000-50,000 |
Vetted Platform (Toptal) | $100-200/hour | $20,000-75,000 |
Bubble Agency | Project-based | $5,000-100,000+ |
Goodspeed (Award-Winning Agency) | $70-100/hour | $5,000-20,000+ |
These ranges reflect the full spectrum of the market. The lowest rates typically come with trade-offs in quality, communication, or reliability. The highest rates reflect premium positioning and demonstrated expertise.
Project costs depend on scope. A simple MVP with basic functionality might cost $5,000-15,000. A complex SaaS application with multiple user roles, integrations, and custom logic might cost $30,000-80,000.
Enterprise applications with advanced requirements can exceed $100,000.
Be cautious of quotes that seem dramatically lower than these ranges. Underbidding often leads to incomplete work, quality problems, or scope disputes that ultimately cost more than paying market rates upfront.
Agency vs Freelancer: How to Choose
The choice between hiring an individual freelancer and engaging an agency depends on your project complexity, risk tolerance,
and management capacity.
When to Hire a Freelancer
Freelancers make sense when:
The budget is constrained. Freelancers cost less per hour than agencies. If you have limited funds, working with a skilled individual may be your only option.
Scope is small and well-defined. For specific features, fixes, or enhancements to existing applications, a freelancer can deliver efficiently without agency overhead.
You can manage the project. If you or someone on your team can provide clear requirements, review work, and handle project management, you may not need agency infrastructure.
Technical expertise exists in-house. If you can evaluate code quality yourself, freelancer quality variance is less risky.
When to Hire an Agency
Agencies make sense when:
The project is complex. Multiple user types, integrations, custom logic, and scale requirements benefit from agency experience and process.
Reliability is critical. If failure or delay has significant business consequences, agency accountability structures reduce risk.
You need more than just development. Discovery, design, project management, and strategic guidance are part of agency offerings.
Long-term support matters. Agencies provide continuity. If an individual freelancer becomes unavailable, your project is stuck.
You cannot evaluate technical work. Agencies have internal quality standards. You are paying for their vetting and review processes.
So, freelancer or agency?
If you’re still weighing your options, this table cuts through the noise:
Factor | Freelancer | Agency |
Cost | Lower hourly rate | Higher, but includes process, design, and oversight |
Quality control | High variance. You vet everything | Built-in standards and peer review |
Project management | On you | Handled by the team |
Continuity | Single point of failure | Team-based. No one-person bottlenecks |
Design & strategy | Usually extra (or DIY) | Typically included |
Best for | Tight budgets, small, defined scope | Complex products, high stakes, long-term builds |
Common Mistakes When Hiring Bubble Developers (And How to Avoid Them)
Hiring a Bubble developer seems straightforward. After all, it’s a no-code platform. But the reality is that Bubble’s flexibility is also its trap.
Without deep platform expertise, even simple apps can become brittle, slow, or impossible to scale. Below are the most costly mistakes founders make and how to sidestep them.
1. Choosing Based on Price Alone
It’s tempting to go with the lowest bid, especially when budgets are tight. But in Bubble development, cheap almost always costs more in the long run.
A developer charging $15/hour may lack experience with performance optimization, proper data modeling, or security best practices. The result? An app that works in demo mode but crumbles under real traffic or worse, accumulates so much technical debt that you’re forced to rebuild from scratch.
In contrast, a seasoned Bubble developer might charge $70–$100/hour, but they’ll structure your database for scale, minimize unnecessary workflows, and avoid anti-patterns that inflate workload units. That upfront investment often saves tens of thousands in rework, delays, or lost revenue.
Rule of thumb: If a quote seems too good to be true, it probably is. Prioritize long-term viability over short-term savings.
2. Not Checking Real References
A slick portfolio or polished Figma mockup doesn’t prove someone can ship a production-grade app. Screenshots can be faked. Live apps can be demo-only.
Always ask for verifiable client references and actually talk to them. Ask:
“Did they deliver on time?”
“How did they handle scope changes or unexpected bugs?”
“Would you hire them again without hesitation?”
Pay special attention to clients who’ve used the app beyond launch. Did it hold up under real user load? Did the developer stick around to fix issues, or disappear after payment?
Agencies with third-party reviews (e.g., Clutch, Google) offer an extra layer of validation. Freelancers should be able to connect you directly with past clients.
3. Assuming All Bubble Developers Are Equal
Bubble’s low barrier to entry means anyone can call themselves a Bubble developer, even if they’ve only built tutorial clones or static landing pages.
The gap between a novice and a senior Bubble builder is massive:
Novices treat Bubble like a drag-and-drop website tool. They create bloated workflows, duplicate data unnecessarily, and ignore privacy rules.
Experts think like software engineers. They design normalized data structures, optimize API calls, use custom states strategically, and plan for future feature expansion.
Certification helps, but it’s not enough. Bubble’s official certification confirms platform familiarity, not product sense or delivery discipline. Look for developers who’ve shipped multiple live apps with real users, complex logic, and integrations (Stripe, Zapier, AI APIs, etc.).
Ask: “Can you walk me through a project where you had to refactor or debug a performance bottleneck?”
4. Failing to Define Success Criteria Up Front
Vague goals like “build an MVP” or “make it user-friendly” invite misalignment. Without clear success criteria, you risk:
Endless revision cycles
Feature creep
Disputes over what’s “done”
Before hiring, document:
Core features the MVP must include (and what’s out of scope)
Performance thresholds (e.g., “load time under 2s on mobile,” “handle 1,000 concurrent users”)
Quality standards (e.g., “all user roles properly sandboxed,” “zero critical bugs at launch”)
Business outcomes (e.g., “support 500 signups/day,” “integrate with our CRM”)
A shared definition of success keeps everyone aligned and makes feedback objective, not subjective.
At Goodspeed, we've seen these mistakes cost founders months and tens of thousands in rework. Our Bubble development process is designed to avoid them from day one.
Why Hire Goodspeed's Bubble Developers
Goodspeed is a Bubble development agency that has launched over 200 applications since 2022. We are a Bubble Gold Partner and were named Bubble Agency of the Year in 2024-2025.
Our team builds products for scale-ups, enterprises, and founders who need applications that work reliably and can grow with their business.
Here is what makes working with us different:
Senior Developers on Every Project
We do not staff projects with junior developers. Every project is handled by experienced Bubble developers who have built dozens of applications. They understand database architecture, performance optimization, and edge cases that cause problems at scale.
Multi-Platform Expertise
Beyond Bubble, we build with Framer for marketing sites and n8n for automation. This means your Bubble application can connect to professionally designed marketing pages and automated backend processes, all managed by the same team.
Enterprise Client Experience
We have built products featured in BBC, Sky News, The Telegraph, and ITV. We understand enterprise requirements: security standards, compliance considerations, and reliability expectations for large audiences. This experience informs how we build every project.
Clear Pricing, No Surprises
We provide fixed-price quotes for defined scope. You know what you are paying before work begins. If scope changes, we discuss adjustments transparently before proceeding. No hourly billing that spirals unexpectedly.
Post-Launch Support
Building the application is only part of the job. We provide ongoing support, maintenance, and iteration after launch. You are not abandoned once the project ships. We stay with you as your product evolves.
What We Build
Our Bubble developers have experience across the full range of application types:
SaaS Applications. Multi-tenant platforms with user management, billing integration, admin dashboards, and API connections.
Marketplaces. Two-sided platforms connecting buyers and sellers, with listings, search, payments, and review systems.
Internal Tools. Custom business applications for operations, CRM, project management, and data management.
Customer Portals. Self-service interfaces for customers to manage accounts, view data, and access services.
AI-Powered Applications. Products integrating AI capabilities through API connections to OpenAI, Anthropic, and other providers.
Mobile-Responsive Web Apps. Applications designed to work seamlessly across desktop and mobile browsers.
What Our Bubble Developers Have Delivered
These are production-grade Bubble applications built by Goodspeed that serve real users, drive revenue, and withstand serious scale.
1. MyAskAI: 30% Lower CPU, Faster Scaling, $300K+ ARR
MyAskAI came to us with a fast-growing AI customer service platform, but their Bubble app was burning through workload units, slowing down APIs, and inflating costs.
In just 3 weeks, we re-architected their backend logic, optimized 500+ code references, and streamlined frontend interactions.
The result? A 30% reduction in CPU consumption, smoother user experience, and a foundation ready to scale. Today, the platform serves over 40,000 users and generates $300,000+ in annual recurring revenue.
“It was the best project management service I’ve experienced working with third-party developers or agencies.”
— Alex Rainey, CEO, MyAskAI
2. Pockla: MVP That Raised £1.6M
When Pockla needed to prove their fintech concept to investors, they turned to us for speed and credibility. We built a polished, functional MVP that clearly demonstrated product-market fit and user value.
That MVP became the centerpiece of their pitch and directly contributed to securing £1.6 million in venture funding from The Sidemen’s investment group. Now, they’re launching new features twice a week, backed by a scalable Bubble architecture we put in place from day one.
3. SummerMatch: Built to Handle 20K+ Visits, Then Got Acquired
SummerMatch needed a high-performance engine capable of handling traffic spikes, complex matching logic, and secure transactions.
We delivered a robust Bubble application that processed over 20,000 visits and supported high-volume commerce. The platform’s stability and user engagement were so strong that it became an acquisition target. This is Bubble at its most powerful: not just viable, but valuable.
These outcomes come from senior-level Bubble expertise, obsessive attention to performance, and a commitment to building products that last.
Our Development Process
Every Goodspeed project follows a structured process designed to reduce risk and deliver predictable outcomes:
1. Discovery: We start by understanding your business goals, user needs, and technical requirements. This phase defines scope, identifies risks, and establishes success criteria.
2. Architecture: Before building, we design the data structure, user flows, and integration approach. Good architecture prevents problems that are expensive to fix later.
3. Design: We create interface designs in Figma, allowing you to see and approve the user experience before development begins.
4. Development: Our developers build the application with regular check-ins and progress demos. You see work in progress, not just final deliverables.
5. Testing: We test functionality, performance, and edge cases before launch. Applications ship when they work properly, not when a deadline arrives.
6. Launch: We handle deployment, DNS configuration, and launch preparation. You go live with confidence.
7. Support: After launch, we provide ongoing support for fixes, improvements, and new features as your product evolves.
Here's What Actually Separates Production-Ready Bubble Apps From Expensive Prototypes
Typical Bubble agencies can build you something that looks finished. We build applications that survive actual users.
The difference? We've debugged enough failed handoffs to know which shortcuts break at scale. We architect for the load you'll hit six months after launch, not the demo you're showing investors next week.
Before you hire anyone (us included), ask them this: "Show me an app you built that's still running two years later without the founder rebuilding it."
If they can't answer that, you're buying a prototype at production prices.
Talk to our Bubble team here. We'll spend 20 minutes understanding what you're actually trying to build, and we'll tell you honestly whether Bubble's the right platform for it. No pitch. Just the truth about what it'll take.
Harish Malhi
Founder of Goodspeed
Harish Malhi is the founder of Goodspeed, one of the top-rated Bubble agencies globally and winner of Bubble’s Agency of the Year award in 2024. He left Google to launch his first app, Diaspo, built entirely on Bubble, which gained press coverage from the BBC, ITV and more. Since then, he has helped ship over 200 products using Bubble, Framer, n8n and more - from internal tools to full-scale SaaS platforms. Harish now leads a team that helps founders and operators replace clunky workflows with fast, flexible software without writing a line of code.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How long does a typical Bubble project take?
Simple MVPs can be completed in 4-6 weeks. Complex applications typically take 8-16 weeks. Enterprise projects may take longer. We provide timeline estimates during discovery based on your specific requirements.
What is Goodspeed's minimum project size for Bubble development?
Our minimum project engagement is $5,000. This reflects the overhead of our process and quality standards. Smaller projects may be better suited to freelancers.
Can Bubble applications scale?
Yes. Bubble applications can handle significant scale when built correctly. We have delivered applications serving tens of thousands of users. Bubble's infrastructure handles the underlying scaling automatically.
Does Goodspeed provide ongoing support after launching Bubble apps?
Yes. We offer retainer arrangements for ongoing support, maintenance, and feature development. Most clients continue working with us after launch rather than managing their applications in-house.
