Best AI Build Tools in 2026: Lovable, Bolt.new, v0, Base44, and 8 More
“AI build tool” is the biggest category on this site, twelve tools deep, and the question that actually separates them isn’t how good the AI is, it’s what you get to keep. Some hand you real, exportable code. Others build something genuinely good that only ever runs on their servers. Read the exit terms before you read the feature list. Figure out which job you have first:
- A working full-stack app, described in plain English, no coding → Lovable
- Fast full-stack iteration you’ll keep editing in the browser → Bolt.new
- Production-shaped React UI for a developer to drop into a repo → v0
- A real app on your own domain, as cheaply as possible → Base44
- A design-grade marketing site, fast → Framer
- Genuine ownership: an exported site you could host anywhere → 10Web
- A single landing page that costs almost nothing → Carrd
- An internal tool over data you already keep → Softr
- A spreadsheet turned into a mobile-shaped app → Glide
- A business site plus CRM you’ll never touch again → Durable
- A professional-services site with invoicing built in → B12
- The cheapest disposable app you don’t expect to keep → Hostinger Horizons
The strongest prompt-to-app path for non-coders: Lovable
Lovable turns a plain-English description into a working full-stack app with auth, database, and hosting already wired up, then hands you the code once you’re ready to leave. Chat Mode lets you debug and discuss architecture before anything touches the codebase, and real-time multi-user editing means a designer, PM, and developer can genuinely work the same project together.
Free gives 5 build credits/day, capped at 30/month. The entry paid plan is about $25/mo.
Skip it if you expect production-grade architecture without review, the output still needs a real look before it ships. See Lovable’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Lovable →
Faster iteration, in the browser: Bolt.new
Bolt.new prompts a full-stack app into existence and lets you keep editing it directly in the browser. It’s the stronger pick over Lovable specifically for fast iteration, though it holds together less well than Lovable once an app gets large. The free tier is unusually generous for this category, and unused tokens roll over for two months.
Free gives 300K tokens/day, 1M/month. The entry paid plan is $25/mo (10M tokens, with 2-month rollover).
Skip it if the project will clearly outgrow a prototype, Bolt trades long-term structure for iteration speed. See Bolt.new’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Bolt.new →
Ships UI a developer would actually commit: v0
v0 is Vercel’s generative UI builder, strongest on React and shadcn/ui specifically because it targets the stack a real developer already uses, with bi-directional GitHub sync so it fits into an existing repo rather than replacing one.
Free gives $5 in credits and a tight 7 messages/day cap, the tightest daily limit of any major generator here. The entry paid plan is $30/user/mo (Plus); the older $20 Premium tier is closed to new users, which a lot of roundups still get wrong.
Skip it if you’re not a developer, the output assumes you can take it from there. See v0’s full profile for verified pricing. Try v0 →
The cheapest real app on your own domain: Base44
Base44 is Wix-owned and undercuts nearly every rival on the one thing that usually costs the most: a custom domain, from $16/mo against $25 to $29 for most competitors and $199 for Glide. Two-way GitHub sync hands over the full source, not a snapshot, and paid plans include a free domain for the first year.
Free gives 25 message credits/month and 5 apps. The entry paid plan is $16/mo.
Skip it if the app is genuinely complex, the ceiling here arrives early. See Base44’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Base44 →
The best-looking marketing site, inside a walled garden: Framer
Framer produces the best visual output of any builder on this list when the goal is a polished marketing site, with AI assist layered on top of genuinely design-grade tooling. The tradeoff is real: it’s a walled garden with no verified code export.
Free gives 1GB bandwidth, a subdomain, 3 editors, and 500 one-time AI credits (not a monthly allowance). The entry paid plan is $10/mo (Basic); editor seats bill separately at $20/mo each, easy to miss when costing a team.
Skip it if you need to export and self-host eventually, Framer isn’t built for that exit. See Framer’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Framer →
The only one that hands you real WordPress: 10Web
10Web is the only builder on this list that gives genuine ownership: SFTP, SSH, phpMyAdmin, and full downloadable backups, so leaving later costs you a migration and nothing else. Output is Elementor-based, so the exported site stays Elementor-dependent, but that’s still a real, portable WordPress install.
There’s no free tier, but a 30-day money-back guarantee and a free custom domain (up to $30 value) come with signup. The entry paid plan is $10/mo (AI Starter).
Skip it if you don’t want to be responsible for WordPress, ownership here comes with WordPress’s usual maintenance burden attached. See 10Web’s full profile for verified pricing. Try 10Web →
The cheapest credible one-pager, no AI, by design: Carrd
Carrd is nine dollars a year, has no AI at all, and is still the right answer for a single landing page. Pro Standard is $19 per year, not per month, undercutting everything else in this category by roughly 20x, and Pro Plus includes real Site Downloads, so it isn’t the lock-in people assume from the price.
Free gives 3 sites on a carrd.co subdomain with Carrd branding. The entry paid plan is $9/year (Pro Lite), though custom domains need Pro Standard at $19/year specifically, not Pro Lite, a detail most write-ups get wrong.
Skip it if you need more than one page or a database, Carrd is deliberately a one-pager tool. See Carrd’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Carrd →
A front end for data you already keep: Softr
Softr isn’t really a website builder, it’s a front end for data you already have in Airtable or Sheets, built for client portals and internal tools rather than public marketing pages. It bills by internal and external users rather than credits, so cost tracks usage, not effort, but there’s no code export at all.
Free gives 3 builders and 5 combined app users. The entry paid plan is $19/mo billed annually ($25/mo billed monthly, Basic), repriced down from $49/mo in August 2026.
Skip it if you need a public marketing site, that’s not the job Softr solves. See Softr’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Softr →
A spreadsheet that became a mobile app: Glide
Glide turns a spreadsheet into a mobile-shaped app, and the free tier is genuinely generous, 25K rows, well above most rivals. The catch arrives the moment you want a custom domain: that requires the $199/mo Business plan, roughly 20x the going rate everywhere else in this category.
Free gives 1 editor and 25K rows. The entry paid plan is about $10/mo.
Skip it if you need the app on your own domain, the pricing turns absurd at that exact point. See Glide’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Glide →
Fast, and paid for with total lock-in: Durable
Durable gets a business site plus a built-in CRM live in under a minute, the fastest route to a live business site on this list, and the free tier is permanent rather than a trial, which is rarer here than it sounds. There’s no code export of any kind: what you build stays on Durable, full stop.
The free plan caps the CRM at 10 contacts and AI chat at 10/month. The entry paid plan is $22/mo billed annually ($25/mo monthly, Launch).
Skip it if you might ever want to move the site elsewhere, Durable is built to be rented, not owned. See Durable’s full profile for verified pricing. Try Durable →
Admits its own lock-in, which is rare: B12
B12 sells an AI site plus client tools (invoicing included) to professional service firms, and is the only vendor on this list that states on the record that other hosts can’t use its code. The headline $1/mo price lasts three months, then becomes $49/mo, worth knowing before you sign up.
Free gives a b12sites.com subdomain and 5 AI credits/day, capped at 30/month. It’s $1/mo for the first 3 months, then $49/mo.
Skip it if you’re outside professional services, B12’s client-tools layer (invoicing, intake) is the whole point and goes unused otherwise. See B12’s full profile for verified pricing. Try B12 →
Cheap, with a one-way exit: Hostinger Horizons
Hostinger Horizons generates apps cheaply, but the export is a one-way door: you get a React ZIP but can’t re-import it and resume prompting, and there’s no GitHub integration at all, unlike Bolt, v0, or Base44. Fine for something disposable, wrong for anything you expect to still be running next year.
Free gives 5 one-shot credits, effectively a demo rather than a usable plan. The entry paid plan is $6.99/mo intro, $9.99/mo regular (Explorer).
Skip it if you expect to keep building on the project long-term, the export door only opens once. See Hostinger Horizons’ full profile for verified pricing. Try Hostinger Horizons →
Side by side
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Code export |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lovable | Non-coders building real apps | Free · from $25/mo | Yes, GitHub sync |
| Bolt.new | Fast full-stack prototyping | Free · from $25/mo | Yes, in-product |
| v0 | Production-shaped React for devs | Free · from $30/user/mo | Yes, bi-directional GitHub |
| Base44 | Cheapest app on your own domain | Free · from $16/mo | Yes, two-way GitHub |
| Framer | Design-grade marketing sites | Free · from $10/mo | Not verified |
| 10Web | Genuine WordPress ownership | From $10/mo, no free tier | Yes, real WordPress |
| Carrd | Cheapest credible one-pager | Free · from $9/year | Yes, Pro Plus |
| Softr | Internal tools over your data | Free · from $19/mo | None |
| Glide | Spreadsheet-to-mobile-app | Free · from ~$10/mo | None |
| Durable | Business site plus CRM, fast | Free · from $22/mo | None |
| B12 | Professional services site + billing | Free · $49/mo after intro | None, vendor-confirmed |
| Hostinger Horizons | Cheapest disposable app | Free · from $6.99/mo | One-way ZIP only |
The honest caveat
Half this category will let you leave with something real; the other half won’t, and that split matters more than any feature comparison. Lovable, Bolt.new, v0, Base44, and 10Web all give you a genuine exit, exportable code or an actual WordPress install you could host anywhere. Softr, Glide, Durable, and B12 give you nothing to export at all, and B12 is the only one of the four that says so plainly rather than burying it. Hostinger Horizons sits in between: you get code, but only once, with no way back in to keep prompting. Before comparing AI quality or price, decide whether you’re willing to rent the result forever, because four of these twelve tools are built on the assumption that you are.
Related guides
Head to head
- Lovable vs. Bolt.new
- v0 vs. Lovable
- Bolt.new vs. v0
- Base44 vs. Lovable
- 10Web vs. Durable
- Softr vs. Glide
- Framer vs. Carrd
- Bolt.new vs. Hostinger Horizons
- What the free tier actually gets you
Alternatives
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