Bolt vs Lovable: Which to Pick

Bolt and Lovable are close rivals: both turn a chat prompt into a working app with a built-in database and hosting. Bolt charges by tokens, builds web and mobile apps (mobile via Expo), and gives a free 1M tokens a month. Lovable charges credits per message or task and adds a Plan mode, security scans and workspace credit caps. Facts were checked on 31 October 2026.

The short version

What each one is

Bolt

The help center calls Bolt an AI app builder that turns a prompt into a working web or mobile app. You type an idea, click Build now, and it builds websites, web apps (CRMs, job boards, booking platforms) and mobile apps. Web apps use JavaScript frameworks, and mobile apps use the Expo integration. It offers two build agents: Standard, fast and token-efficient for well-defined tasks, and Max for large codebases and open-ended problems. Only Standard is on the free plan. If you have access to Bolt Forge, it adds a way to build with open-source models. Our entry is Bolt.

Bolt Cloud is the backend and hosting built in: a database per project with tables, authentication and file storage, publishing, and custom domains. The advanced settings say you can connect to Supabase instead.

Lovable

Lovable describes itself as an AI software engineer for the web. Its docs say it is a full-stack platform for building, iterating on and deploying web apps, with real code and a built-in backend: database, authentication, storage, edge functions and AI. It has Plan mode, a security overview with scans, a Trust Center page for published apps, a mobile app for iOS and Android, and an API. Our entry is Lovable.

Plans and prices

Bolt

Bolt's FAQ explains that tokens measure the work it does: reading your prompts and project files, making a plan, and writing code. It has a page on making tokens go further, and a note that asking Bolt to audit your project in chat uses tokens, while the Run security audit button in the Publish menu does not.

Lovable

Lovable's plans are Free, Pro, Business and Enterprise, billed through a credit balance. The pricing page we fetched did not render the dollar figures.

The credit rules, from the docs:

• Plan Mode costs 1 credit per message. Default Mode varies with task complexity.
• Examples: a button color change 0.50, removing a footer 0.90, adding sign-up and login 1.20, a landing page with images 1.70.
• Free workspaces get 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month, plus small monthly grants for Cloud, AI features and connectors.
• Monthly plan credits expire two months after they are issued, annual plan credits expire one month after the annual period ends, and top-up credits last twelve months.
• Credits are not refundable.
• Workspace owners can cap credits per member, project or workspace.

The docs call the current chat pricing a temporary offering through 31 October 2026.

Reading them together

The units do not convert. A Bolt token is a slice of model input and output. A Lovable credit is a unit the vendor prices per action. The only honest comparison is to build the same small app on both free plans and watch what it consumes. A free Bolt month is 1M tokens. A free Lovable month is at most 30 build credits, at 5 a day.

Side-by-side facts

Where Bolt is stronger

Mobile apps. Expo support is a documented path to a phone app, which Lovable's docs do not claim.

Token rollover and a clear free allowance. Pro's 10M tokens roll over, so a quiet month does not waste your plan.

Code view. The docs describe opening, editing, renaming and deleting files and running commands in a terminal-like panel. For people who want to read and change code, it is easy to reach.

Design systems. Bolt documents adding your design system from a GitHub repo, NPM package, Storybook, a website or files, and syncing it, so output uses your components.

Where Lovable is stronger

Plan mode with a flat price. A structured plan you review and approve before any code, at 1 credit per message.

Credit controls. Caps per member, project or workspace, with alerts, are useful when many people share one balance.

Security story. Scans, API key protection, database access checks, dependency audits and a Trust Center page.

Auth options. The docs cover Google sign-in and OIDC with providers such as Auth0, Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and Keycloak, plus row-level security policies you can review.

Add-ons and MCP

Neither is mainly an MCP client. Both lean on built-in integrations. Bolt has skills for reusable rules and workflows, and Lovable has connectors with their own usage costs. . If you plan to connect external tools, start from our MCP server directory and the best database MCP servers.

Privacy and data handling

Both send prompts and project content to model vendors. Bolt's help center covers its built-in database with public and private storage buckets, and a security audit that reviews code and database. Lovable's docs cover a Security overview and a Trust Center.

If your app stores personal data, check where the database runs and who the subprocessors are, then decide whether the free plan is appropriate. A private project does not make the database private; check access rules.

Limits and gotchas

• Bolt's free plan is Standard-only. Max requires a paid plan.
• Prompting Bolt to audit costs tokens. Use the button instead.
• Lovable credits expire. Plan monthly and annual credits do not live forever.
• Lovable's chat pricing is temporary through 31 October 2026.
• Different units. Do not compare 10M tokens to a credit count.
• Generated code needs review. Treat auth, payments and permissions as untested until you test them.
• Exit plan. Know how to export code and where your data sits before launch.

Who should pick which

A solo maker with a mobile idea

Bolt. The Expo path matters more than any pricing difference.

A founder building a web product with users and data

Lovable, if you value Plan mode and the security tooling. Bolt if token rollover and Code view matter more.

A small agency

Compare Bolt Teams at $30 per member with Lovable's Business plan once you confirm its price. Consider who controls the billing and how credits or tokens are shared.

Someone deciding between three tools

See Replit vs Lovable and Lovable vs v0.

Publishing, hosting and domains

Both host what they build. Bolt Cloud is described as built-in hosting, domains and database, and Bolt's Pro plan lists your own domain and a choice of database provider. Its project security audit sits in the Publish menu and is recommended before you publish. Lovable hosts your app and meters hosting through Cloud credits, with monthly Cloud grants on every plan and a project usage page that shows what drives run costs. It also lets you change a project's URL, control publishing and sharing, connect Git and manage domains from project settings.

The cost difference shows up after launch. A built app that gets traffic uses hosting and database resources, not just build prompts. On Lovable, those draw from the same credit balance as building, so a popular app can eat the credits you wanted for changes. On Bolt, check how Bolt Cloud usage is billed alongside tokens.

How costs behave in practice

Two habits keep either bill down. First, make small, specific requests. Bolt has help pages on maximising token efficiency, which cover what burns tokens fastest, and on managing project context so it stays small. Lovable's examples show the same thing in credits: a color change costs half a credit, while a full landing page costs more than three times that. Second, plan before you build. Bolt's Plan Mode and Lovable's Plan mode both let you agree on an approach before any code is written, which avoids paying twice for a wrong first attempt.

A third habit is to keep the app small while you test. Add one feature per prompt, check it, then move on. When something breaks, restore from version history rather than asking the agent to patch a patch. Bolt documents backups, restore and version history for this. These small routines matter more to your total bill than the difference between the two pricing pages.

How to test fairly

1. Pick one small app with a login and one table.
2. Write the prompt once and use it in both tools.
3. Record the tokens or credits used for the first build.
4. Make three follow-up changes of different sizes and record each cost.
5. Run each tool's security check before you publish.
6. Publish a test version and attach a domain if the plan allows.
7. Count how many fixes you had to ask for.

Worked usage levels

These are arithmetic on the vendors' own published numbers, not measurements of real projects.

A weekend prototype

On Lovable's free plan you get 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month. The docs' examples price a landing page with images at 1.70 credits and sign-up and login at 1.20, so those two jobs cost 2.90 credits before any fixing. That leaves room for roughly 25 further small edits at the 0.50 colour-change rate, though real prompts vary. On Bolt's free plan you have 1M tokens and only the Standard agent. Neither free plan is a place to run a business, but both are enough to learn whether the tool understands your idea.

A solo maker shipping every week

Here Bolt Pro at $25 a month gives 10M tokens that roll over, so a slow week funds a busy one. Lovable's monthly credits expire two months after issue, so a steady pace uses them and a bursty one wastes some. If your work comes in bursts, rollover is a real saving. If it is steady, the difference mostly disappears and the choice falls back to features.

A team of five

Bolt Teams is $30 a member, so five seats are $150 a month at list price, with shared capacity and admin controls. Lovable's Business price did not render on our fetch, so we cannot total it. What we can say is that Lovable lets an owner cap credits per member, project or workspace. With five people on one balance, one person iterating on a landing page all afternoon can drain what the others need, and a cap prevents that. Ask Bolt's sales or help pages how shared capacity is split before you assume it is fair.

Before you rely on generated code

Both tools can produce an app that looks finished. The checks below apply to either and take less than an hour.

1. Read the auth setup. Find where users are stored and what a logged-out request can read.
2. Open the database rules. Lovable shows row-level security policies you can review. On Bolt, run the database check that every plan includes.
3. Look at secrets. Confirm no API key sits in front-end code.
4. Export once. Download or connect Git before launch, so leaving is a tested path and not a hope.
5. Check the bill after a day of traffic. Hosting and database use draw down resources on both platforms.

Questions people ask

Can I move a project from one to the other? Both produce real code and offer Git or code access, so you can carry the repository across. Expect to rewire the backend, since each tool's database, auth and edge functions are its own.

Which one is cheaper? It depends on what you build, because the units differ. Run the same prompt in both free plans and compare consumption.

Do I need to know how to code? Neither requires it, but the first time something breaks you will want someone who can read a stack trace.

Our take

These products converge. Both have chat building, a plan step, a backend, hosting, security checks and team plans. The real differences are the unit you pay in and a few features: Bolt for mobile and rollover, Lovable for credit controls and the security and auth documentation.

We did not build an app in both for this page. We read the pricing pages and help centers on 31 October 2026 and marked the figures that did not render. If you are choosing for money, run the test above on the free plans first, and pick the tool whose cost per accepted change is lower for your kind of app.

Related pages

• Replit vs Lovable
• Lovable vs v0
• AI coding agents