Bubble - Website Builders

Our Verdict

Bubble is much more than a website builder. It’s a complete application development tool that’s possible to use without understanding how to code. That’s the major draw of the platform and it has done a great job bringing advanced functionality to an underserved group of people. It’s not as easy to use as many website builders but once you get used to it, you’ll never go back.

There are hundreds of templates to choose from, deep integrations with countless other tools, pixel perfect editing, and more. It’s more expensive than standard website builders but also comes with more functionality. If you’re looking to build a beautiful web application for internal or external use, Bubble is a solid choice.

Pros

Build full web applications without writing code
Large plugin ecosystem for your website
Marketplace for freed and paid website templates
Drag and drop editor to customize every element on your website
Free to register and start building your website

Cons

Steep learning curve for new users
Support is limited to only email
Some functionality is only available through plugins built for Bubble

Products & Pricing

Bubble has multiple pricing tiers that are based on the features you have access to, server capacity, and the ability to add premium plugins.

Hobby

The Hobby plan is the free tier and provides access to most of Bubble’s features and limited storage. It doesn’t allow users to import or export data, access real-time analytics, or use email support. Additionally, logs are limited to one hour, backups are limited to 12 hours, and there are only 2 GB of storage.

Personal

The Personal plan is the first paid option and costs $29/month. Personal users can import and export CSV data, access up to 10GB of file storage, and get a custom domain with an SSL certificate. Backups are extended to 7 days, you’re able to remove Bubble branding, and there’s an option for email support.

Professional

The Professional plan costs $129/month and extends the functionality of the Personal plan. Users get 20 GB of file storage, 3 reserved units of server capacity, scheduled workflows run daily, and backups last for 30 days.

Production

The Production plan costs $529/month and is the largest tier available. It gives users 50GB of storage, 7 reserved units of server capacity, backups last for an entire year, and you can store up to 20 versions of your website or application. Production customers also have access to priority email support, main applications and sub-applications, and up to 15 application editors.

When compared to other website builders Bubble is objectively more expensive but those tools won’t allow you to build entire web applications. When you look at the cost savings over hiring a developer to build and maintain a custom solution, it’s incredibly cheap.

Hobby

Free

Personal

$29 /mo

Professional

$129 /mo

Production

$529 /mo

In-depth review

Features & Functionality

Bubble comes with many of the key features you’d expect from a website builder such as drag and drop editor, free stock photos, support for video and audio, and more. It also includes comments and annotation so you can talk to your team members about updates and changes within the app, mobile-only editing so you can get pixel perfect pages responsive pages, and the ability to customize every single element until you’re happy with it. There are also other areas where Bubble shines.

Build Entire Web Apps

It’s a website builder but that’s only scratching the surface. It was originally envisioned as a way for people who don’t know how to code to build robust web applications. It’s possible to build everything from freelance marketplaces to investing applications. Not only is it versatile, but it can also scale to meet your needs.

Localization

Bubble has the ability to localize almost everything depending on where your audience is located. Translate your application and show different people content in their local language and currencies without any additional work.

Plugin Marketplace

Bubble has one of the largest ecosystems of free and paid plugins that further extend its functionality. As of this writing there are 868 plugins you can choose from with more being added regularly. This makes it possible to build niche websites and applications with unique features without touching a line of code.

Design & Templates

Bubble is ideal for building websites from scratch but that might not be ideal when you’re trying to create something quickly. For that, it offers almost 300 free and paid templates. You can sort them by use case, price, date published, and category. The categories include things like blog, dashboard, social, games, and more.

Many of the templates are professionally designed but it’s a marketplace so some of them may not be up to the standard you’re looking for. The good news is that all templates can be customized to meet your needs. Keep in mind that changing templates is so hard that you’re better off starting from scratch.

Ease of Use

Bubble offers multiple support options that are tied directly to the plan you’re on. Free users only have access to documentation and a community forum while paid users also get email support.

Customer Service

There are two ways to look at Bubble’s ease of use. You can consider the fact that it’s making it possible to build an application without code or you can compare it directly to other website builders. In the latter case, there’s a steep learning curve.

It can be difficult to use because it mimics the logic required to build an application with code. That means you’ll have to set data fields, actions, behaviors, and everything in between. In other website builders, this is done for you on the backend. It has a drag and drop editor but many more customization options than a standard website builder and can be overwhelming to someone without experience.

Bubble’s paying customers have access to email support with the highest plan being given priority.

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