What is a web app builder?
A web app builder is a platform that allows users to design, develop, and launch functional web applications through visual programming tools and pre-built components, often with little to no coding needed. These platforms streamline the entire development lifecycle by offering key features like drag-and-drop interfaces, templates, and seamless integrations.
Unlike traditional development, which relies on coding from scratch with various frameworks and languages, a web application builder simplifies the complexity. This enables both developers and non-technical users to create, deploy, and manage applications more efficiently. Businesses are increasingly adopting these solutions to accelerate time-to-market, minimize backlogs, and empower their teams to innovate. With options ranging from a no-code web app builder for basic projects to a sophisticated low-code web app builder with AI assistance for mission-critical systems, these web app development platforms are reshaping how organizations create value.
Who uses web app builders and why?
Web app builders serve a wide range of users, each with different goals. From startups needing to quickly launch an MVP to large enterprises focused on modernizing core systems, these platforms provide the tools for building a web application that meets specific business needs. They allow teams to build web apps for everything from customer portals and e-commerce storefronts to advanced internal tools for operations and case management.
"We didn’t want technology to take up a huge proportion of our overall budget. So a platform like OutSystems was an obvious solution for rapid, cost-effective development."
Nick Mates VP, Operations & Technology, Lendr
Explore how Lendr delivered five web apps in less than a year
Startups and SMBs
For startups and small-to-medium businesses, the key factors are speed and cost-effectiveness. A web app builder lets them bring new ideas to the market in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional development, without the need to recruit a large team of specialized developers.
Large enterprises
Enterprises use web app builders to solve problems of scalability, integration, and governance. These platforms allow them to modernize outdated systems, automate complex workflows, and build secure, compliant applications that seamlessly connect with their existing technology stack, including ERP and CRM systems.
Developers and IT teams
For professional developers and IT teams, web app builders significantly boost productivity. They streamline repetitive coding tasks, simplify integration, and provide a faster way to prototype and iterate on new applications. This frees up developers to focus on high-value work, reduce application backlogs, and deliver solutions that drive the business forward.
What are the benefits of using a web app builder?
Using a web app builder offers several key advantages for your business, including:
- Drastically reduced time-to-market
- Lower development and maintenance costs
- Increased accessibility for a wider range of builders
- Accelerated innovation and experimentation
- Improved customer and employee experiences
Time-to-market
The most significant benefit is speed. By replacing manual coding with visual, model-driven development, teams can build and launch full-stack applications up to 10 times faster. This agility allows your business to respond quickly to market changes and customer needs. For example, Western Union launched a new digital banking platform in just 11 months, a timeline unthinkable with traditional methods.
Reduced costs
Web app builders help lower the total cost of ownership by reducing the need for specialized coding skills and minimizing ongoing maintenance. This means you can achieve more with your current team and budget. Carrefour used a low-code web app builder to develop new applications without inflating their budget, streamlining operations across their stores. These platforms shift your web app development cost from a capital expenditure to a predictable operational expense.
Accessibility and empowerment
Low-code and no-code options open up application development to a wider audience beyond professional coders. Business analysts, subject matter experts, and other team members can collaborate on or even lead the creation of new applications, ensuring the final product perfectly aligns with business requirements.
Innovation and agility
A web app builder provides the opportunity to experiment. The fast-paced and cost-effective process makes it possible to create prototypes, gather feedback, and iterate swiftly. This promotes an innovative culture where teams can test new concepts aimed at improving customer experience or operational efficiency—without committing to a massive, high-risk project.
Key features to look for in a web application builder
Not all web app builders are created equal, so when you’re exploring options, it’s wise to look for a platform that not only meets your immediate needs, but can also scale with your business. Key features include:
Ease of use (drag-and-drop, no-code options)
A modern web application builder should offer an intuitive, visual development environment. With a drag-and-drop web app builder, users can design interfaces and set logic without coding, which significantly speeds up the development process.
Scalability and security
For business-critical applications, having enterprise-level security, governance, and scalability is a must. Your chosen platform should have these capabilities built in, ensuring your applications are efficient, dependable, and compliant from day one. Look for features that support the development of a progressive web app builder that can handle enterprise-level demands.
Integration with databases and APIs
Your applications are only as powerful as the data they can access. A strong web app builder must offer seamless, pre-built connectors and flexible APIs to integrate with your existing core systems, databases, and third-party services.
AI assistance for developers
The next generation of web app builders integrates AI to serve as a copilot for developers. AI assistance can automate repetitive tasks, detect errors, optimize code, and even generate entire application components from natural language prompts, further boosting productivity and ensuring high-quality builds.
Types of web app builders (with examples)
The market for web app builders features a range of tools designed to meet various needs, from simple projects to complex enterprise systems.
No-code web app builders
Designed primarily for non-technical users, these platforms use purely visual, drag-and-drop interfaces to build simple applications like landing pages or internal directories. While accessible, they often lack the customization, security, and scalability required for business-critical use cases.
Open-source web app builders
Open-source tools offer flexibility and strong community support. However, they typically require significant technical expertise to set up, customize, and maintain. Security, compliance, and enterprise-grade support are often managed by the user, adding to the total cost of ownership.
Enterprise-grade low-code platforms
For serious business applications, enterprise-grade low-code platforms like OutSystems offer the best of both worlds. They combine the speed of a modern-driven builder with the power and flexibility to build complex, scalable, and secure applications. These platforms are specially designed for mission-critical workloads, offering built-in governance, robust integration capabilities, and AI assistance to ensure you can build without compromise. They’re ideal for creating everything from a sophisticated mobile web app builder to a complete core system modernization.
How to build a web app from scratch vs. using a web app builder
Traditionally, building a web application from scratch involved a long and complex process requiring a team of specialists. The web app development lifecycle included manually writing code using languages like Python or JavaScript, configuring databases, setting up servers, and managing dependencies with various web app development frameworks. Every change required careful code reviews and manual regression testing to prevent any disruption to the application.
The web app development process with a builder
A web app builder transforms this process entirely. The web app development process is streamlined into a series of visual steps:
- Ideation and design: Define requirements and visually design the user interface and workflows.
- Building: Use drag-and-drop components and models to assemble the application logic and data structures.
- Integration: Connect to existing systems and data sources using pre-built connectors.
- Testing: Leverage automated testing and AI-powered analysis to identify issues before deployment.
- Deployment: Publish the application to the cloud or on-premises with a single click.
- Iteration: Quickly modify and redeploy the application based on user feedback.
This streamlined approach enables faster delivery cycles, much like how TODO1 accelerated its omnichannel banking implementations for clients across Latin America.
AI and web app builders: The next evolution
AI is fundamentally changing the landscape of web app development, with modern builders leading the transformation. An AI web app builder acts as a smart partner, enhancing developer skills and automating intricate tasks throughout the development lifecycle.
This is more than just basic code completion. Web app development with AI includes features like:
- Generative AI: Creating entire applications, from data models to user interfaces, based on conversational prompts or existing system specs.
- Intelligent debugging: Proactively identifying potential bugs, performance bottlenecks, and security threats in real-time.
- Architectural analysis: Providing recommendations to ensure new applications are scalable, secure, and align with portfolio-wide best practices.
With tools like OutSystems Mentor, developers get a suite of AI copilots that assist with everything from coding and architecture to performance and security, allowing every application to be built right from the start. This fusion of an AI no-code web app builder with enterprise-grade low-code is the future of software development.
Cost considerations in web app development
How much does it cost to build a web application? Depending on the approach you take, the cost can vary. The traditional web app development cost is driven by various factors, including application complexity, team size, ongoing maintenance, and infrastructure hosting. Custom development projects can easily run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.
A web app builder changes the financial outcome. While pricing models vary, they generally offer a more predictable, subscription-based cost that includes development, deployment, maintenance, and security. For businesses in the USA and globally, this shifts the expense from a hefty, upfront capital investment to a more feasible operational cost, lowering the barrier to innovation.
OutSystems: The best low-code web app builder for enterprises
When your business needs to build mission-critical applications that drive revenue, efficiency, and customer impact, you need a platform that delivers speed without sacrificing quality. OutSystems is the leading AI-powered, low-code web app builder trusted by thousands of global enterprises.
We combine the rapid development of a low-code web app builder with the power, security, and scalability needed for your most important systems. With OutSystems, you get:
- Unmatched speed: Develop and deploy enterprise-grade applications up to 10 times faster.
- AI-powered development: Empower your team with AI Mentor, a suite of AI copilots that assist across the entire SDLC.
- Built-in security and governance: Ensure your applications are secure, compliant, and scalable from the start.
- Limitless integration: Connect seamlessly to any database, legacy system, or third-party service.
- A proven track record: Join thousands of leading brands that trust OutSystems for their transformational initiatives.
Don’t compromise between building the perfect application and getting it to market fast. With OutSystems, you can do both.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. No-code web app builders are designed for users with no technical background, allowing them to create simple applications using drag-and-drop interfaces. For more complex, scalable applications, low-code platforms like OutSystems offer a visual development environment that minimizes hand-coding while still offering the power and flexibility for professional developers to add custom code when needed.
The cost varies widely based on complexity and the development approach. Traditional custom coding can be very expensive due to the need for specialized developers and long project timelines. Web app builders significantly reduce costs by accelerating development and minimizing maintenance overhead, often with predictable subscription-based pricing.
Yes, OutSystems is a high-performance, AI-powered low-code web app builder designed for enterprises. It provides all the tools needed to build, deploy, and manage everything from customer-facing web portals to complex, mission-critical core systems with enterprise-grade security, scalability, and governance.