Start Planning for Life After Low-Code

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I often get asked: “When should I use a low-code platform, and when should I switch to custom development?” I love this question. It means you’re thinking like a founder — balancing speed, cost, and the future.

My answer?

Stick with low-code as long as it’s helping.
Start switching a little sooner than you think you need to.

Let’s look at this

How Long to Stay on low-code

Low-code tools have two benefits, speed and access. It’s never been easier to build custom applications without requiring years of experience. I love using low-code tools to build out a prototype to rapidly test ideas, even validating them with customers.

But here is where the danger lies. Assuming you have great success, eventually every low-code platform has a limitation you will run into.

The most common limitations I see are:

Inability to scale with user growth
Unsustainable per-user pricing
Missing critical features or integrations

And here’s the kicker: these limitations tend to show up at the worst possible time — right when things are taking off and you’re least able to pause and rebuild.

When you hit one of these walls — and can’t hack your way around it — you’re usually looking at a full rebuild in custom code.

When to Switch to Custom Code

Much like planting trees, you’ll want to start the switch to custom code before it’s necessary. Waiting until it’s necessary probably means you are currently feeling the pain, and you will continue to feel it till the switch is complete. This is certainly an area where is pays to be proactive!

Here’s what I say. Get customer validation ASAP, however you can. Beg, cheat, or steal if you need to. Cold call. Knock on doors. If you are going to struggle and be rejected, it’s better to do that now, before investing $100,000 and 6 months in an idea that doesn’t have legs.

Once you have some validation, go ahead and build a prototype with a low-code tool. Again, get some validation on this from some real users.

Then, you can consider custom code. You’ve already spoken to potential customers, so you know you can do it again. You’ve convinced some of them to try your solution and made tweaks based on their feedback. Now you’re ready to look at that feedback and decide: do you keep iterating with more prototypes, or is it time to start building your custom system?