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🎙️ In this episode, we get into:
- What Bolt, Replit, and Lovable actually are — and how they think about building
- Why Bolt is built for speed, tokens, and full-stack flexibility
- How Replit became the go-to for power users, polyglots, and AI-assisted chaos
- Where Lovable fits for non-coders who want real apps without touching code
- The tradeoffs behind tokens, credits, and emotional support UIs
- Which platform’s secretly the best for getting real stuff shipped
Not a tutorial. Not a teardown. Just the honest conversation I wish I had heard before I wasted 3 weekends. ☠️
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Creators and Guests
What is AI on Air by whatisthat.ai?
An AI-generated podcast that rips the glossy marketing veneer off the AI industry and tells you what’s actually happening underneath — tools, takeovers, weird experiments, and the occasional digital chaos.
witai.substack.com
Broadcasting live from somewhere inside the algorithm, this is AI on air, the official podcast from whatisthat.ai, we're your AI generated hosts, let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Alright. Let's untack this. Today, we're stepping into the arena for a deep dive into three online integrated development environments or IDEs, Bolt, Replit, and Lovable. Uh-huh. Think of it like a tech showdown where each contender has a unique set of skills.
Speaker 1:It's precisely that. Yeah. Kinda like a fight club for your dev soul as our source material perfectly puts it. Each of these platforms brings a distinct philosophy to coding, collaboration, and even generating applications from thin air.
Speaker 2:We're
Speaker 1:here to help you cut through the noise, understand their core strengths, and maybe uncover some surprising quirks.
Speaker 2:And that's exactly what we're aiming for. Whether you're a seasoned developer, maybe just dipping your toes into code, or perhaps an entrepreneur eager to launch an idea without writing a single line of code.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a big one now.
Speaker 2:This deep dive is designed to arm you with the essential insights. By the end, you'll hopefully have a clearer picture of which of these champions might be the perfect fit for your workflow.
Speaker 1:Sounds good.
Speaker 2:Alright. Let's jump into round one. First impressions. Each of these IDEs presents itself with distinct personality.
Speaker 1:A vibe. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. A vibe and a compelling unique selling proposition right from the start. First up, we have Bolt. Our sources characterize its vibe as well, almost aggressive, like a hyper efficient hustle bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's the quote.
Speaker 2:Nearly went under but is now back, token powered and apparently unstoppable. It's billing itself as resurrected from startup purgatory, speaking in tokens, spinning up something called web containers Mhmm. And dropping AI code like its currency.
Speaker 1:What's fascinating here isn't just the, you know, their marketing spin. Bolt's core strength really lies in providing full featured IDE capabilities right in your browser.
Speaker 2:Okay. So no local setup hassle.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You get a powerful coding environment instantly. It excels at real time collaborative coding, letting teams work together seamlessly and its AI prompt generation is genuinely impressive. And integrations. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:It comes with integrated support for services like Supabase and Firebase. Right. Those are popular back end tools plus Netlify for easy deployment and Stripe for payments.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But the real standout, the extra, is its web containers technology. It's powered by Stackblitz.
Speaker 2:Stackblitz.
Speaker 1:Yeah. This creates full isolated development environments like having a pre configured coding machine instantly right in your browser. Saves you all that setup time.
Speaker 2:That instant setup sounds incredibly appealing. Okay. Next up, Replit.
Speaker 1:Ah, Replit.
Speaker 2:It its vibe is definitely that of a tech wizard who codes in their sleep. Its bio proudly boasts support for 50 plus languages, cloud terminals, AI ghostwriter, everything but a home cooked meal.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And if we connect this to the bigger picture, Replit's strength is really its maturity and versatility. Mhmm. It offers real time multiplayer editing, robust deployment options, built in database hosting, all complemented by its AI assistant, Ghostwriter. Ghostwriter.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Its key differentiator I think is that native support for nearly every coding language imaginable.
Speaker 2:Wow. 50 plus?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Plus seamless deployment, container uptime guarantees, and that integrated Ghostwriter AI helping you out. It's a really comprehensive package.
Speaker 2:And then there's Lovable, perhaps the contender with the most unique persona.
Speaker 1:You say that.
Speaker 2:Its vibe is genuinely described as emotional support in your dev tool. Seriously. Its bio claims it will turn your idea into an app and whisper compliments while doing it. Uh-huh. I'm picturing it telling me, great job on that semicolon, you beautiful genius.
Speaker 2:Is it really that personal?
Speaker 1:Well, the emotional support bit is probably more about the user experience. Yeah. You know, prioritizing encouragement and ease of use.
Speaker 2:Okay. Makes sense.
Speaker 1:But what Lovable actually does is pretty remarkable. It takes natural language input like you just describe what you want and it generates full stack applications.
Speaker 2:Woah. Really? From just text?
Speaker 1:From text. No. Bills the whole thing. It's strengths include direct Supabase and Stripe integrations, easy GitHub deployment, custom domain support. The significant extra here is its mature, no code focused features.
Speaker 1:Things like real time data sync, building user authentication, database management, all without you needing to code it.
Speaker 2:That's huge. And it's not
Speaker 1:just a small player. It's apparently nearing a $2,000,000,000 valuation.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Really leading Europe's vibe coding wave as they call it.
Speaker 2:Okay. Vibe coding. I like that. So with those first impressions setting the stage, let's see how these contenders stack up when it comes to, well, your wallet.
Speaker 1:Always important.
Speaker 2:Now as we move into what we'll call round two, the pricing punch. The pricing models here are quite distinct. They're not all the same.
Speaker 1:No. Definitely not. Bolt, for instance, offers a free editor, which gives you about a 150,000 tokens per day or a million per month.
Speaker 2:Tokens. Explain that.
Speaker 1:Tokens are essentially the currency you use for AI interactions and certain platform operations. Their paid tiers are entirely token based. Starts at 20 for 10,000,000 tokens, goes up to $200 for a 120,000,000. Team plans range from 30 to $210 per seat.
Speaker 2:This token model, it's interesting. It really makes you think about the cost of every AI interaction or build. That's a fascinating model. But it sounds like it could lead to unpredictable costs maybe, if you're experimenting a lot, compared to just a flat monthly fee.
Speaker 1:It could. Yeah. It rewards efficiency. Replit, on the other hand, is more traditional. Provides a free tier with usage credits and community features.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Then it moves to a $20 a month hacker plan, a $40 per user per month team plan, and custom enterprise pricing. More predictable perhaps.
Speaker 2:Right. And Lovable.
Speaker 1:Lovable also has a free tier that includes five messages per day. So five prompts to its AI.
Speaker 2:Only five.
Speaker 1:On the free tier. Yeah. Yeah. And 100 gigabytes of hosting bandwidth. It's paid tiers start at $25 a month for a 100 messages per day, then a $30 per user per month team plan and custom enterprise options.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So you can really see how these different currencies, tokens, usage, credits, messages kind of guide how you might use each tool and what fits your budget or project style.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Alright, let's get into the Feature FlexOff round three. This is where we really dive into the technical capabilities.
Speaker 1:The nitty gritty.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Who's got the knockout features? Which ones truly empower specific workflows? What stands out to you first?
Speaker 1:Well, the fundamental thing they all share, and it's a huge draw is the IDE in the browser.
Speaker 2:Alright. No downloads.
Speaker 1:No downloads. Bolt, like we said, uses web containers for those instant environments. Replit is often called the OG browser IDE.
Speaker 2:Yeah. They've been around.
Speaker 1:They have. And Lovable adds this really neat select and edit UI that you click directly on visual elements in your app and tweak them.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting. More visual.
Speaker 1:Very visual. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And speaking of innovation, AI code generation. This seems like where things are really heating up. What's the landscape here? Is it just basic auto complete or
Speaker 1:Oh, it's way beyond simple completion now. Bolt offers powerful prompts using GPT four or Claude to generate code blocks or even whole functions.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Replit has its ghostwriter AI, which acts more like a coding assistant right there with you.
Speaker 2:Like a pair programmer.
Speaker 1:Kinda. Yeah. Yeah. But Lovable Lovable really stands out with its text to app capability. You describe an entire application idea in natural language?
Speaker 1:The whole app. The whole basic structure. Yeah. And it generates a functional starting point. Plus, it offers AI tweaks for existing code.
Speaker 1:It's a different paradigm.
Speaker 2:That natural language app generation for Lovable is wow. That's a major differentiator, especially like you said, for non coders.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:What about framework support? You know, for people who rely on specific toolkits like React or Vue.
Speaker 1:Good question. Bolt covers a lot of the modern web frameworks. Mhmm. Astro, Fite, Next JS, Svelte, Vue, Remix, popular choices for cutting edge stuff.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:Replit again, impresses with its sheer breadth over 50 languages supported. It's truly polyglot, meaning it speaks almost every coding language. Super versatile.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Lovable is more focused. Primarily supports React, which is great for user interfaces, and it seems optimized for building internal tools and dashboards quickly.
Speaker 2:Right. And for the back end and database support, you need somewhere to store data and manage users.
Speaker 1:Yep. Bold integrates nicely with Supabase and Firebase.
Speaker 2:The usual suspects.
Speaker 1:Pretty much. Replit, because it supports so many languages, can handle basically any database that language works with. You have a lot of freedom there.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Lovable focuses on Supabase integration plus it has its own built in authentication system and Stripe integration for payments right out of the box.
Speaker 2:Makes sense for its target audience and deployment. Getting your app live.
Speaker 1:Crucial step. Bolt offers instant Netlify deployment. Yeah. Super quick for web projects.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:Replit provides one click deployment also with custom domain support, streamlines the whole process. Yeah. And Lovable also supports deployment to Netlify or Vercel, again with custom domain integration. Pretty comparable on that front.
Speaker 2:Okay. And for teams collaboration and sync, how do they handle people working together?
Speaker 1:All three are actually quite strong here. Bolt has a proper multiplayer editor, multiple people coding in the same file at the same time.
Speaker 2:Like Google Docs for code.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Replit offers shared REPLs, that's their term for the environments, and is integrated chat for communication. And Lovable provides real time synchronization with distinct user roles, which helps keep things organized in a team setting.
Speaker 2:Good features across the board there. How about error debugging? Because let's face it, bugs happen.
Speaker 1:Always. Bolt features live error detection, so you see mistakes as you type, basically.
Speaker 2:That's helpful.
Speaker 1:Replit gives you standard terminal access and logs, which is what most developers are used to for deep debugging. Right. Lovable includes AI revisions to help suggest fixes for issues, and it also has a revert feature to easily roll back changes if something goes wrong. That's quite handy.
Speaker 2:That AI revision sounds interesting. Okay. Now, for many of our listeners, especially folks maybe coming from outside of coding or entrepreneurs, This next point might be the absolute game changer.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:How accessible are these tools if you're not a seasoned developer? Let's talk non coder accessibility.
Speaker 1:Yeah. This is where the differences really become stark. Bolt, even with its AI, still kinda requires you to understand prompts and have some coding knowledge to guide it effectively.
Speaker 2:So it helps coders be faster, but doesn't replace them.
Speaker 1:Pretty much. Replit offers good support for beginners learning to code. It's a solid environment for that early stage. Okay. But Lovable.
Speaker 1:Lovable is explicitly designed for no code for non devs. Its whole premise is enabling anyone to generate a functional app from text.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Without writing a single line of code yourself initially. That's a massive leap in accessibility.
Speaker 2:Huge difference. Okay. And finally, just for fun, the vibe score our sources mentioned.
Speaker 1:Right. The feel of it. Bolt gets a nine out of 10 for hustle coder, that efficient aggressive feel. Okay. Replit scores a 10 out of 10 for full stack chaos, which kinda captures its broad power, maybe slightly overwhelming versatility.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I get that.
Speaker 1:And Lovable gets a 12 out of 10 off the charts for wholesome dev joy. Really emphasizes that supportive user friendly approach.
Speaker 2:12 out of 10. Okay. But, you know, every champion has vulnerabilities. Sure. So for round four, red flags and missing bits.
Speaker 2:Let's look at potential pitfalls. What did our sources point out? No tool is perfect.
Speaker 1:Definitely not. For Bolt, that token model, while innovative, does add complexity to managing costs. It's not a simple flat fee like we discussed. Right. And historically, the platform nearly ceased operations back in 2023.
Speaker 1:That's something to keep in mind regarding long term stability perhaps.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Plus small detail. Those free tokens don't roll over month to month. So you gotta use them or lose them if you're on the free plan.
Speaker 2:Good to know. And Replit sounds like a jack of all trades, but any downsides?
Speaker 1:Some users have noted what they feel are hidden costs, especially when projects scale up beyond the basic tiers.
Speaker 2:Ah, the scaling costs.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And there can be container limits, how much processing or storage you get and some reports of performance hiccups under really heavy load.
Speaker 2:Okay. Performance could be an issue for big apps. Potentially. And Lovable. It sounds almost magical for non coders but there must be limitations.
Speaker 1:Oh absolutely. It's incredibly powerful for MVP's, minimum viable products, those first versions to test an idea. But it can become limited if you need to build something super complex or require very specific pixel perfect custom designs.
Speaker 2:So complexity and design constraints.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And those credit and message caps on the free and lower tiers can be restrictive if you're doing a lot of iteration.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:And ironically for really advanced features, you might actually still need to dive into custom code or export the code and work on it elsewhere. Kinda undercuts the pure no code angle sometimes.
Speaker 2:Right. So it gets you started fast, but maybe not all the way for everything.
Speaker 1:That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2:So after all those rounds, features, pricing, red flags, who's the ultimate champion for you, the listener, our source breaks it down nicely by user type.
Speaker 1:Yeah. This is helpful. If you're a pro or hobby developer who loves full stack development and really value speed Mhmm. Bolt is likely your best bet.
Speaker 2:Why Bolt specifically?
Speaker 1:Those instant environments, the token economy that rewards efficiency, and its strong AI capabilities Yeah. Just make it super appealing for rapid development, even on larger projects.
Speaker 2:Okay. What about the language hopping power coder? Someone who works in Python today, go tomorrow. JavaScript next week.
Speaker 1:For that person, Replit really stands out. Right. It's mature ecosystem, the solid AI features with Ghostwriter, and that comprehensive support for over 50 languages.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That 50 plus is key.
Speaker 1:It makes it pretty unparalleled for versatility. Yeah. If you need to switch contexts often, Replit's probably your jam.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. And finally, for the non coder or the entrepreneur who just wants a fast real app without getting tangled in code.
Speaker 1:For them, Lovable seems like the clear winner. Yeah. That ability to go from text to app in minutes is huge. Yeah. Plus the built in integrations for things like payments and databases and honestly, the significant investor buzz around it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It all points to Lovable being really strong in that accessible fast launch space.
Speaker 2:Makes total sense. Okay. So to wrap up our deep dive, let's touch on some final extras, little tidbits that might just seal the deal for you depending on what you need.
Speaker 1:Yes. Some bonus points. Bolt for instance is surprisingly versatile. Great for quick MVPs. Yes.
Speaker 1:But also capable of handling larger projects. It even supports mobile development via Expo, which is a framework for building universal apps.
Speaker 2:Oh, mobile too. Didn't expect that.
Speaker 1:Yep. And it offers a local open source version on GitHub, which gives developers more control if they want it.
Speaker 2:Okay. Cool. Extras for Replit.
Speaker 1:Replit is very education friendly. You see it used a lot in schools, coding boot camps.
Speaker 2:Right. For learning.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Yeah. It also boasts really robust community chat forums, which can be invaluable for getting help or just learning from others.
Speaker 2:Community is big.
Speaker 1:Definitely. And its integrated Hosty and database services are super convenient. Plus it has a growing plugin marketplace to extend its functionality.
Speaker 2:Plugin marketplace nice. And lovable's extras.
Speaker 1:That select and edit UI we mentioned to be able to click elements on your app and just describe changes in natural language. Yeah. That's incredibly intuitive.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sounds very user friendly.
Speaker 1:It really is. It also emphasizes code export ownership. The code it generates is yours. You can take it and run.
Speaker 2:That's important. No vendor lock in.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And it's apparently widely used already to spin up new startups and build internal tools for businesses quickly.
Speaker 2:Wow. What a deep dive into the world of these online IDEs. It's really clear that whether you're, you know, building a side project, launching a full startup, or just experimenting Mhmm. There's a powerful tool out there tailored to your specific needs. Each one has its own unique advantages and challenges.
Speaker 1:Indeed. The landscape is just evolving so incredibly fast, especially with AI becoming so core to these platforms.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:It really makes you wonder, doesn't it? As these tools get more sophisticated, especially the ones aimed at non coders like Lovable,
Speaker 2:how
Speaker 1:is that going to fundamentally change the definition of developer?
Speaker 2:That's a depth question.
Speaker 1:Is that line blurring to the point where it almost disappears or is this shifting? Maybe the expertise shifts from writing raw code to effectively prompting AI or designing systems. Yeah. And will that vibe we talked about the user experience become just as crucial as the underlying tech specs, Something to mull over, I think, as you explore which of these amazing tools might be right for you.
Speaker 2:That's it for this episode of AI on Air powered by whatisthat.ai. If your brain survived this episode, go ahead and subscribe. We drop new episodes every week. Wanna go deeper? Join our community on Substack to get early drops, tool breakdowns, and weird AI stuff the mainstream hasn't caught yet.
Speaker 2:See you there.