Should i exit bubble?

Questions
1

So, I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints about bugs, loading and scalability issues, among others, here on the forum. I’ve been using the tool for a little over 7 months and I’m starting to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to move to another platform, especially considering price, scalability and availability of other tools.

I’m already looking into the possibility of moving my application’s backend to Xano due to the nature of my application and some performance issues I’ve noticed in Bubble. Do you think the ideal would be to remove the entire application and start from scratch in another location like Flutterflow or Web, or just transition the backend to Xano or Supabase? Or do you believe it’s just a transition of Bubble improvements?

3 Likes
2

The problem with Bubble is that we are always in transition for improvment. And this is probably the first issue. You have no control, until you get a dedicated plan, on any update released by Bubble that can create bugs in your apps.

However, for your question, you should first test other options, check if this is something you can work with / handle and also, evaluate correctly the end cost for you. Each applications are differents and for some of them, I will invite you to stay on Bubble while for other, maybe to check on alternative (or like you said, use Xano or supabase to save on WU and do advanced server stuff…)

2 Likes
3

With the attitude of moving elsewhere every time you read about a bug or complaint…you’re going to be moving every few months somewhere else and never accomplish anything.

Every single platform has bugs and also those who complain about it. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with complaining because that’s how things get fixed…I’m saying if every complaint you read about prompts you to move, then you’re going to be in a long process of moving from place to place.

I just watched a video a couple of months ago about why you should never use Flutterflow. Yes, I can link to it if you’d like.

I’ve used Xano before I ever came to Bubble, and I can tell you there are a ton of complaints on the forum, etc., about that too…

here’s an example from just a few months ago:

“I had a call with Xano sales to ask how to address the situation; how to make some sort of CI/CD pipeline work. The short version of the answer was we needed to be spending something like $10K per month with them to get to a sufficiently high tier to have that sort of capability. That brought a pretty quick end to the call, and initiated plans to migrate off of the platform.”

I have a live app on bubble, as do millions of others. I have had no major problems. Yes, there are things I’ve mentioned that I would like changed…but in the end, I’m still here because it’s the best no-code platform out there.

My advice is to quit being blown around by every comment and focus on what you need to get done.

Bubble can get you where you need to go.

And no, I don’t work for Bubble, and I don’t get compensated for my views. I’m just giving you the best advice I know after being around the app world for quite a few years.

Best of luck in your decision and the future of your app.

22 Likes
4

thanks for chiming in @senecadatabase ! Good points.
@IsaqueGalvao I think it’s pretty normal for a platform like ours to have issues “coming from all directions” because our product goes in all directions, so to speak.

In terms of scalability the team created the Bubble App Gallery: Browse No-Code App Examples to show examples of real apps with real users. And we are working on more case studies and showcases to show more success stories on Bubble.

I’ve shared your concerns with the team for review though! Feedback is always welcomed

3 Likes
5

Bubble is amazing and covers so many possibilities. Even after 3 years I’m constantly finding new ways to make my app better and realising how good bubble fundamentally is.

Is it perfect, no…does it have niggles - yes. But overall, the pros truly outweigh the cons imo.

1 Like
6

When I see questions like this, my first reaction is usually: “Don’t solve problems you don’t have.”

I genuinely don’t mean this dismissively—quite the opposite. If you’re experiencing real, tangible limitations or issues with Bubble that directly impact your app development or your business, then it makes sense to explore other solutions. But if things are generally running smoothly, apart from typical hiccups and quirks, it’s best not to seek solutions prematurely.

Xano is a good example. Several Bubble apps have migrated their backend to Xano for various reasons. For some, it’s a significant improvement; for others, it ends up being more of a headache or merely a lateral move that doesn’t enhance their product in any meaningful way. Will it make your app more complicated to work with? Yes. Will it take time and resources to implement? Yes. Will it make your app better? Perhaps – that depends on your goals.

Two important points have already been raised, and I’d like to highlight them:

  1. Every platform has its quirks, Bubble included. In my experience, Bubble remains among the more stable, reliable, and especially flexible no-code platforms available. Yes, another platform might be better suited for certain use cases, but don’t underestimate the time and resources needed to find out whether you could get a slight improvement on feature X by making a switch.
  2. Your time is valuable. Anyone who has built apps long enough knows that time is a precious resource. If you’re considering investing that time to rebuild your app elsewhere, you should have a strong, clear reason to justify it. From your original post, it sounds like you’re being cautious (which is entirely reasonable), but the actual “why” behind wanting to switch platforms isn’t clear.

Forums tend to amplify complaints or issues since people rarely post just to say everything’s going great. This can create a skewed perception. For every complaint about scaling challenges or bugs, countless hours of successful app development and launches happen quietly in the background without anyone feeling the need to write about them.

So, the answer here isn’t automatically “stay with Bubble.” Instead, it’s about honestly assessing whether you have a compelling, tangible reason to move elsewhere.

During coaching sessions, this topic occasionally comes up, and my advice is typically the same: prioritize launching your app and gaining real users. If your user base expands to a point where scaling becomes a genuine issue, that’s a sign of success—and at that stage, you can explore solutions either within Bubble or by considering other platforms. For now, however, remain focused on your primary objective: creating a valuable, engaging app that users genuinely want to use.

19 Likes
7

Don’t move…that is not the way to solve problems. It the old ‘the grass is greener on the other side’…which goes both ways, since the moment you cross that fence, the grass on the other side you just left now looks greener.

Bubble is in a transition phase, with some positive and negatives coming from it. The positives are new features (that fingers crossed are fully realized and meet expectations as set by bubble) and the negatives are the less available resources to tackle long standing issues or new issues as they creep into the system. Of course what this means is, all the developers who have been building on bubble for a while get frustrated with the seeming degradation of the platform while not seeing much benefit from new features.

If you are on Bubble because you want to become a professional bubble developer and begin a new career, I’d say maybe spend some time (like 7 months) to learn how to code and prompt AI and check out some of the AI app builders that use real code.

If you are on Bubble because you want to build your own app to launch a business of your own or its an internal tool for an existing business, than stay on Bubble and do not throw the 7 months of learning and building away and finish the project. Bubble has a lot of issues right now that are not affecting the actual functioning application, it is affecting the build process.

Yes, there is a downtime that can cause headaches for live applications, and there are lots of other issues related to that (delays in communication, faults in status system etc), bugs in workload units and overcharges, but those are far less frequent than issues most professional developers are complaining about, which are in the editor and affect their livelihoods since their time is valuable, even the 10-15 minutes a day lost within the editor is something to be concerned about.

So for me, the question of if you should exit is dependent on your goals with Bubble…looking to become a professional Bubble developer, I’d say look at learning to code instead and use the AI code builders; looking to build your own app, then keep building it on Bubble.

7 Likes
8

Most important part. Everything else is noise. The last thing 99.9999% of people need to worry about are scalability and “performance.”

2 Likes
9

My app has already been launched and has active users. My concern is with future costs. Bubble charges for the use of the platform. My system naturally already comes with a lot of data usage and manipulation, and the billing I receive is in dollars, while I charge in Brazilian reais.

Despite this, it is as you said, to increase my customer base and look for ways to optimize my app with the resources I have.

This does not change the fact that a backend in xano would be faster and more efficient from a cost perspective, and that other platforms like weweb has eyes for the brazilian community and are changing

Anyway, Thank you very much for everyone’s feedback.

1 Like
10

Yeah, and don’t get me wrong – those are totally reasonable concerns. I’m hesitant in giving direct advice as to what you should do, as you yourself know a lot more about your business than I do.

As a Bubble Ambassador, officially and personally, it’s no secret that I’m a big Bubble proponent. But I still tend to stress the point that Bubble, in the end, is a tool – the right tool for many projects and the wrong tool for some. I see no reason to try to downplay that fact.

Also, I don’t want to discourage you from asking questions like this: as your app grows, feel free to share specific issues or concerns where the community may be able to help out, possibly avoiding a costly shift. In my view (and this is backed by data from Bubble), scaling/workload issues are very frequently due to specific processes that can be optimized somehow to allow for growth more smoothly.

I can’t say whether Xano would be more efficient for you, as I’m not sure what challenges you’re up against, (also I’m not an authority on Xano, other users may have much more valuable input about the pros and cons on that specific point).

So again, keep an eye on things and don’t be afraid to ask for advice. My post was meant predominantly to lower the temperature a bit on concerns that may arise coming from negative posts on the forum. Valid as they may be to the one posting them, it’s not given that they apply to your specific project.

2 Likes
11

Bubble is no different from any other low-code or no-code solution — they all have their limitations. That’s just the nature of the game. I think the real issue a lot of people run into is the “one-size-fits-all” mentality. Trying to build every type of app using Bubble, regardless of the app’s needs, rarely ends well.

The most important thing is to plan your stack well. Ask yourself what your app really needs in terms of performance, scalability, integrations, etc., and then choose the right tools accordingly. And if you’re not 100% sure what direction to go, that’s totally okay — reach out to someone with experience. There are some amazing software engineers and devs in the community who can help guide you.

In some cases, moving just your backend to something like Xano or Supabase can already make a huge difference. In others, a full rebuild on a platform like Flutterflow or even custom code might be the better route. It really depends on your app’s architecture and future plans.

Hope it helps!