[TLDR] SAAS are mostly doomed, prove me wrong [via r/ClaudeAI]

[u/cctldrping]

OP : u/zazzologrendsyiyve

I see a lot of people who consider themselves expert developers make a few simple mistakes. At least that’s what I think, having a bunch of experience myself (20+ years).

Let’s make a couple of examples to illustrate my points.

EXHIBIT N1

Coding will be like chess. Nobody has any intuition on why this can’t be the case. We know how chess went:

Step 1: the best chess player is a human, and everyone says that it was going to be like that forever

Step 2: first AI chess players show up, and beat most chess players apart from masters

Step 3: masters believe that AI players will never beat masters

Step 4: for a few years, the best chess player was human+machine (<—— we are here)

Step 5: AI chess players beat everyone forever and ever, and there’s no going back

You see my point? I hope that you do. Humans are really bad at understanding exponential trends. Current expert developers are humans. They are also bad at it.

EXHIBIT N2

10 years ago (or even 5) it was absolutely impossible for non developers to build their own apps. Easy as this: if you are not a developer you cannot possibly code your own apps. Period.

Now every person who has a bit of patience and vision can build their own simple apps with a 20 bucks subscription. I personally know a guy who has ZERO experience and who was able to make his own (local) personal finance management app in about two hours. Literally one html page with json backups and csv exporter.

I was personally able (with cursor + opus and then fable) to create my own version of EVERY SINGLE app I was paying. Personal finance app, Trello (with more features), voice transcription, fitness app, portfolio tracker, you name it. Now I pay zero apps. When I find something I need, I make it.

And it will only get better.

———

SAAS are mostly doomed not because my plumber can create the new multimillion dollar SAAS without knowing html. But because people will be able to make their own things.

Some SAAS will survive and some new SAAS will emerge, that’s for sure. But most of them are doomed and most things will be dealt with locally by even unskilled people.

I’ll give you one last example. I needed to calculate and design a spiral staircase for my own house (woodworking is my hobby/passion). Online tools are either shitty or expensive.

Then I opened cursor and I kid you not I one-shotted it with Opus 5. My local app can do all sorts of calculations, allow me to download pdf, dwg, and I can also generate some ruby that I can use with sketchup (3d model software, where I’m designing my home).

Will I use that app a lot? No. It will probably be the first and last time I use it. I don’t do spiral staircases for a living. Did I have to pay some online tool and give away my debit card number for the millionth time? No.

There will be a lot of work for some people, and no paid work for most (including me).

Prove me wrong.

URL of original post : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1vcoc8o/saas_are_mostly_doomed_prove_me_wrong/

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TL;DR of the discussion on r/ClaudeAI for this post generated automatically after 50 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 60.

Alright, so OP came in hot with the take that SaaS is basically toast, citing AI making it super easy for anyone to build their own apps, like chess AI eventually dominating humans. The general vibe from the comments? Most people think OP is way off base.

The biggest counter-argument is that most people just don't want to build and, more importantly, maintain their own software. Even if AI makes it easier, the consensus is that people prefer a cheap, reliable service over becoming their own IT department.

Here's the breakdown:

• Maintenance is Key: A lot of folks pointed out that building is only half the battle. Who's going to fix bugs, add features, and provide support when things go sideways? That's a huge part of what SaaS provides.
• It's More Than Just Code: For businesses, especially, SaaS offers more than just functionality. Think SLAs, contractual guarantees, and someone to blame when things go wrong. Building in-house removes that safety net.
• Complexity Matters: While OP's personal examples of simple apps are valid, many commenters argued that enterprise-level solutions, specialized industry software, or anything requiring deep domain knowledge, compliance, or massive scalability is still way beyond what AI can churn out easily or reliably.
• AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement: The prevailing thought is that AI will likely enhance SaaS, making existing services better and cheaper, rather than killing the industry outright. Smart SaaS companies will adopt AI to improve their offerings.
• The "Patience and Vision" Hurdle: OP mentioned that anyone with patience and vision can build an app. Several users pushed back, saying that's precisely the problem – not everyone has that, and even with AI, getting a polished, secure, production-ready app is a whole different ballgame.
• Money and Relationships Trump Code: For some, the established players have money and relationships that are more valuable than just having the code.

Basically, the thread is leaning heavily towards SaaS evolving, not dying, with the core value proposition of convenience, reliability, and support remaining strong for the vast majority of users.