With AI coding tools gaining significant traction in recent years, some tech leaders worried the technology spelled doom for low-code and no-code solutions – if anything it’s been quite the opposite.
In a survey from App Builder, 84% of tech leaders said they don’t believe the technology will replace these tools. In fact, adoption has been steadily rising in recent years and shows no sign of slowing down.
Findings from the company’s 2025 App Development Trends Report show low-code and no-code solutions now play a significant role at organizations globally, with 95% of firms having used these tools for software development in the last year.
These statistics align with previous research from Forrester, which reported in 2024 that 88% of developers were using low-code platforms.
This increased focus on low-code solutions has run in parallel with the rapid adoption of AI in their businesses, the study found, and tech leaders are confident that these will complement each other. More than three-quarters (76%) said AI will actually make existing tools more efficient.
Jason Beres, SVP of developer tools at Infragistics, said the study highlights that low-code and AI tools can not only co-exist, but the combination of the two will transform how applications are built.
“Companies’ use of low-code and no-code tools have steadily increased over the past decade–and today these solutions are critical to how developers, designers, CIOs and others build scalable applications and effective development processes,” he said.
“Now, as AI converges with low-code and no-code, we’ll see an entirely new paradigm emerge that will change how apps are built, who can build them and how fast it can happen.”
Low-code tools are still valued by developers
The study from App Builder underlined the continued popularity of low-code tools among enterprises. Nearly every tech leader surveyed said they’ve saved time and money using these tools, with 98% reporting development time savings in particular.
More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents said they’ve saved up to 50% of development time.
The benefits cited by users aren’t just centered around time saved, however. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of companies that use low-code tools have reduced overall development costs, with 67% unlocking cost reductions of up to 30%.
Use-cases for low-code practices are also evolving, the study noted. A leading factor behind the implementation of low-code tools at many enterprises was to improve developer productivity.
While this remains a key focus, there are other factors at play. These included enabling developers to focus on “more strategic work”, cited by 25% of users now compared to 22% initially.
Decreasing manual errors and increasing end-user satisfaction are also now key factors in the adoption of low-code tools.
“It’s clear low-code and no-code tools are here to stay,” Beres added.
“As companies incorporate AI and other new technologies into low-code and no-code development, tech leaders must not only leverage the benefits of automating more app development processes faster, improving collaboration, and increasing productivity, but ensure their organizations and development teams continue to evolve and upskill with their technology.”
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