Anybody use Lovable or Bolt?
Discussion
I used Base44 a few months ago to create a mobile app (purely for my use). It was my first time using an AI app for this kind of thing.
It works well and does exactly what I want, but - I know that it is tied to Base 44 and that bothers me a bit.
I had a brief play with Lovable and Bolt today. Lovable credits (on the free plan) seemed to last longer than Bolt but Bolt tempts me because (apparently) it allows you to edit the actual code which would mean being able to make changes without using credits. (My day job is software so tweaking wouldn't be a big deal, i just don't have the interest to start from scratch).
Does anybody use either? My feeling is that Bolt would suit me more although it ran out of credits way quicker than Lovable.
It works well and does exactly what I want, but - I know that it is tied to Base 44 and that bothers me a bit.
I had a brief play with Lovable and Bolt today. Lovable credits (on the free plan) seemed to last longer than Bolt but Bolt tempts me because (apparently) it allows you to edit the actual code which would mean being able to make changes without using credits. (My day job is software so tweaking wouldn't be a big deal, i just don't have the interest to start from scratch).
Does anybody use either? My feeling is that Bolt would suit me more although it ran out of credits way quicker than Lovable.
Edited by davek_964 on Monday 7th September 18:53
I didn't bother with Bolt - it had basic problems from the start and when I looked at reviews it seemed that at least one reviewer found the same thing.
I also tried Emergent and - wow. Much much better than the others - it asks intelligent questions in response to your prompt which means it's first attempt is much much better than the others. It also looked much better - far more professional and really not like something an AI code generator had produced.
Sadly there is a big negative - Emergent charge a chunk of credits to host the app - more than you get on the free plan. Which means my simple app would cost me $20 a month to use which makes no sense.
So, that left Lovable. The reviews suggest it makes a nicer front end / UI than Base44 but that isn't my experience. Base44 had some nice touches that the Lovable app missed.
I signed up for the pro plan and now have a working version of my app in Lovable too - I will drop back to the free plan once I'm happy it's working / complete.
Lovable is connected to GitHub and the app is linked from my own domain although all that really means is that my domain points to Lovable. That couldn't be done automatically because they don't list Mythic Beasts as a known host but the manual instructions were simple.
I actually think the Base44 version is a bit nicer than the Lovable version - but Lovable allows you to buy extra credits if you want so I can tweak it further even if I run out of plan credits. And the fact that it's synced with GitHub and not using Base44 proprietary stuff is a big plus, so I will probably gradually move over to using the Lovable version.
My aim is to take the code from GitHub and build it in Android Studio - then see if I can host it directly on my own domain.
That would be a major step forward - but if that does work, I might go back to Emergent and create the app there too. It's done a much nicer job as a starting point and I would also have access to the code there too so if Lovable proves I can self host then I should be able to do the same with the Emergent version and not need the monthly hosting fee.
I also tried Emergent and - wow. Much much better than the others - it asks intelligent questions in response to your prompt which means it's first attempt is much much better than the others. It also looked much better - far more professional and really not like something an AI code generator had produced.
Sadly there is a big negative - Emergent charge a chunk of credits to host the app - more than you get on the free plan. Which means my simple app would cost me $20 a month to use which makes no sense.
So, that left Lovable. The reviews suggest it makes a nicer front end / UI than Base44 but that isn't my experience. Base44 had some nice touches that the Lovable app missed.
I signed up for the pro plan and now have a working version of my app in Lovable too - I will drop back to the free plan once I'm happy it's working / complete.
Lovable is connected to GitHub and the app is linked from my own domain although all that really means is that my domain points to Lovable. That couldn't be done automatically because they don't list Mythic Beasts as a known host but the manual instructions were simple.
I actually think the Base44 version is a bit nicer than the Lovable version - but Lovable allows you to buy extra credits if you want so I can tweak it further even if I run out of plan credits. And the fact that it's synced with GitHub and not using Base44 proprietary stuff is a big plus, so I will probably gradually move over to using the Lovable version.
My aim is to take the code from GitHub and build it in Android Studio - then see if I can host it directly on my own domain.
That would be a major step forward - but if that does work, I might go back to Emergent and create the app there too. It's done a much nicer job as a starting point and I would also have access to the code there too so if Lovable proves I can self host then I should be able to do the same with the Emergent version and not need the monthly hosting fee.
Interested in your journey so far.
I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and wanted an android app to link to a Bluetooth crest heart monitor. I know there are 100s on the app store but all crap for my purpose. I want it to display my current heart rate on my phone screen, nothing else. There is no app that does that.
I looked at creating an app but have zero coding knowledge and thought AI would be the answer. I tried at the time and it wasn't there yet; perhaps it is now.
Was your app this simple?
With your extensive knowledge (v me) which site would be the best to create and then e port the code like yiu are trying?
I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and wanted an android app to link to a Bluetooth crest heart monitor. I know there are 100s on the app store but all crap for my purpose. I want it to display my current heart rate on my phone screen, nothing else. There is no app that does that.
I looked at creating an app but have zero coding knowledge and thought AI would be the answer. I tried at the time and it wasn't there yet; perhaps it is now.
Was your app this simple?
With your extensive knowledge (v me) which site would be the best to create and then e port the code like yiu are trying?
TheDrownedApe said:
Interested in your journey so far.
I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and wanted an android app to link to a Bluetooth crest heart monitor. I know there are 100s on the app store but all crap for my purpose. I want it to display my current heart rate on my phone screen, nothing else. There is no app that does that.
I looked at creating an app but have zero coding knowledge and thought AI would be the answer. I tried at the time and it wasn't there yet; perhaps it is now.
Was your app this simple?
With your extensive knowledge (v me) which site would be the best to create and then e port the code like yiu are trying?
My app is simpler because it's standalone. It's just a budgeting / money manager app that keeps track of my spending. Similar to you, there are plenty in the app store but they don't do exactly what I want so it was easier to use my own. I had a heart attack a couple of years ago and wanted an android app to link to a Bluetooth crest heart monitor. I know there are 100s on the app store but all crap for my purpose. I want it to display my current heart rate on my phone screen, nothing else. There is no app that does that.
I looked at creating an app but have zero coding knowledge and thought AI would be the answer. I tried at the time and it wasn't there yet; perhaps it is now.
Was your app this simple?
With your extensive knowledge (v me) which site would be the best to create and then e port the code like yiu are trying?
Yours will be more complicated because you're needing to interface to something else via Bluetooth. How easy that will be, I'm not sure.
But - it does change things with the pricing. Base44 has 'credits' that you use for creating / building your app but also has 'integration credits' - they seem to be used when you interface to something else (e.g storing stuff on Google drive) so I think they'd probably get used when using Bluetooth to interface to the heart monitor.
Base 44 does give the integration credits as part of the free plan, but I think they'd get used every time you use the app so it could stop working half way through the month.
I'd say that Base44 seemed to do a better job of creating my app but there are certain limitations with it. I think Lovable is more flexible - even on the cheapest plan you can sync the code to GitHub - so I think that's probably the best to try.
My Base44 subscription expired 2 days ago (I only subscribed for a single month to create the app).
As far as I can tell, it mostly still works fine - it's a standalone app, so doesn't need database management or anything like that. The one thing that doesn't seem to work now is that I have repeating transactions - i.e. automatic date based transactions - and they no longer occur.
I'm not sure why that would be dependent on a subscription since I'd expect that to be handled locally - but clearly it requires something.
A bit annoying, but something I can live with.
I assume that Lovable will have the same issue (maybe more?) when my subscription for that ends in about a month. But at least with that, I can start hacking the code and probably solve it myself.
ETA: I don't think it is because my subscription ended - I think it's actually a bug in the repeating transactions which means they're only working for the first time the date occurs.
As far as I can tell, it mostly still works fine - it's a standalone app, so doesn't need database management or anything like that. The one thing that doesn't seem to work now is that I have repeating transactions - i.e. automatic date based transactions - and they no longer occur.
I'm not sure why that would be dependent on a subscription since I'd expect that to be handled locally - but clearly it requires something.
A bit annoying, but something I can live with.
I assume that Lovable will have the same issue (maybe more?) when my subscription for that ends in about a month. But at least with that, I can start hacking the code and probably solve it myself.
ETA: I don't think it is because my subscription ended - I think it's actually a bug in the repeating transactions which means they're only working for the first time the date occurs.
Edited by davek_964 on Monday 14th September 11:08
Edited by davek_964 on Monday 14th September 13:57
Base 44 bug now fixed - using the daily credits on the free plan - so I believe it is fully functional without a subscription.
I took the next step with the Lovable version of the app - setup a free Vercel account and linked that to my Github project - deployed using my own domain. So that is completely independent of Lovable now if I want to progress that way further. For now, I still have almost a month of subscription so will continue to tweak until it expires.
It does prove that - in theory - I could use a one month subscription to Emergent and create the app with that - it really does seem to be much better and much more polished in what it produced with the free credits. But - not only do they have no free plan (so no way to do minor tweaks once you stop subscribing) - they will also delete the entire project 45 days after you cancel subscription. Which means - if there are problems with it, or you want to tweak it - you really are on your own, and have to do it manually.
It's a shame - the initial version of the app it produced (albeit without most of the functionality) was a level above Base44 and Lovable - but I guess it's aimed at a different market.
I took the next step with the Lovable version of the app - setup a free Vercel account and linked that to my Github project - deployed using my own domain. So that is completely independent of Lovable now if I want to progress that way further. For now, I still have almost a month of subscription so will continue to tweak until it expires.
It does prove that - in theory - I could use a one month subscription to Emergent and create the app with that - it really does seem to be much better and much more polished in what it produced with the free credits. But - not only do they have no free plan (so no way to do minor tweaks once you stop subscribing) - they will also delete the entire project 45 days after you cancel subscription. Which means - if there are problems with it, or you want to tweak it - you really are on your own, and have to do it manually.
It's a shame - the initial version of the app it produced (albeit without most of the functionality) was a level above Base44 and Lovable - but I guess it's aimed at a different market.
Had an evening free, so decided it was worth trying Emergent.
It does produce a much better app. It asks intelligent questions, it makes suggestions and it does things sensibly - which means you have to make additional requests much less than Base44 / Lovable. And, it looks much more professional.
But.....
It burns credits. Base44 and Lovable both created the same app on their cheapest plan - 100 credits, plus the odd tweak / bug fix on the free daily credits.
Emergent also has 100 credits on the cheap plan and gives a bonus 150 for your first month. And, it burned them all without reaching the same point as the other two.
In addition to that, it won't run when hosted on Vercel.
I suspect I could solve the run problem but can't see the point. It burns credits too quickly.
I'll stick with Lovable - I've no doubt I could make it look just as good if I'm willing to burn the same 250 credits Emergent took
It does produce a much better app. It asks intelligent questions, it makes suggestions and it does things sensibly - which means you have to make additional requests much less than Base44 / Lovable. And, it looks much more professional.
But.....
It burns credits. Base44 and Lovable both created the same app on their cheapest plan - 100 credits, plus the odd tweak / bug fix on the free daily credits.
Emergent also has 100 credits on the cheap plan and gives a bonus 150 for your first month. And, it burned them all without reaching the same point as the other two.
In addition to that, it won't run when hosted on Vercel.
I suspect I could solve the run problem but can't see the point. It burns credits too quickly.
I'll stick with Lovable - I've no doubt I could make it look just as good if I'm willing to burn the same 250 credits Emergent took
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 16th September 20:53
I took a look at Base44 after this, as I wanted a simple Android app for a photo frame, and all the main offerings just didn't do what I wanted or didn't work. Due to it being tied to the web, even as an Android app, Base44 didn't work for what I wanted.
I ended up just using Claude and got something that works, well, in under an hour after I got all the right tools/libraries installed. Not interested in pushing it to the Play Store, as it is mainly a learning exercise.
I ended up just using Claude and got something that works, well, in under an hour after I got all the right tools/libraries installed. Not interested in pushing it to the Play Store, as it is mainly a learning exercise.
Monsterlime said:
I took a look at Base44 after this, as I wanted a simple Android app for a photo frame, and all the main offerings just didn't do what I wanted or didn't work. Due to it being tied to the web, even as an Android app, Base44 didn't work for what I wanted.
I ended up just using Claude and got something that works, well, in under an hour after I got all the right tools/libraries installed. Not interested in pushing it to the Play Store, as it is mainly a learning exercise.
Does Claude give you a full mobile app (rather than web app)?I ended up just using Claude and got something that works, well, in under an hour after I got all the right tools/libraries installed. Not interested in pushing it to the Play Store, as it is mainly a learning exercise.
Claude could be the next one I play with.....
(Note that Base44 and Lovable can produce versions that ruin when offline even though they are web apps. Both of my versions do)
Edited by davek_964 on Friday 18th September 16:40
Yes, it helped code it all up. I had to install the sdk, gradle etc and point Claude Code at the directory, but then it just worked, pretty much. Gradle even has a debug signing cert so you can sideload your APK's directly to Android, which is what I did. I made a few changes, fixed a bug etc, all via Claude. Was very simple.
I had tried this with Base44 and it told me a fully offline, no web app was not supported by it.
I had tried this with Base44 and it told me a fully offline, no web app was not supported by it.
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