Bolt suits people who want a roomy free plan to experiment with, measured in tokens, with website hosting included but Bolt branding on free sites. Lovable suits teams who want to build by chat and share one pool of credits, because its plans are sized by credits rather than seats and you own your code. Both have free plans, so try the same idea in each.
Both tools turn a chat into a working web app, and both start free. The way they measure your usage is where they part ways. I read Lovable's plans page and FAQ and Bolt's plans page, comparison table and FAQ, and everything here comes from those pages.
Lovable and Bolt plans side by side
| Lovable | Bolt | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 5 build credits a day (up to 30 in a month) | Yes, free forever, 1M tokens each month |
| Daily limit on free | 5 build credits | 300K tokens |
| How usage is measured | Credits per message, by task size | Tokens, mostly from syncing project files |
| Branding on free sites | Not stated on the plans page | Bolt branding on websites |
| Own domain | Not stated on the plans page | From Pro |
| Team members | Unlimited on all plans | Teams plan with central admin |
| Code ownership | You own your code and AI output | Not stated on the plans page |
| Hosting | Small apps usually covered by the included grant | Website hosting on every plan |
Lovable: credits by the message
Lovable describes itself as an AI software engineer: you chat, and it builds websites and web apps with no technical knowledge needed. The free plan gives a daily grant of 5 build credits, up to 30 in a month, plus a monthly grant of 20 Cloud credits and 4 credits for AI features inside the apps you build.
Its FAQ shows how far a credit goes. Making a button grey uses 0.50 of a credit, adding sign-up and login uses 1.20, and building a landing page with generated images uses 1.70. Plan Mode uses 1 credit per message. Workspaces take unlimited members on every plan, and Lovable says you own your code and the AI output.
Bolt: tokens by the project
Bolt's free plan is free forever with no card required. You get 1M tokens a month to try it, a daily limit of 300K tokens, public and private projects, unlimited databases and website hosting, with Bolt branding on your sites and a 10MB upload limit.
Pro adds your own domain, removes the branding, raises the allowance to 10M tokens with rollover, and opens the newest AI models, connectors, MCPs and SEO boosting. Teams adds central admin, private NPM registries and design system knowledge for shared projects.
Why your project size matters more on Bolt
Here's the line in Bolt's FAQ that's easy to skip. Most token usage comes from syncing your project's file system to the AI, so the larger the project, the more tokens each message uses. A small change late in a big build can eat more of your allowance than the same change on day one.
Lovable ties its credits to the complexity of the task instead, with its own worked examples. Its credits have a shelf life, though: unused monthly credits expire two months after they're issued, and the daily build grants don't roll over at all.
Which builder each one suits
Bolt suits solo makers who want plenty of free room to prototype a site, and who'll move to Pro for a custom domain. Lovable suits small teams, classes and communities who want everyone building from one shared balance. For more options, see these free AI website builders for beginners and my round-up of free website builders for small businesses.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
My advice for your first app
Write a one-paragraph brief for a small app, then build it in both on their free plans and keep the chat short. In Lovable, watch the credit shown against each message. In Bolt, watch how fast the daily tokens go as the project grows. You'll soon know which way of counting suits how you work, and that matters more than any feature list.
Do you make AI app or website builders? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lovable free?
Yes. Lovable's free plan includes a daily grant of 5 build credits, up to 30 in a month, plus 20 Cloud credits each month.
Is Bolt free?
Yes. Bolt's free plan is free forever with no card required, with 1M tokens a month and a daily limit of 300K tokens.
Does Bolt put its branding on free sites?
Yes. Bolt's plans page lists Bolt branding on websites for the free plan, and Pro removes it.
Do Lovable credits expire?
Yes. Lovable says unused monthly plan credits expire two months after they're issued, and daily build grants end each day.
Who owns the code I build in Lovable?
Lovable's FAQ says you do: the apps, websites and AI output you create, subject to third-party rights in the underlying models.
