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Lovable pricing and credits explained: what building an app really costs
Published Oct 27, 2026 · Updated Oct 27, 2026 · Prices checked Oct 27, 2026 on lovable.dev/pricing and docs.lovable.dev.
Short answer: Lovable is free to try (5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month). Pro starts at $25/month for 100 credits and Business at $50/month for 100, both with 5 extra credits every day and tiers up to 10,000 credits. A prompt costs roughly 0.5 to 1.7 credits in Lovable's own examples, so $25 buys somewhere around 123 to 420 prompts a month if you also use the daily credits on 22 days. Hosting and the backend come out of the same credits, after a free monthly grant.
What Lovable is, in one paragraph
Lovable is a browser-based AI app builder: you describe a website or web app in chat and Lovable writes the code, previews it live and can host it with a built-in backend (Lovable Cloud: database, auth, storage). It is aimed at founders, designers, marketers and other non-developers as well as developers who want a fast first version. Paid plans add code editing and download, custom domains and GitHub sync.
The plans
| Plan | Price / month | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5/day, max 30/month |
| Pro | from $25 | 100/month + 5/day (no cap) |
| Business | from $50 | 100/month + 5/day (no cap) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Volume-based |
Annual billing gives two months free (Pro 100 credits: $250/year). Verified students and teachers get 50% off Pro (100 credits, monthly) for up to 12 months. There's no per-seat charge: every plan allows unlimited members sharing one credit pool. All 11 credit tiers with per-credit prices are on our Lovable pricing page.
How Lovable credits work
- One balance for everything. Building, chat, Lovable Cloud (hosting, database, auth, storage), AI features inside your app and connectors all draw from the same credits. Source.
- Grants are spent first. Every plan gets 5 daily build credits, 20 Cloud credits and 4 AI credits a month. Lovable says most small apps stay inside the Cloud grant and that these grants are temporary offerings.
- Prompts are priced by work done. Default mode varies with complexity; Plan mode is 1 credit per message.
- Credits expire. Monthly plan credits last 2 months from issue, top-ups 12 months, daily credits until the end of the day. Credits aren't refundable.
- Top-ups: Pro $15 per 50 credits ($0.30 each), Business $30 per 50 ($0.60 each). Source.
What a prompt costs, in Lovable's own examples
| Prompt | Credits | At Pro $0.25/credit |
|---|---|---|
| “Make the button gray” | 0.50 | $0.125 |
| “Remove the footer” | 0.90 | $0.225 |
| “Add authentication with sign up and login” | 1.20 | $0.30 |
| “Build me a landing page, use images” | 1.70 | $0.425 |
Three worked monthly budgets
Assumptions: prompts cost 0.5 to 1.7 credits (Lovable's examples), and on paid plans you use your 5 daily credits on 22 working days (110 credits). For each case we picked the cheapest Pro tier plus top-ups. Real usage varies a lot with how big your changes are and how often you fix things.
Weekend prototype
Try an idea: a landing page plus a simple form or dashboard.
30 credits ≈ 17 to 60 prompts
$0 on Free if spread over a month (30 max); or Pro $25 to do it in a weekend
MVP month
A real first version with auth, a database and a few rounds of changes.
200 credits ≈ 117 to 400 prompts
$25/mo: Pro 100 ($25) + daily credits
Heavy build month
Daily iteration on a growing app, lots of fixes and new features.
600 credits ≈ 352 to 1200 prompts
$130/mo: Pro 400 ($100) + 2 top-ups ($30) + daily credits
Lovable, Bolt or a coding tool?
- Pick an app builder like Lovable if you want to describe an app and get it hosted without touching a terminal, or you're validating an idea before hiring a developer. Lovable's built-in backend and published prompt costs make it easy to budget.
- Bolt is the closest alternative: it bills in tokens rather than credits (plans Free $0, Pro $18, Teams $27). The fair test is to build the same small app on both free plans. See Lovable vs Bolt.
- An AI coding tool (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot) makes more sense once a developer works in the code daily. You can sync a Lovable project to GitHub and keep going there; estimate that cost with the calculator.
All comparisons: Lovable vs Bolt, Lovable vs Replit, Lovable vs v0. Overview of every builder we track: AI app builders compared.
Tips to spend fewer credits
- Use the free daily credits first; they don't roll over.
- Plan larger changes in Plan mode (1 credit per message) before building, so you don't pay twice for a rebuild.
- Batch small visual tweaks into one prompt rather than many.
- Start on the lowest Pro tier and watch usage for a couple of weeks before buying a bigger tier; top-ups ($0.30/credit) cost more per credit than the tiers ($0.25 down to $0.225).
FAQ
How much is a Lovable credit?
Pro starts at $25/month for 100 credits ($0.25 per credit). Business starts at $50 for 100 credits ($0.50 per credit). Top-ups cost $15 per 50 credits on Pro ($0.30) and $30 per 50 on Business ($0.60). Prices per lovable.dev/pricing and Lovable's docs, checked 27 Oct 2026.
How many credits does a Lovable prompt use?
It depends on the task. Lovable's own examples: 'Make the button gray' 0.50 credits, 'Remove the footer' 0.90, 'Add authentication with sign up and login' 1.20, 'Build me a landing page, use images' 1.70. Plan mode costs 1 credit per message.
Is Lovable free?
Yes, there is a Free plan: 5 build credits a day (up to 30 a month), plus 20 Cloud credits and 4 AI credits a month, unlimited collaborators and up to 5 lovable.app domains. Code editing, code download, custom domains and top-ups need a paid plan.
Do Lovable credits expire?
Yes. Monthly plan credits expire two months after they're issued (annual plans: one month after the annual period ends). Top-up credits last 12 months. Daily build credits expire at the end of each day.
Does Lovable charge per seat?
No. Every plan allows unlimited workspace members; plans are priced by the credits they include, and members share the workspace's credit pool.
Does it cost extra to host a Lovable app?
Hosting and the built-in backend (Cloud) draw on a monthly 20-credit Cloud grant first, then on your credit balance. Lovable says most small or new apps stay within the grant; apps with significant traffic or size use extra credits.
Is there a Lovable student discount?
Yes. Verified students and teachers get 50% off Pro (100 credits, monthly billing) for up to 12 months via lovable.dev/students.
Sources: lovable.dev/pricing · docs.lovable.dev/introduction/subscription-plans · docs.lovable.dev/introduction/credits-and-usage · docs.lovable.dev/introduction/credit-top-ups, checked Oct 27, 2026. Prices are USD excluding tax. Lovable may change plans and grants at any time; confirm on its pricing page before buying. This guide is editorial and separate from our data; no vendor paid for inclusion. See the methodology.