FlutterFlow's pricing tells a familiar story: $0 to start, $39 when you need code export, $80 when your project grows, and $150 when you're locked in. The pricing restructure that took effect in August 2025 introduced new limitations and moved features to higher tiers.
FlutterFlow excels as a visual builder for Flutter-based mobile applications. Its drag-and-drop interface generates actual Flutter code, and Firebase integration simplifies backend setup. For teams targeting iOS and Android app stores with straightforward data models, it remains a strong choice. Problems emerge when projects grow beyond FlutterFlow's visual constraints: when you need custom backend logic, complex integrations, or want to modify exported code and bring changes back.
FlutterFlow's "no-code" marketing obscures reality. Technical knowledge improves results significantly. Many developers find platform customization severely restrictive, and the one-way code export creates a migration trap: once you export code for custom features, you cannot import changes back into FlutterFlow's visual editor.
This comparison covers eight FlutterFlow alternatives, each built for specific project types. These FlutterFlow alternatives each solve specific problems that FlutterFlow cannot. No single platform excels at all of these—the right choice depends entirely on your specific project type, technical comfort, and budget.
1. Lovable: Best for Full-Stack Web Apps Without Code
Lovable generates complete web applications from natural language descriptions. You describe what you want—a contact form with validation, a dashboard showing sales data, a checkout flow with cart persistence—and Agent Mode builds and verifies changes directly in your project, handling frontend, backend, databases, and shipping with minimal supervision. This approach, called vibe coding, eliminates the gap between knowing what to build and actually building it. Chat Mode enables iterative conversation for refinements when you need more back-and-forth.
Visual Edits, launched February 12, 2025, lets you change text, sizes, and styling on the fly with a Figma-like interface without chatting with AI for every small tweak.
Lovable handles authentication flows, database operations, payment integrations, and responsive layouts within the same conversation. A typical use case: describe a SaaS dashboard with user roles, subscription tiers, and analytics charts—Lovable builds the frontend components, connects Supabase for the database, and sets up the necessary API routes.
The critical differentiator: GitHub integration enables genuine code ownership and two-way synchronization. You can hire developers later, deploy anywhere, and exit the platform completely with your codebase intact.
Pricing: Pro Plan at $25/month, Business Plan at $50/month. These are workspace-based prices, not per-user charges—a five-person team pays $25 total on Pro, not $125.
Watch out for: Lovable builds web applications, not native mobile apps for app stores. If you need iOS/Android app store distribution, you'd need a different tool for native mobile.
2. Bubble: Best for Complex Web App Logic
Bubble is widely recognized as one of the most advanced no-code platforms for complex web applications. Bubble enables builders to create applications without coding, supporting conditional workflows, database operations, user authentication, API integrations, and advanced business logic. However, proficiency requires 1-3 months of learning time, and costs scale with usage through the platform's Workload Units system.
The plugin marketplace extends functionality further, with options for payments, analytics, and third-party service connections. Bubble's workflow builder handles multi-step processes: trigger an action when a user submits a form, run conditional checks, update multiple database tables, send notifications, and call external APIs—all without writing code. This power comes with complexity; expect to spend time learning Bubble's specific terminology and debugging workflow chains.
Pricing: Free for development only (cannot go live). Starter at $69/month enables live shipping and API access. Growth runs $134-249/month for moderate traffic. Team at $399/month handles higher capacity. An early-stage SaaS with 200 active users likely needs the Growth plan. Additional costs include file storage at $3 per 100 GB/month.
Watch out for: Bubble's Workload Units system means costs scale with computing consumption, not just user counts. Monitor usage actively to avoid surprise bills. The platform also focuses on web—mobile apps work through responsive design rather than native compilation.
3. Adalo: Best for Simple Native Mobile Apps
Adalo creates actual native iOS and Android applications that meet app store requirements and compile for both platforms. The visual builder produces apps you can submit directly to Apple's App Store and Google Play. The visual builder feels approachable. User reviews describe it as "shockingly easy to use." Drag-and-drop components, built-in database collections, and straightforward user authentication handle common mobile app patterns. Magic Start generates app foundations from text descriptions.
Pricing: Free tier cannot publish to app stores. Starter at $36/month (annual billing) enables publishing one app to iOS and Android. Professional at $52/month (annual billing) supports up to three apps. Add mandatory app store fees: Apple Developer Program costs $99/year, Google Play Developer costs $25 one-time. Total first-year cost for both platforms runs approximately $557, then $531/year ongoing.
Watch out for: Adalo handles simple to moderate app logic well. For complex backend operations or advanced customization, the platform's visual builder has limitations requiring deeper technical knowledge.
4. Glide: Best for Spreadsheet-Powered Apps
Glide converts Google Sheets data into functional applications with real-time synchronization. Changes in your spreadsheet appear instantly in the app. The platform also connects to Airtable, Excel, and SQL databases.
Pricing: Multiple sources show conflicting pricing information. Verify current rates directly at glideapps.com before budgeting.
Watch out for: Glide builds Progressive Web Apps, not native applications. Glide apps cannot be distributed through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
5. Softr: Best for Airtable-Based Portals
Softr transforms Airtable data into client portals, dashboards, and internal tools with minimal configuration. Real-time sync keeps information current, while role-based permissions control who sees and edits what. The key cost advantage: exposing Airtable data to clients without requiring additional Airtable seats—avoiding per-user fees that would otherwise cost $20-45/month per user. Arizona State University used this approach to build an intranet app sharing curriculum data with 1,200+ unique users.
Pricing: Pricing tiers include: Free at $0/month (1 app, 10 users), Basic at $59/month, Professional at $167/month, and Business at $323/month. Verify current rates at softr.io/pricing.
Watch out for: Softr handles CRUD operations effectively but cannot build complex SaaS features like AI processing or real-time collaboration without external APIs. User reviews indicate limited customization options for advanced features.
6. Bolt.new: Best for Rapid AI Prototyping (Not Production)
Bolt.new generates full-stack prototypes from conversational prompts with an in-browser IDE for real-time editing. The platform supports React, Next.js, Vue, and React Native frameworks. If your goal is to test concepts, build MVPs, or hand off a working scaffold to a development team later, Bolt.new can save you hours of setup.
Pricing: Free plan includes 1 million tokens/month. Pro 20 is $20/month and Pro 200 is $200/month. The token-based model means usage determines actual costs.
Watch out for: Developers report significant challenges when projects grow beyond simple prototypes, including high token consumption for debugging, deployment issues, and difficulties with complex features. Costs can escalate rapidly during iteration.
7. OutSystems: Best for Large-Scale Applications
OutSystems builds large-scale applications with compliance, security, and integration requirements that smaller platforms cannot meet.
Capabilities include SSO integration, encryption for data at rest and in transit, compliance templates for HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS, full audit trails, and cross-platform shipping with offline support for iOS and Android apps.
Pricing: OutSystems Developer Cloud starts at $36,300 per year for the base tier, including three runtime environments and 100 internal users.
Watch out for: At $36,300/year minimum, OutSystems costs 121x more than Lovable and 44x more than Bubble Starter. Migration requires complete application rebuilding, creating significant platform lock-in risk.
8. Retool: Best for Internal Business Tools
Retool builds internal business tools including admin dashboards, operational tools, and support panels with drag-and-drop components connected directly to databases and APIs. Critically, Retool is explicitly designed for internal team members only—do not use for any customer-facing use cases.
Pricing: Free plan for small teams. Business plan at $50/user/month. Annual billing provides 20% discount per user.
Watch out for: Retool Community discussions document performance degradation when apps combine many components or exceed certain complexity thresholds.
How to Choose the Right FlutterFlow Alternative
Start with project type. Native mobile apps requiring app store presence narrow your options to Adalo. For web applications: Lovable for AI-powered development with code ownership, Bubble for complex logic and workflows, or Softr for data-driven tools connected to spreadsheets and databases.
Match to technical comfort. Bubble typically requires one to three months for genuine competency. Lovable and Adalo are designed for builders with zero coding background. Retool assumes JavaScript familiarity. Despite "no technical knowledge required" marketing, learning curves are inevitable across all platforms.
Calculate total costs honestly. Adalo's $36/month becomes $557 in year one after app store fees. Bubble's Workload Units scale with usage. Retool's per-user pricing multiplies with team size. Lovable's workspace pricing ($25/month shared across unlimited users) provides predictability.
Consider code ownership. If platform independence matters, Lovable's GitHub integration enables genuine exit flexibility with two-way synchronization. Other platforms create dependencies requiring complete rebuilds to migrate.
Evaluate community size. Bubble and Adalo have the largest communities—safer choices for non-technical founders who will need support.
Factor in your timeline. Lovable and Bolt.new can produce working prototypes in hours. Bubble projects typically need weeks for complex applications. Adalo falls in between—simple apps launch quickly, but adding custom features takes longer. OutSystems implementations often span months. If you need to ship within days, AI-powered tools like Lovable offer the fastest path from idea to working product.
Your Next Step
Test two or three options matching your project type using free tiers. Build the same simple feature on each to compare learning curves directly. The best FlutterFlow alternative depends entirely on your project type.
If you're building a web application and want AI-powered development with code ownership, start building with Lovable at just $25/month for your entire team.
