We are thrilled to share the results of our fourth study on how to start web applications in 2025!

Our annual research on how web applications are started has attracted growing interest and recognition for four consecutive years. Building on the foundation laid in 2022, 2023, and 2024, we continue our efforts to capture the latest trends, tools, and methodologies shaping how web apps are developed.

In 2025, our focus expands to include emerging concepts such as “vibe coding” and the increasing use of AI web generators. We’ve refined the survey by removing outdated topics and adding new questions to better reflect the rapid evolution of the web development landscape. As in previous years, we aim to understand how web apps are started across the full spectrum of tools, from traditional coding environments to low-code/no-code platforms and AI-assisted solutions.

This year, we also continued collecting data about respondents’ roles, engineers, decision-makers, and others, allowing us to examine how professional responsibilities influence development approaches and tool choices.

The 2025 edition of the survey was conducted between April and July. A total of 303 participants from 33 countries took part. Below is a detailed overview of the technologies, frameworks, platforms, and workflows users use to build web applications today.

The results of the previous year’s research:

This year’s results: https://flatlogic.com/starting-web-app-in-2025-research-results Starting Web App 2025

Key findings highlighted:

  1. Decline in Traditional Coding: Only 20.8% of respondents prefer to build web applications by manually writing code. This continues a significant downward trend from 36.0% in 2024 and 65.9% in 2022, signaling a structural shift in development practices. Though around 40–50% of professional software engineers still prefer manual coding
  2. Tools such as Bolt.new, Flatlogic, and Lovable have gained prominence, with 38% of participants using AI-powered app generators as their starting point to start a web app. Traditional Low-Code/No-Code Tools Losing Ground. Only 6.3% report using visual low-code/no-code tools.
  3. Vibe-Coding Tools Deliver Full-Stack Results. A growing share of respondents now use AI-powered generators to build real applications: 31.7% reach Level 3 complexity (frontend apps with backend integration), 29.4% reach Level 4 (custom full-stack apps with CRUD and data), and 14.5% achieve Level 5, production-grade SaaS with advanced features. All numbers self-reported.
  4. Despite strong adoption, common issues with vibe coding tools include context loss (45.5%), pricing concerns (41.9%), security risks (35%), and limited customization (33.3%). However, 11.2% reported no issues at all, showing growing confidence in these tools.
  5. React and Node.js remain the dominant stack, with AWS leading cloud use and Tailwind overtaking Bootstrap. Respondents still favor manual database control despite rising serverless and AI-driven styling trends.
  6. AI-Based Learning Becomes Mainstream. Conversational learning via tools like ChatGPT has become the most common learning method, with 32% of respondents adopting it in 2025, up from 22.6% in 2024.

To read the full report, including additional insights and the full methodology of the research, please visit this page.