Building with AI

AI App Builders

Describe your app in a chat and get a working, clickable version in minutes — as a prototype to test the idea, or as the start of the real codebase.

Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

The real choice

Whether you'll keep the code. Hosted builders take you from prompt to deployed app with a backend wired up, but you work inside their environment and pay by credits; code-first generators give you components to pull into your own repo; a cloud IDE with an agent sits in between and lets you keep editing the code by hand.

Pick by situation

Tap the ones that are you — the tools that fit light up below.

You want a working web app with sign-in and saved data without touching a backendLovable Bolt Base44
You already have a Next.js project and want generated screens that fit into itv0
You want to move between prompting and editing code yourself with no local setupReplit

The contenders

Grouped by the side of the choice they answer, not ranked. Open a row for when to use it, the trade-off and what makers say.

ToolBest for

Hosted app builder3

Lovableapp · free tierFull-stack web apps from chat, with auth and database through a built-in Supabase connection.

Use it whenYou want a working app with sign-in and saved data without touching a backend.

Trade-offCredit-based pricing, and larger changes get harder to steer by chat as the app grows.

llms.txt MCP

Used by 2pr, Agenda Hero Magic, Banyan AI Lite, Bleetz Network, BnbIcons and 68 more.

Lovable in full →vs Base44 →vs v0 →

We used Lovable to quickly prototype workflows and test ideas before investing engineering time. It helped us move from rough concepts to working product flows in hours instead of days.

Lasso, the makerOct 2026 ↗

Boltapp · free tierGenerating and running a full-stack app entirely in the browser, with the code visible and editable as it is written.

Use it whenYou want to watch and edit the generated code as it's written, without installing anything.

Trade-offUsage limits and credits; long sessions on a growing codebase use them up quickly.

Used by 1-bit.day, APIRadar, Boxo, Clipboard Canvas v2.0, Interviewell and 19 more.

Bolt in full →

Bolt.new lets me prototype and iterate on API Radar’s UI and flows insanely fast—AI‑assisted scaffolding plus live preview means I can test ideas, fix UX issues, and ship improvements in hours instead of days.

APIRadar, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Base44platform · free tierFull-stack web apps and internal tools from chat, with database, auth and hosting built into the platform, so there is no outside backend account to set up.

118M/wk

Use it whenYou want a working app with users and data in one place, and would rather not connect Supabase or another backend yourself.

Trade-offCredit-based pricing, and the app runs on Base44's own backend; GitHub sync exports the code, but moving the data and backend elsewhere is on you.

llms.txt

Used by MindPal, Osintir, Perfai Security, Timeless, Zeno and 6 more.

Base44 in full →vs Lovable →vs Replit →

Base44 easily offers one of the best price-to-quality ratios right now, it’s what I used to build the Osintir site.

Osintir, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Code-first generator1

v0app · free tierReact and Next.js UI and apps that you pull into your own repository or deploy on Vercel.

41+1 open source33k/wk

Use it whenYou already have a Next.js project and want generated screens that fit into it.

Trade-offOutput defaults to Vercel's stack (Next.js, Tailwind, shadcn/ui).

llms.txt

Used by ArtMathCode, Basement Browser, Boxo, Bugster, Cardio and 36 more · in 1 open-source project.

v0 in full →vs Lovable →vs Replit →

We use v0 to generate production-ready components from natural language prompts. It is core to our design system and helps us move faster by turning ideas into working prototypes almost instantly.

Zown, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Cloud IDE with agent1

ReplitappBuilding with an AI agent in a full cloud IDE, in many languages, with hosting included.

Use it whenYou want to switch between prompting and editing code yourself without any local setup.

Trade-offYour dev environment and hosting live on Replit; agent usage is billed on top of the plan.

llms.txt

Used by Anymark, Appear on AI, Boxo, Cloud World Model, Destiny Rings and 29 more.

Replit in full →vs Lovable →vs Base44 →

The future of coding. Deploying on replit is incredibly easy, I highly recommend them if you are building video products. Also helps that they have a great mobile editor.

QuickVid Autopilot, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Who switches to what

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "X to Y" — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only. Pick a flow to see its pull requests.

Replit →

Lovable5 PRs · Compare →

Clean up Replit import to Lovable (#4)buildwithjeremy/replit-import · 2025-06-24
Clean up replit to lovable importbuildwithjeremy/replit-import · 2025-06-24
Clean up Replit import to Lovablebuildwithjeremy/replit-import · 2025-06-24
Import Replit app to Lovable projectbuildwithjeremy/replit-import · 2025-06-24
Pushing Replit code to Lovablebuildwithjeremy/replit-import · 2025-06-24

All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

Before you choose

How to approach it

Decide up front if this is a throwaway prototype or the real product. For a prototype, generate fast, show it to five people, and don't polish. For the real product, connect GitHub from the first session so the code lives in your repository, and move to your own editor once the app stops fitting in a chat.

Common mistakes

Building what becomes the real product without connecting GitHub, so there is no history and no way to take the code elsewhere.
Spending credits on repeated "fix it" prompts for a bug that a few minutes of reading the code would explain.
Launching a generated app without checking its authentication and database access rules, leaving user data readable by anyone.