The Debate Between Low Code And Custom Development Is Fundamentally Flawed

InnovationThe Debate Between Low Code And Custom Development Is Fundamentally FlawedByNik Froehlich,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 26, 2026, 06:15am EDTNik Froehlich is the CEO and Founder of Saritasa, an Information Technology and Services company, since 2005. getty​I’ve been in the custom software space since the early 2000s, during which time I’ve seen the rise and fall of countless platforms, tools, tech stacks and methodologies. One debate I've seen recurring over the years is the difference between low-code and custom development. These approaches are often presented as competing options on a spectrum, but that framing is misleading: They are not competitors; they solve fundamentally different problems for different situations.To be fair, the confusion is understandable, as both involve software and promise to solve business problems. But treating them as interchangeable alternatives is like comparing a calculator to an accounting system because both handle numbers.When Low Code WorksLow-code platforms solve real problems. For instance, a department needing an internal approval workflow next month doesn’t benefit from a custom solution shipping in six months, no matter how well-architected. Marketing teams launching campaign pages shouldn’t wait in an IT queue when a low-code tool gets them live in days.I’ve also seen low-code work well for testing if an idea has legs before committing to a larger build. Low-code allows people to prototype a concept at a low cost, validate the concept with real users, then use actual data to plan out the full platform, which saved a lot of discovery work.The people who choose low-code typically do so for two practical reasons: budget constraints or lack of internal technical expertise. Neither is a failing; if an affordable low-code solution fixes your pro...