How to build a SaaS product without coding

Are you sitting on a brilliant SaaS idea but lacking the technical skills to bring it to life? You’re probably not alone. And the prospect of hiring a developer may be daunting if you don’t know how much it costs, or how to evaluate the quality of written code.

Thankfully, there are now AI-driven platforms that can do the coding for you. Low-code tools are ideal if you have basic programming skills, as they let you customize generated code.

No-code tools require zero coding knowledge, and some will even choose and implement the ideal technologies for your project based on best practices.

This guide will walk you through how to build a SaaS product without coding – how to validate your idea, choose the right no-code platform, develop your product – and finally, launch it.

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or a creative professional, this guide provides the blueprint to turn your vision into a profitable SaaS product.

What is a SaaS product?

SaaS (software as a service) refers to a business model where software is hosted online and sold by subscription. Users pay monthly or annually for access to the web app in a browser, and sometimes also via a downloaded app.

Real-world examples of SaaS products

Let’s look at some familiar success stories that showcase the power of SaaS:

• Slack. A messaging app for teams to keep work conversations and files organized.
• Asana. Helps teams stay on track by organizing projects, tasks, and deadlines.
• Canva. Makes design easy with ready-to-use templates for creating graphics, presentations, and marketing materials.

No-code vs low-code

The exciting part about modern SaaS development is that you don’t need to be a coding expert to create great solutions. Let’s explore why.

No-code development

No-code development lets you build SaaS products without writing any code. Using an all-in-one platform like Hostinger Horizons, you can describe the product you want to create and let AI do the coding.

This approach is ideal for entrepreneurs with no programming experience who want to create a product fast.

Low-code development

Low-code development combines a drag-and-drop interface with the ability to add custom code for unique features or customizations.

This may appeal to you if you have some coding skills and want to directly refine the user interface or functionality of your SaaS app.

To learn more about these two approaches to app development, check out our in-depth tutorial on low-code vs no-code.

How to make a SaaS in 11 steps

Now that you know what SaaS is, let’s go through the steps to build your own product.

1. Brainstorm an idea

Every great SaaS product starts with a problem that needs to be solved. Here are some ways to brainstorm your next great idea:

Personal frustrations

Think about the frustrations you encounter in your work or daily life. What tasks feel unnecessarily complicated? Where do you see your colleagues struggling? Do any of the digital tools you use feel outdated or inadequate?

Great products often come from entrepreneurs who solve their nagging problems first. After all, if you’re facing these challenges, there’s a good chance others are as well.

Industry pain points

Think of a specific industry you know well and explore how people work, the tools they use, and the challenges they face.

For example, if you’ve worked in restaurants, you might spot inefficiencies in how servers communicate with the kitchen or how managers schedule staff.

Borrow from other industries

Look at how apps used in different industries solve problems and see if those solutions could work in your field.

For example, could the way dating apps match people inspire a better way to match job seekers with companies? How might a fitness app that tracks progress help students track learning goals?

Quick exercise

Go through each brainstorming method and write down a few ideas from each.

Remember, the best SaaS solutions should address a problem people face regularly. One-time solutions usually don’t work well as SaaS products, because people won’t maintain a subscription once their problem is solved.

2. Research the market

Now that you’ve brainstormed your ideas, let’s explore what’s already out there in the market. This research will help you understand your future customers better and spot gaps your business can fill.

Understand your market

Start your market research by getting to know your potential customers.

Join online communities, read forum discussions, and engage in conversations on social channels where your target audience hangs out.

The goal is to understand their daily challenges, their aspirations, and what makes them tick.

For example, if you’re developing a meal-planning web app, don’t just assume busy people want quick recipes. Dig deeper. Are they picky eaters? Do they have allergies? Are they looking for ways to teach their kids about nutrition? Addressing these nuanced insights can set your product apart.

Check out existing products

Existing solutions are a great way to see what people like and what’s missing in the market. Here’s how you can learn from them:

• Try similar products. What delights you? What frustrates you? Your own experience as a customer can spark ideas for your own product.
• Test complementary products. For example, if you want to create a meditation web app, you can test in-person classes, books, and YouTube channels related to meditation to get unique ideas for your product.
• Read customer reviews. Head to review sites like G2 or Capterra and look for problems and complaints that show up regularly. Pay attention to missing features customers keep asking for. Each frustrated comment is a potential customer telling you exactly what they need, and every feature request signals what people are potentially willing to pay for.

3. Define the core functionality

The core functionality is all of your product’s key features that directly solve your target customer’s primary pain points.

To define your core features, start by asking yourself:

• What is the one problem my product must solve?
• What is the simplest way to solve this problem?

Come up with ideas that directly solve the problem your customers face.

For example, if you’re creating a project management web app for freelancers, the key features might be:

• A simple dashboard to track active projects and deadlines.
• A time-tracking tool that connects to specific projects.

These key features solve specific problems related to project management for freelancers. While features like team chat, invoice generation, or expense tracking might be valuable additions, they aren’t essential for basic project management.

Remember, every additional feature you add means more development time, more potential bugs, and more complexity.

Focusing on core functionality first lets you launch your product faster, receive user feedback faster, and build a solid base for adding more features.

4. Set a work timeline and budget

A realistic timeline and a clear budget can keep your project on track and prevent costly delays.

Here’s what you need to do.

Set a work timeline

Break your project into clear phases and plan when you’ll perform key tasks like development, testing, and marketing. Always add extra time for unexpected challenges, as even the best-planned projects can hit roadblocks.

Here’s what your timeline might look like:

• Month 1-2. Research and planning.
• Month 3-4. Development and testing.
• Month 5. Feedback and improvements.
• Month 6. Marketing and launch.

Set a budget

For your budget, think beyond just development costs. Include everything you need – equipment, marketing, legal help, and a web hosting plan with a domain name so you can start promoting your web app and collecting email addresses leading up to launch.

Create three budget scenarios:

• Basic budget. This is the money you must have before you start. It covers the essentials of your business, such as basic development tools, initial business setup, and fundamental marketing.
• Target budget. While your basic budget gets you started, your target budget lets you add other elements like better design, professional marketing, and more testing time.
• Maximum budget. Having a maximum limit helps you make smart decisions about new opportunities. When you spot a great marketing strategy or want to add a new feature, you’ll know immediately if you can afford it.

5. Create the wireframe and prototype

Wireframes and prototypes help you visualize your idea before spending time and money on development.

What are wireframes?

Think of wireframes as rough sketches of your SaaS product. Like drawing a simple house plan, wireframes show where everything will go without worrying about colors or too much detail.

They help you:

• Plan how users will find what they need.
• Spot potential problems early.
• Show your team and partners exactly what you’re thinking.
• Focus on designing the right elements before building them.

Creating your first wireframe

Start with the basics and gradually add detail. Here’s a practical approach:

• Grab a notebook and sketch out a basic design of your product.
• Then, choose a tool like Moqups or Balsamiq to create digital versions.
• Focus on a simple layout, and develop your navigation system within it. Try to come up with the most intuitive method for moving people through your product.
• Use basic shapes and placeholder text to represent different elements.

Understanding prototypes

While wireframes are rough sketches, prototypes bring your design to life. They’re an interactive test drive of your product, allowing users to click through and experience the flow.

Prototypes help you:

• Get feedback from potential customers.
• Show stakeholders how your product will work.
• Test different ways people might use your product and refine the navigation accordingly.
• Perfect the experience before building out the features.

Using tools like Adobe XD or Figma, you can create a realistic preview of how your product will work when it’s ready.

6. Create a minimum viable product (MVP)

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the simplest version of your idea that you can share with people. Think of it like a first draft – it won’t be perfect, but it’ll help you receive user feedback.

Use a no-code platform like Hostinger Horizons to quickly bring your idea to life. Simply describe your product’s core functionality, and AI will build the first version of your SaaS product for you.

For example, if you want to build a language learning web app, describe what language to focus on using a prompt like this:

Create an engaging and fun language learning web app for children to learn Spanish

Within minutes, it will transform your prompt into a working product.

Need to add specific elements? Just describe what you want and it will update your product.

Add sections about animals and colors

Think of Hostinger Horizons as your development partner, turning your ideas for web apps into reality without you needing to know how to code.

Once your MVP is ready, you can deploy it and gather real user feedback.

7. Host and deploy your MVP

For people to use your MVP, you need to deploy and host it. Usually, SaaS deployment requires third-party hosting providers, configuring servers, and setting up security systems, often requiring advanced technical knowledge.

This complex process can be a significant roadblock for entrepreneurs with great web app ideas but limited technical expertise.

Hostinger simplifies this process with built-in hosting and deployment capabilities. After building your MVP with Hostinger Horizons, you can host it on a custom domain with just a few clicks. No need for complicated setups and third-party integrations.

8. Conduct a small test and gather feedback

Testing your MVP with a small group helps you catch problems early and avoid costly mistakes later.

Create your test group

Start by joining niche-related social media pages, Discord servers, or Reddit communities, and share your journey.

Invite people to participate in testing your MVP and reach out to any who show interest.

Keep the test group to 10-15 people so you can easily monitor their progress in testing your product.

How to get actionable feedback

Create a simple system that includes various ways to receive feedback.

• Have one-on-one chats where users share their opinions.
• Run group chats where users can discuss their experiences.
• Send out surveys to ask more specific questions.

Be sure to ask questions that can reveal both problems and opportunities, like:

• Where did you get stuck?
• What did you like?
• What would you tell a friend about this product?
• What was your first impression?

Remember, you don’t need to act on every piece of feedback. Focus on any common themes that will help you improve your core functionality.

9. Develop the SaaS product

Next, you’ll need to organize the feedback you received to prioritize requested features. Let’s look at how to organize this feedback and decide what features to include.

High-impact, low-effort feedback

Feedback that fits this category includes changes that will significantly improve the user experience, but won’t take too much time to implement.

High-impact features fix core issues or solve problems your testers mentioned repeatedly.

Low-effort features can be built quickly, don’t depend on building other features first, and don’t require you to make big changes to what you already have.

If you’re building a recipe web app, an example of high-impact, low-effort feedback is if users frequently mention they can’t adjust serving sizes. Adding this feature only requires a simple prompt within Hostinger Horizons.

Add a way for users to adjust serving sizes for each recipe and adjust the recipes accordingly

Which results in this change:

It’s a quick win that creates immediate value for your users.

High-impact, high-effort feedback

These features are worth building, but you’ll have to plan more carefully as they’ll require additional steps.

Rather than building out a very complex feature all at once, a better approach would be to break it into smaller tasks.

For example, users of a fitness web app might request detailed progress tracking with charts and analysis.

The first step might be to build a goal-setting feature where users define what they want to achieve.

Here’s a prompt you can use in Hostinger Horizons to build this feature:

Add a way for users to set goals

Then, add weekly measurement tracking to see their progress toward that goal using this prompt:

Add a weekly progress tracker

Finally, create detailed performance analytics that show clear visuals with this simple prompt:

Have a visual way to show performance and progress

Low-impact, low-effort feedback

These small improvements won’t impact the core functionality but can add nice touches with minimal work.

For example, users of a task management web app might request custom task colors.

In the Hostinger Horizons interface, these changes can be made with a simple prompt:

Add different colors for each task category

Low-impact, high-effort feedback

Low-impact, high-effort feedback typically consists of requests that are less useful to the majority of your users.

For example, users might request cryptocurrency tracking with a personal finance web app. Instead of building it immediately, you should ask yourself whether this aligns with your product vision and whether it solves a problem for a majority of your users.

It’s a good idea to keep track of this type of feedback to see if it becomes more prominent as your user base grows.

10. Conduct thorough testing

Thorough testing is required to take your SaaS product from the development stage to a successful launch. This critical phase helps identify issues and ensures a positive user experience.

Why thorough testing matters

Performing thorough web app testing before your launch date will help you prevent customer frustration and costly post-launch emergencies.

You’ll also protect your reputation, reduce support headaches, and establish a smooth user experience that keeps customers subscribed to your product.

What you need to test

Your initial small tests were to develop your core functionality. Comprehensive testing will determine whether your full product is ready for release.

Here’s what you need to test:

• Functionality. Check each part of your product to make sure it works as planned.
• Compatibility. Look at how well your product works across different devices, browsers, and operating systems.
• Performance. Check how fast, stable, and efficient your product is under different conditions.
• Security. Find weaknesses in your product before they can be exploited.

You don’t need everything to be perfect to go live, as you can always make improvements after the launch. But your goal in testing is to release a reliable, user-friendly product that works well from day one.

11. Launch your SaaS product to the market

Now that your product is ready to go, it’s time to tell the world about it.

In the weeks leading up to your launch, prepare yourself and build excitement by:

• Sharing behind-the-scenes content on social media and in forums.
• Creating educational content about the problems your product solves.
• Starting a small community on Discord for your most enthusiastic fans.
• Offering special incentives for early buyers, such as lifetime discounts or extra features.
• Developing support resources like a knowledge base, onboarding guides, and video tutorials.
• Scheduling launch announcements with relevant communities, on social media, and on platforms like Product Hunt, where people go to discover new tech tools.

It’s much better to be overprepared for your launch than to be scrambling to catch up afterward.

Next Steps

Ready to start your SaaS journey? Start by brainstorming ideas. Go through each of the methods mentioned previously, and see what ideas you can come up with.

Once you’ve validated your idea and planned your product, you can quickly develop your MVP with Hostinger Horizons.

Don’t let a lack of coding expertise hold your SaaS ideas back any longer. You’ve got the tools, you know the process, and your customers are waiting.

How to build a SaaS product without coding FAQ