Only 37% of Gartner’s US$26.9bn low-code market was app builders
Gartner’s 2023 low-code forecast split by segment, what became of the 65% prediction, and the DPDP duty a citizen-built app carries in India, as of September 2026.
In Gartner’s forecast for 2023, the drag-and-drop app builders this blog called low-code in 2023 were US$9.96 billion of a US$26.9 billion market: 37%. Integration platforms and robotic process automation, which most buyers would not call low-code at all, were US$10.07 billion between them.1 The “rise of low-code” is real, but the headline number measures a much wider shelf than the one a business user builds an app on.
01What Gartner counted as low-code
Gartner’s December 2022 forecast splits “low-code development technologies” into seven segments. Low-code application platforms, the builders such as Power Apps, Zoho Creator, Mendix and OutSystems, were forecast to grow 25% to nearly US$10 billion in 2023. Integration platform as a service was US$6.67 billion, robotic process automation US$3.40 billion, multiexperience development platforms US$3.00 billion and business process automation US$2.76 billion. The segment closest to the 2023 post’s story of non-programmers building apps, citizen automation and development platforms, was the smallest named one at US$953 million, though the fastest growing at 30.2%.1
App builders were 37% of Gartner’s 2023 low-code forecast; integration and RPA together were larger
Forecast worldwide revenue by segment, US$ million, 2023, as published by Gartner in December 2022
- Low-code application platforms9,960 US$ million 37%
- Integration platform as a service6,668 US$ million 25%
- Robotic process automation3,401 US$ million 13%
- Multiexperience development platforms2,999 US$ million 11%
- Other3,840 US$ million 14%
Table view
| Value (US$ million) | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Low-code application platforms | 9,960 | 37% |
| Integration platform as a service | 6,668 | 25% |
| Robotic process automation | 3,401 | 13% |
| Multiexperience development platforms | 2,999 | 11% |
| Other | 3,840 | 14% |
Source: Gartner press release, 13 December 2022, Table 1, as reproduced by TelecomTV · as of 13 December 2022 · A forecast, not a measured result; Other is business process automation (US$2,761 million), citizen automation and development platforms (US$953 million) and other low-code technologies (US$126 million)
02The 65% was a forecast, not a count
The 2023 post opened with Gartner’s prediction that by 2024 low-code would account for more than 65% of application development activity. That was a prediction, and we found no published follow-up from Gartner checking it. What the December 2022 release did add was a forecast about who builds: developers outside formal IT departments would be at least 80% of low-code users by 2026, up from 60% in 2021.1 That second number is the implication that matters for a business, and it is about ownership, not speed.
03What it means if you are buying in India
Published seats run from US$8 to US$25 a user a month, and two of the five platforms we read print no price at all; our earlier note has the pricing pages.2 At ₹83 to the dollar, a US$20 seat is ₹1,660 a month, or ₹1,959 with 18% GST; the vendors bill in US dollars, and a reseller invoice gives you rupees with the GST shown. The rule that bites is the DPDP framework: an app holding customers’ or employees’ personal data makes the company a data fiduciary, and the DPDP Rules, notified on 13 November 2025, bring the security-safeguard and breach-notice duties into force on 13 May 2027.3 Every citizen-built app on personal data falls inside that, whoever clicked “publish”.
Sources
- Gartner, Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Low-Code Development Technologies Market to Grow 20% in 2023 (Table 1; 80% of users outside IT by 2026), as reproduced by TelecomTV — 13 December 2022 Gartner's own release page did not load for us.
- TechBag blog, Low-code costs US$8 to US$25 a seat; 2 of 5 platforms won't print a price (Zoho Creator, Power Apps, Mendix, OutSystems, Appian pricing pages) — facts as of September 2026
- DPDP Rules 2025, commencement timeline (notified 13 November 2025; safeguard and breach duties from 13 May 2027) — 13 November 2025
Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.
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