Comparing Bubble vs FlutterFlow: 13 key factors + pros & cons

Businesses increasingly rely on software to streamline operations and improve customer experiences, and the demand for custom application development is growing. However, traditional development methods can be time-consuming, expensive, and require specialized technical skills. That's where no-code development platforms come in.

In this article, we'll compare two popular platforms, Bubble and FlutterFlow, to help you choose the right one for your app. We'll cover the basics of each platform, and explore in-depth important aspects like customizing the user interface, collaborating with others, integrating custom code, scalability, and more.
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What is FlutterFlow?

FlutterFlow is a great tool for building mobile apps without coding. It's known for its speed, being ten times faster than traditional app development. With its intuitive drag-and-drop builder, you can easily connect data sources and create multilingual apps.

One interesting aspect is that FlutterFlow is built on top of Flutter, so if you ever need to add custom code, you can bring in a Flutter developer to help you achieve your goals. You can also export the code and migrate your whole app to Flutter. 

Related: Flutterflow vs Flutter
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What is Bubble?

Bubble.io is a no-code web app builder that gives you the freedom to design pixel-perfect creations that go beyond the limitations of templates. While there may be a learning curve, the flexibility of Bubble is truly impressive.

You can execute transactions, send emails, customize your app for different users, and store and display data. Bubble takes care of hosting and scaling your app, providing a secure and scalable infrastructure. Plus, you can even preview your app's functionality directly on their website. 

If you're interested in giving Bubble a try, you can check out a cool feature on their homepage that lets you update their website to see how it functions by clicking here.

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User interface and customization

Bubble is notable for its potent visual editor. Although it has a steeper learning curve compared to other platforms like Adalo, users can access its extensive customization capabilities and advanced features once they master its interface. The platform's drag-and-drop interface and responsive design tools allow users to create customized web applications that adjust to various screen sizes and devices.

FlutterFlow offers customizable branding and responsive layouts and allows users to focus on visual elements without worrying about the underlying code. A key feature is the extensive collection of pre-built widgets, which can be easily customized. These widgets serve as reusable components: you build them once and then you can use them throughout the app. When you build with components, you avoid repetitive work, save time, and keep consistency. Plus, app maintenance and updates are easier.

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Related: Glide vs FlutterFlow comparison

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Collaboration

Software development often involves multiple team members working together on the same project or application. Both Bubble and FlutterFlow offer features that facilitate this collaboration by allowing multiple users to access and work on the project simultaneously. They also provide mechanisms to control access and permissions, ensuring that team members have appropriate levels of access based on their roles and responsibilities within the project.

Let’s see the collaboration features Bubble and Flutterflow share up close:

• Real-time collaboration:

Both Bubble and FlutterFlow offer real-time collaboration. Multiple team members can work on different parts of an application simultaneously. This collaborative environment ensures efficient development and seamless coordination.

• Version control:

Bubble: It includes a version control system. You can track changes made to your application over time, review the history, revert to previous versions, and manage conflicts effectively.

FlutterFlow: Similarly, FlutterFlow keeps history logs. You can see who made specific changes and easily revert to a previous state if needed. Having robust version control streamlines collaboration and reduces the risk of data loss.

• Role-based access control (RBAC):

Both platforms embrace RBAC. Admins can assign roles with varying levels of access to team members. Whether you’re a designer, developer, or project manager, you’ll have appropriate permissions. RBAC enhances security and prevents unauthorized changes. 

For instance, a designer on a no-code project would typically have full access to modify the user interface components, styles, layouts, and visual aspects of the application they're building. On the flip side, a stakeholder like a client or a project sponsor might need access to review the application's progress and provide feedback or opinions, but they shouldn’t be able to directly make changes. In that case, they can get read-only access.

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Programming languages and custom code integration

FlutterFlow is built on Flutter, an open-source toolkit for creating apps. Flutter uses the Dart programming language. A key feature of FlutterFlow is the ability to use pre-built code packages from pub.dev. Pub.dev is a library of reusable code components made by the Flutter community. These packages add extra functionality to your app.

For example, if you wanted to add a calendar feature, you could find and integrate a calendar package from pub.dev instead of building it from scratch.

Additionally, FlutterFlow allows you to export your app's code as Flutter code. You can take the code from your FlutterFlow project and continue working on it using traditional Flutter development tools like Android Studio. The exported Flutter code gives you full access to customize and build upon your app using Flutter's capabilities.

To sum up, FlutterFlow provides a lot of flexibility. If you have custom Flutter code or widgets, you can integrate them into the FlutterFlow no-code environment. And if your needs evolve, you can eventually make a full transition to code-based development using the exported Flutter code, and keep developing on top of it.

When it comes to Bubble, you don’t get the same level of flexibility. Being a proprietary platform, you don’t get the same options to export code or migrate to other platforms. 

However, for those with some coding knowledge, Bubble allows the integration of custom code written in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. You can extend the platform's functionality and create more customized experiences or advanced features that may not be readily available through Bubble's visual interface.

It's important to note that while Bubble does not offer the same level of code customization as FlutterFlow, it is designed to facilitate the creation of fully functional and scalable applications without the need to migrate to another platform.

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Bubble.io vs FlutterFlow: Features

FlutterFlow top features:

• Responsive design: It has intuitive design tools to create adaptive apps for different screen sizes.
• Template screens: Over 150 pre-designed screen templates are available to save developers time.
• Firebase integration: FlutterFlow seamlessly connects with Firestore for a fast and scalable backend solution.
• Deployment options: Apps can be launched on the App Store, Play Store, and the Web with custom domains for web applications.
• Custom functions: Advanced functions can be added with Dart code, pre-made components, or community-made projects.
• History logs: Log of changes made to the project with the ability to revert to previous versions.
• Third-party integrations: FlutterFlow can integrate with Algolia, Braintree/PayPal, Google AdMob, and other APIs using GET/POST requests.
• Code export: Export the application's code as Flutter code to continue development in native Integrated Development Environments (IDEs).
• Cross-platform development: Build for mobile, web, and desktop platforms from a single codebase.

Bubble top features:

• Built-in message boards: The platform includes built-in message boards for easy communication and collaboration.
• eCommerce features: It provides specialized features for online selling and eCommerce checkout.
• User management: Manage user accounts and passwords efficiently within your Bubble app.
• Collaboration: Bubble supports collaboration of up to 40 people on a single app.
• Dynamic content: Bubble supports real-time updates and personalization with dynamic content support.
• Database scalability: Bubble provides scalable databases capable of handling large amounts of data efficiently.

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SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's all about making your website or app more visible on search engines like Google, so more people can find it easily.

Bubble has some SEO tools built in. You can customize things like page titles, descriptions, and keywords. It will help search engines understand what your app is about and show it in the search results to the right people. Bubble also lets you handle website URLs, create sitemaps, and even connect to popular SEO services. All these features give you great control over how search engines see and rank your app.

As for FlutterFlow, it is mostly focused on building mobile apps, so it doesn't offer that many SEO capabilities. But if you make a web app with it, you can still customize some basic SEO settings like meta tags. Meta tags give search engines a little info about your app's content. 

If you choose Flutterflow, for optimal SEO results, we can recommend creating a promotional marketing website using another tool that specifically supports advanced SEO features.

Ease of use and learning curve

Both Bubble.io and FlutterFlow have their unique challenges in terms of user-friendliness. Bubble.io's learning curve can be steep, especially when creating custom workflows and actions. Yet, their documentation, tools, and active community support might help you a lot, but you’ll still need to invest the necessary time upfront before starting to build your app on Bubble.

If you don't take the time to properly learn and understand Bubble's workflow and structure, you risk building an app with a flawed foundation. You need to learn and follow best practices and adhere to Bubble's recommended design patterns. If you don't, you might find yourself tangled in a web of interdependent workflows and data structures, and, overall, an app that's difficult to update or maintain without breaking existing features.

Similarly, while FlutterFlow offers the ability to clone apps and utilize pre-made components and pages, customizing these templates may not be as straightforward. It requires a learning curve to master the app development process in FlutterFlow and modify the templates to meet your specific needs. Unlike some other platforms like Glide, customization in FlutterFlow may require more time and expertise. ‍

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Templates and design capabilities

Bubble has a lot of no-code templates available that not only offer a UI interface but also come with pre-made workflows and data types, and help with the setup of your database. They cover many use cases, like e-commerce, social networking, project management, and healthcare, and they are a solid foundation you can then customize. You’ll be able to include all the functionalities you need plus, your brand aesthetics.

Flutterflow offers templates as well but with a twist. Some are like entire, pre-built apps you can clone. While this sounds great in theory, these templates can be complex and require significant modification to fit your specific needs. In many cases, building from scratch might be more efficient. However, Flutterflow also offers more basic templates that act as starting points with multiple screens and layouts. 

While comparing the two platforms, for a deeper understanding of what Bubble brings to the table, consider exploring our detailed guide on Bubble.io's capabilities and limitations.

Cross-platform support

Bubble.io and FlutterFlow have different approaches to supporting different devices. Bubble is mainly for web apps that run in a browser, while FlutterFlow is for mobile apps on Android and iOS. Although there are ways to make Bubble apps work on mobile and FlutterFlow apps work on desktop, keep in mind that you should choose the platform that fits your needs the best.

Bubble and cross-platform development:

• PWAs (Progressive Web Apps): Bubble inherently builds PWAs. These are web apps that leverage modern browser features to feel and function like native apps (apps downloaded from app stores). You can access them through a web browser, but they can also be installed on a user's home screen for a more app-like experience.
• Write once, run (almost) anywhere: With Bubble, you write your app's logic once, and it automatically translates to work on desktops, phones, and tablets. This saves you tons of time and effort compared to building separate apps for each platform. PWAs are inherently responsive, they adapt to various screen sizes by design.
• Not quite native: It's important to note that PWAs aren't true native apps. They might lack some functionalities available to native apps, like advanced device features (camera access) or offline functionality without an internet connection.

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If you build a Bubble app and still crave the native app feel in app stores, there's a potential workaround, third-party wrappers. These are external tools that essentially wrap your Bubble app in a native shell, allowing you to publish it on app stores (like Google Play Store or Apple App Store). Although it is a possible workaround, it does have some disadvantages. First, they can be complex to set up and maintain. They might also introduce compatibility issues or limitations compared to a truly native app built from scratch. Finally, their functionality and reliability can depend on the specific wrapper you choose.

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Flutterflow and cross-platform development:

• Native development: Flutterflow focuses on building native apps. The apps are built specifically for mobile devices and take full advantage of the device's capabilities. They offer the best performance, access to all device features, and a truly native feel.
• Publish in app stores: You can publish your apps directly to the Google Play Store (for Android) and the Apple App Store (for iOS). Remember that both platforms have specific guidelines and requirements regarding app content, design, and functionality. Make sure to follow them to ensure a smooth publishing process.
• Single codebase: FlutterFlow allows you to create mobile apps using a single codebase written in Dart. This means that you don’t need to write separate code for iOS and Android. Instead, you build a single set of UI components and logic that works across both platforms.

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FlutterFlow has a mobile-first approach, which means the components and layouts you design are optimized for mobile devices. When you build your app in FlutterFlow, it’s automatically responsive for various mobile screen sizes (phones and tablets). However, while it does offer web export capabilities, achieving full responsiveness for web versions will require additional effort. You’ll likely need to fine-tune layouts, font sizes, and spacing. Ultimately, you should test on various browsers and devices to ensure your web version looks good.

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Related: Can I build a mobile app with Bubble and how to do it?

Related: Can you build a web app with Flutterflow?

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Scalability and performance

As your app gains popularity, it needs to handle more users and data. This is where scalability and performance become crucial.

Bubble.io offers robust features for app scalability within the platform. It provides scalability options for databases and server capacity, to handle increased traffic and user demands. The possibility of adding custom code helps with scalability too. You’ll be able to build unique features and functionalities as your app evolves if you have the technical knowledge, or you can hire a developer to do it for you.

Bubble aims to give users all the tools necessary to make their apps fully functional and scalable without the need to migrate to other solutions. But, as we mentioned before, starting with proper app structuring and database architecture is crucial for optimal scalability and performance.

FlutterFlow is designed for handling large and complex applications, so you can build scalable projects. It can support high user volumes without compromising performance. FlutterFlow integrates with Firebase, a service that seamlessly scales your app's backend infrastructure (like databases and servers) as needed. It ensures smooth operation with a growing user base. However, using Firebase's scalability features might incur additional costs.

Additionally, developers have the option to export the code and continue development in Flutter for advanced customization or to access Flutter's full range of features. This allows developers to start with a no-code approach and transition to coding as the project's complexity or flexibility requires.

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Related: Bubble.io scalability
Related: How scalable is FlutterFlow?

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AI features

FlutterFlow integrates with OpenAI's ChatGPT, and it can be used to create chatbots with advanced natural language understanding. It has a lot of practical applications, like developing AI-based personal assistants, language tutors, and more. Although FlutterFlow offers an AI page design feature that generates pages from prompts, it is currently in the alpha stage and may have limited usefulness at this time.

Bubble.io, meanwhile, uses AI for tasks such as text generation and auto-tagging, thereby increasing the efficiency of app workflows. To use the OpenAI API with Bubble.io, developers need an OpenAI API key and Bubble.io's API Connector plugin.‍

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Integrations

Most apps don't live in isolation. They often need to connect with other online services to offer a richer user experience.  For example, an app for ordering food could technically function by simply letting users type in their orders for the restaurant, but integrating with a payment service like Stripe can make the whole user experience better.

Integrations are essentially pre-built connections that allow your app to "talk" to these external services. They enable your app to:

• Send data: This could be anything from customer information for purchase to user activity data for analytics.
• Receive data: This allows your app to display information from the other service, like product details from a database.
• Perform actions: Integrations can enable your app to trigger actions on other services, like sending emails or processing payments.

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These connections aren't always necessary for basic app functionality, but they significantly enhance features and user experience.

Bubble Integrations:

• Communication and collaboration: Slack, intercom
• Analytics and reporting: Mixpanel, Google Optimize, Hotjar
• Data management: Airtable, Google Sheets, Salesforce
• Customer support and documentation: Zendesk, Notion, Servicebot
• Payment and billing: Stripe, PayPal, Twilio
• Marketing and automation: Mailchimp, Segment, Zapier
• Project management and collaboration: Asana, Basecamp, Trello

FlutterFlow integrations:

• Database and backend services: Supabase, FIrebase, GitHub.
• Analytics and tracking: Google Analytics, Google Maps, AdMob, Firebase Analytics
• Notifications and live streaming: OneSignal, Mux Livestream, Firebase Cloud Messaging
• AI: Gemini AI
• Payment and billing: Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay
• Marketing and automation: HubSpot, Klaviyo, Segment

What if the service you need isn't on the menu of pre-built integrations? This is where Bubble's API connector and FlutterFlow’s API calls come in. You can build custom integrations, but it requires more technical knowledge. It involves understanding how APIs work and writing code to interact with them. For users comfortable with coding, the API connector unlocks the potential to connect your app to virtually any service imaginable.

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Support, community, and resources

FlutterFlow is dedicated to providing support to its users. While they don't cover certain areas like feature design and troubleshooting third-party APIs, they offer plenty of resources and ways to get help. Users can turn to the community forums, join the Discord group, and even hire professionals for assistance.

The FlutterFlow community is friendly and collaborative. Members can share their knowledge and ask questions. They also have a yearly FlutterFlow Hackathon, a global competition where users can win cash prizes for building the best mobile game on the platform.

FlutterFlow also provides plenty of learning resources, including guides, tutorials, and reference materials for all skill levels.

On the other hand, Bubble.io offers support tailored to users' skill levels. Its community is active and helpful, contributing new templates, plugins, and features to the platform. Bubble.io's community members are known for their willingness to help and share knowledge. The Bubble Forum is always a great place for users to ask questions and find answers.

Learning resources are a top priority for Bubble.io. They offer extensive documentation, including guides and tutorials for beginners and advanced users. Even more, they have the  Bubble Academy, a dedicated resource that provides all the educational content users might need to succeed on the platform.

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Pricing 

While creating an app, cost-effectiveness will probably be your primary concern. Even if developing apps using no-code platforms is significantly less expensive than using conventional software development techniques, you still must consider costs. 

With Bubble, you may use a free plan and pay when you want your app to go live. That way, you may spend as much time as you need to build the initial version, without worrying about paying for it. But you'll need to fork over a minimum of $29 a month when you launch.

FlutterFlow also has a free starter plan that allows users to start building and testing their app with core-platform features, pre-built templates, Firebase integration, and 2 API endpoints— followed by Basic, Business, and Enterprise plans. The last two have almost the same features, but there are better collaboration features for the top-tier plan.

Bubble pricing

• Free plan: Best for learning how to use Bubble. Great for projects that are under construction,

• Starter plan ($29/month billed annually): Best for launching your app and testing. Great for MVPs and simple tools with small to moderate user bases.

• Growth plan ($119/month billed annually): Best for growing your user base. Great for consumer projects with complex functionality.

• Team plan ($349/month billed annually): Best for scaling your team and business. Great for scaling projects with high usage.

• Enterprise plan (Contact for pricing): Best for maximum security and scale. Great for internal tools and customer-facing apps.

FlutterFlow pricing

• Free plan: Start building and testing your application for $0 per month using Bubble's visual builder, templates, tools for mobile/web/desktop apps, API/data integration, and web publishing.
• Standard plan ($30/month): In addition to Free Plan features, download your project's source code or Android app package (APK), and publish to a custom domain.
• Pro plan ($70/month): Access all Standard Plan features, plus source repository integration, one-click localization for multiple languages, and one-click deployment to Apple and Google app stores.
• Teams plan ($70/user/month): Includes all Pro Plan features, as well as real-time collaboration tools, project-level access controls, 7-day audit logs, and centralized billing for teams.

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Pros and cons

There are a few things to consider if you're worried about no-code platforms' usability. Naturally, some customers might be turned off by such a claim because creating an app without coding can seem difficult. The main goal of most no-code platforms is to make app creation easy, and they have made sure that their products are easy to use. 

Overall, we would say that FlutterFlow is much easier and faster to use than Bubble. However, there are some observable pros and cons between them. Here's the count to help you make a decision more easily.

FlutterFlow pros

• Creating native apps with native functions, that you can launch on app stores.
• Superior transitions that improve user experience.
• It allows clean code exporting and importing.
• Firebase integration for faster app performance.
• Build once and deploy on multiple platforms

FlutterFlow cons

• Requires an alternative backend for additional backend logic.
• If you decide to use Firebase as a backend, Firebase pricing applies; however, Supabase offers fewer features, and FlutterFlow requires you to choose between the two.
• No automatic feature updates, you’ll have to manually re-upload your updated app on the app stores.
• Has a steep learning curve, particularly for customizing application logic, and lacks pre-made design templates.
• If you're using Cloud Firestore (a Firebase database), FlutterFlow doesn't support sub-collections, which could limit your data structure options.
• Requires financial investment for the platform and app store, which could burden smaller businesses or individuals.
• Firebase (FlutterFlow's default database) has some limitations when it comes to filtering data. For example, you can't easily retrieve data between two dates, so you might have to retrieve all data from the start date and filter locally in the app for the end date. This could increase your Firebase costs.

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Related: Flutterflow pros and cons

Bubble pros

• Offers diverse customization options and integrations.
• Generous free trial option, you can do a lot of testing before commitment.
• Active, supportive community with new templates, plugins, and free assistance.
• Bubble apps are full-stack online apps, so the deployment is easier and you can push instant updates.

Bubble cons 

• Bubble runs and hosts your application on its own servers and infrastructure, so you have limited control over the underlying code.
• Responsive design can pose challenges and may require expertise.
• While visual, Bubble has a complex learning curve, particularly for beginners.
• Doesn't support code exporting or transitioning to another platform, requiring a fresh start.
• You are dependent on Bubble's continued operation and support for your application to keep running. If Bubble were to go out of business or discontinue their service, you may not be able to migrate your application elsewhere easily.

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If you’re still unsure which platform to choose, you can read our other comparisons to gather more information.

• Flutterflow vs Appsheet
• FlutterFlow vs WeWeb
• Softr vs Glide

Bubble.io or FlutterFlow, who wins?

You made it to this point! But let’s be honest, deciding between two low-code/no-code tools is particularly difficult. Everything comes down to your perspective and objectives. We could say that you should use Bubble if you need to make changes to your app quickly and have a lot of integrations. On the other hand, you should use FlutterFlow if your app doesn’t need to be updated often, is already well-defined, or if giving a full-native mobile experience is one of your priorities.

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Even though FlutterFlow and Bubble have easy-to-use interfaces, making a fully responsive (mobile and desktop) app still takes a lot of work.

Why do it alone? ‍Consider seeking the help of skilled professionals at LowCode Agency! Check out our FlutterFlow and Bubble development services.