No-code is building software or automating processes without programming: you click applications, flows or websites together in a visual environment. Examples are Zapier and Make for automation and platforms like Airtable for simple applications.
No-code in practice
The strength of no-code is speed and ownership: a capable employee sets up a working flow themselves in an afternoon, without a development project. For SMBs that is often the fastest route from manual work to automation — certainly for processes with standard building blocks.
The limits: complex logic becomes unwieldy in a click-based environment, costs grow with volume, and 'anyone can do it' leads, without agreements, to a proliferation of flows that nobody manages any more. Set ownership and documentation down, and choose deliberately between no-code, low-code and custom development per process.
Related terms
- Low-code — Low-code is developing software in a visual environment where you click most of it together but add your own code where needed.
- iPaaS — iPaaS (integration Platform as a Service) is a cloud service that lets you connect software systems without building or hosting integration software yourself.
- Workflow automation — Workflow automation is running consecutive process steps automatically based on an event: an order comes in, and the invoice is created, the customer is emailed and inventory is updated — without manual steps in between.