Many folks looking for a no-code app-building platform often choose between AppyPie, Bubble, and Adalo. While these three app builders have some fundamental similarities, they differ in power, customization, and other options.
Are you confused about which one to choose? Don't worry — you’re in good hands. Since 2014, I’ve connected entrepreneurs, business owners, and organizations with the best app builders.
In this article, I’ll explain the key differences and similarities between AppyPie vs. Bubble vs. Adalo and recommend the best platform for your needs.
AppyPie vs. Bubble vs. Adalo: Key Differences at a Glance
Key Similarities
- 100% no-code: Adalo, Bubble, and AppyPie have one crucial similarity — you won’t need to know any technical concepts or anything about coding to use the platforms. If you can create a LinkedIn or Instagram account, you’ll have the skills to use these app builders.
- Ecosystems: Want to learn more about each app-building platform? Adalo, Bubble, and AppyPie offer supportive ecosystems, combining community forums with educational resources like videos, courses, and help documents.
- Integrations: If you’re interested in gathering data from a third-party platform such as Google Drive or QuickBooks and transferring it to your app, you can do so with Adalo, Bubble, and AppyPie.
Integrations make your building options more flexible, allowing you to create customer service, marketing funnels, or restaurant delivery apps.
AppyPie
Who It’s Good For
While it’s not as customizable as Adalo or Bubble, AppyPie is incredibly simple. Just pick a template, add features, customize the colors and pictures, and you’re good to go. This simplicity and its relatively low prices (especially for Android users) make AppyPie a good platform for beginners to build and test a start-up app on the app stores.
Features
- While AppyPie limits your downloads, there are no bandwidth or hosting limitations. This means you can create enormous apps with plenty of functionality at a low price.
- You can publish your app to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store so users can download it directly to their phones. This allows you to create an app that leverages a phone’s internal features, such as drivers, cameras, speakers, and more.
Plus, the app stores have a combined few billion monthly visitors, so you’ll have the opportunity to make your app very popular.
- Want to make an app for your medical practice that stores sensitive client data? AppyPie might be right up your alley. It’s one of the few app builders that is HIPAA compliant (with the enterprise plan).
Pricing
AppyPie’s lowest pricing tier is $36/month per app (billed monthly), which allows you to publish your app to the Google Play Store, send push notifications, and earn advertising revenue.
If you’re an Apple user, you’ll need to go for the $99/month per app version to publish in the iOS Apple App Store. This version also gets you up to 2,000 monthly downloads and phone support should you encounter any issues.
Bubble
Who It’s Good For
If you want an app builder that’s second to none in terms of power and customization, Bubble is a prime candidate. While its app-building interface has a difficult learning curve, you can create a unique and extremely powerful app.
Features
- Bubble has the most extensive ecosystem of any no-code app builder. Use the nearly unlimited number of tutorials, YouTube videos, help documents, and the forum full of experts to work your way over the tough learning curve.
- Although learning will take a while, Bubble’s building interface is one of the most powerful. Once you get it down, you can customize almost any app action or feature that you can imagine.
- Want to create a branded, custom-feel app? Even Bubble’s lowest pricing tier lets you create an app free of any Bubble branding, so it will look and feel as if it belongs to you and you only.
Pricing
Get Bubble’s entry-level pricing tier for $32/month (billed monthly). You’ll be able to connect to other accounts and data sources with Bubble’s API and transfer info to your app while also getting access to plugins made by Bubble’s developer community.
Bubble’s next tier is $134/month (billed monthly). You can add another person to your account to help build your app, and you’ll get an eye-popping 100GB of storage space.
Adalo
Who It’s Good For
If you have zero technical skills but want an app builder that gives you the power to create an app that looks and performs like one made with code, look no further than Adalo. No matter your app idea, Adalo brings enough power to bring it to life, offering the perfect balance between power and simplicity.
Features
- Want to publish to the web and app stores without headaches or hoops? Adalo is a responsive app builder that lets you simultaneously build an app for both.
This allows you to design both web and mobile apps simultaneously without needing to make major, time-consuming changes for each platform.
- While you can start building your app from a premade template with all the screens, elements, and features you need, Adalo empowers you to completely revamp the template’s structure, colors, and functionalities to cater to your precise needs.
You’ll even be able to add new screens and functionalities that weren’t a part of the original template.
- Want to experiment with a few different app iterations because you release your final product? You can do so with Adalo, as you’ll be able to build an unlimited number of test apps so you can see how your app ideas pan out.
Pricing
Get started with Adalo for $45/month (billed monthly).
Which Platform Should You Choose?
Ok, you’ve made it to the end, so now, it’s time to decide which app builder best fits your needs. Consider the following when choosing between Bubble vs. AppyPie vs. Adalo:
Free Version
Both Adalo and Bubble have a free version that you can use any time, for as long as you want. While each free version obviously doesn’t provide as many features as a paid one, you can learn the app-building interface on your own time.
Adalo and Bubble also let you publish your app to the web so that users can access it with their browsers. This perk allows you to receive feedback about your app and see how it performs live before you commit any money.
AppyPie, however, falls short: It only provides a free 14-day trial — and to access the trial, you’ll have to provide credit card info. This means you’ll need to go back and manually cancel your AppyPie subscription if the platform doesn’t jive with you.
Customization and White-Label Branding
In terms of customization, which is the freedom to rejig and configure pieces of your app template to where you want them, change your color schemes, and more, the sky’s the limit with Bubble and Adalo. Both platforms provide enough freedom of design to make Picasso slow clap.
However, Bubble has a steep learning curve. At the same time, Adalo is easier to learn and offers nearly the same customization right out of the box.
AppyPie is not very customizable at all. You won’t be able to move around elements like buttons, fonts, and pictures — you’re essentially confined to the template layout you get.
Adalo and Bubble all offer pricing tiers that let you brand your app. Unfortunately, none of AppyPie’s advertised pricing tiers offer white-label branding: When you build with AppyPie, your app will tote a permanent “AppyPie” stamp.
If you want to publish a white-label app with AppyPie, you’ll need to contact them for enterprise-level pricing.
App Store Publishing
Unfortunately, Bubble doesn’t offer direct publishing of its apps to any app store. If you really want to put your Bubble app in the app stores, you’ll need to change it into a native mobile app using a third-party platform like Nativator. And the resulting product might not be what you expected.
One saving grace of AppyPie is that it allows for app-store publishing on all pricing tiers. But there’s a catch: The lower tiers, at $36/month and $60/month (both billed monthly), only allow for publishing in the Google Play Store. That’s right — they don’t allow publishing to the Apple App Store.
If you want to publish your app to both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store using AppyPie, you’ll need to go with the outrageous $99/month (billed monthly) version. And keep this in mind: You’re only allowed a total of 2,000 monthly downloads across both app stores.
Adalo lets you publish your app to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for only $45/month (billed monthly). Refreshingly, you won’t need to make any changes to your app on the app-building interface. The end product you build with Adalo works the same on the app stores as on the web.
Next Steps: Create Your App With Adalo
Want to go with an app builder that’s easy to learn and provides a generous free version? And, like most people, you don’t want to enter any credit card info to access the free version. Go with Adalo.
When comparing Adalo vs. Bubble vs. AppyPie, Adalo offers the perfect balance of power and ease. You won’t need to spend months learning its drag-and-drop interface: Adalo is so simple that you can intuitively use the platform immediately after you sign up.
Sprinkle in some power using Adalo’s integrations with Zapier, Xano, Stripe, and more. After you’ve built your app, publish it on the web, the Apple App Store, and the Google Play Store to get it in front of an enormous audience.
