Vibe Coding boom: more apps, but not more users
An article by Guokr, republished by Huxiu and 36Kr, examines the "everyone can Vibe Coding" narrative: AI lets non-coders ship apps, but the piece argues the hard problem has shifted from building to business — who will use the app and pay for it. It cites an NBER study updated in September covering more than 500,000 GitHub developers, which found AI coding tools raised code volume by roughly 30% to 240% depending on tool generation, while total projects rose only about 80% and released versions about 30%; App Store monthly new listings roughly doubled from early 2025 to April 2026, yet new apps' total usage in their first three months did not increase. It also cites a Lovable survey of over 14,300 users (80% from non-technical roles, 54.6% building a business, 60.5% not yet earning but planning to monetize) and the case of Stan's Stanley, built in about 14 days with its LinkedIn version reaching roughly $200,000 annualized revenue after six weeks — noting Stan already had creator users and distribution channels.
The article's argument is that AI can produce an app but cannot answer who will use it, why, or what makes it distinct, leaving distribution, user understanding and product judgment as the bottleneck beyond AI.
今天你Vibe Coding了吗？十年前，“人人都是产品经理”这句口号，催生了不少创业神话。现在，更为流行、激进的“成功之路”叫做“人人都能Vibe Coding”。它被“创意至上者”视为圭臬。动动嘴，把需求告诉AI，就能做出一个功能完善、设计精美、甚至上架收费的App。打开社交媒体，一大堆“零代码做App”......
本文来自微信公众号： 果壳 ，作者：糕级冻雾，编辑：沈知涵，原文标题：《一眼 AI 的 App 到底是谁会付费啊！》
今天你Vibe Coding了吗？
十年前，“人人都是产品经理”这句口号，催生了不少创业神话。现在，更为流行、激进的“成功之路”叫做“人人都能Vibe Coding”。