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Side-by-side comparison · Website & App Builders

Bolt.new vs Lovable vs Softr

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Bolt.new

3.6

From $18/mo

Best overall

Lovable

4.2

From $25/mo

Softr

3.6

From $19/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Bolt.new

3.6

Pick it if: Builders who like a chat interface but still want to see and touch the code.

Lovable

4.2
Best overallEasiest to use

Pick it if: Founders, marketers and small teams who want to launch a product or internal tool without hiring a developer.

Softr

3.6

Pick it if: Operators and agencies who run their business on spreadsheets and want a proper front door for clients or staff.

Overview

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
In one lineDescribe a web or mobile app and get a working version to edit and publish in minutes.Chat your way to a full web app, with a database and user logins built in. No code needed.Turn an Airtable base or Google Sheet into a client portal or internal tool.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemiumFreemium
Starting price$18/mo$25/mo$19/mo
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code No No No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Overall rating3.64.2Winner3.6
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
3.5
4.5
4.0
FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.0
4.5
3.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.5
4.5
3.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
3.5
3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
3.5
4.0
4.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Mobile app No– No
Desktop app No No No
Browser extension No No No
API access No Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted Yes No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes Yes Yes
Understands images Yes Yes–
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code Yes Yes No
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style No No No
Works in many languages Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities score10/ 1710/ 178/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Plans

Free

Free

Kicking the tyres.

Free

Free

Testing an idea over a weekend.

Free

Free

Learning Softr and tiny internal tools.

ProOur pick

$18/mo billed yearly

Anyone building a real project.

ProOur pick

$25/mo, or $250/yr billed yearly

Anyone building something they plan to launch.

Basic

$19/mo

A solo operator with a handful of clients.

Teams

$27/member/mo billed yearly

Small teams sharing projects.

Business

$50/mo, or $500/yr billed yearly

Teams that need logins, roles and security controls.

ProOur pick

$99/mo

Small teams running a real portal.

Enterprise

Custom

Large companies with security requirements.

Enterprise

Custom

Large organisations rolling it out company-wide.

Business

$329/mo

Companies with hundreds of users and security needs.

Enterprise

Custom

Large organisations.

Which plan to pickTry Free for an afternoon to see whether you like watching the code get written. Pro is the plan for almost everyone else; the page only shows the yearly rate, so check the monthly price before you commit. Higher token tiers exist if you build daily.Start on Free to see whether the chat-to-build approach suits you. Move to Pro the moment you are building something real, and buy a higher credit tier rather than topping up if you run out most months. Business only makes sense once several people need to log in and manage the apps.Pro is where Softr starts to feel like a proper product: you can remove the branding, give clients Google sign-in and add more users as you grow. Basic is fine for a solo consultant with five clients. The pricing page has a monthly and yearly toggle that we could not read, so confirm whether the prices shown are the yearly rate before you budget.

Key features

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Standout features
  • Full code in the browser
  • Mobile apps
  • Built-in hosting and database
  • Figma import
  • Discussion mode
  • Connectors and MCPs
  • Chat to build
  • Lovable Cloud
  • Lovable AI
  • Visual edits
  • GitHub sync
  • Publish and custom domains
  • Build on your data
  • Ready-made blocks
  • User permissions
  • AI co-builder
  • Workflows and agents
  • API and MCP

Pros and cons

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Pros
  • You can see and edit every line of code
  • Builds mobile apps as well as websites
  • Runs entirely in the browser, nothing to install
  • Discussion mode stops you wasting tokens on half-baked changes
  • Open source version (bolt.diy) exists if you want to run your own
  • Finished-looking apps with the least prompting of any builder here
  • Database, logins and storage are built in from the first prompt
  • Code syncs to GitHub, so you are never locked in
  • Visual edits for small tweaks save credits
  • Large community and plenty of tutorials
  • Works on top of the spreadsheets and databases you already run
  • Predictable, tested blocks rather than AI-generated code
  • Fine-grained permissions for who sees what
  • Keeps working when the AI credits run out
  • API and MCP access on every plan
Cons
  • Tokens are hard to predict and a looping fix can eat a day's allowance
  • Less polished designs than Lovable or v0 without extra prompting
  • Shows you more complexity than a non-technical person wants
  • Monthly-billed prices are not shown on the pricing page
  • Credits run out faster than you expect, and fixing its own mistakes costs credits too
  • Hosting and AI usage inside your app draw from the same allowance as building
  • Complex logic or unusual integrations often need a developer to finish
  • The free plan is too tight to ship anything
  • Per-user pricing makes a portal with many clients expensive
  • Limited to what the blocks can do, so unusual features are hard
  • Not suited to marketing sites or public-facing content
  • Billing basis of the displayed prices is unclear on the page

Who each one is for

AttributeBolt.newLovableSoftr
Best for
  • Web and mobile prototypes
  • Watching the code get written
  • Quick demos for a pitch
  • Playing with ideas
  • MVPs and prototypes
  • Internal tools
  • Landing pages with forms and logins
  • Giving a developer a head start
  • Client portals
  • Internal tools from a spreadsheet
  • Member directories
  • Simple dashboards for staff
You'll find it used by
  • Technical founders
  • Developers
  • Product managers
  • Students
  • Solo founders
  • Marketers
  • Small teams
  • Agencies
  • Operators
  • Agencies
  • Consultants
  • Small teams

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.

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