The short answer: pick Lovable if you cannot code and want a database-backed app with the backend handled; Bolt.new if you can read code and want a real Node environment with your code in GitHub and a choice of hosts; v0 if what you need is a polished React interface, especially on Vercel. All three start free and the entry paid plans are $25 (Lovable Pro), $25 (Bolt Pro) and $30 per user (v0 Plus), but each bills a different thing, so the sticker prices do not compare directly.
What you are actually paying for
The one difference that changes your bill: the unit. Prices are from each vendor’s pricing page, checked 28 and 29 September 2026; the per-unit column is our arithmetic on those prices.
| Attribute | Lovable | Bolt.new | v0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Credits, spent on building, chat, Cloud hosting and in-app AI | Tokens sent to and from the model | Dollar credits at model token rates |
| Free plan | 5 daily credits, up to 30 a month | 300K tokens a day, 1M a month | $5 of monthly credits, 7 messages a day |
| Entry paid plan | Pro $25 a month ($21 billed annually) | Pro $25 a month | Plus $30 per user per month |
| What it includes | 100 credits plus 5 daily credits | 10M tokens a month, no daily cap | $30 of credits plus $2 free daily credits |
| Our per-unit maths | $0.25 per credit at Pro | About $2.50 per million tokens | $1 of credit costs $1 (model rates $0.20 to $10 per million tokens) |
| Extra usage | Top-up $15 per 50 credits ($0.30 each) | Reload on the highest monthly Pro tier or annual Pro plans | Buy credits shared across the team (price not stated on page) |
Sources: Lovable and its plans docs, Bolt and its token docs, v0 and its pricing docs.
Read the units, not the price. A Lovable credit is not a fixed amount of work (Lovable’s docs give 0.5 credit to change a button colour and about 1.7 for a landing page with images). Bolt’s tokens grow with project size because the model re-reads your files. v0 meters the model directly, so a request on the cheapest model costs a fraction of one on the most powerful. Tokens and credits are not convertible, so “10M tokens versus 100 credits” tells you nothing on its own. Bolt’s side of that is worked through in Bolt.new pricing and tokens explained. v0’s rate card is worked through in v0 pricing and credits explained.
v0’s pricing page shows Plus at $30 with a struck-through $90 beside it; the struck-through number is not a plan price. v0’s docs also list a $20 Premium plan that they describe as sunsetted for new users, so guides quoting a $20 v0 plan are describing an old tier.
What happens when you run out
| Attribute | Lovable | Bolt.new | v0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The AI at zero | Blocking dialog; building stops | AI stops; direct code edits stay free | Generation pauses |
| Your live app | Pages keep serving; Cloud-backed apps can pause | Not stated in the docs read | Not stated in the docs read |
| Credits that carry over | Monthly credits expire 2 months after issue | Paid tokens roll over one month; Free tokens do not | Monthly credits expire after 65 days |
The full nine-tool version, with sources, is in what happens when AI builder credits run out.
Backend and data
| Attribute | Lovable | Bolt.new | v0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Database and auth | Lovable Cloud, or your own Supabase | Bolt Cloud (managed by Supabase per Bolt’s announcement) or your own services | Bring your own; connect a database |
| Build style | Chat plus visual editing | Code-first in a browser Node environment | Prompt to UI, built for Vercel |
| Code out | Two-way GitHub sync; download on paid plans | GitHub sync; publish on Bolt hosting, Netlify or elsewhere | GitHub sync with branches and pull requests |
| Leaving | Cloud to your own Supabase is manual | Database export not documented | Deploy is Vercel-native; GitHub sync does not grant deploy rights elsewhere |
Sources: Lovable Cloud migration docs, Bolt Cloud announcement, Bolt Git docs, v0 GitHub docs. The full matrix with Base44 and Replit is the lock-in and export guide.
Pick by situation
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Non-technical founder, need logins and a database | Lovable | Backend handled; watch credits and the Cloud pause risk |
| Can read code, want control and portability | Bolt.new | Real Node environment; GitHub and any host |
| Need a landing page or dashboard UI, already on Vercel | v0 | UI-first; Vercel deployment |
| Cost-sensitive, exploring | Any free plan | Free daily limits differ: Lovable 5 credits a day, Bolt 300K tokens a day, v0 $5 a month |
| Team of several people | v0 Plus is per user; Lovable workspaces have unlimited members | Check the unit that scales with headcount |
| Worried about exit | Bolt or Lovable on your own Supabase | Standard code and database |
Base44 is not on this shortlist; it is compared in Base44 vs Lovable and Base44 vs Bolt.new. The wider ranking is in best AI app builder. If you are leaving one of these, see Bolt.new alternatives and v0 alternatives. More on each: Lovable review, Bolt.new review, v0 review.
Method
Researched from vendor pricing pages and documentation, checked 28 to 29 September 2026. We have not built the same app in all three, so nothing here compares output quality or speed. The per-unit figures are our arithmetic. Bolt’s reload pricing and v0’s credit price are not stated on the pages we read. Re-checked every 30 days.
Common questions
Is Lovable, Bolt or v0 best for beginners?
Lovable is the most guided: chat and visual editing with the backend handled. Bolt expects you to read code, and v0 is strongest for those who can work with React.
Which is cheapest?
Bolt Pro and Lovable Pro are $25 a month and v0 Plus is $30 per user. Real cost depends on usage, and the units are not comparable, so the cheapest in practice depends on how you build.
Can I move my app off these tools?
Yes for the code, through GitHub on all three. The database is where it differs: see the export matrix.