What will be standard in no-code AI app builders that offer prompt > fully functional SaaS products?
Now, since some do these things, while others charge every bit as much without these features, I already expect that they have:
Built-in Github commit
Credit rollovers (e.g. if I do not use all credits in a paid plan, they are added to the next month - indefinitely)
Nothing that tries to keep my project within their ecosystem and then expects that as my business scales, I pay them more.
As Lovable, Bolt, v0, Base44, Bubble, Make, etc. jostle to out-do each other and be the one that we pay for, I think we will soon see:
Back-end solutions that guide non-technical creators through the steps to ship a SaaS product that is actually ready to scale to take on real traffic
Pre-emptive best-price/best-solution external solution-shopping, such as for white-listed bulk emailing and available domain search.
What features do you expect from a platform that promises prompt > fully functional SaaS product?
Replies
I’d expect built-in scalability checks and auto-optimization for performance. Most no-code tools nail speed to launch but struggle once real traffic hits.
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@mohammed_maaz3 Great points, and already, with https://www.createanything.com/max I see "Max runs your app in a real browser. It scrolls, clicks, logs in, uploads, checks out, and only then makes code updates.... If your app breaks at 2 1.m., now you have Max..." - the thing is, they want $200/month for this. I'm guessing that you and I think we're going to see these app-building apps compete on things like this - inclusive in their affordable tiers, right?
@osakasaul 100% agree - those “premium” features like auto-testing and performance monitoring will soon be baseline expectations. Once users experience hands-off reliability, it’s hard to go back. Competition will make “$200/mo extras” a standard feature.
Cal ID
A real game-changer would be letting users export everything. Code, infra configs, even docs, without lock-in or hoops. If a tool is genuinely confident in what it builds, it shouldn’t worry if users take the whole project elsewhere someday.
Build0
Hey we just launched on product hunt solving for business use cases and non-tech creators. We actually DONT do any of 3 you listed above :)
Github commit: Yes it uses git commits behind the scene, but we choose not to share the repo with our users.
Credit roll-over: No. we want to treat our platform as not just a vibe-coding tool, but rather one that provides all kinds of services on top: database, file storage, hosting, integrations, etc. The credits become just one of the major features of the platform.
Ecosystem: while not technically a hard requirement, the fact that we offer all the services above would mean its much more convenient to directly use them and stay on our ecosystem instead of shopping for solutions and struggling with integrating them.
We then focus on guiding users towards shipping production-quality products.
This is of course to serve the non-tech creators. For tech-savvy folks they would probably want to go with platforms that give them full control of the code.
Would love to pick your brain on this if you have thoughts on our decisions.
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@phildb0 Sure, my thoughts:
No credit roll-over and I will pass right there. See, we're all using several AI tools, since none are doing everything we need the best. When I pay for something but don't use all my monthly credits, I expect to be able to use them in the future. I want the freedom to spend my time with the tools that work for mw this month, go back to something else the next. That's where credit roll-overs ensure I'm not wasting money.
When many tools provide this, you're going to have to be head and shoulders above the rest to NOT do credit roll-overs.
As for what you wrote on "Ecosystem," from your customer's POV, it is "jail." See what @sanskarix commented, and I agree wholeheartedly. I loathe the tool that expects me to forever pay them for hosting. And the ability to operate on my own domain. And then they chain me to their CRM so that to even newsletter my own users, I am chained to their tool for this and subject to their price experiments.
Hope these thoughts help, and best of luck with build0!
Build0
@osakasaul Thanks for spending the time to reply!
I will definitely rethink the credit roll-over. Makes sense that people dont feel like they're wasting money on credits that disappear every month.
Also curious: do you have tech background? For non-tech it is fairly difficult to know what to do with the code even if they can export it. We originally did design Build0 to be "non-vendor-lock-in", but realized we would have to make major technical decisions in terms of ensuring integrations are robust and at production quality. For example, Build0 is handling all the OAuth handshaking so users can integrate with Google Doc, Slack and such seamlessly. If they export the code, they would have to, at the very least, set up individual OAuth apps at each 3rd party service, and handle the handshaking within the app. And there are more examples like this thats too technical to explain.
I think if the user is tech savvy enough to handle these, they are better off using true AI coding tools like Cursor, where they can pick and choose any services they want.
The opportunity I see is for non-tech people who would appreciate having all the solutions available in one place. On our side we can try to keep the costs reasonable and competitive.
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@phildb0I am a non-technical founder, but with 15 years of running RiteKit, working with 80 developers over the years, I've developed a keen nose for whiffs of this is highly technical, you are going to need someone very, very good and this will take weeks if not...
A good app builder looks ahead for us; it sends us to Firebase, Stripe, tells us exactly what to do to give it API keys/etc.
oAuth's are all documented. Read and do and when still stuck, ask an AI or a friend.
What's more, most app builders are moving to solutions like Supabase, and at least set up dummy points in code (and comment them as such), so that a couple hours from a competent backend guy gets a job done from what's been committed to Github from the app-builder.
I'm sorry, and I'd be delighted to be convinced otherwise, but it is really sounding like Build0's business model is designed to keep people paying you for the life of their product. The problem with this is that it's a do-ever is they ever hope to scale.
If a tool promises prompt to SaaS, it should also teach users what a real business needs. Not just buttons and UI. I’d expect built-in guardrails for pricing, onboarding flow, churn prevention, data ownership, and handoff to engineers when growth hits. Otherwise we’re just shipping prettier prototypes that die at 50 users.
InsForge
One thing I feel is missing in the “prompt → fully functional SaaS” conversation is the role of AI coding agents acting as full-stack engineers.
Agents like Cursor or Claude Code can ship production apps, but they hit a wall because most backend stacks aren’t designed for AI-driven development — too many dashboards, configs, and hidden constraints that humans tolerate but agents can’t work through.
That’s actually why we built @InsForge : the backend built for AI agents can control end-to-end (auth, DB, storage, functions, routing), so they can behave like real full-stack engineers instead of prototyping assistants.
And to address the concerns mentioned above:
no vendor lock-in
fully open-source
self-host anytime
migrate in/out freely — no hostage situations
production-ready infra from day one
You are free to use any coding agent connect to any GitHub Repo, we don't control your code.
From what we’ve seen across ~2000 early-stage projects, giving agents a scalable & open backend drastically reduces the “prototype → crumble at 50 users” problem that no-code builders struggle with.
Curious how others think about this angle. Do you see AI-driven infra becoming a standard part of prompt-to-SaaS platforms?
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So, as an example, I see this in v0.app and also "no student discounts," and all the add-on expenses with Vercel v0 and I'm turned off.
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My team is getting closer to nailing this ourselves. Looking for two experienced backend people to join our gang. We're strong with product, CX, mktg, need backend chops. hmu if interested.