Starting Web App in 2024 Research Results

Introduction

For a few years, our studies on how web apps started in 2022 and 2023 have gained significant attention and citations. This year, we've continued our research to capture the latest trends and dynamics in web application development.

2024 was the year with the highest number of participants in the research - a total of 508 unique responses received. Our focus in 2024 is still on identifying how web apps are started, also covering the evolution of AI integration into the development process. This year we also collected information about the role of a respondent, making it possible to understand web development patterns based on the respondent's role, such as engineer, decision maker, or other roles.

Below you'll find a deeper exploration of the technologies, frameworks, tools, platforms, and specific patterns respondents follow to build Web applications in 2024.

The survey was conducted between April and June 2024. 508 respondents from 33 countries participated.

The results of the previous year's research:

2022 – https://flatlogic.com/starting-web-app-in-2022-research

2023 – https://flatlogic.com/starting-web-app-in-2023-research

Key outcomes

The key findings of the study, grouped by category, are presented in this section:

Building web applications

• Decline in Traditional Coding: The number of users who prefer building web apps by writing code dropped from 65.97% in 2022 to 36.02% in 2024

• AI has become integral to the web development process, with 63% of respondents already incorporating AI tools like ChatGPT into their workflows, compared to 50% last year.

• WordPress (29.3%) and FlutterFlow (16.5%) are the most commonly used no-code/low-code solutions.

• Most respondents prefer visual drag-and-drop builders (52%) over text-to-app generators (27%), though it is the first year we do the measurement.

Technology

• React (51.8%), Node.js (31.1%), and MySQL (31.3%) are the most in-demand web development technologies, while React is an unbeatable leader among a new generation of engineers

• The most popular technology stacks for 2024 are React and Node.js (51.8% and 31.1%, respectively). Angular and Vue are a close second as front-end technology stacks ( 11% and 9.1%), with Python and PHP coming in second and third as back-end technology stacks (14.6 % and 13%).

• AWS is the most preferred cloud hosting platform for web applications, with 41.6% to 26% usage.

• Despite the rise of headless CMS and serverless solutions, 47.4% of respondents still prefer to manage databases themselves, however, this number dropped significantly compared to the last year.

• Bootstrap remains the most used library for styling and components, followed by Tailwind CSS, with usage at 28.9% and 24.4%, respectively. These numbers are smaller than last year because of the growing popularity of the “no styling library” approach (12.4%).

Learning to code

• More than 66% of respondents prefer to learn code from online resources, especially through talking to AI (22.6%) and online resources. Only 27.4% prefer to learn web development resorting to classical offline methods.

• There is a direct correlation between experience and learning sources: students and developers (more than 50%) are more likely to use online courses, forums, and other resources, while marketing and sales specialists tend to learn coding by talking to AI.

Methodology

The survey included 21 anonymous questions about web development and was completed by 508 participants from 33 countries. With a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 4%, the survey was conducted from April 10 to June 20, 2024. No specific type of web application was specified deliberately to allow for a wide range of responses and to capture whatever one means when referring to “web application”. The audience was primarily drawn from Flatlogic's digital platforms such as onsite messaging, blog posts, email lists, banner ads, and social media posts. Other engineers from the web development community were also asked to help complete the survey via paid advertising.

All questions were required to be completed, and some questions were unspecified, leaving open-ended options for participants to share their perspectives.

If you would like to see the original questionnaire, please use the URL provided. Note, however, that the form of the questions is no longer applicable and should not be filled out.

Respondent profile

Here is what we know about the participants' profiles.

Experience

The survey results show that most respondents had at least one year of software development experience. In addition, many respondents had more than 10 years of software development experience.

Seeing how our respondents built web apps in 2024 under different roles was very interesting. So we also asked respondents about their roles, and most of them about 39% are engineers, 13% of students, 20% of decision-makers, product/project managers, and others.

Geography

In total, developers from 33 countries participated in the study.

Starting web application

How respondents build web applications

Although low-code/no-code tools are gaining popularity, most respondents (36%) still prefer to build web applications by writing code, but that number has decreased by 17% since 2023 and by 27% since 2022. A slightly higher number (37.4%) said they would use a combination of code and low-code/no-code tools. The number of respondents who would use a combination of code and low-code/no-code tools increased significantly by 10% year-over-year , while only 15.7% would use only LCNC tools, which gained 12% from last year. 8.5% said they would use professional services. This is not significantly different from last year.

As the comparison between 2022 and 2023, 2024 data shows, the combination of low-code/no-code (LCNC) tools with traditional web application development approaches has grown significantly in popularity. The number of users favoring this combination has increased from 22.3% in 2022 to 32.7% in 2023 and 37.4% this year.

We also observe that year after year the number of respondents who prefer classical software creation without relying on LCNC tools constantly decreases from 65.97% in 2022 to 36.02% in 2024. In other words, more and more users rely on various low-code/no-code and/or AI tools in web development. Respondents who have no development experience at all (“I do not have experience”) use LCNC tools the most. Respondents who have at least some development experience (“0 years +”) rarely use LCNC tools.

The conclusion is that the more experienced web developers are, the more likely they prefer writing code (the old-school way) rather than using low-/no-code tools. Low-code/no-code tools are more popular among those with no coding experience at all. However, this is changing to more mixed approaches: more developers prefer to use some sort of combination of LCNC & classical development, which gains the advantages of no code but keeps the flexibility of classical development.

Depending on roles we can see that about 50% of engineers and students prefer the classical approach to start building web apps, but also about 30% are combining classical methods with LCNC tools. It is also clear that other roles, as well as the fact that more than 30% of respondents choose a combination of the classical approach with LCNC tools, are also more likely to use only LCNC tools.

The vast majority of engineers (81.3%) would use starter kits/boilerplates and other templates to build a web application. However, this is a decrease compared to 89.8% in 2023 and 72.7% in 2022. Only 20.7% would use paid solutions, compared to 11.2% in 2023 and 14.1% in 2022.

Surprisingly, engineers with 1 to 3 years of experience are the least likely to use templates. It can be speculated that at this early stage, these engineers are gaining their first hands-on experience and developing a sense of confidence in their abilities. As a result, they may be less likely to rely on pre-existing templates or someone else's code, preferring to build from scratch.

Conversely, more experienced engineers with solid backgrounds are more likely to use templates to speed up the development process. As they gain knowledge and expertise over time, these engineers recognize the value of using templates as a means to increase productivity and efficiency.

Low-code/now-code tools

The main idea of this year's research is to understand well the tendency of popularization of LCNC tools, and which ones are trendy. Based on the responses regarding the use of low-code/no-code tools to a new question introduced this year: “Would you prefer visual/drag-and-drop builders OR text-to-app generators?”, we see that more than 50% prefer to use visual/drag-and-drop builders, to simplify the development lifecycle.

This year is the first year when we started measuring this preference, so unfortunately we do not have historical data to see the dynamics. Decision makers lean towards visual builders with 57.69% preference, but also show significant interest in text-to-app generators at 31.73%.

In this research, we grouped text-to-app generators into the same category as Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) tools. However, text-to-app generators have the added advantage of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). We aimed to assess the familiarity of our respondents with the currently popular LCNC tools available on the market and determine the most effective ones. The leader of text-to-app generators in 2024 with 30% is GPT Engineer, Flatlogic Generator in second place with 24% (of course this is biased, we know it! :) ) of respondents votes, and the 3rd top of this year is Flutterflow AI Gen.

The LCNC tool market is fragmented with no clear leader, although the most popular low-code/no-code tools are WordPress, FlutterFlow in 2nd, and Bubble in 3rd place. However, more than 32% this year, 44% in 2023, and 45% in 2022 of respondents would not use any of the low-code/no-code tools to build web applications. The no-code/low-code market is still very fragmented with no clear leader. Flatlogic bias was present in the data due to the data collection mechanism.

In terms of the distribution of responses by the tool based on an approach to web application development please see the chart below:

WordPress has embarked on its third consecutive year of being the most popular no-code tool according to our research. However, while WordPress is user-friendly, it requires coding skills and technical knowledge for advanced customization, which undermines its no-code philosophy.

It is worth noting that respondents who consider hiring professional services also tend to avoid low-code/now-code tools. On the other hand, for the group inclined to use no-code/low-code approaches, WordPress and Bubble emerged as the most popular LCNC tools.

Also, we made some analysis of development experience to see the preferences of our respondents.

GPT Engineer is the most popular tool across all experience levels, especially among beginners (37.08% for no experience, 36.26% for 0-1 year). Flatlogic Generator has a steady user base, with preferences between 22.43% and 27.54% across all levels (this data is biased of course, since we collected information via our channels!). The more experienced the respondents are the (31.88% for 5-10 years, 43.93% for over 10 years) more often they prefer not using any of these tools, likely opting for other solutions. New developers are more experimental, but as experience increases, there's a clear shift towards needing more advanced or customizable tools.

In terms of specific no-/low-code tools cited by respondents, WordPress emerged as a frequently cited choice across experience levels. FlutterFlow is another popular option mentioned by many respondents. Bubble is preferred mostly by those with 0 to 1 years of experience. More experienced developers (more than 10 years) show varied preferences, with tools like Webflow and WordPress still holding strong. Interestingly, the Flatlogic Platform also sees usage across various experience levels, indicating its recognition in the field, even though results are biased.

Preferences in low-code/now-code tools, depending on experience, are as follows.

AI Integrations To Web App Development

This year we have improved the questions list and added ones related to AI. Of course, we started over the basic question about using ChatGPT or other AI tools, to see if our respondents were familiar with it. We can confidently say that more than 60% of respondents use these kinds of tools, what’s been an increase from last year’s 50%.

In 2024, the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for starting web applications saw a significant increase, with 63.19% of respondents using these tools, up from 49.51% in 2023. The proportion of those planning to use AI tools slightly decreased, while the percentage of respondents not using AI tools dropped notably from 22.01% in 2023 to 11.81% in 2024. This trend indicates a growing acceptance and heavy reliance on AI tools in web development.

Next was a slightly more difficult question to identify the leader in a more specific field for web app development - AI coding assistants. ChatGPT/Open AI is the unbeatable leader (50%) this and last year and the second place is Amazon CodeWhisperer, while GitHub Copilot is the third.

ChatGPT/OpenAI is the most widely used AI coding assistant across various roles, particularly among administrative staff, product/project managers, and developers. GitHub Copilot has moderate usage among developers and students. Other AI tools see minimal adoption. A notable number of decision-makers and product/project managers avoid AI coding assistants, and many sales/marketing roles do not use these tools or start web apps by writing code. This highlights the broad acceptance of ChatGPT/OpenAI and varying preferences for AI tools across different professional roles.

Learning how to code

Not surprisingly, more than half of respondents chose to learn Web development online. Resources such as online classes, forums, and other digital materials are popular among younger respondents. But you also see that more respondents are learning to code by simply talking with AI regardless of their experience. Conversely, more experienced respondents tended to prefer more traditional methods of learning, such as attending school and reading books. Interestingly, some respondents mentioned gaining knowledge through programming as an additional source of learning.

Compared to last year, there is a clear trend that video content has been replaced with talking to AI! The choice of video as a source of learning has decreased from 21.8% to 14.2%, while 22.6% of respondents preferred to talk with AI.

We also analyzed the relationship between how people learn and their roles.

There is no significant difference between the roles however, sales/marketing people prefer to learn coding with AI the most among other groups.

Technologies and frameworks

The goal of this section is to find out what technological tools engineers choose and use when building Web applications.

Web development technologies overall

In the first inquiry, we asked participants to select from up to 70 available options of the web development technologies, frameworks, libraries, and tools that they either use or plan to use. We assumed that people would select the technologies that were most familiar and comfortable to them. The results showed that the most popular choices among respondents were Javascript, React, and HTML5, compared to Javascript, HTML5, and CSS3 in 2023 and Javascript, Node.js, and npm in 2022.

Front-end technologies

React is predicted to be the undisputed leader among front-end frameworks, with Vue and Angular a close second. This trend is consistent with 2023, when React was also leading, followed by Vue and Angular. In 2022, React was leading, but the competition between Vue and Angular was less pronounced.

The popularity of technologies depends on work experience. Compared to last year, the 2023 data shows developers with 0-3 years of experience still prefer React and Angular due to their robust communities and extensive documentation. However, the trend continues as experienced developers (3-5 years) explore alternative frameworks such as Vue while still using React and Angular. This consistent pattern indicates a gradual shift toward framework usage that continues to grow as developers gain more experience. For developers with 0-3 years of experience, React is the obvious and almost the only choice. Hearts of Young are with React.

However, it's important to note that experience alone does not dictate the choice of front-end stack. Project requirements, team collaboration, industry trends, personal preferences, and other factors also play an important role. Developers often adapt and learn new frameworks based on the needs of the project or to expand their skill set. But still, React remains a clear leader in all experience groups.

Back-end technologies

Node.js is by far the most prominent back-end technology, with Python and PHP coming in second and third, respectively. This result is consistent with the results of many other surveys, suggesting that it is typical. In 2023, the most popular back-end technologies were also Node.js, Python, and PHP. In 2022, Node.js was a leader among back-end technologies, with PHP in second place and Java in third.

Respondents with 1-3 years of experience are more likely to choose popular and versatile options such as JavaScript (Node.js), Java, and Python. These stacks are known for their ease of use and the wide range of libraries and frameworks available.

As developers gain more experience (3-5 years and 5-10 years), their choices become more diverse. Some continue to use the above stacks, while others explore emerging technologies such as serverless architectures (Jamstack, Firebase) or dive into specific languages such as .NET.Java & javascript are clear leaders.

Data management

In data storage and management, a significant portion of respondents (47.4%) opt to manage their databases, a slight decline from last year. The use of headless CMSs and serverless solutions grew from 11.6% to 11.8%. Firebase (16.3%) and Azure MySQL (11.8%) are increasingly popular.

Interestingly, database preferences show no clear correlation with experience levels. Relational databases are favored by respondents of all experience levels, with MySQL being more popular among experienced developers. MongoDB, while common, is less favored by seasoned engineers, typically ranking third in preferences. Less than half 47.4% of respondents are ready to manage their own databases, which is a decrease compared to last year.

Relational databases are the most popular choice among Web developers of all experience levels. Interestingly, more experienced developers choose MySQL over PostgreSQL. MongoDB is less popular among experienced engineers, although it is in the 3rd place of choices.

Relationship between front-end, back-end, and data management solutions

We also see a correlation in the choice of front-end and back-end technologies. The engineers who use React are more likely to choose Java and Node.js as their back-end solutions. This is consistent with 2023, where React engineers also preferred Node.js and Java. In 2022, engineers using React were more likely to choose Node.js as a back-end solution. Vue engineers also prefer PHP, and Angular loves the .NET back-end. But overall, Node.js is the most preferred choice.

With the naked eye, you can see that some stacks come in pairs, such as Java with Angular, Javascript with React, and PHP with Vue.

In addition, we can see that Node.js development teams use each of the major DBs almost equally. PHP users rely on MySQL due to its standardization within the PHP web development domain.

We reviewed the industry's traditional conventions about technology adoption in this part of the assessment. .NET developers show a strong preference for SQL Server, Golang developers favor PostgreSQL followed by MySQL, Java developers primarily use MySQL and MongoDB, JavaScript (Node.js) developers heavily favor MongoDB, PHP developers overwhelmingly choose MySQL, Python developers prefer PostgreSQL and MySQL, and Ruby on Rails developers show a clear preference for MySQL followed by PostgreSQL.

Hosting and Deployment

As far as hosting is concerned, there were no surprises. Amazon AWS is still the leader. This trend is consistent with 2023 and 2022, where AWS was also the preferred hosting platform.

Code-generation tools

More than 60% of respondents do not take advantage of code-generation tools such as Yeoman, Rails Scaffolder, and similar ones.This is a slight decrease from 2023, where over 70% did not use code-generation tools.

Experience does not seem to significantly impact one's preference for using code-generation tools. Nonetheless, engineers with experience from less than 3 years tend to depend more on scaffolding tools.

Code management tools

Most developers see GitHub as the go-to option for hosting and managing their code, with a few individuals selecting in-house servers instead. This trend remains consistent with 2023 and 2022, where GitHub was also the preferred platform for code management.

API

More than 69% of engineers prefer REST APIs when setting up web applications, leaving only 8.7% of respondents who did not select this option.This preference for REST APIs is consistent with both 2023 and 2022 findings.

CSS and component libraries

Bootstrap remains the most popular CSS/component library with 28.9% usage, followed by Tailwind CSS at 24.4%, and Material-UI at 19.9%. These numbers have decreased from last year due to the increasing popularity of the "no styling library" approach, which now stands at 12.4%.

Comparison of Web Development Trends and Preferences From 2022 to 2024

​​Over the three years from 2022 to 2024, the web development landscape has seen significant shifts, especially in the adoption of LCNC tools and AI.

Building Web Applications:

Fewer people prefer classical software creation without LCNC tools. In 2022, 65.97% preferred it, but by 2024, only 36.02% did.

In 2022, experienced engineers primarily preferred traditional coding methods, while entry-level developers leaned towards low-code/no-code (LCNC) tools. By 2023, LCNC tools gained popularity across all experience levels, though seasoned developers still leaned towards traditional coding. In 2024, the integration of AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot has become widespread, with engineers of all levels using LCNC tools alongside traditional methods. The preference for a combination of LCNC and classical approaches has grown from 22.3% in 2022 to 37.4% in 2024.

Technology Trends. React and Node.js have consistently been the most in-demand technologies from 2022 to 2024. Bootstrap remains the leading CSS library. AWS continues to be the preferred cloud hosting platform, although headless CMS and serverless solutions are gaining traction. The use of starter kits and boilerplates has remained high, with 81.3% of engineers favoring them in 2024.

Learning and Professional Development. Online resources have always been popular for learning to code, but there has been a notable shift towards AI-enabled learning by 2024. A growing number of people prefer to interact with AI for learning, and video content is becoming less used as a learning tool.

LCNC Tools and AI Integration. While WordPress and Wix were the dominant LCNC tools in 2022 and 2023, 2024 saw the rise of tools like FlutterFlow. AI tools have become indispensable in software engineering, with 60% of engineers using them in their development workflows. The use of AI coding assistants like Amazon CodeWhispered and GitHub Copilot is especially popular among experienced developers.

Engineer Profiles and Preferences. In 2024, engineers of varying experience levels showed a strong preference for using a combination of traditional coding and LCNC tools.

Code Management and APIs. GitHub is the preferred code hosting and management platform, and REST APIs are the dominant choice for setting up web applications.

CSS and Component Libraries. Bootstrap continues to be the most favored CSS and component library, followed by Tailwind CSS and Material-UI, with the “no-css-framework” approach gaining popularity.

Overall, the trends from 2022 to 2024 indicate a growing integration of LCNC tools and AI in web development, with traditional coding still holding significant importance. The adoption of AI tools has streamlined the development process, making it accessible to engineers of all experience levels. The combination of traditional and modern approaches is becoming the norm, enhancing both efficiency and flexibility in web application development.

Conclusion

The evolution of web application development in 2024 highlights an important trend: a blended method of traditional coding and low-code/no-code (LC/NC) solutions will become more prevalent among developers of varying experience levels. The key finding from this year's research illustrates a clear shift towards hybrid development practices - only 36.02% of respondents in 2024 relied on classical code creation without relying on LCNC/AI tools, compared to 65.97% in 2022.

Despite the persistence of traditional coding - still preferred by the majority - LCNC tools are streamlining development processes, particularly for entry-level engineers. The popularity of AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot among developers of all experience levels suggests a broader adoption of AI in the coding workflow, improving productivity and potentially disrupting traditional development paradigms.

WordPress and FlutterFlow remain popular due to their user-friendly interfaces and widespread adoption, but no single LCNC tool dominates the market, highlighting a fragmented landscape with varying preferences based on developer needs and experience.

React and Node.js continue to emerge as the dominant technologies among developers for front-end and back-end development. This reflects a trend toward JavaScript-based technologies that meet the industry's current demands for flexible, scalable, and efficient web solutions.React is an unbeatable leader among a new generation of engineers.

The evolving development environment highlights a diverse ecosystem where frameworks like Vue, Angular, and React are chosen based on project requirements, personal preference, and community support. This variety ensures that while some technologies may be more popular, others remain essential for specific contexts, enriching the web development landscape.

MySQL and other relational databases continue to remain popular with developers who prefer to manage databases directly, demonstrating the continued need for robust, secure, and scalable data management in web applications.

In conclusion, as web application development evolves, a hybrid model that incorporates both traditional and LCNC approaches is becoming the norm, aided by advances in AI. This trend makes it easier for developers with different skills to work on different types of projects. It creates a system where everyone can work together and make things more efficient.

To ensure ongoing evaluation of the results, we plan to conduct future annual studies. Some trends, such as the extensive incorporation of LCNC/AI in web development a very clear, however other trends, like the popularity of text-to-app builders still remain uncertain. To shed light on this uncertainty and gain a deeper understanding, we intend to perform further studies!

For that, please support our research by spreading the word about it, sharing it with your network, and quoting it in your articles! Feel free to leave your comments on our social media pages (X (Twitter), Facebook, and Linkedin) if you have any suggestions, questions, or criticisms! We are open to discussion and feedback.

If you need raw data - please contact us at [email protected], we will be happy to share.

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