BuildFire Review | 2026

Choosing the right no-code app builder can make or break your project, and comparing platforms head-to-head is the smartest way to find your fit.

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. BuildFire is another no-code platform that focuses on mobile app development, primarily targeting businesses looking to create employee-facing or customer engagement apps.

When evaluating these platforms, what matters most is app success—launching your MVP as quickly as possible and reaching the biggest audience you can. That means building not just a web app, but native iOS and Android apps that get into the app stores, unlocking massive distribution potential and powerful features like push notifications.

BuildFire Review: Pricing, Features, and Better Alternatives for 2025

BuildFire is a mobile app builder that lets you create iOS and Android apps without coding. It features a straightforward point-and-click interface and access to over 100 third-party plugins. However, with pricing starting at $100/month and limited design flexibility, many app builders find better value elsewhere. This review breaks down BuildFire's strengths, weaknesses, and whether it's the right choice for your project.

BuildFire at a Glance: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Easy-to-learn point-and-click interface with minimal learning curve
• Builds iOS and Android mobile apps publishable to app stores
• Access to over 100 third-party plugins for extended functionality

Cons:

• BuildFire's interface looks dated, and while simple, it's limited in creative use
• Many premade features and templates appear bland and generic
• Very expensive—the cheapest version starts at $100/month

BuildFire Pricing Overview

BuildFire features a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The cheapest paid version is $100/month, billed annually or monthly. If you want more than 100 downloads of your app, you'll need to pay $159/month, billed annually.

For context, Adalo—an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps—starts at $36/month with unlimited usage, unlimited app store updates, and no record limits on paid plans. That's less than half BuildFire's entry price with significantly more capability.

What is BuildFire?

BuildFire is a web app and native mobile app builder featuring a low-learning curve interface that allows for basic design customization. When you sign up, you'll choose an app type from 22 options covering popular industries like travel, delivery, e-commerce, and more. After picking your industry, BuildFire provides about 12 premade templates for that category.

The templates are surprisingly sleek, given the dated look of BuildFire's dashboard. BuildFire also offers an AI tool to generate a custom template for your app. Type in a prompt explaining what jobs you want your app to execute and any special features you need.

You can custom-select the features you want in your AI-generated template. Delete unwanted features, then add a more granular description in a final prompt. The AI will fine-tune your template and load it with the features you requested.

After sorting your template, BuildFire brings you to its dashboard where you'll find suggested features and plugins made by the BuildFire community. These enhance your app's functionality. BuildFire has well over 100 plugins, including:

• A weather plugin for real-time weather updates
• A reactions plugin for user comments on articles, pictures, or content
• A mortgage estimator for real-estate apps
• A PDF editor with signature capabilities
• An e-reader with in-app purchases for selling ebooks
• A Stripe checkout plugin for e-commerce payments

BuildFire displays when each third-party plugin was last updated. At the time of this writing, some third-party BuildFire APIs hadn't been updated in 5 years. Expect a few buggy plugins as a result.

BuildFire's Building Experience

While BuildFire's building interface doesn't have the greatest appearance, it's one of the easier mobile app builders to learn, allowing for a decent amount of design freedom. You build out your app's components on each screen using a text box resembling a blank Google document.

Add headings, text, pictures, videos, and more to feature on each app screen. On the right-hand side, you'll find a useful feature: a smartphone screen showing how your mobile app will appear to users.

BuildFire's app-building interface doesn't have a fast response time, so you might wait several seconds to see how your design appears. Positioning components can be tedious—you'll press "enter" and "delete" keys to adjust placement. These hangups slow down the building process considerably.

While BuildFire has a resource center with webinars, articles, and tutorials, it doesn't have a community ecosystem for specialized questions. BuildFire does provide live chat support, but it's not available 24/7.

Compare this to Adalo, which has processed over 3 million app builds with a visual builder described as "easy as PowerPoint." Adalo's canvas can display up to 400 screens at once, giving you a complete view of your app's architecture—something BuildFire's limited interface simply can't match.

Is BuildFire Right For You?

While BuildFire has a low learning curve, it has drawbacks that limit its audience. Select BuildFire if:

• You want a fairly intuitive app builder with a low learning curve you can use immediately after signing up
• You want to publish your app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
• You have a simple app idea and know exactly how you want it to appear and function

However, consider other app builders if:

• You're on a budget—or simply don't want to spend $100/month to publish your app with only 100 downloads available
• You want more extensive design options to create a visually distinctive app
• You want an app builder with a thriving ecosystem and community that can help with specialized questions

What Kinds of Apps Can You Build With BuildFire?

Since hitting the market several years ago, users have created over 10,000 apps with BuildFire. BuildFire claims you can build basically any app (aside from games or augmented reality apps) using its platform.

The flexibility of BuildFire's interface, combined with its plugin selection, makes it possible to build restaurant apps, e-commerce apps, event apps, and many more. One compelling feature is that you can build both progressive web apps (PWAs) and native mobile apps. PWAs function like native apps but are accessed through a browser.

When you build native mobile apps for iOS and Android, BuildFire lets you publish them to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. As a bonus, BuildFire helps navigate each app store's submission process.

That said, Adalo offers similar publishing capabilities at a fraction of the cost. With Adalo, one build publishes to web, iOS App Store, and Android Play Store simultaneously—and updates sync across all platforms automatically. BuildFire requires managing each platform separately.

BuildFire Pricing: Is It Worth It?

Out of the vast majority of builders available, BuildFire has some of the most eye-watering prices. Many first-time app builders see this as the main reason to seek alternatives.

BuildFire does have a free trial. While you don't need credit card information to activate it, the trial only lasts 14 days. Then you must pay for the MVP version at $100/month. This only gets access to limited third-party plugins and 100 combined downloads from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

BuildFire's Growth Version at $159/month (billed annually) differs from MVP in one significant regard: unlimited downloads from app stores. However, BuildFire still locks you out of the same third-party plugins prohibited in the MVP version.

Plugins you won't access with MVP and Growth Versions:

• Drip notifications
• QR scanner
• On-the-Go Push notifications
• Menu order system
• Task manager

Because the Growth Version is expensive yet significantly less powerful than alternatives, it's worth exploring other options for your app's startup version.

BuildFire's quarterly subscription for the Growth Version costs $189/month—nearly $570 for three months. The basic versions are heavy on the bank account but light on functionality.

For more features, BuildFire's Start Version costs $299/month (billed annually). It unlocks those restricted plugins and adds Zapier integration for connecting to other software.

BuildFire's most expensive option, the Standard Version, costs $424/month (billed annually) for enterprise-grade features like enterprise-level app deployment.

Need to save time and money's not an object? BuildFire offers professional app design services:

• A simple app (up to 15 screens) for $5,000
• Up to 25 screens with Zapier integration for $7,500
• Up to 50 screens with promotional videos and app-store screenshots for $15,000

BuildFire Alternatives: Better Options to Consider

If you're looking for a BuildFire alternative that's easier on your budget and offers more power, consider these options:

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. Starting at $36/month with unlimited usage and no record caps on paid plans, it's significantly cheaper than BuildFire while offering more capability. AI-assisted building with Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, while Magic Add lets you add features through natural language requests. Adalo handles the complex App Store submission process, enabling launch in days rather than months. With over 3 million apps created on the platform, Adalo's drag-and-drop interface is described as "easy as PowerPoint" while delivering production-ready results.

GoodBarber features a similar building interface but is much cheaper than BuildFire, making it a reasonable alternative for simpler projects.

Glide works well for spreadsheet-based apps but is heavily format-focused and restricted to set templates. This makes building fast but creates generic apps with limited creative freedom. Pricing starts at $60/month for custom domain capability, but it's limited by app updates and data record rows that attract additional charges. Glide does not support Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing—a significant limitation if native mobile distribution matters to you.

Thunkable offers AI-drafted app builds, but getting access to a publishable Progressive Web App requires a $59/month plan with usage restrictions. Responsive app capabilities require custom pricing beyond their advertised $189/month Advanced tier.

Platform	Starting Price	Native App Store Publishing	Database Limits
BuildFire	$100/month	Yes (100 downloads on basic plan)	Varies by plan
Adalo	$36/month	Yes (unlimited updates)	Unlimited on paid plans
Glide	$60/month	No	Limited, additional charges
Thunkable	$59/month	Limited	Usage restrictions

Verdict: Should You Use BuildFire?

What's the final verdict on BuildFire? Should you avoid it, shortlist it, or sign up now?

Sign up now if you have a substantial budget and want a low-learning curve app builder. If you choose BuildFire, go for the Growth Version at $159/month because you'll be able to publish to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with unlimited download potential.

Shortlist BuildFire if:

• You want an easy app builder but aren't sure how you want your app to look
• Money isn't an issue for the Growth Version, or you can convince procurement to spend at least $567 for BuildFire's quarterly growth version
• You're OK with BuildFire's limited design aesthetics

Try BuildFire's 14-day free trial, but also test other platforms simultaneously. This gives you a clear comparison of building interfaces and helps identify which features matter most to you.

If you want an app builder at less than half BuildFire's cost with more power, give Adalo a try. Adalo provides full design freedom without sacrificing functionality, creating native mobile apps publishable to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. With unlimited database records on paid plans, no usage-based charges, and AI-assisted building that generates complete app foundations from simple descriptions, Adalo delivers more value at a significantly lower price point.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?	Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Starting at $36/month with unlimited usage and no database record limits on paid plans, it offers significantly more value than alternatives like BuildFire's $100/month entry point.
What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?	Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building enables launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, and Adalo handles the complex App Store submission process—often the hardest part of launching an app.
Which is more affordable, Adalo or BuildFire?	Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing, while BuildFire starts at $100/month with only 100 downloads allowed. To get unlimited downloads on BuildFire, you need the $159/month Growth plan. Adalo offers more features at less than half the cost.
Which is faster to build with, Adalo or BuildFire?	Adalo is generally faster due to its responsive interface and AI-assisted features. BuildFire's interface has slow response times that require waiting several seconds to see design changes. Adalo's canvas can display up to 400 screens at once, while BuildFire's limited view slows down the building process.
Which is easier for beginners, Adalo or BuildFire?	Both platforms are designed for beginners, but Adalo's visual builder is described as "easy as PowerPoint" with over 3 million apps created on the platform. BuildFire has a low learning curve but its dated interface and slow response times can frustrate new users.
Is Adalo better than BuildFire for mobile apps?	Yes—Adalo creates true native iOS and Android apps that compile to native code, while offering unlimited app store updates on paid plans. BuildFire's basic plan limits you to 100 downloads, and even the Growth plan at $159/month restricts access to many plugins.
Can I migrate from BuildFire to Adalo?	While there's no direct migration tool, Adalo's Magic Start can generate a complete app foundation from a description of your existing BuildFire app. You can recreate your app's functionality quickly using Adalo's drag-and-drop interface and AI-assisted features.
How much does it cost to build and publish an app without coding?	Costs vary significantly. BuildFire starts at $100/month with limited downloads, while Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. BuildFire's professional design services range from $5,000 to $15,000, whereas Adalo's AI-assisted building lets you create professional apps yourself.
What types of apps can I build with no-code app builders?	Both BuildFire and Adalo support e-commerce apps, restaurant apps, event apps, delivery apps, and more. BuildFire claims you can build any app except games or AR apps. Adalo's database-driven approach with unlimited records on paid plans makes it particularly strong for data-intensive applications.
Does Adalo support both web and mobile apps?	Yes—Adalo builds database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. One build publishes to web, iOS App Store, and Android Play Store, with updates syncing across all platforms automatically. BuildFire requires managing each platform separately.