Bubble can assist you to create some pretty powerful platforms with no code such as a marketplace, a SaaS app, a CRM or an in-house dashboard. But due to the availability of no-code platforms such as Bubble, the commitment in time and costs to produce fully functioning web applications have reduced significantly.
Bubble helps you to build powerful platforms non-programmatically, including a marketplace and a SaaS tool, CRM, and an internal dashboard. Nevertheless, even though Bubble eliminates the requirement to read or write code, the technology requires technical minds, design reasoning, and knowledge of app architecture. It explains why most businesses prefer to outsource Bubble developers or get Bubble app development services, allowing them to do it correctly from the outset.
This is a detailed checklist of things to consider before hiring a Bubble developer, which will help you mitigate risk, save time, and make your investments worthwhile.
1. Clearly Define Your App Vision and Scope
You should also be able to describe what you are building before hiring a developer. Without clarity, your most talented Bubble masters will struggle to implement your vision successfully.
Ask yourself:
- What is the major problem in your application?
- Who will you be targeting?
- What are the top three features required in version 1?
- What do you want the application to do in 3, 6 or 12 months?
It is helpful to have a feature roadmap or product brief with developers so that they can estimate and be on track with your priorities. It can also help filter out developers who are not suitable for your niche or app type.
2. Understand What Bubble Can (and Can’t) Do
Bubbles are very powerful, yet not a magic wand. An intelligent founder understands his platform in terms of its best capabilities and limitations.
The ideal application of Bubble is:
Web applications that have user logins, process workflows, and databases
MVPs, CRMs, marketplaces, directories and dashboard
Apps needing backend logic without traditional code
However, it’s not well-suited for:
- High-performance gaming or animation-heavy apps
- Native mobile apps (though wrappers like BDK or Nativator exist)
- Use cases requiring deep custom logic in JS or complex backend processes
Understanding this helps you manage expectations and hire Bubble developers who can work within these constraints or extend Bubble where needed.
3. Review the Developer’s Portfolio, Not Just Skills, but Relevance
When evaluating a developer or agency, look beyond generic skills. Look for project relevance. Have they built:
- A multi-vendor marketplace similar to yours?
- A SaaS dashboard with analytics and role-based permissions?
- CRM-style interfaces with backend workflows?
Ask for live app links, walkthroughs, or client case studies. A proven track record in your industry or app type is a strong signal they can deliver faster, avoid pitfalls, and bring strategic insight, not just development effort.
4. Evaluate Their Workflow and Logic Expertise
Building with Bubble is about designing workflows, sequences of actions triggered by user interactions. These workflows significantly impact the user experience.
An expert Bubble developer knows:
- How to simplify logic to avoid bloated apps
- When to use custom states vs. database writes for speed
- How to handle real-time updates and user triggers efficiently
- How to avoid logic conflicts or redundant actions
Get candidates to reverse engineer a process in which they had to build workflows around a past feature. Their clearness (or un-clearness) will give you a great deal of information.
5. Make Sure They are aware of Good UI/UX Design Principles
Bubble gives you visual control over app design. But design is more than choosing colors and fonts – it’s about usability, responsiveness, and hierarchy.
A capable developer should know:
- How to build clean, responsive layouts using Bubble’s containers and grids
- Understand what consistent styling truly means for your business.
- Optimization for a mobile or desktop view
- Choosing whether to implement reusable elements to save time and avoid inconsistency
If your developer lacks design instincts, your application may behave fine yet feel clunky, which could significantly harm adoption and retention rates. Consider partnering with a developer or going for a full-stack Bubble app development company.
6. Test Their API and Plugin Integration Skills
- Stripe for payments
- Google Maps for Geolocation
- Zapier for workflows
- Airtable, Slack, or HubSpot for sync
- Custom APIs for internal tools
While powerful, Bubble API Connector can be daunting to some beginners, and so your developer should really know:
- The correct use of GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods
- What are options to authenticate using API keys, tokens and OAuth2?
- How to handle dynamic data coming from external sources?
- How to debug an API call when it fails in a very efficient manner?
If your app’s usefulness depends on integrations, this should be the ultimate hiring filter.
7. Ask them what their process of development is, and how collaborative they may be or not be
Good programmers do not only code, but also write clearly, stay on schedule and write readable documentation.
Ask them:
- What are their structures of tasks and timelines?
- Are they concentrated on moments of truth in agile sprints or are the milestones delivered each week?
- What are their tools/trello, notion, Slack?
- How regularly are you going to B be updated or sent demo
A developer that shows transparency through being able to describe their procedure and use tools in the process has a higher chance of delivering on schedule as well as adapting as priorities change.
8. Assess Performance Optimization Knowledge
Even no-code apps need performance tuning. Poorly optimized Bubble apps can suffer from:
- Slow page loads
- Unnecessary database calls
- Clunky workflows
- Overloaded conditionals
Ask the developer how they:
- Optimize Bubble’s search and filter functions
- Use custom states to reduce backend calls
- Handle large datasets and pagination
- Track the performance of Monitors through debugger of Bubble or third-party tools
A properly-optimized application does not only perform more efficiently; it is cheaper to scale.
9. Ask How at Data Privacy and Security
Bubble supports role-based settings, privacy policies and secure processes, but only when done so by the developer.
Your developer should:
- Structure your database to avoid overexposure of sensitive data
- Set up page-level and field-level privacy rules
- Use backend workflows for sensitive actions
- Support strong user-based authentication and block exploits (e.g., bad redirects)
Any app that involves payments, health data, or business-critical information does not have any other choice thanks to the above security practices.
10. Plan for Post-Launch Support
Once your app is live, you’ll need:
- Bug fixes and minor improvements
- Analytics and user feedback implementation
- New feature development based on real usage
- Bubble plugin or API version upgrades
Before hiring, ask:
- Do you offer post-launch maintenance?
- Can I retain you for a monthly support plan?
- How fast do you respond to critical issues?
Agencies offering Bubble app development services often include post-launch support. Independent developers may not, so plan accordingly.
Conclusion
Hiring a Bubble developer is a critical step in building a successful no-code application. While Bubble eliminates code, it still requires strategic thinking, solid UX, workflow mastery, and API knowledge. Following this checklist will help you vet candidates thoroughly and avoid hiring someone who just “dabbles” in Bubble.
Whether you’re a startup founder building your first MVP or a product manager at an enterprise digitizing internal tools, investing in the right developer or better yet, a reliable Bubble app development service will accelerate your time to market and reduce future rework.
