I commend you for your commitment to coming back to our community to give us an update but it feels fairly out of place.
The users in this space are building with bubble so to me, it feels like you are either posting for attention or worst yet, to disparage Bubble and spread discord amongst us.
If you are truly done with Bubble I recommend you stop posting here as well
These threads pop up regularly but it’s like a music producer using “cubase” then moving to a different sequencer, or AI generated music, but coming back to the cubase forum just to dump on it. What kind of person does that?
Personally I love bubble - I know there are different options, each with different strengths, and yet I still prefer bubble. The thought of opening my editor and seeing my app laid out Infront of me with every element pixel perfect to where I put it, and every piece of logic exactly how I intended it , and so many other factors - it’s just an absolute perfect fit to how my brain works.
I wish people would stop telling me the grass is greener on the vibe coding side of the hill - I get it, it’s a lovely grass over there and a beautiful shade of green, but I PREFER THIS ONE! accept it please 
Cheers.
Ps just had a very excellent positive investment meeting a few hours ago, one of many now - loads of questions about the business, industry landscape & model - and extremely positive about our platform - but again, not a single question about the tech behind the platform or HOW it’s built. What they seem to care about - that it works! That it’s proving itself. Bubble rocks 
I agree, the Bubble backend isn’t that effective, and the pricing structure of WUs as it stands today is a barrier.
There is never going to be one “perfect” solution. That’s the beauty of an “economy”…there are many options available, and you pick the one that works best for you. Some like their burgers grilled, some charbroiled, some homemade. And sometimes those preferences change based on price, convenience, features, or just what you’re feeling that day. For me, as a non-coder, Bubble’s been an excellent solution that’s allowed me to build a bootstrapped $1M ARR business that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to build or been forced to give up a lot of control. I’m sure one day I’ll need to change or migrate to different solution, but for me, it’s great. So if Bubble doesn’t work for you, leave…go find what works for you instead of complaining about it.
That’s incredible @kenton.baker. I recommend you apply to our newly launched Launch Lab if you want to collab with Bubble
Can we speak tech.innov8@protonmail.com
you are absolutely right. this changes everything and makes bubble look like the 90s. I fully agree with what you’ve said.
I primarily use bubble for front end, but long gave up the back end for anything critical to avoid the vendor lock in and dramatically improve both flexibility and scaling. The back end I now run on Xano, and I interface with it using my own plugins, so I don’t worry about the WU cost so much any more.
I will say, the one part that bubble does well is the visual editor. Others are coming closer now, but not quite at this level yet. Vibe coding (I HATE that term btw!) struggles on this front, as there’s always a risk of a change breaking something else due to the AI losing context.
The two biggest issues with AI coding more generally though:
- It effectively stops people thinking about the architecture of their solution and consequently critical features like security. The whole concept of “vibe” coding is in the name - you just play around until you get something you like. Very few go into a vibe coding journey with a vision, properly mapped out with interfaces, flows, etc. Not saying everyone does it like this, but the audience looking at bubble vs. vibe coding are probably those trying to build a side business, or playing around without really knowing how to code.
- Security. I work in this industry as my day job, and AI risk has become an almost daily discussion topic. Not security about AI itself (a whole other topic in itself), but how it’s used. AI is trained from data that may or may not be “best practice”. The user cherry picks elements of a design they like, and the AI is all too willing to comply. “I hate the idea of 2FA, let’s remove those annoying prompts!”. But worst of all, because of point 1, the user has no idea what risk they are now running, and every user who uses that platform has no idea of the risk they’re taking with their data. This isn’t theoretical, it’s happening, rapidly. As a brief insight, when I am doing security assessments for a business that has real developers, the vulnerabilities are relatively rare and not often “critical”. Doing the same review on vibe code… put it this way - the amount of effort usually required to fix the issues would cost more than just hiring a developer in the first place. Again, this isn’t always the case, but you need to keep this in context of what audience is going to use bubble vs vibe coding.
I would never consider bubble due to cost of WU if I was starting over, and most definitely would not go anywhere near the bubble back end for both cost and vendor lockin. I would’ve invested my time in flutter most likely, since I use Xano as a the main back end and flutter is cross-platform including mobile.
The beauty of platforms like bubble is that it IS “vibe coding”, without the code. And as a business owner and security professional, I’m all for keeping people safe. Vibe coding has its place, but it’s in the hands of those who know how to use it well, which in many cases (not all) is going to be users in bubble.
as a dev to another dev, AI Coding proven not just another tools, it is the biggest breakthrough to especially NO-CODER community. Bubble is now, not just a tools, but a obstacle to any dev who seek better coding future.
How does “AI Coding” hold equivalence to “No Coding”?
You still deal with code when you “vibe code” or “write code with AI”.
Jumping from building an app with Bubble to maintaining an app built with code (vibe or assisted) is a huge leap…it’s horrifying to see the amount of naivety that is going around. Not just in the Bubble forums.
I have been using bubble for 7 years or more. I have also been using vibe coding for 2 years but i switch back to bubble base on reliability. In Vibe coding when we prompt a changes it may some time create problem B or C but bubble because you built the app you will know how to do the changes.
So i think both technology are still important as the time changes.
I still like bubble as it give me the control over my application as well as the build.
Awesome discussion.
Great post!
it is much harder then people think. I also think that people in general do not like change so they will keep working with Bubble.
the issues that you encounter can be solved but needs lot of knowledge and experience. We have build out platform with various tenants on it. Only with AI and it is llm model first which means we only offer chat and no visual builder. Our vision is that people will chat like in WhatsApp to get what they want.
we get more and more to very fast and predictable results by making sure that the basics everyone needs are rock solid and for every script we have test scripts such that with any change with a push of a button we at least can be certain that from a technical perspective everything works.
I think the future will be that a few real llm model driven platforms remain, the rest will be gone and I think that there will be much more work for NoCode type of people as they know enough about IT to learn how to prompt. The productivity gain but also the endless possibilities will be paid for. So people will start making exceptional rich digital products experiences for SMB
The fact that it took you five years to establish you could run a hybrid stack with bubble front end and scalable back end infra indicates bubble is not the problem
Try CLINE in plan mode. It indirectly addresses this issue and will blow your mind.
Firestore lays out all rules and if you want to better understand or diagram them just dump into any AI.
Your main point is accurate. Of course people will always impulsively rush into things without proper planning. nobody can stop them but for somebody wants to do it right, AND understands the basic architecture and best practices, for them the AI agentic coding tools are really ready for prime time.
I get where you’re coming from and honestly, your frustration is valid. The new editor has a learning curve, and a lot of long-time Bubble devs struggled with it in the beginning. So you’re not alone.
But here’s the part that often gets overlooked:
- Bubble is rolling out AI just not the hyped “bolt-style” wrapper
They’re focusing on:
- deterministic workflows
- backend logic reliability
- plugin-level integrations
- native AI actions
- scalable infrastructure
It’s not flashy, but it’s the stuff that keeps real apps stable.
- The new responsive engine isn’t “worse” it’s different
Once you re-learn the constraints, you gain:
- cleaner layouts
- no more nested div hell
- proper container logic
- mobile-first control
The old editor was easier, yes but it was also the reason many apps became unmaintainable.
Every platform that matures eventually forces an upgrade (iOS, Android, React, Figma, Framer… everyone).
Bubble was overdue for this.
- Bubble is still ahead of the no-code market where it *actually matters
Firebase Studio, Bolt, Lovable these are great tools, but they don’t replace Bubble’s depth:
- Complex DB relationships
- Custom logic
- Backend workflows
- Plugins
- API integrations
- Authentication
- Role-based access
- Secure architecture
Most “AI app builders” break the moment you try to build something beyond a landing page or CRUD tool.
- Vendor lock exists everywhere
If the AI builders shut down tomorrow, you lose everything.
If Bubble shuts down, you still export your data + workflows + logic.
- You don’t have to relearn everything only the layout engine
Data, workflows, backend logic, API connections… all the Bubble fundamentals are still the same.
Yes, the new editor feels foreign at first.
Every senior dev went through that bump.
But after a week of working with it, most prefer it.
- Bubble didn’t send you a message to “go try something else”
They sent the message:
We’re modernizing so your app can scale past just an MVP.”
If you want, I can help you migrate your old interface patterns into the new editor it’s mostly about learning how to think in containers instead of absolute positioning.
Bubble isn’t perfect.
But it’s still the strongest no-code platform for building actual products not just AI-generated prototypes.
If you’re exploring alternatives, cool but don’t throw away years of experience.
You can combine tools. Bubble + AI builders is powerful.
Can’t emphasize this enough to people. In my opinion (and apparently many others), Bubble is the one of the leading ‘no-code’ builder, not AI builder. The way they are rolling out the AI features is a sure way for them to allow proper testing, and still promote creativity within the platform rather than the standard ‘AI Slop’ we see everywhere else. They’re building AI into their tools, not letting AI do all the work.
If Bubble wasn’t ‘still relevant’, then why are we all still here? I don’t even use Bubble as my main editor, but I still refer non-technical clients that want to dive into development without a coding background. I still enjoy working on plugins, and building for other developers. Once mobile plugins are out of beta, better believe me and my team will be all over that.
We don’t use enterprise services, however, we have has numerous clients that have, and from what we have gathered, the dedicated Bubble team is there for you every step of the way. They give you a 1 on 1 with a Bubble team member (that’s on Slack!!), and is available 24/7 for any issues that occur while you’re utilizing their enterprise plans. To me, that’s quality.
To this day, we will continue to see backlash from more, and more people that have different opinions. But, the community & ecosystem will continue to grow.
I think it’s because you randomly started talking about a non-well-known component library completely separate to Bubble that reads like SEO spam (of which the forum gets plenty)
Ahh, thanks. I got topics crossed referencing Silk, a React UI framework mentioned here: Bubble has lost its way
Thanks.
I think as other tools develop ways to abstract out the underlying code (as what bubble does), it’s going to get more difficult for bubble to defend their moat (no-code focused builder with an integrated stack)
Today cursor came out with a visual editor which allows you to edit with a WYSIWYG experience. It just seems that these companies are slowly chipping away at what makes bubble the go-to solution for no-code.
It’s definitely easier to start building in bubble, the integrated database and backend make it extremely easy to do so, I am just wondering at what point in time does Google add a WYSIWYG editor + one click firebase and google cloud hosting to Antigravity? v0 is already pretty close as it walks you through the dependencies that it needs, but it requires you to still do some legwork.
One thing that bubble definitely has is the visual workflow builder, but these are all problems that these ‘vibe coding’ companies are aware of, and they’re trying to address. Would it ultimately come down to the underlying architecture and vendor lock in?
Interesting. It’s almost like I can see the future or something.
Let’s see if my next prediction also comes true, or if I just got lucky!