What Does Vibe Coding Mean for Low-Code Platforms?

Someone with zero coding background can now spin up a working CRM before lunch. Software companies are losing billions in market cap. SaaS subscription costs keep climbing while building your own gets cheaper by the month. And low-code platforms, while a different beast than traditional SaaS, face the same uncomfortable question: why pay for platform licenses when AI tools let you build for free?

So is the era of low-code platforms over?

Not quite. But low-code platforms need to answer some hard questions.

The challenge is real

Generative AI has changed development practices faster than most of us expected. Vibe coding tools now deliver on the same promises low-code platforms were built on: speed, accessibility, and empowering non-developers to build. The difference? They often do it faster, produce modern-looking results, and don’t lock you into a single ecosystem.

And the real disruption isn’t just only the tools themselves. It’s that the biggest friction in building software is usually not technical. It is structural: waiting on vendors, scheduling demos, debating requirements in meetings that spawn more meetings. Vibe coding sidesteps all of that. Anyone can pick up these tools in a few hours and start shipping.

So why would anyone stick with a low-code platform?

Because a prototype is not a production app

Enterprise applications need more than a nice UI. Authentication, access control, DLP policies, auditing, backups, a massive connector ecosystem, etc. Platforms like Power Platform give you all of this out of the box. The real value was never just only the drag-and-drop canvases. It was Dataverse, the connector ecosystem, enterprise security, and governance as well.

Building these features from scratch, even with AI, is a massive undertaking. And maintenance is where it really hurts. Vibe coding is easy. Maintaining vibe-coded apps over time is not. AI-generated code turns into spaghetti fast, and the old wisdom still holds: 80% of the cost comes from maintenance.

What does this mean for low-code platforms?

Low-code platforms aren’t going away. But they need to evolve, and the organizations using them need to evolve with them. Microsoft hasn’t been standing still: vibe.PowerApps.com already exists, and Code Apps (building apps with React frontend + Dataverse backend) is now generally available. The platform is absorbing AI capabilities fast. But so is the competition, from the other direction.

The productivity gains are real, but so is the paradox: 10x output means 10x more decisions. AI doesn’t reduce work, it changes the nature of it. More steering, less manual execution. Good developers aren’t going away. Their role is shifting toward orchestration, review, and making sure the right things get built the right way.

Today, the biggest constraint isn’t technology. It’s the ability to imagine new solutions that actually support the business and the discipline to build them responsibly.

What citizen developers should do now?

• Don’t get stuck with only the tools you know. Power Platform’s Canvas and Model-Driven Apps are solid, but try vibe coding tools alongside them. Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot…, pick one and get your hands dirty.
• Expand your range. Test how an Azure Function App gets deployed. Replace a Power Automate flow with something you vibe coded. See what works, what breaks, and where the platform still gives you things you can’t easily replicate.
• Learn to read code. You don’t need to write everything yourself, but you need to be able to review what AI generates and understand what it does. This is becoming a core skill, not an optional extra.
• Know your limits. A prototype for small-scale internal use is fine. A production app for hundreds of users is a different game entirely. Understand what you give up without a platform: authentication, permissions, DLP, and auditing don’t build themselves.
• Don’t be afraid of terminals and code. They’re not as scary as they look. The barrier to entry has never been lower.

What organizations should do now?

• Start. Don’t wait for perfect. Build together with your IT-partners and demand transparency in AI-assisted implementations. This is new territory for everyone.
• Invest in governance early. Agree on ground rules, development practices, and AI usage guidelines before the first incident, not after. Define what tools are allowed, what connectors can be used, and who can deploy what and how.
• Establish proper development practices. Create consistent repo templates, use scaffolding scripts, and embed organizational guidelines directly into AI coding tool rules. Set up version control, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing. With AI generating test cases as fast as code, there’s no excuse to skip them.
• Give citizen developers a fundamentals course. When everyone can generate code, the basics of software development (versioning, testing, reviewing, deploying) become essential knowledge across the organization.
• Take security seriously. The rush to ship AI-powered solutions is real, but so are the risks. Most organizations don’t yet have clear guidelines for AI tools and solutions. Fix that now.
• Don’t replace core systems just yet. The technology is moving so fast that today’s AI-built solutions might need to be rebuilt next year. Focus on smaller wins, build experience, then scale.

As said, the biggest constraint isn’t technology. It’s your own, and your organization’s, way of working. When building gets easier, value shifts to understanding: what to build, how to govern it, and how to connect it to real business outcomes.

This post is based on Forward Forever’s webinar “The Future of Low-Code Platforms and Citizen Development.” More webinars and registration: forwardforever.com/webinars-2026