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DARTVEL VS BUBBLE

Build it visually, and still own the code underneath.

Bubble is one of the most complete no-code platforms: a visual page builder, workflows, a database, auth, an API connector, plugins, an AI agent that generates and edits apps, and native iOS and Android apps, whose editor is in beta. Studio is the same shape. The difference is what you are left holding: a Bubble app runs on Bubble, and a Dartvel app is a Dart project in your own repository that happens to have a builder on top of it.

A page built in Studio is a document your app serves, and the same project is Dart you can open, diff and review.

Frontend and backend function builders are free, in the Studio your own binary serves.

When the builder runs out, you write the function in Dart beside the ones it generated. There is no ceiling and no export.

SIDE BY SIDE

What each one gives you.

Page builder

Bubble: Yes, and very good

Dartvel: Studio, free, served by your own binary

Logic

Bubble: Workflows in the editor

Dartvel: Frontend and backend function builders, free

Escape hatch

Bubble: Plugins, the API Connector, and JavaScript through plugins

Dartvel: Write Dart beside what the builder made

Backend

Bubble: Built in

Dartvel: Built in, and it is yours

Database

Bubble: Bubble's own, and external SQL databases through the SQL Database Connector

Dartvel: SQLite, Postgres or MySQL, wherever you run it

Hosting

Bubble: Bubble's servers, or a dedicated instance Bubble runs on AWS

Dartvel: One binary, on any Linux, macOS or Windows box

Targets

Bubble: Web, and native iOS and Android in beta

Dartvel: Web, Android, iOS, desktop, TVs, browser and editor extensions

Pricing

Bubble: Plans metered by workload units

Dartvel: The framework is free; Cloud builds will be paid

Leaving

Bubble: A rewrite. Data exports; the app does not

Dartvel: You already have the repository

THE CEILING

Every visual builder has one. This one has a door in it.

The moment that decides a no-code project is the one where the thing you need is not in the editor. On Bubble that is a plugin you find or write in JavaScript, a workaround, or a rebuild somewhere else. In Studio the builder generates a function in your project, and the next one you write by hand sits beside it and is called the same way.

// what the builder made, in your repository
@DVBackendFunction()
Future<String> _placeOrder(String itemId, int quantity) async {
  final String orderId = await reserveStock(itemId, quantity);
  // and what you added when the builder ran out
  await SendReceipt(orderId: orderId).dispatch();
  return orderId;
}

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HONESTLY

Where Bubble is ahead today.

Bubble has been running for over a decade, with a plugin ecosystem, an agency network and a marketplace. Studio has no marketplace open yet.

Its editor is deeper: responsive rules, reusable elements, workflow branching, a debugger, version control and collaborators, built over years.

Bubble's AI agent generates a first version of an app from a description and edits it on request, inside the editor.

Bubble hosts your app. Dartvel gives you a binary, and running it is your job until Cloud opens.

You can build a working Bubble app knowing nothing about code. Studio asks less of you than Dart does, and it does not ask nothing.

Is Dartvel no-code then?

No. It is a framework with a builder on it. The bet is that the people who outgrow no-code and the people who want to start without writing Dart should not have to be on two different platforms.

ALSO

Dartvel next to the tools people ask about.

FSL-1.1-MIT licensed. Built with Dartvel.

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