No-Code Boom on the Horizon: 10 Predictions for 2023 from Industry Leaders

1. 2023 is the year no code goes mainstream - Emmanuel Straschnov, founder of Bubble.io

"I expect 2023 to become the year no-code becomes mainstream. After many years of being something for early adopters, we're now at the point where anyone, individuals and organizations, are starting to see the value of no-code, that it enables more people to do more with fewer resources. As we're getting into economically difficult times, this is going to become even more important." Emmanuel Straschnov, founder of Bubble, one of the leading no-code platforms.

Just like Emmanuel, I believe economic uncertainties will force bigger companies to become more efficient and in turn, adopt no code tools…

2. More mid-market & enterprises will start using no code - Harish Malhi, founder of Goodspeed

No code is one of the best ways to quickly launch your MVP, iterate, and achieve product market fit. However, no code tools now have the capability, security, and scale to help with more than just the first version.

As we approach tougher economic times, larger companies will be forced to be more efficient with time, money, and resources. No code is the perfect solution to reduce costs by automating tasks, leveraging cheaper development, and hiring more digitally savvy employees.

I believe larger companies will start to adopt these no-code tools in a few ways:

(a) Creating internal tools: at Goodspeed, we’ve worked with enterprises to launch internal tools, e.g. an all-in-one platform that connects their varying CRM platforms, to create a communication hub that allows employees to share ideas and customizable sales dashboards.

(b) Innovating with new products: no code tools enable companies to quickly test ideas. Instead of having a huge development team that takes a year to build and costs $100K, no code enables them to launch a new product at a fraction of the price in a matter of weeks. Quickly gathering user feedback and iterating, this new product could help them thrive in uncertain economic times.

(c) Automating manual tasks: automation tools such as Make & Zapier will enable companies to save resources by automating manual tasks.

KP, the founder of Build In Public Studio, has run no-code programs for OnDeck and Day One. He shares this viewpoint: “More mid-market and enterprise companies will embrace no-code tools because of hiring freezes everywhere and also because no-code can be a cost-efficient approach to build internal tools in this recession. No-Code tools like Xano, Softr, and Retool will play a big role here.”

As well as larger companies using no-code tools, expert no-code developers believe these tools will be cemented in the early stage of company building - from the MVP to product market fit and beyond.

3. The majority of MVPs will be built on no-code platforms - JJ Englert, Bubble Educator

JJ is one of the leading Bubble educators who are super optimistic about the adoption of no-code tools: “I predict by 2025 that the majority of MVPs will be built on no-code platforms like Bubble and others. I predict that by 2030, no code will overtake traditional coding as the most popular way to build software.”

Joshua Tiernan, the founder of No Code Founders, one of the leading no-code communities, shares JJ’s belief.  "I'm expecting to see more startups choosing no-code tools as their route to market. The low startup costs, fast development time, and quick iterations make it a perfect choice for early-stage founders"

The increased adoption of no code doesn’t just reflect the size of the company but opens product building and entrepreneurs to a wider pool of people. More and more the belief they can finally build, a key part of the no-code ethos, opening it up to people who couldn’t previously envision a career in tech.

4. No-code will empower a more diverse set of founders into the startup ecosystem - Max Haining, founder of 100 Days of No Code

“The majority of founders still come from MBA programs or are developers themselves. No-code empowers founders from all backgrounds whether they're humanities majors, product managers, designers, or something else. No code makes careers in tech more accessible. Breaking into tech is traditionally hard without a technical background. Knowing how to code has been a key threshold. Now, knowing how to no-code is and this has lowered the barrier for a more diverse set of problem solvers to enter the tech ecosystem.” Max Haining, founder of 100 Days of No Code

This point is echoed by Karthik Sridharan, founder of Flexiple, a no-code startup he bootstrapped to $3mn.  "Overall, I think no code will continue to make entrepreneurship more accessible to everyone with the ability to make products quickly and affordably.”

Saying that others believe an increase in the number of no-code founders could result in an increased price to hire no-code developers.

5. The price of no code developers will rise - Michael Novotny, founder of Side Product

“Because of the economic recession and funding for startups will be harder to raise, we will see a 10x increase in the number of startups that fully build out their products using no-code. We will finally start to hit the early adopters section of the bell curve of adoption.

However, because there is such a shortage of supply for bubble developers, it will make competition to find Bubble developers very hard to hire full-time. It will drive up the price for Bubble developers because of demand. And instead of Bubble devs being paid 80-90 USD per hour, I could see this increasing by 50-100% over the next 2 years. The reason being it will still be much much cheaper to pay a quality Bubble dev $150-$200 per hour than having a team of 5 developers.”

Though, perhaps with the rise of AI, there will be less of a demand for no-code developers. 

6. GPT-4 will change a lot - Ben Tossell, the founder of Makerpad

Makerpad is one of the leading educational no-code platforms, founded by Ben Tossell and acquired by Zapier.

“GPT-4 will change a lot. I think the next jump will be when AI can go and compute based on what you ask it. So it goes off and does the thing you asked. Finding links, emails, putting together lists of things.” Ben also runs Ben's Bites, one of the fastest-growing AI newsletters.

The point is echoed by Easlo, The Notion Guy, who believes AI will remove any limitations: “We'll likely be able to build no-code applications and websites much faster and better with the help of AI and a broader spectrum of templates to help us produce exactly the results we want. This is in comparison to the limitation in design or features of our existing no-code tools.”

This thought isn’t just shared by builders, but investors too. 

7. The next phase of no code is AI - Bri Kimmel, founder of Work Life VC

Bri Kimmel is the founder of Work Life VC, who has invested in no-code companies like Webflow: “The next phase of no-code is enabling a world where anyone who can type a simple sentence can make a website, work of art, and build just about anything. 

With the recent launch of ChatGPT, people are increasingly excited, scared, and curious about how it impacts the no-code ecosystem. People are questioning whether something unique can be built when people rely on the same technology.

8. A mindset shift from can I to should I build this? - Bram Kanstein, founder of No Code MVP

“The amount of no-code tools has exploded over the past few years and I don’t think it’s going to slow down. Especially with AI providers like OpenAI - they have come onto the tech scene and blown people’s minds. 

But eventually, we will have enough website builders and automation tools. Meaning you can build anything you like. That’s why I think the most important question for anyone considering building digital products and startups with No-Code tools is not “can I build this?”, but “Should I build this?" Bram Kanstein, founder of No Code MVP
 
With an increasing number of website builders and no-code tools, others feel templates will help these no-code platforms differentiate.

9. 2023 is the year of no code templates - Ch Daniel, founder of SignHouse

As products become more complex, 2023 has to be the year where templates will become a bigger focus. In previous years, the focus was on wooing. “This tool can do this!” — “This other tool can build X in Y hours, without code!" Ch Daniel, founder of Sign House

Now, as there are more very good players in the no-code space, I believe the new way to woo users into choosing this no-code platform over the other one will be through templates. Similar to what happened in the website-building industry, which helped SquareSpace thrive.
 
Templates make you “just get it”:

• They show a done-for-you product (more “done-for-you” in a second!)

• They offer a starting point, rather than the blank page

• If you can assimilate the template to something you’ve seen (e.g. Airbnb for ___), everyone has saved a ton of time”

Although, other no code leaders believe these no code platforms will start to consolidate.

10. No code platforms will start directly competing & we will see consolidation - Nile Frater, founder of No Code.Tech

No.Code Tech is one of the leading no code news platforms, acquired by Stacker. Nile believes we will now start seeing consolidation in the no code ecosystem and 1-2 winners:

“With all no code platforms raising venture capital, ultimately one or two big platforms will have to emerge as the 'victors' of the no-code space and so one of these platforms must be able to provide the full app building experience (ui, data, logic). We will start to see Webflow trying to compete with Bubble on web app building, Zapier and Airtable trying to compete with Stacker on business app building for a few reasons:

1) Most people want their data, their UI, and their underlying logic in the same place.  We (in the no-code space) used to combine Webflow (UI), Airtable (Data), and Zapier (logic) to achieve this. Now all three of those platforms are not only vying to become the leader in all 3 areas, but they are now thus directly competitive with all-in-one builders like Bubble and Stacker who have always had all three (UI, data, logic).

2) Consumers in 2022 generally need their websites to do more than look good - This means the no-code platforms are trying to cater to them more and more. Webflow, for example, now wants you to be able to add functionality

3) The no-code platforms which are doing well (Webflow, Bubble, Zapier, Airtable, Retool, etc) all have a huge ecosystem around them of plugins/addons, templates, experts, tutorials, etc - The biggest ecosystem always wins in no-code. Therefore, every tool wants to expand the surface area of the customers they can serve and therefore also expand their ecosystem”