Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mekoka 92 days ago
Do some people really believe that SaaS margins are dropping because the public at large has discovered that to save 20$/month on some app they can instead vibe code their own and use that instead?

My current guess about the future is that the age of SaaS is coming stronger than ever. I expect many vibe coders to come up with half-assed prototypes that will be copiously replicated and improved by more qualified devs aided by LLMs. In a similar way, I also expect smaller qualified teams (3 to 5) to leverage LLMs to become more relevant competitors of medium to large SaaS players. By 2029, we'll have more, but smaller SaaS companies.
3 comments
nightski 92 days ago
Margins wouldn't drop because every consumer is going to vibe code their own apps. It's going to bring down the barrier for competition creating natural price pressure in the market. That is of course if all other factors end up equal such as quality, security, performance, etc...

This of course will be software in general imho. It's not that the profession will disappear overnight. There is going to be this tight squeeze until all the margin/excess salaries/etc.. is gone. There is also going to be immense pressure to produce as much as possible and productivity expectations are going to go way up (even if it is unjustified).

Basically, the good days are over. It's going to be a miserable profession.

link
miki123211 92 days ago
SaaS companies have a big dilemma. Agents make your SaaS app more useful if there's no lock in and data is easy to access, but if that is the case, you have no lock in and the app is easy to migrate away from.

If you've already figured out what features are actually needed and which workflows work best, somebody can use AI to replicate those. This is the part of programming that AI is best at and accelerates most. The hard part, coming up with ideas, is far harder to copyright.

link
masterj 92 days ago
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that when people talk about the Death of SaaS, they are not talking about $20/month consumer apps. They are talking about six-figure+ enterprise deals that are the source of so much profit for SaaS companies.
link