The need for fast and inexpensive development has led to the rise of no-code development tools.
The increasing efficiency of these tools is changing the software development landscape — for the better. Here is what our Head of Marketing, Lisa Dziuba, saying:
Below, we’ll cover some of the best no-code tools to help you launch your MVP in a week. We will class them into product development and launch, ideation, design/prototyping, development, launch and go-to-market, customer support and relationship management, and payment processing.
No-Code Tools for Ideation Stage
This is the stage where entrepreneurs ask questions, identify problems, and spark ideas for solutions. Think of it as the brainstorming phase. There are no-code tools that can help you create design processes for idea generation. We will cover a few of them: Miro and Mural.
Miro
Miro is a visual collaboration no-code platform that provides you with a whiteboard canvas. You can fill it with sticky notes, mindmaps, workflow designs, notes, and images. Miro helps you ideate and plan a project from all angles and tag team members to specific tasks. It’s simply your notebook where you organize your ideas and plan implementation. It’s an excellent tool for a cross-functional team.
Miro offers a free plan that gives you access to three editable boards, premade templates, core integrations, and basic customer support. Paid plans start from $8 per month for unlimited editable boards and more features. Our team at WeLoveNoCode uses Miro pretty often to outline and idealize MVPs for our clients. If you are curious, usually we use this 8 steps approach for building MVPs.
Mural
Mural offers a free plan that gives you access to five murals (workspace export), full library templates, visual collaboration, facilitation features, and one-click visitor access to murals. Paid plans start from $9.99 per month, which gives you access to unlimited murals, privacy control for rooms and murals, an in-app chat, and email support.
No-code Tools for Design/Prototyping Stage
This is the stage where your ideas are collected to design a model to develop and validate the design hypothesis. The prototyping stage is very important because it adds a chance to test the MVP concept before it goes into the building:
If you skip this stage, you are risking creating something that users don't need. So let's talk about popular prototyping apps: InVision, Marvel App, and Figma.
InVision
InVision is a prototyping tool that lets you create interactive mockups for your design. You can share these mockups with team members or a client. This makes the design presentation more effective than sending out screenshots or a .PDF. You can discuss the design right inside the app and leave comments on specific points. When you upload your designs screens, it mimics the web browsing experience, giving you a better context of what you want to build.
With InVision, you can create desktop and mobile versions of your design with actual gestures like swiping, dissolving a screen on click, or double-tapping.
InVision offers a free plan which allows collaboration of up to ten people, 3 document exports, unlimited freehands, and unlimited public spaces. However, you do not get access to custom-made templates. Its pro plan costs $7.95 per month and gives you access to unlimited documents exports.
Marvel App
Marvel App is a tool that lets you design mockups, prototypes, and wireframes for multiple use-cases, including; iOS and Android apps, web apps, landing pages, and more. It also lets you test design with users and mimics the experience. In addition, Marvel enables you to collaborate with your team and work on the same design simultaneously without issues.
Marvel App offers a free plan that gives access to one user, one project, and one active user test. Paid plans start from $12 per month and provide access to one user, unlimited projects, downloadable prototypes, and designs and exclude Marvel branding.
Figma
Unlike the other tools, Figma is purely a design graphics and user interface design tool. It can be used for graphic design tasks from designing mobile app interfaces, wireframing websites, creating social media posts, animations, prototypes, and everything in between. Figma is a web-based app, so it works only on your browser. You don’t have to install software or buy licenses to start using it. You can collaborate with team members and work on designs simultaneously in Figma.
While Figma is not a no-code tool itself, it goes into the same category of easy-to-use tools for startup founders, makers, designers, and product owners. It’s also worth mentioning that the no-code movement is very beneficial for designers. Now let’s come back to Figma.
Figma offers a subscription model. Its free plan comes with three Figma and FigJam files, unlimited personal files, unlimited collaborators, a few plugins and templates. The professional subscription costs $12 per editor per month.
No-code Tools for Development Stage
This is when you develop the design into a product that customers can use and give feedback. No-code tools here are classed into use-cases: website builders, platform builders, and mobile app builders.
Webflow
Webflow is a no-code tool that allows users to build responsive websites with visual editing software. When users use the drag-and-drop tools, Webflow automatically generates HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It helps you create pixel-perfect websites with proper layouts in minutes. It also allows you to integrate other tools like google tag manager, Hotjar, and many other marketing analytics tools if you’re a marketer.
Webflow also provides fully-customizable templates to help you build more quickly. In addition, components that make up a design can be changed into Webflow symbols and can be reused in subsequent pages. This means you can create a design component with header, text block, background image and reuse it across other pages with different content.
You can start building your website on this no-code platform for free, but you don’t get a custom domain, and you only have a limited server capacity. However, it offers two paid categories; a site plan and an e-commerce plan.
The plans are categorized into; Basic, CMS, Business, and Enterprise plans. The Basic plan starts from $15 per month, gives you a server capacity of 25,000 monthly visits, 100 pages, 50GB CDN bandwidth, and up to 100 form submissions. And if you decide to work with WeLoveNoCode to build your website, you don’t need to worry about Webflow pricing :)
The e-commerce category is categorized into Standard, Plus, and Advanced plans. The Standard plan costs $42 per month. You can list up to 500 products on your online store; you get custom checkout, shopping cart, and much more. However, they also charge a transaction fee of 2%.
Tilda
Unlike Webflow’s design-first philosophy, Tilda’s creators built with a content-first philosophy, where content precedes design. With a big focus on storytelling, Tilda is a no-code tool that allows block mechanics for building websites, so users don’t just create websites but tell stories with their products or services.
When you’re creating your website, all you need to do is choose predesigned blocks and edit them to what you want. This block module editing style is at the core of the platform. Tilda provides you with a library of 450+ blocks organized into categories. These categories are segmented by function (for example, background) or meaning (for example, product review, our team).
Tilda is easy to navigate and use. It is also optimized for design, so you don’t have to worry about the design functionality of the blocks. Tilda offers a free plan for one website, 50 pages, and a storage capacity of 50MB. You also get access to Tilda CRM, built-in image, and icon library. However, you cannot integrate a payment system with this plan. Tilda’s paid plan starts at $10 per month.
Carrd
Carrd is a one-page website builder, which makes it easier to use. It is optimized to build things like landing pages, forms, and portfolio websites. Most features are free, with only a few features offered as paid options. So if you’re looking to build a simple one-page website, then Carrd is for you.
Carrd offers three pro plans; Pro Lite, Pro Standard, and Pro Plus. It offers a 7-day free trial for its pro plans. The entry-level pro plan costs $9 per year. It affords you three websites, templates, image and icon libraries, video uploads, and no branding.
Squarespace
Squarespace began as a no-code tool to build static websites, but it has quickly evolved and now offers built-in marketing and e-commerce features. You can run email marketing campaigns, host an online store and even create video ads on Squarespace.
Squarespace runs on its own servers, so you don’t have to install software to use it. Thanks to its content management system, it lets you build websites without writing code. Then, all you have to do is pick a template and make tweaks to the parts of the design you want using its style editor. For example, you can click on the background and change its color or click on a text and change its font. It’s very easy to navigate and use, so if you want a simple multi-page website builder, you should consider Squarespace.
Squarespace lets you build a site for free, but you have to pick a plan if you want it online. They offer a personal plan for $12 per month, giving you unlimited bandwidth storage, custom domain, templates, and two contributors access.
Bubble
Bubble is a no-code platform that allows you to build powerful web applications with its visual editor. It recreates all the web programming for a web app with a visual interface.
It begins with a design tab and a blank canvas. You can create your website by dragging and dropping visual elements on the canvas. The second tab allows you to create the logic behind your website. You create chronological actions by adding blocks, and you can set conditions within these blocks.
The third tab contains your database, where you store the information you collect on your website. You can import and export this database as you wish. Bubble also allows you to integrate with multiple platforms like Stripe for payments, TypeForm for surveys, intercom for customer support, and much more.
Bubble offers a free plan that comes with its branding. Unfortunately, you cannot use a custom domain. Its paid plans start at $25 per month and give you 10GB file storage, custom domain, email support, and a 7-day data backup and restore. If you’re looking to build a full-fledged website, you should consider Bubble.
Adalo
Adalo is a browser-based no-code platform that provides you with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor to build native mobile applications for Android and iOS. In addition, it allows you to have complete control over the design and functionality of your app. With Adalo, creating an app is as easy as putting together a pitch deck. It also allows you to integrate other tools for payment, tracking, and marketing.
Adalo offers a free plan that lets you publish to an Adalo domain and carries Adalo branding. It also offers Pro and Business paid plans. Its Pro plan costs $50 per month. It gives you 5GB of storage, the ability to publish on Apple and Google app stores, custom web domain, connect to external data collections and trigger unlimited custom actions. If you wish to get help with developing your iOS or Android app with no-code, you can schedule a free consultation call with WeLoveNoCode experts.
Glide App
Glide App is a no-code tool that lets you build mobile applications from spreadsheets. You can upload templates from the Glide gallery or upload a google spreadsheet. To create an app on Glide, you need a Google spreadsheet containing the rows of data you would like to display.
Glide creates a default app as a starting point; you can customize your app the way you want.
Glide offers a free plan that lets you build with up to 500 data rows, gives you 100MB storage, 1,000 sheet updates, mobile layout, public sign-in, 100 Zapier actions, and community support. Its paid plan starts from $32 per month. It lets you build with up to 25,000 data rows, unlimited sheet updates, 10GB data storage, custom domain, Google Analytics, unlimited Zapier actions, and so much more.
Airtable
Airtable is primarily a database collaboration no-code tool. However, they also allow you to use database blocks as components of your app. On Airtable’s dashboard, you can find an “Apps” button that leads you to set up your app development environment.
Airtable offers instructions that you can follow to build your first app with Airtable. If you’re already familiar with Airtable and want to develop an app, you should try it.
Airtable offers a free plan with unlimited bases, 1,200 records per base, 2GB attachment per base, Kanban, forms, gallery views, calendar, and grid view. Its paid plans start from $10 per user per month and give you everything for free plus 5,000 records per base, automatic table syncing, 5GB attachment per base, one synced table per base, and 6-month revision and snapshots history.
Zapier
Zapier is sometimes called the bridge of the internet. This is because Zapier helps you automate tasks between two apps without coding. For example, Zapier can tell one app to do something when an event occurs on another app. It does this when you create “Zaps,” which consist of a trigger and an action.
When you activate a Zap, the trigger will cause your specified action to occur. For example, Zapier can automatically send out social posts when you publish an article on your blog.
Zapier offers a free plan that gives you five zaps and lets you automate up to 100 tasks per month. Its paid plans start from $19.99 per month. It gives you 20 Zaps, lets you automate up to 750 tasks per month, and allows you to integrate three apps.
No-code Tools for Launch and Go-To-Market Stage
After you launch, your next step is to gather feedback from customers and iterate fast. No-code tools like Mailchimp help you gather leads and retarget those who have interacted with your new product.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a popular email marketing tool. However, you can do so much more with this tool. Mailchimp offers an all-in-one marketing solution that includes building landing pages and simple websites with its no-code technology. In addition, its visual editor allows you to drag and drop simple elements like background, text, and image to build a website.
Mailchimp’s free plan gives you access to its landing page and website builder. However, it comes with Mailchimp branding. Its paid plan starts at $10 per month and gives you full website customization without branding, custom domain, 24/7 support, three collaborators access, unlimited pages, and unlimited bandwidth.
If you want to quickly collect leads or showcase a product and spark interest for marketing, you should consider Mailchimp.
Other No-code Tools for Marketing
You might consider using no-code platforms for collecting payments, like Buy Me A Coffee, Gumroad, Stripe, PayPay, or TillyPay. Also, you can benefit from working with Airtable for planning your marketing activities, Notion for the knowledge base, Coda for various spreadsheets, and Typeform for user research.
If you wish to take a look at other no-code tools & platforms that marketing can utilize at their work, this post will be handy.
Building Your MVP
With the power of no-code technology, non-technical and even technical entrepreneurs now have the opportunity to test their ideas without the burden of development cost and time. This opens up a world where creation will only be limited by imagination.
If you would like to build an MVP in 10 days or less, you don’t have to master these tools, you can collaborate with top-tier no-code developers from WeLoveNoCode and bring your ideas to life – faster, chapter, and better.
