Bubble vs. Power Apps: Comparing the Top No-Code Platforms

Power Apps is a Microsoft-based, low-code app development tool. Internal teams use Power Apps to build business apps that streamline workflows and processes and make it easier to interact with internal data. 

Bubble’s no-code platform has been used to build and scale nearly 5 million applications over the last 10+ years, with startups and enterprises alike choosing to build on Bubble. Bubble’s a proven, scalable solution for building everything from internal tools and customer-facing enterprise solutions to AI-powered apps, SaaS products, marketplaces, and more. 

Either platform may work for your project, but Bubble takes the lead with:

  • How customizable it is, on both the frontend and the backend 
  • How easy it is to learn and use 
  • What types of apps you can build 
  • Offering full-stack coverage 
  • Providing a robust ecosystem of integrations 
  • Offering scalable pricing based on workload, not end users

Of course, we are Bubble, and so naturally, we’re big fans of our own platform. That’s why we tapped the wider no-code community to find out what mattered most to them when choosing a platform. Then we used their responses to develop a rubric that more objectively compares Bubble to solutions like Power Apps.

In this article, we’ll show you how these two platforms stack up — and you’ll see why no matter what you’re trying to build, Bubble is a fantastic option. If you want to learn more about the process of choosing the right tech for your use case, check out our full buyer’s guide to 23 different no-code development platforms.

Power Apps vs. Bubble: At-a-glance comparison

Let’s start with a high-level overview of how Bubble and Power Apps compare.

Microsoft Power Apps Bubble
Common use cases Microsoft Power Apps is a good solution for internal business apps, such as dashboards, tracking portals, and workflow automations. Bubble is one of the fastest ways to create custom web or mobile apps of any kind, from dashboards and tracking portals to customer-facing apps like SaaS tools, marketplaces, and more.
Where they shine Power Apps is well-known for creating apps and interfaces to seamlessly connect Microsoft products and databases. Bubble gives anyone the ability to build custom, complex, powerful apps that meet their team's needs.
Overall score ⭐⭐⭐💫(3.66) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.00)
Use-case versatility 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Full-stack coverage 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Performance 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
Ecosystem 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
Cost 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛
Customizability 🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
Compliance 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
Code ownership 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛
Learning curve 🟥🟥⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛
Resources 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
Community 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

We wanted to compare these platforms based on what matters most to actual no-code developers — so we asked them. In our 2024 State of No-Code Development Survey, more than 350 no-code founders, developers, freelancers, and hobbyists rated the importance of 17 factors when choosing a no-code builder. We developed these categories using their feedback.

In the fall of 2024, we scored Bubble and Microsoft Power Apps from 1–5 in each of these areas, with 5 being the best score. Each score had specific requirements, and we’ll explain more about those below. 

We also gave each platform an overall score using a weighted average. This was based on how important the category was to no-code developers in the survey. Here’s how Bubble and Power Apps compared.

💡
Learn more about how to evaluate no-code development platforms in our buyer’s guide to no-code development platforms.

Power Apps vs. Bubble on use-case versatility

Use-case versatility measures how much variety a software offers in what it can be used for. That is, some platforms are created for very specific purposes or specific types of apps, while others are much more versatile. 

For example, Spotify is more or less just for listening to music or podcasts, while YouTube can be used to listen to music, watch short-form videos or full-length movies, post videos for your family or friends, market your brand, host livestreams, and so on. 

The use cases of these different platforms impact what you can do on it, but also how the platform’s parent company will prioritize and add new features — so it helps to think about how most people‌ use the platforms you’re comparing.

Our scores for use-case versatility try to take this into account, rating each platform based on the range of use cases most people use them for.

Bottom line: Power Apps is mainly designed for building internal business apps. Bubble allows you to build just about anything, from web apps to mobile apps, SaaS tools, internal tools, customer-facing products, and more. 

Score Criteria
1 Not particularly well-known or well-perceived by the market for any use cases
2 Narrow set of use cases as perceived by the market
3 Use-case versatility across app types or industries, but not both.
4 Use-case versatility across either app types or industries, with some use-case versatility in the other category
5 Shown to be proficiently versatile across both app types and industries

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps is primarily designed to create custom business apps for internal use, so it has limited versatility. The upside is that it offers a lot of flexibility within that use case — that is, teams from a variety of industries can use it to build a variety of internal apps to speed up business processes. 

For example, many teams use Power Apps to create tools like reporting dashboards, AI-powered workflows, tracking and operations management tools and portals, and user-friendly interfaces for databases. You can start with one of two main app types: canvas apps (focused on UI and interfaces) or model apps (focused on database management). 

It’s also a great way to build interfaces to connect multiple Microsoft databases or products, such as pulling data from Excel and Sharepoint and using SQL queries to create consolidated dashboards. 

Power Apps’ versatility score: 3/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble is one of the most versatile no-code builders available. On Bubble, you can start with a blank page and build all kinds of full-stack apps. You’ll find builders using Bubble for tons of different use cases, including specialized industry-specific apps and internal tools like reporting dashboards, AI-powered workflows, operations management tools and portals, and more. 

However, Bubble’s advanced customizations and versatility also make it an excellent solution for building customer-facing apps with user-friendly interfaces, too. Whether you’re looking to create SaaS tools, marketplaces, client dashboards, or some other customer-facing tool, Bubble gives anyone the no-code tools needed to make it possible. 

For example, Bubble is used for: 

With Bubble, you get unlimited use-case versatility — if you can dream it, you can do it on Bubble. 

Bubble’s versatility score: 5/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on full-stack coverage

When it comes to software development, there are three main pieces of your “tech stack” you need to cover: design (the frontend), data (the backend), and logic (the workflows that connect those two pieces and make your app work). But many no-code platforms only focus on one or two of these areas, and they can’t give you access to the entire stack.Our scoring criteria for this category focuses on how much of the development process the platform lets users access — in other words, how close the platform is to being a “full stack” solution.

Bottom line: Power Apps focuses on design and logic, then integrates databases from Microsoft applications or third parties. Bubble offers full-stack capabilities: design, data, and logic, all in one tool.

Score Criteria
1 Capabilities in one area: design, data, or logic
2 Capabilities in one area, gives user limited access to another
3 Capabilities in two areas
4 Capabilities in two areas, gives user limited access to the third
5 Full-stack: Capabilities in design, data, and logic

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps focuses on design and logic. The goal with Power Apps is to give you a low-code way to create interfaces and workflows that seamlessly connect your already-existing databases. 

As a Microsoft product, it blends pretty seamlessly with other Microsoft services, so you’ll be able to use databases from Excel, SAP databases, SharePoint, and so on. You can also use Microsoft Dataverse to connect data from multiple sources into one database for your Power Apps. 

If you already have much of your data stored in Microsoft databases, Power Apps can be a great way to build the design and logic on top of those. However, if you use important data from any other source, it can be really difficult to connect those non-Microsoft databases to Power Apps. 

Power Apps’ stack coverage score: 3/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble is one of the few full-stack visual programming tools on the market. In short: You can completely control your software’s design, data, and logic, all in one place — no need to manage (or pay for!) multiple platforms. 

The benefits: smoother operations, faster performance of your app, easier editing, a faster app development process, and less tech bloat. 

Bubble also offers much stronger front-end capabilities compared to Power Apps, particularly for customer-facing apps. You have complete control over the design and functionality, without needing custom code, as you do with Power Apps. 

And although Bubble can be an all-in-one solution, you can also connect it with any other tools in your tech or development stack to leverage your existing solutions. For example, if you’re already managing data in an existing database, like Excel, SAP, MongoDB, or SharePoint, Bubble easily connects with these through our API and Database Connectors

But with Bubble, you aren’t required to use separate platforms to build your app, and you only ever need to pay for one.

Bubble’s stack coverage score: 5/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on performance

The stability and reliability of your no-code platform can make or break your experience with it. 

After all, your own app can only be as stable as the platform it’s built on. If your no-code platform experiences frequent outages, your app will too — and you may not have much transparency into the causes or resolution of those outages. 

When comparing Bubble and Power Apps, we took into account how the platform performs as you scale up server demand. That is, can the platform grow with you, or does performance take a hit when your user base grows too large?

Bottom line: Bubble and Power Apps both offer stable, reliable platforms with very few outages. Bubble has slightly more transparency when outages do occur. 

Score Criteria
1 Frequent outages
2 Outages scale with user growth and/or company has no status page
3 Infrequent outages, but communicated with limited transparency to the user or sporadic outages, but quickly and transparently addressed
4 Infrequent outages, with any that do occur quickly and transparently addressed
5 Rare outages

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps rarely experiences outages, as Microsoft’s servers in general are reliable and experience few outages. The benefit of this is that all of your apps and workflows will continue to stay within the Microsoft ecosystem. The downside is that when Microsoft is down, everything will be down. 

Power Apps’s performance score: 5/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble also provides a stable and reliable platform with very few outages. At the time of this article’s publication, Bubble had a 99.88]% uptime over the last 90 days. However, if outages or problems do occur, our team does two things especially well:

  1. We detect and resolve the issue quickly to get you back online.
  2. We clearly communicate what’s happening and what we’re doing about it, so you’re never in the dark.

Since we know that our performance directly impacts your app’s performance and your workflows, we invest heavily in our infrastructure and security and react quickly to unplanned issues. We keep our status page updated, and you can also stay up to date on outages via @BubbleStatus on X and the forum

Bubble’s performance score: 4/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on ecosystem

One easily overlooked factor in choosing a no-code platform is the platform’s ecosystem. The best no-code platforms aren’t an island — they also provide an ecosystem of third-party tools, services, integrations, and extensions you can use to extend the power and capacity of your apps, and connect them to other tools in your tech stack. 

The quality and ease of use of a platform’s ecosystems can vary a lot. Our ecosystem quality scores are based on what third-party services a vendor offers, the third-party products that have been created, how accessible they are, and what partnerships they have.

Bottom line: Power Apps is a Microsoft product, so its ecosystem is most integrated with the Microsoft suite. Bubble offers a robust ecosystem of integrations that connect it to any tool in your tech stack, plus templates, partnerships, and more to extend your apps’ capacity. 

Score Criteria
1 Minimal third-party services that are challenging to use
2 Minimal third-party services, but they’re easier to use
3 Robust third-party services, but they’re challenging to use
4 Strong strategic partnerships; robust third-party services, but not perfectly seamless
5 Strong strategic partnerships; robust third-party services that are easy to use

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps is a Microsoft product, so it’s designed to integrate seamlessly with other Microsoft products. If you’re working within the Microsoft ecosystem already, you’ll find it easy to connect your tools together using Power Apps. 

If you’re not working within Microsoft, or you want to connect to other tools like Docusign, Salesforce, Zendesk, and so on, you’ll find plenty of integrations and API connectors to do so (but it won’t be perfectly seamless). 

You can also find samples of Power Apps to help you get started on Github. 

Power Apps’ ecosystem score: 4/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble’s ecosystem is one of its hidden strengths. Since Bubble offers so much versatility and flexibility, there’s also a rich ecosystem built up around the platform enabling that. 

On Bubble, there isn’t a preference for one brand or ecosystem. This means it’s just as easy for teams who have all their data hosted in one place to build and seamlessly connect everything as it is for teams who are using a variety of tools. Choose from thousands of plugins and integrations to connect your software with the other tools and services you need, without coding integrations yourself. (Although if you want and know how, it is possible to code your own plugins.) 

Plus, Bubble’s API Connector allows you to connect to almost any external API from your Bubble app using a simple plugin. This means your options aren’t limited to pre-built plugins, and you can extend your personal Bubble app ecosystem in any direction you’d like.  

The Bubble community’s massive collection of templates makes it easy to build the pages, layouts, workflows, and designs you want even faster. And Bubble has strategic partnerships with startup programs and universities including Microsoft For Startups, Harvard University, and Columbia University.Want to hire someone to build your app? Bubble’s agency database helps you filter and compare agencies that use Bubble by experience, services, cost, language, and region, so you can quickly find a partner that’s right for your project. You can even submit a request for proposal right on Bubble’s site.

Bubble’s ecosystem score: 5/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on cost

The cost grades we gave Power Apps and Bubble consider the cost of using the tool, with higher scores reflecting lower costs. While there are many factors that impact cost, we primarily took into account the pricing model and the platform’s price and how much free access the vendor allows. 

Bottom line: Bubble offers scalable, workload-based pricing, which offers monthly rates per app. Power Apps offers a per-user pricing structure that requires you to pay for each person using or working on your apps. While both of these platforms received a 3 according to our cost rubric, Bubble is far more affordable in many scenarios, especially as user count grows. 

Score Criteria
1 No free tier
2 Free tier, deployment on custom domain costs more than $50 per month
3 Free tier, deployment on custom domain costs less than $50 per month
4 Free tier, deployment on custom domain costs less than $10 per month
5 Free deployment on custom domain

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps offers a free plan, mostly designed for testing the software. It allows a single developer access to building and testing environments, and up to 2GB of database space on Microsoft Dataverse. 

However, once you’re ready to launch and use the apps, Power Apps uses a pay-per-user structure, starting at $20 per user per month. Users include your developers who are building the apps and any team members who are running workflows on the apps — so Power Apps can get pricey quickly for larger teams. 

This is another reason why Power Apps is specifically designed for internal, business use — it’s pretty impossible to scale on a platform with per-user pricing. 

Power Apps’ cost score: 3/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble offers a Free plan, which gives you all the access to the platform you need up until you launch your app. Paid monthly plans vary based on the workload demand of your software — that is, as you scale up your app and require more resources from the Bubble servers, you’ll pay more for your monthly fee. 

The good news is that with usage-based plans, scaling apps for public use or for large teams is far more affordable. Plans start at $29 a month.

So while having 300 users on a Power Apps plan would cost at least $6,000 monthly, the same number of users on Bubble’s plans would likely cost less than $300, depending on the workload of your app. Plus, with Bubble, you have the option of signing onto an Enterprise contract with predictable pricing based on your workload needs, reducing risk and instability as you scale. 

Bubble’s cost score: 3/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on customizability

Customization is a key element of no-code platforms. Of course, every platform offers some level of customization. 

But how much customization they offer and how simple or difficult that customization is can vary significantly. Ideally, you’ll want to find a platform that offers a high level of customization, without requiring you to use custom code to get the job done. 

And the most accessible platforms go even further: They let you customize your app using AI, creating new components, features, and even complete apps through prompts.

In this comparison, our customizability scores are based on how flexible a platform is — both in terms of what you can build with it, and how easy it is to add new features throughout your software’s lifecycle. We also considered whether the platform makes customization easier with AI.

Bottom line: Bubble offers far more customization options than Power Apps. With Power Apps, you get solid frontend customization options, with some functionality customizations. On Bubble, you get complete control over everything, with the option to use APIs or custom code to extend and customize functionality as needed.

Score Criteria
1 Minimal ability to customize frontend, minimal ability to add new functionality, high level of difficulty to build beyond templates
2 Customizable frontend, minimal ability to add new functionality, limited generative AI assistance
3 Customizable frontend, open to adding new functionality, robust frontend AI use cases
4 Everything from 3, plus AI-generated logic and data schema
5 Everything from 4, plus conversational editing that allows for entire AI-generated apps

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps does offer some customization capabilities, particularly in ‌frontend design and development. While these capabilities may not be as robust as you’ll find with Bubble, it’s pretty simple to customize the way your interfaces look and feel and what’s included on them. 

There are some options to customization capabilities and functionality as well, both within the Power Apps development environment and with custom code (JavaScript). However, there are also limitations to what customizations Power Apps supports. Supported and unsupported customizations are documented in their technical manual. 

In short: Power Apps offers a lot of capabilities and options to customize your frontend, but if you need additional use cases or functionality beyond what it’s designed for, you may struggle to make it work for your needs. 

Power Apps’ customizability score: 2/5

How Bubble compares: Customization is an area where Bubble really shines. Since Bubble is designed to power any kind of app type and development, the customization options are endless. Even better, you don’t need a lot of technical expertise to use the advanced features for customizing — the drag-and-drop interface supports it all. 

You have complete control over the design (look and feel), database structure, and functionality of your app on Bubble. Add whatever capabilities you want, either within the Bubble editor itself or through our API Connector. If something isn’t supported directly on Bubble, you can always use custom code to build exactly what you want (though it’s rare that you’ll have to). 

Some Bubble users — particularly those from more established brands —  also appreciate how they can replicate their entire design system (down to the pixel) with Bubble. Bubble’s customizability is limitless for both functionality and design.

Bubble’s customizability score: 5/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on compliance

Security and compliance is another key factor for no-code builders. Similar to performance, your app can only be as secure as your development platform. 

Compliance standards help establish a baseline for security capabilities, and you can often harden a platform with additional security features as needed.

Our compliance scores are based on which standards a platform complies with (by default) and whether it offers a path to compliance with additional standards. Higher scores correspond to more sophisticated standards.

Bottom line: Bubble and Power Apps both provide SOC 2 Type II compliant platforms, with the option of building your app to align with stricter security standards if needed. 

Score Criteria
1 No stated native compliance certifications
2 No native compliance certifications, but either 1) can be made compliant with plugins or 2) gives instructions for hosted apps to become compliant by themselves
3 SOC 2 Type I compliant
4 SOC 2 Type II compliant or ISO 27001 compliant
5 SOC 2 Type II compliant and HIPAA compliant

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps offers SOC 2 Type II compliance built-in, which provides a solid level of basic security. 

If you want to make your apps compliant with stricter standards, like GDPR or HIPAA, you can find some documentation available to help you do that — but it requires really careful management and control over your data. 

Power Apps’ compliance score: 4/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble has built-in compliance with SOC 2 Type II Type II, which means it can pass long-term security audits. 

For teams who want to comply with stricter frameworks like GDPR or HIPAA, we have a series of compliance articles that explain how to follow these standards when you build with Bubble. There are plenty of GovTech, HealthTech, and FinTech teams who are building internal and public-facing apps on Bubble, so you can rest assured you can make your app as secure as you need it to be. 

Plus, every Bubble pricing plan comes with access to some or all of Flusk’s best-in-class security-check features.

Bubble’s compliance score: 4/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on code ownership

If you’re planning to stick with one platform once you start building, code ownership may not be top of mind. But you can’t guarantee you’ll never need to change platforms. After all, what if your needs change and your current platform can’t support your new needs? What if your platform goes out of business? 

There could be any number of changes that might require you to change platforms. 

As a result, it’s smart to choose a no-code platform knowing in advance what you can take out. Our scoring criteria for the ownership category are based on how much freedom a platform gives you to export your work — specifically your code and your data. 

Bottom line: Bubble allows you to export data at any time, but not code. Power Apps allows you to export your code and data, but only for transferring or importing your apps into other Power Apps environments. 

Score Criteria
1 No exports supported
2 Allows partial data exports
3 Exports data, but not code
4 Exports data and code, but in limited languages and formats
5 Exports all data and code

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps allows you to export your complete app — code and data — to transfer it to another Power Apps workspace (aka an “environment”). This can be helpful if you’re building in one workspace and deploying it to another, if you want to duplicate or copy apps into new workspaces to re-use them for other cilents, or if you restructure your workspace setup after building several apps. 

However, Power Apps doesn’t provide a way to directly export your app’s code in a format that allows you to edit it or run it outside the Power Apps environment. 

Power Apps’ code ownership score: 5/5

How Bubble compares: On Bubble, you can always export your data freely. However, when building on Bubble, your software’s functionality and code is supported by our platform’s proprietary source code. This means we can’t export your code without either releasing our source code or separating your code from ours, which would break your software. So code can’t be exported. 

However, we do have a promise to our customers that if your organization outlasts Bubble, we’ll release our source code under an open-source license.

Bubble’s code ownership score: 3/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on learning curve

Compared to learning traditional code, no-code development is always going to be faster and easier. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a learning curve at all. 

Every no-code platform uses visual programming in different ways, some easier to learn than others. Considering how steep a learning curve you’re willing to take on is often a key factor in choosing one platform over another. 

🚀
In our State of No-Code Development Survey, the expected learning curve was a crucial factor for experienced and novice developers alike. Just 2.5% of respondents said the learning curve was “not important at all,” while 22% said it was “extremely important.” Learn more about how developers prioritized each factor in The State of No-Code Development 2024.

Our learning curve scoring criteria is based on how difficult a platform is to learn and how fast you can‌ start building.

Bottom line: Power Apps uses a low-code programming language called Power Fx, which requires some technical expertise and time investment to learn. Bubble is a truly visual, no-code platform, which means it comes with much less of a learning curve. 

Score Criteria
1 Extremely difficult to learn (comparable to learning code), demands significant technical knowledge, extensive time investment
2 Very difficult to learn, demands strong understanding of logic and some technical familiarity, extensive time investment
3 Moderately difficult to learn, demands moderate technical familiarity, moderate time investment (courses, tutorials, community support, etc.)
4 Somewhat easy to learn, demands minimal technical familiarity, allows you to start building on your first day
5 Extremely easy to learn, no technical familiarity needed, allows you to build something in your first hour

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps is a “low-code” platform more than a no-code platform. They offer visual programming supported by their own low-code programming language, Power Fx. Power Fx uses Excel-like formulas as the basis of its low-code language. 

For programmers and anyone who’s proficient in Excel, the switch to Power Fx will feel familiar, at least, though it still requires significant time investment to learn and at least an intermediate understanding of logic and programming. 

Power Apps does support some visual, drag-and-drop functionality, particularly within frontend design for Canvas apps. However, other drag-and-drop functionality is only supported by custom code add-ons (which somewhat defeats the point), or isn’t supported at all. 

As a result, some technical background is required or else you’ll be working uphill against a steep learning curve. 

Power Apps’ learning curve score: 2/5

How Bubble compares: By contrast, Bubble is incredibly easy to get started with. Bubble offers a simple visual programming interface that still offers complete customization for all three components of app development: design, databases, and logic. 

This means you can create your app’s screens and interfaces with drag-and-drop components and design controls, but you can also build your backend databases and your app’s functionality with drag-and-drop, visual editing as well — no custom code, formulas, or complex commands required (although you can always add them if you want to).

To make it even easier to get started, you can use Bubble Assist. Based on your prompts, Bubble’s AI will suggest the features, data types, and layout you may want to use, with guides to what adding each capability entails. So even with no experience and just a basic idea, you can start building your very own app.

That said, managing and iterating your app on Bubble does take some time to learn deeply (although it’s much quicker and easier than learning any type of programming language or learning how to manage AI-generated custom code). And we provide lots of resources and paths to learn for all skill levels, so you can start from wherever you are and build your knowledge as you go. 

A technical background helps you get more from the platform, faster, but you don’t need experience to hit the ground running. Many longtime users say simply spending time on Bubble has helped them learn technical concepts and become better developers.

Bubble’s learning curve score: 3/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on education and documentation resources

Even if you’re an experienced developer, every platform is different and you can’t expect to understand all the ins and outs right from the start. And for beginners or those without a technical background, having the right resources for learning is even more important. 

Either way, you want to be confident that the platform you choose has a place you can turn to for self-guided education and technical support when you run into challenges or need to do something new.

💡
A free-response section of the State of No-Code Development 2024 survey asked respondents to share any additional considerations that were a key part of the tool comparison process. One out of every ten responses specifically referred to the importance of vetting the vendor’s educational resources.

Our scores for a platform’s resources are based on how much first-party educational materials it has — like guides, tutorials, and technical documentation.

Bottom line: Both Bubble and Power Apps offer high-quality resources to learn the platform. Bubble offers a larger variety of resources and for different learning styles, while Power Apps offers more technical documentation catering to experienced builders. 

Score Criteria
1 Low-quality educational resources
2 Medium-quality resources
3 High-quality resources, low coverage
4 High-quality resources, medium coverage
5 High-quality resources, comprehensive coverage

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps offers robust, high-quality documentation, plus a strong YouTube presence. Whether you’d rather read or watch how to do something, you can find documentation for just about everything the platform can do and build. 

Just keep in mind that some of the technical documentation uses, well, pretty technical language based on Power Apps’ Power Fx programming language and other platform-specific jargon. It can be helpful to familiarize yourself with the platform and the language first, or follow along with their how-to guides or a sample template to get started. 

Power Apps’ education and documentation score: 5/5

How Bubble compares: Since Bubble is designed for everyone, from experienced developers to non-technical beginners, we have heaps of documentation for every skill level. You can also find resources for any learning style. 

If you’re new to software development and Bubble, you might find it most useful to start with our tutorials, interactive lessons, or our getting started courses. For more experienced developers, you’ll find everything you need between our comprehensive online user manual and hundreds of videos

For those looking to really reach expert-level on Bubble, check out our bootcamps or our Bubble Developer Certification program.

No matter how you like to learn or where you are in your no-code journey, Bubble has the resources you need to build the app you’re envisioning. 

Bubble’s education and documentation score: 4/5


Power Apps vs. Bubble on community

Choosing a great no-code builder isn’t just about the platform and the ecosystem of tools — you also want to think about the ecosystem of people that you’ll have around you as you build. 

For some platforms, an active user community surrounding the platform means you have a large network that can help provide recommendations, tips, feedback, and guidance if you get stuck. Even better if the vendor itself is involved in that community and can provide both recommendations and keep a pulse on what users need and value in the platform. 

Our scores reflect how active a platform’s developer community is and the degree to which the platform vendor participates in the community.

Bottom line: Bubble and Power Apps both offer robust forums with company support. However, Bubble’s forum sees more engagement and Bubble also offers live events and meetups. 

Score Criteria
1 No community channels
2 Community channels exist, but participation is low
3 Active community, some company participation
4 Robust community, regular and valuable company participation
5 Everything in 4, plus in-person company events

How Power Apps stacks up: Power Apps offers a robust forum with valuable company participation. Although you’ll see many questions go unanswered, they also have a helpful sorting feature that allows you to search and sort by answered questions — which makes it easier to quickly find out if someone has provided insight into your problem in the past! 

Power Apps’ community score: 4/5

How Bubble compares: Bubble’s community is one of our greatest strengths — not only do you have a completely flexible and customizable platform to build anything you need, but you also have the right support and community around you to provide tips, feedback, and support as you build. 

And because Bubble is such a flexible platform, you’ll find all kinds of builders in our community — from in-house or freelance developers to founders, hobbyists, non-technical product managers, and more. That’s likely one of the reasons our forum posts regularly see thousands of views and hundreds of comments. 

And if you prefer another channel, you’ll also find Bubble user-led subreddits, Discord groups, WhatsApp groups, Slack communities, Facebook groups, and more. We also host in-person events as well. 

Bubble’s community score: 5/5


Bubble vs. Power Apps: Which one is for you?

Bubble and Power Apps both provide stable, reliable software app development platforms with robust communities and resources for learning and building. Which one is right for you will likely come down to your use case, experience level, and existing tech stack. 

If you have at least a foundational technical background, are looking to create an internal product, and your company or client are deeply embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem, Power Apps is likely your best option. Within this specific use case, Power Apps provides a lot of value. It gives you direct, out-of-the-box integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem, which — if you’re already using it — makes it very easy to create apps that integrate with the rest of your tech stack. 

And if you have enough of a technical background to manage the learning curve of Power Apps’ Power Fx low-code programming language, you can use it to quickly build internal tools that help streamline business processes and workflows. 

However, in almost every other case, Bubble is the better solution. Bubble offers significantly more versatility and customization, with much less of a learning curve. Non-technical builders and experienced developers alike can get started easily on Bubble, and can use the platform’s full customization and power with or without custom code. 

That is: Non-technical builders won’t be hampered by needing to understand code or learn a low-code programming language to build and customize. But experienced developers who want the option of custom coding can use it to their heart’s content. It’s the best of both worlds, whereas Power Apps limits custom coding and also requires a low-code language to build functionality and logic. 

Bubble also offers much easier and more seamless technical integrations for teams — whether you’re using a Microsoft-based or non-Microsoft tech stack. Use our out-of-the-box integrations and plugins, or use our API Connector to build your own for whatever you need. 

Most importantly, Bubble gives you the flexibility and power to build absolutely anything all in one place — no coding, external databases, or funky workarounds needed. From web apps to native mobile app development, internal tools and products to scalable, customer-facing tools and platforms, SaaS products to enterprise solutions, Bubble can handle all of it. And you’re not limited in what you can customize, what functionality you can add, or really… anything. 

So if you want the freedom, functionality, and flexibility to build what’s on your to-do list today, tomorrow, and two years from now — without having to code — Bubble has you covered. 

Want to see how Bubble compares to other Power Apps alternatives? Check out some of our other comparisons: 


Choose the no-code development platform that’s right for you

The no-code platform you choose completely shapes what your products and tools can actually do, the speed with which you can bring them to market, the ongoing impact development has on your budget, and the experience you’ll have for years to come.

Want to learn more about what goes into choosing a no-code development platform, along with a more detailed breakdown of the choices available to you? Check out our buyer’s guide to no-code development platforms.

The best way to decide which no-code platform is right for you? Try them yourself. You’ll see the difference, especially if you start with these comparisons in mind.