By the PrototypeVerdict Test Team · Tested: Oct 29, 2026 (Bolt Free) · Pricing checked: Oct 29, 2026
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Yes, you can build a working app with AI for $0. On Oct 29, 2026 we built a landing page, an invoice tracker and a client portal with logins on Bolt’s free plan, with a real database and no card. Then the day’s free allowance ran out. This guide shows exactly what each app used, what the free plans of Lovable and Base44 include according to their own pages, and where “free” stops.
Important: Bolt is the only free plan we tested hands-on. Lovable Free and Base44 Free details below come from their pricing pages and docs, and any “would it fit?” figures are our estimates from paid-plan tests.
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Quick verdict
Our verdict
| Best free start (tested) | Bolt Free: 1M tokens a month, 300K a day. All three of our apps worked, with a real database |
| What ran out | The 300K daily cap, exactly as our third app finished |
| Lovable Free (docs, untested) | 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month. A landing page should fit in a day; a login portal probably won’t |
| Base44 Free (docs, untested) | 25 message credits a month, up to 5 apps. Our three apps used ~8.75 on a paid plan |
| What free won’t give you | Custom domains on all three; code download on Lovable Free and Base44 Free |
What “free” really means: tokens, credits and message credits
Each tool meters AI work differently, so you can’t compare the raw numbers:
- Bolt counts tokens, roughly how much text the AI reads and writes. Bolt says most token use comes from reading and syncing your project files, so the same message costs more as a project grows (Bolt token docs).
- Lovable counts credits. Bigger or more complex requests cost more credits, and a published app’s backend and AI features use credits too (Lovable credits docs).
- Base44 counts message credits for building, plus separate integration credits for things your live app does, such as AI calls, uploads and emails (base44.com/pricing).
Free plans compared (as of Oct 29, 2026)
| Tool | Free allowance | Hosting on Free | Not on Free | Source | Tested by us? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt | 1M tokens/month, 300K/day; no rollover | Yes, a bolt.host address, with a “Made in Bolt” badge | Custom domain; your own Supabase database | bolt.new/pricing, Bolt FAQ | Yes (building; not publishing) |
| Lovable | 5 build credits/day, max 30/month, plus a monthly Cloud grant (20 credits) and AI grant (4) | Yes, a lovable.app address (docs) | Editing or downloading code; custom domain | Lovable plans (docs) | No, from docs |
| Base44 | 25 message credits + 100 integration credits/month, up to 5 apps; database, logins and analytics included | Yes (docs) | Custom domain (Starter+); code export (Builder+); Private app visibility (paid plans) | base44.com/pricing, Base44 access docs | No, from pricing page |
| Softr | A free plan exists | Not checked | Not checked for this page | Softr plans (docs) | No. We tested Basic ($25/mo). Not scored yet: our tests need Softr Pro |
| Claude | Free plan; usage limits not published as a number | Artifacts can’t be shared by link on Free | Storing data in an artifact; Claude Code | claude.com/pricing | No. See our Claude notes |
Lovable’s prices are rendered in the browser on lovable.dev/pricing, so we took them from Lovable’s docs. Re-check all rows before relying on them.
What we built on Bolt Free in one day
We pasted our three standard prompts (copy our three tested prompts) into a new Bolt Free account on Oct 29, 2026:
| App | Tokens used (approx.) | Share of the 300K daily cap | Time to working | Fix messages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client portal with logins | ~185K | ~62% | ~9 min | 1 (a login bug; the fix alone used ~84K) |
| Invoice tracker | ~100K | ~33% | ~9 min | 0 |
| Landing page | ~15K | ~5% | ~2–3 min | 0 |
| Total | ~300K | 100% |
Source: our Bolt test log. Approximate figures from Bolt’s token display.
What the free plan gave us:
- A real database at no cost. All three apps saved data in Bolt’s built-in Bolt Database, with sign-in and file storage on the portal. No card or outside account was needed.
- A code download. The project menu’s Download gave us a ZIP of the portal with 30 files, on Free.
- A hard stop. Right after the landing page finished, Bolt said: “You’re out of tokens. Switch to Pro.” A follow-up (adding CSV export to the invoice tracker) had to wait for another day. We still haven’t run it.
Not tested on Bolt Free: publishing, the CSV export, a second-client privacy check, and Bolt’s database security check (its full project audit is on paid plans only, per Bolt’s security docs). More in how Bolt’s daily token limit works and the Bolt review.
The portal’s login fix is explained step by step in how to add login and a database to your AI-built app.
Would the same apps fit on Lovable Free or Base44 Free?
These are estimates, not free-plan tests. We ran Lovable on Pro and Base44 on Builder, then compared what each app used with the free allowances on their pricing pages.
| App | Lovable (Pro) used | Fits Lovable Free’s 5 credits a day? | Base44 (Builder) used | Fits Base44 Free’s 25 a month? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | 1.5 credits | Probably | ~1.65 message credits | Probably |
| Invoice tracker | 3 credits from the balance (usage page: 2.70) | Probably, if nothing else that day | ~5.45 message credits | Probably |
| Client portal | All 5 daily credits plus 1 more (usage page: ~6) | Probably not in one day | ~1.65 message credits | Probably |
Why we’re cautious:
- Lovable’s credit counter was inconsistent in our test. The balance fell 5.5 credits across the three apps, but the usage page added up to about 10.2. Adding the 5 daily credits the portal used gets close (10.5), but the per-app figures still don’t match the balance, so treat the numbers above as rough.
- On Lovable Free, unused daily credits don’t carry over, and the 30-a-month cap runs out fast: Lovable’s own example says Free gets daily credits for the first 6 days of each month (6 × 5 = 30), then none until the next month (credits docs).
- On Base44, fixes and follow-ups add up. Our invoice tracker’s CSV-export follow-up alone used 1.81 message credits.
- Free plans may not behave like paid ones. We haven’t checked whether the AI model or speed differs on Free.
Free-plan walls to know about
- Bolt: “You’re out of tokens. Switch to Pro” when the daily or monthly allowance is gone (we hit it). Free sites show a “Made in Bolt” badge, and Bolt’s FAQ says a free site that goes over its hosting limits (10 GB bandwidth, 333,333 requests a month) goes offline for the rest of the month (docs).
- Lovable: no code editing or download on Free, and no custom domain (docs). A published Lovable app’s backend uses credits as people use it (docs).
- Base44: apps defaulted to “Public” in our test (on Builder). Base44’s docs say Private visibility needs a paid plan, so check what a free app exposes before adding data.
- Everyone: no custom domain on the free plans of Bolt, Lovable or Base44, according to their pricing pages.
How to stretch free credits and tokens
From our logs, plus the advice beginners trade in threads like “Lovable tips that saved me credits (from someone who doesn’t code)” on r/lovable:
- Write the whole spec in the first prompt. Our two apps with 0 fixes used about 115K Bolt tokens together. The one fix we needed cost about 84K on its own.
- Put “real database” and “who’s the admin” in the first prompt. Leaving them out cost us follow-ups.
- Plan before big changes. Lovable’s Plan mode cost 1 credit in our test and changed no code.
- One change per message. Bolt’s messages get more expensive as the project grows.
- Don’t loop on fixes. Roll back instead; Bolt says restoring a version uses no tokens (Bolt: token efficiency). See how to fix it when the AI breaks your app.
- Start small. Our landing page used about 5% of a Bolt free day.
For the line-by-line method behind our prompts, see how to write prompts for AI app builders. If Lovable says “exceeded quota” or that you’re out of credits, see our Lovable “exceeded quota” guide.
Can you publish for free?
According to their docs, yes on all three: Bolt to a bolt.host address, Lovable to a lovable.app address, and Base44 from its Publish button. We haven’t published a test app, so we can’t confirm the steps first-hand. See how to publish your AI-built app.
When paying makes sense
You may not need to pay yet. Consider it when:
- you keep hitting the daily limit in the middle of a build,
- you need your own domain or to remove the tool’s badge,
- you want to download or edit the code (Lovable), or export it (Base44 Builder and up).
First paid plans as of Oct 29, 2026, billed monthly: Bolt Pro $25 (source), Lovable Pro $25 for 100 credits (source), Base44 Starter $20 (source). Use the cost calculator, the pricing tracker and our usage study to size it, or compare tools in best AI app builders for beginners and Bolt vs Lovable.
Related tests: Bolt review · Bolt vs Lovable · Best AI app builders for beginners
Build an app with AI for free FAQ
Can I build an app with AI for free?
Yes. On Oct 29, 2026 we built a landing page, an invoice tracker and a client portal with logins on Bolt’s free plan, with a real database and no card. Together they used the whole 300K daily token cap.
Is Bolt free?
Yes. Bolt’s free plan gives 1M tokens a month with a 300K daily limit, website hosting and unlimited databases, with Bolt branding, according to bolt.new/pricing (checked Oct 29, 2026). It’s the free plan we tested.
Is Lovable free?
Lovable has a free plan with 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month, according to its docs. Free leaves out code editing, code download and custom domains. We tested Lovable Pro, not Free.
Is Base44 free?
Base44’s pricing page lists a free plan with 25 message credits and 100 integration credits a month, up to 5 apps, with a database and logins included. We tested Base44 Builder, not Free.
How much can you build on a free plan?
On Bolt Free, one day covered our three small apps and nothing more. On Lovable Free and Base44 Free, our paid-plan usage suggests a landing page fits easily, but that’s an estimate, not a free-plan test.
Is there a free AI app builder with no limits?
Not among the tools we checked. Bolt, Lovable and Base44 all cap free usage by day or month, and none includes a custom domain on its free plan.
Do I need a credit card to start?
Not for Bolt Free: we signed up and built all three apps without a card. We haven’t signed up for Lovable Free or Base44 Free, so we can’t confirm their sign-up steps.
Update history
- October 29, 2026: First published. Bolt Free tested Oct 29, 2026. Lovable, Base44, Softr and Claude free-plan details from their pricing pages and docs, checked Oct 29, 2026.