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  1. Discussions
  2.  → Pros/Cons of No-Code vs Code

Pros/Cons of No-Code vs Code

Youri Nelson
20 replies
In your experience, what are the pros and cons of no-code vs coding? are there things that no-code can't handle? where is the line? or can you pretty much do everything in no-code now?

Replies

Peter Nguy
No, you will never ever be able to do everything you want with no code as you'll be bound by the capabilities of the program/tool you're using. With code you can customise things to whatever level of detail you like. Obviously no code requires no need for coding skills, so that is a big bonus and if it's a good tool then you can get away with it. But you'll typically always find you'll have to concede in places due to system limitations.
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Youri Nelson
@dizzydwarves I guess it comes down to does the speed of development for no code make up for the concessions you may be having to make.
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Abderisak
No, you really can't do everything with a no-code approach. You can often build an MVP with no-code, but in order to take it to the next step, you often need a fullstack developer. There are of course exceptions to this.
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Youri Nelson
@avidnote That's what I figured but it's interesting to hear the various opinions. I wonder if there are some very successful products out there that were built 100% with no-code!
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Vladimir Chernetsov
no-code is one of dead by design ideas, i think. you can not do anything significant with that. it is like a building in minecraft. you can do model in there, but you can not build a real building project
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Youri Nelson
@vladimir_chernetsov Interesting perspective, so is it just a fad in your opinion?
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David J. Kim
@vladimir_chernetsov @youreka It's not a fad, as it has lots of value in building something super basic and validating it. But to build something robust you do need to have someone technical on board.
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Youri Nelson
@vladimir_chernetsov @between_team i am not well versed at all in no-code tech, I only ever coded. I do find the rise of no code interesting though, I’d be curious to see case studies or cost benefit analysis on the topic, or how much has no-code helped the startup/entrepreneurs landscape.
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Vladimir Chernetsov
@youreka of course, the history of no-code goes deeply in 90s and earlier. not sure about west world, but in ex-usssr we has several no-code products. all of them are dead now. i see the same perspective for all no code. the same problem with co-pilot also. good for leetcode (because it already seen decision in multiple repos), but useless for a real world.
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Tatyana Petrova
No-code is good when you need to quickly do something more or less beautiful, but without complex business logic. There are good tools that allow you to quickly create forms and save data. At first glance, the cost seems high, but the time savings in creating and testing a prototype compensates for everything. If complex logic for data processing is required, then this is done rather not trivially at the moment in the tools that I use. You have to spend time looking for workarounds so as not to write external services for processing data. I would like the no-code tools to make it possible to add logic written in popular programming languages. This will postpone the moment when you decide to switch from no-code tools to coding.
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Youri Nelson
@tatyana_petrova1 surely that has to be a concern in the no-code "industry" how to shepherd a project from the no-code to code when it grows to be big. Do you have any favorite no-code platforms?
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Tatyana Petrova
@youreka I'm using bubble.io now. It's good to create MVP but quite slow when you need complicated workflows.
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Julie Dwyer
I think one of the biggest drawbacks of no-code solutions is that you do not own what you make. If you build something on bubble and then leave bubble, you lose everything!
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Youri Nelson
@julie_dwyer1 yikes I did not know that...seems like it could be a big hindrance to growth should you outgrow the nocode platform...
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Julie Dwyer
@youreka Correct. That's one of the many reasons why we built Chainstarters. You can build an MVP and grow with us as your product scales. One of our clients had 50,000+ downloads in three days and his app did not crash. 😀 Everyone should be able to experience this kind of growth without having to stop and re-build.
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Victoria Melnikova
No-code: + Easy to maintain + Cost-effective + Design is not limited as much when a creative no-code developer (designer who codes) does the job + Easy to edit and scale Code: + Great for products and high loads
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Youri Nelson
@vicamelnikova Thanks for taking the time to respond. When you say design is not limited as much do you mean it's easier for a designer that may not be as strong a coder?
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Victoria Melnikova
@youreka In my experience, designers who have mastered webflow are happier with the end result, because - cost of development is no longer limit their imagination (any showoffs add a lot to the estimate) - designs come out just as envisioned - when designer codes they better understand nuances embedded in the design - nothing is lost in translation as one person can do it all
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