Lovable PromptsLovable Prompts
    Re-read 3 measured buildsBuilt this site on it, then moved it

    Lovable review: what it built, what it cost, and why I left it

    Lovable is the fastest way I know to get from a prompt to a hosted app with a database and logins: our cheapest measured build, landing page + email opt-in, cost 1.8 credits in one round. It gets weaker as apps grow: credits are billed on the work done, it cannot import a repository, it builds web apps only, and its record carries a CVE. I built this site on Lovable, moved it to Next.js in July 2026, and this review uses both builds, 3 measured runs and the public ratings read on 23 October 2026.

    By Marco Kohns · every build on this page ran in our own Lovable workspace

    The verdict

    Is Lovable worth it?

    Strong where it was built to be, at the first working version. Mixed or weak where an app grows up. Eight dimensions, each with the evidence we hold.

    Lovable rated on each dimension, with the evidence and its source
    VerdictEvidence
    First working appStrongLanding page + email opt-in: 1.8 credits, one round, every priority feature built. SaaS MVP with user auth: 10.4 credits after 4 questions, with roles checked in the database.
    Backend and loginsStrongLovable Cloud gives database, auth, storage, edge functions and realtime on every plan, including Free; the SaaS run switched Cloud on by itself when the prompt asked for accounts. Lovable credits docs
    TeamsStrongUnlimited collaborators on every plan, read 22 October 2026; Pro adds per-member credit limits. No seat price at any tier. lovable.dev/pricing
    Cost predictabilityMixedBuild mode is billed on the work completed; Lovable's examples run 0.50 to 2.00 credits, our builds 1.8 to 10.4. Plan mode is 1 credit a message plus research, and monthly credits roll over for 2 months.
    Code ownershipMixedTwo-way GitHub sync on every plan, one branch at a time. Cannot import an existing repository. Lovable GitHub docs
    SecurityMixedCVE-2025-48757 and an April 2026 API flaw on the record. Quick and Deep scans are free; on our test app they found no issues while the dependency panel listed 2 high-severity package issues. Asking the chat for a scan cost 1.3 credits.
    Search visibilityMixedOur Lovable build returned 0 characters of text to anything that did not run JavaScript, verified crawlers excepted. Lovable's docs say new apps render on the server since 13 May 2026; older apps are pre-rendered for verified crawlers only. Lovable SEO docs
    MobileWeakWeb apps only; the docs say Lovable does not generate React Native projects. Making our test app installable as a PWA cost 3.1 credits. Lovable FAQ

    Verdicts are ours. Evidence from our own runs (31 July and 26 September 2026), Lovable's docs read 23 October 2026 and its pricing page read 22 October 2026.

    What a build costs

    What does a Lovable build cost?

    Every build we measured, read from the credits page before and after in our own workspace. Plans as printed on 22 October 2026: 5 build credits a day on Free, up to 30 a month; Pro from €25 a month for 100.

    Every measured Lovable run with date, credits, questions asked and result
    RunDateCreditsQuestions firstWhat came back
    Landing page + email opt-in31 Jul 20261.80One round, all five priority features, inline success state, Cloud enabled
    Empty states and skeletons26 Sept 20269.52Asked 2 questions, built a /states gallery and a task list, verified slow load, failure and retry
    SaaS MVP with user auth26 Sept 202610.44Asked 4 questions, enabled Cloud, self-tested sign-up and invites, roles checked in the database
    How many builds one month buys on Lovable, from the 3 measured runs

    Free plan (30 build credits a month) in rose, Pro 100 in lime. Each bar divides the plan by the credits that run cost.

    Landing page + email opt-in1.8 credits1655Empty states and skeletons9.5 credits310SaaS MVP with user auth10.4 credits29
    Builds per month on Lovable, per measured run
    RunCreditsFree plan, 30 creditsPro 100
    Landing page + email opt-in1.81655
    Empty states and skeletons9.5310
    SaaS MVP with user auth10.429

    Credits per run read in our own workspace on 31 July and 26 September 2026; plan sizes from lovable.dev/pricing on 22 October 2026. Two smaller jobs on the same test app: the PWA conversion cost 3.1 credits and Lovable's own SEO review 1.1.

    What other users say

    What do Lovable's public ratings say?

    High averages over a split crowd. On Trustpilot, 69% of 1,858 reviews give 5 stars and 16% give 1, read 23 October 2026; the middle is thin, which is what a tool that delights at the start and frustrates later produces.

    Lovable's rating and review count per platform, with the date read
    PlatformScoreReviewsRead
    Product Hunt4.7 / 5212 reviews23 October 2026
    Trustpilot4.2 / 51,858 reviews (69% 5-star, 16% 1-star)23 October 2026
    Lovable's public ratings, as a share of each platform's maximum
    Product Hunt4.7 / 5Trustpilot4.2 / 5
    Lovable ratings by platform
    PlatformScoreReviewsRead
    Product Hunt4.7 of 5212 reviews23 October 2026
    Trustpilot4.2 of 51,858 reviews (69% 5-star, 16% 1-star)23 October 2026

    Trustpilot states on the page that it does not fact-check reviews. G2 refused our reader on the day, and its review count differed across search snippets, so it is left out; Capterra listed 6 reviews, too few to chart.

    What do users praise and complain about?

    The Product Hunt tags count how often reviewers raise a theme, read 23 October 2026; the Trustpilot themes are the recurring subjects of reviews posted in October 2026. Next to each, what our own runs say.

    What people praise

    • Fast to a first version. "Fast prototyping" is the top tag with 36 mentions. Our runs agree: the capture page took one round. Product Hunt
    • No code needed. Tagged 20 times, as is rapid application development. The SaaS run asked 4 plain-language questions before it wrote anything, which is where a non-coder steers the build.
    • Easy to use. A recurring subject of the 5-star Trustpilot reviews posted in October 2026. The states run built a gallery with empty, loading, error and partial states after we named them in the prompt; Lovable skips states the prompt does not name. Trustpilot

    What people complain about

    • Credits run out. A recurring Trustpilot subject in October 2026, as in a 17 October review titled "Too expensive these days". Our largest build cost 10.4 credits, about a tenth of a Pro month. Trustpilot
    • Bugs and loops. "Buggy" is tagged 15 times on Product Hunt. Our runs never looped, and each started from a structured prompt with a safeguards section; we cannot say how a vague prompt fares. Product Hunt
    • A ceiling on complex apps. "Complexity handling issues" is tagged 15 times. Lovable edits one branch at a time and cannot import a repository, which caps how far an app can grow inside it.
    • Support and billing trust. A smaller cluster of Trustpilot reviews, some without detail. We have never needed support, so we have nothing first-hand to add.

    Our own site

    Why did I move this site off Lovable?

    I built lovable-prompts.com on Lovable in 2025 and moved it to Next.js on 25 July 2026, at the same URLs. Search Console has both sides.

    The reason was control over what crawlers receive. The Lovable build was a single-page app: fetched without JavaScript, every page returned an empty root element and 0 characters of visible text. Lovable pre-rendered it for verified crawlers, so Google indexed it, while every SEO tool I used saw the shell and reported nothing to fix.

    The move did not raise traffic in the first comparable window: clicks went from 525 to 367 while click-through rose from 1.84% to 2.72% and the pages earning impressions from 17 to 22. Server rendering alone did not lift rankings, so the gains this site still needs have to come from content and links, on any stack.

    Would I move again today? For a content site, yes, because I want every page in the HTML I control. For an app behind a login, no: Lovable's docs say new apps render on the server since 13 May 2026, and a dashboard has nothing to rank.

    This site on the Lovable build and on the Next.js build, from Google Search Console
    Lovable buildNext.js build
    Clicks, 4 weeks525367
    Impressions, 4 weeks28,59113,495
    Click-through rate1.84%2.72%
    Pages with impressions1722
    Text without JavaScript0 charactersFull page in the HTML

    Search Console, pulled 26 September 2026: Lovable build, 28 Jun to 25 Jul 2026 against Next.js build, 29 Aug to 25 Sep 2026, skipping the re-crawl weeks between. Text measured with curl and a tag-stripping script. The full migration write-up is the Lovable SEO guide.

    The public record

    Is Lovable safe to build on?

    Safe enough if you treat the database rules as your job, which Lovable's own docs say they are. The record and our scan session:

    • CVE-2025-48757: insufficient row-level security in generated projects. The researcher's scan of 21 March 2025 found exposed endpoints in 170 of 1,645 projects analysed; Lovable disputes the CVE on the grounds that customers own their data protection. Matt Palmer's statement
    • April 2026: an authorisation flaw in Lovable's own API let a free account read another user's source and database credentials; reporting says it was patched for new projects and not remediated for projects created before November 2025. The Next Web
    • Our scan session on 26 September 2026: the Quick and Deep scans are labelled Free and found no issues on the SaaS test app; the dependency panel listed 2 high-severity issues in one package that the chat check did not mention; asking the chat for a scan cost 1.3 credits. Lovable security docs
    • Every prompt on this site that touches user data carries a safeguards line demanding rules enforced in the database, and the free kits ship queries that prove a stranger is denied.
    Lovable Security view after the Deep scan on the SaaS test app on 26 September 2026, showing no issues found and 2 known package issues
    The Security view after the Deep scan, 26 September 2026, our own workspace: no issues found by the scan, 2 known issues in the dependency panel.
    Lovable's built-in SEO and AI search review on the SaaS test project on 26 September 2026, with 5 of 6 checks passing
    Lovable's own SEO review on the same project, 26 September 2026: 5 of 6 checks passing, 1.1 credits.

    Who should use Lovable, and who should skip it?

    Use Lovable if

    • You cannot code and want a hosted app with a database and logins this week
    • You are testing an idea and the first version matters more than the tenth
    • Two or more people build: no seat price on any plan
    • You will write structured prompts and plan before you build, which is where the credits go further

    Skip it if

    • You already have a codebase: Lovable cannot import a repository
    • You need a native app in the App Store or Google Play
    • Your app is large and changes daily, and a credit bill that grows with the work would hurt
    • Your security review cannot accept the CVE on record, or the project would date from before November 2025

    If Lovable is not the fit

    Each comparison prices the other tool from its own pages on the date shown; only Lovable was run.

    Lovable alternatives →Six tools, sorted by the job.Lovable vs Bolt →Credits against tokens; Bolt imports a repo.Lovable vs Base44 →Same meter style, different GitHub rules.Lovable vs Bubble →Code you own or a visual app on Bubble.Lovable vs Cursor →If you already have the code.Lovable pricing →Every plan, and what a build costs on each.

    The left column describes you?

    Start on the Free plan: 5 build credits a day, no card. Our cheapest measured build, landing page + email opt-in, cost 1.8 credits in one round, and the prompt library has the prompt.

    Disclosure: if you create a Lovable account through links on this page, we may earn a commission. It costs you nothing and does not change what we recommend.Create a free Lovable account

    How we reviewed, and what we did not publish

    • Credit figures only from runs in our own Lovable workspace, read from the credits page before and after: 3 builds plus the PWA conversion, the SEO review and the scan session.
    • Search figures from this site's own Search Console, pulled 26 September 2026.
    • Ratings read on each platform's page on 23 October 2026; themes from Product Hunt's tag counts and October 2026 Trustpilot reviews, paraphrased.
    • Incidents only when reported by named publications or the researcher who found them, with dates.

    Not published

    • A score out of 10. The verdict table carries the judgement, row by row, with the evidence.
    • G2's rating: the page refused our reader and the counts in search snippets disagreed.
    • Reddit opinion: we could not read the threads on the day, and we do not quote what we have not read.
    • A build larger than a SaaS foundation: our biggest measured run cost 10.4 credits, and we will not extrapolate to a full product.
    • Lovable's revenue and valuation: they say nothing about whether it fits your build.

    Frequently asked

    Is Lovable worth it in 2026?

    For getting a first version of an app with a database and logins online, yes: our cheapest measured build cost 1.8 credits in one round, and the Free plan gives 5 build credits a day. For a large app you plan to run for years, it depends on three things this review measures: what complex changes cost, whether you need to bring an existing repository (Lovable cannot import one), and whether a web app is enough, because Lovable builds no native mobile apps.

    Is Lovable good for people who cannot code?

    It is the reason it exists, and the public reviews agree: "fast prototyping" (36 mentions) and "no code" are the top praise tags on Product Hunt, read 23 October 2026. The limit shows later. When a build breaks, you fix it by describing the fix in a prompt or by reading the code, and the same reviews tag "buggy" and "complexity handling issues" 15 times each.

    Why do some Lovable reviews say it is expensive?

    Because Build mode is billed on the work a request causes, so a large change costs more than Lovable's own examples of 0.50 to 2.00 credits. Our three measured builds cost 1.8, 9.5, 10.4 credits; a Pro plan of 100 credits at €25 (read 22 October 2026) buys about 9 builds the size of our largest. Plan mode, at 1 credit a message plus research, is the cheapest way to spend less: decide first, build once.

    Is Lovable safe to use?

    It carries a public record: CVE-2025-48757, insufficient row-level security in generated projects, which a scan on 21 March 2025 found in 170 of 1,645 projects analysed, and an April 2026 flaw in Lovable's own API, patched for new projects and not remediated for projects created before November 2025. The built-in scans are free and caught nothing on our test app; the dependency panel listed 2 high-severity package issues the chat check did not mention.

    Why did you move this site off Lovable?

    Control over what crawlers receive. In July 2026 the Lovable build served a pre-rendered page only to verified crawlers; everything else, including Ahrefs, received an empty shell with 0 characters of text. We moved to Next.js on 25 July 2026 at the same URLs. Lovable's docs say new apps render on the server since 13 May 2026, so that reason is weaker for an app started today.

    Do I own the code Lovable writes?

    You can take it: two-way GitHub sync works on every plan, one branch at a time, and Lovable cannot save files over 10 MB. What you cannot do is bring code in: Git sync always creates a new repository. The backend is yours outright if you connect a Supabase project you own; on Lovable Cloud, the migrations travel in the repository and the data has to be exported.

    Sources, with the date each was read

    Written by

    Marco Kohns

    Marco Kohns

    Founder of ProtoBites - Venture Growth Studio

    Growth PM at a Silicon Valley scale-up (a16z and General Catalyst backed), ex-Techstars where he consulted 13 early-stage startups, Reforge-trained. Every prompt on this site comes out of shipping ProtoBites' own portfolio products.

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