A typical month of building an MVP (about 150 messages, mostly small edits) costs $25 on Lovable Pro (helped by its free daily credits) or $40 to $50 on Base44 Builder, using each vendor's own example credit costs. Heavy months of 300 to 400 messages cost $50 to $100 on either. Bolt Pro ($25 for 10M tokens) and Replit Core ($20 of credits) can't be estimated from published figures, because neither says what a message costs. Use the calculator with your own numbers.
About 157 messages a month. Cheapest of the two we can compute: Lovable Pro 100 at $25 a month, $50 over 2 months.
Lovable
$25/mo
Pro 100 · $50 for 2 mo
- Needs
- 129.6 credits
- Plan includes
- 100 + 100 daily
Cloud and AI use beyond the small monthly grants also draws on credits; not included here. Pricing source
Base44
$50/mo
Builder · $100 for 2 mo
- Needs
- 150.6 credits
- Plan includes
- 250 a month
Monthly price derived from the published annual price and the stated 20% saving. Pricing source
Bolt
$25/mo
Pro, 10M tokens a month (starting tier)
Enter a figure to compare. Larger projects use more tokens per message, because Bolt reads more code. Bolt token docs
Replit Agent
$20/mo
Core, $20 of credits a month plus Free Mode
Enter a figure to compare. Replit quotes each paid action before it runs. Replit billing docs
Credit costs per message are the vendors' own examples (Lovable, Base44); real messages vary with scope and model. Prices USD before tax, checked Nov 1, 2026. Hosting, databases, domains and the AI your app itself calls are extra.
How the calculator works
You say how many messages of each kind you expect to send in a month. The calculator multiplies each by what the vendor says that kind of message costs, adds a redo allowance, takes off any free daily credits, and picks the cheapest plan that covers the total.
| Message kind | Lovable credits | Lovable's example | Base44 credits | Base44's description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small tweak | 0.5 | "Make the button gray" | ~0.5 | Simple visual or text edits |
| Small change | 0.9 | "Remove the footer" | ~1 | Small feature improvements |
| Feature | 1.2 | "Add authentication" | ~2 | Complex modules |
| Big build | 2.0 | "Build a landing page with images" | 3-4 (we use 3.5) | App-wide changes |
| Planning or chat | 1.0 | Plan mode, per message | ~0.3 | Discuss mode |
Sources: Lovable plans and credits, Base44 credits docs, checked November 1, 2026. Both vendors say these are illustrations and that the real cost depends on the scope of the change and the model; Base44 calculates it after the message runs.
The assumptions, stated plainly
Every estimate rests on choices. These are ours, and each one is an input you can change:
- The example month (60 tweaks, 30 small changes, 20 features, 6 big builds, 15 planning messages) is our guess at a first month on a small MVP. It isn't a measurement of anyone's project. Replace it with your own.
- The redo rate (20%) stands for messages you send again because the first attempt missed. No vendor publishes this, so it's a judgement. Set it to 0 if you'd rather see the pure published figure.
- Lovable's daily credits: Pro and Business add 5 build credits on each day you build, which don't roll over. The calculator assumes you use all five on each build day you enter. Free is capped at 30 a month.
- Base44's monthly price isn't published; the page lists annual prices and says annual saves 20%. Unticked, the calculator shows the annual price divided by 0.8 and says so.
- Only build credits are counted. Lovable Cloud and AI usage beyond small monthly grants, and Base44's integration credits (emails, AI calls and functions inside your app), are separate.
Bolt and Replit: why there's no default
We'd rather leave a box empty than fill it with a made-up number. Bolt meters tokens, and its help centre says only that larger projects use more tokens per message because Bolt reads more code. Pro starts at 10M tokens for $25, and unused paid tokens roll over for two months (Bolt token docs). Replit prices agent work by effort: each request is one checkpoint, simple fixes cost less than complex builds, and Replit asks before a paid action starts. Core includes $20 of credits and a Free Mode allowance it doesn't put a number on (Replit AI billing).
If you've used either for a few days, your usage page shows your real average. Type it into the Bolt or Replit card and the calculator compares it with your planned month.
What moves the bill most
Small tweaks are cheap; rework isn't. On Lovable a colour change is half a credit, and a whole page is two. The expensive months are the ones where the same feature gets rebuilt three times. Planning the feature first (one credit in Lovable's Plan mode, 0.3 in Base44's Discuss mode) is usually cheaper than another round of rebuilds.
Project size matters on Bolt. Because Bolt's tokens scale with how much code it reads, the same request costs more in month three than in week one. Bolt's help centre publishes token-efficiency tips; keeping a project lean is the obvious lever.
Your app's own AI is a second meter. If the app you're building calls an AI model for its users, that usage bills separately from the build, through Lovable's AI credits, Base44's integration credits, or your own API key.
Plans differ in what happens to unused credit. Lovable rolls monthly credits over for two months on monthly plans; Bolt rolls paid tokens over for two months; v0 credits expire after 65 days; Base44 credits reset monthly.
Where to go next
If cost is the deciding factor, the full plan tables are in each review: Lovable, Bolt, Replit Agent and Base44. If you haven't picked a builder yet, AI app builders compared explains who should choose which, and the best AI app builder for non-technical founders ranks them for that one use. Before launch, run the security checklist.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to build an MVP with Lovable?
For the example month in our calculator (about 157 messages, mostly small edits, with a 20% redo rate), Lovable needs roughly 130 credits. With 5 free daily credits on 20 build days, that fits the $25 Pro plan's 100 monthly credits. A heavier month of 300 to 400 messages moves you to the 200- or 400-credit tiers at $50 or $100. Those figures use Lovable's own example credit costs per message; real messages vary.
Why doesn't the calculator estimate Bolt or Replit?
Because neither publishes what a typical message costs. Bolt meters tokens and says only that larger projects use more per message; Replit prices agent work by effort and quotes each paid action before it runs. Any number we put in would be a guess presented as data, so the calculator asks for your own average from your usage page instead.
What isn't included in these costs?
The build credits are only part of the bill. Hosting beyond the included allowances, a custom domain, databases on bigger instances, and the AI your finished app calls (Lovable's AI and Cloud usage, Base44's integration credits) are all extra. So is your time fixing what the AI got wrong, which the redo rate only partly captures.
Is it cheaper to pay annually?
Usually. Lovable's annual prices are about 16% lower (Pro 100 credits is $21 a month instead of $25), Base44 says annual saves 20%, Replit Core is $18 instead of $20, and Bolt says yearly billing saves up to 28% without listing the prices. Pay monthly until you know your real usage.