If you're considering Lovable for your next project, understanding the pricing is crucial before you commit. Lovable's credit-based system can be confusing at first — how much does each message actually cost? Will 100 credits be enough? What about the hidden Cloud costs?

We've spent months building apps on Lovable and tracking every credit spent. In this guide, we'll break down every Lovable plan, explain exactly how credits work, reveal the real costs of building different types of apps, and help you pick the right plan for your needs.

Whether you're a solo founder testing an MVP or a team shipping production apps, this pricing breakdown will help you budget accurately and avoid surprises.

Lovable Pricing Plans: Complete Breakdown

Lovable offers four main tiers: Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Here's how they compare:

*Free plan Cloud hosting ($25/mo) is a temporary offering through Q1 2026, subject to change.

How Lovable Credits Actually Work

Credits are the currency of Lovable — every message you send to the AI uses credits. But here's the key detail most guides miss: not all messages cost the same amount.

Lovable uses a usage-based credit system where the cost depends on the complexity of your request. A simple styling change might cost just 0.5 credits, while building an entire landing page could use 2+ credits.

Here's what typical prompts cost:

Pro tip: You can check the exact credit cost of any message by clicking the three dots beneath it in the chat history. This is incredibly useful for understanding your usage patterns and optimizing your prompts. We cover more prompt strategies in our Ultimate Guide to Lovable.

Daily Credits vs. Monthly Credits

Lovable gives you credits from two sources, which can be confusing:

• Daily credits: Every user gets 5 free credits per day, regardless of plan. On the free plan, these are capped at 30 per month total. On paid plans, daily credits can accumulate up to 150 per month. Daily credits do NOT roll over — use them or lose them each day.
• Monthly plan credits: Paid plans include a set number of monthly credits (starting at 100 for $25/month). These DO roll over to the next billing cycle as long as you maintain your subscription.

This means on the Pro plan at $25/month, you effectively get up to 250 credits per month (100 monthly + up to 150 from daily credits). That's a significant boost that many pricing breakdowns overlook.

Pro Plan: Detailed Pricing Tiers

The Pro plan is where most individual builders and small teams land. Lovable offers flexible credit tiers so you can scale as needed:

Key insight: The per-credit cost stays flat at $0.25 until you hit 1,200+ credits, where you start getting volume discounts. If you're consistently using more than 100 credits/month, upgrading your tier is always cheaper than buying credit top-ups ($0.30/credit on Pro).

Credit Top-Ups: When You Need More

Running out of credits mid-project is frustrating. Lovable offers on-demand credit top-ups for paid plan users:

• Pro plan: $15 per 50 credits ($0.30 per credit)
• Business plan: $30 per 50 credits ($0.60 per credit)
• Minimum purchase: 50 credits
• Maximum purchase: 1,000 credits
• Validity: 12 months from purchase

Top-ups are more expensive per credit than plan credits, so if you find yourself regularly buying them, it's more cost-effective to upgrade your plan tier instead.

Lovable Cloud + AI: The Usage-Based Costs

Here's what trips most people up about Lovable pricing: your subscription only covers building credits. Once your app is deployed and running, there are separate usage-based costs for Cloud hosting and AI features.

What's Included Free

Every workspace (on any plan) gets monthly free allowances:

• $25/month free Cloud hosting balance
• $1/month free AI balance for in-app AI features

These reset on the first of each month and don't roll over. For many early-stage projects, this free allowance is more than enough.

Real-World Cloud + AI Cost Examples

The takeaway: For most early-stage apps, MVPs, and small projects, the free $25 Cloud + $1 AI allowance covers your hosting needs entirely. You only start paying extra when your app gets meaningful traffic.

If you're building an MVP to validate an idea (which is what Lovable excels at — see our guide on the best AI app builders for startups and MVPs), you'll likely stay within the free tier for months.

Lovable Free Plan: What You Actually Get

Lovable's free plan is genuinely useful for testing and small projects. Here's what's included:

• 5 daily credits (up to 30 per month)
• Private projects
• Unlimited collaborators in your workspace
• 5 lovable.app subdomains
• $25/month Cloud hosting (temporary through Q1 2026)
• $1/month AI balance

What you CAN'T do on Free:

• Connect custom domains
• Remove the "Edit with Lovable" badge
• Access Code Mode for direct code editing
• Roll over unused credits
• Buy credit top-ups

With 30 credits per month and an average cost of ~1 credit per message, you can realistically send about 30-50 prompts monthly on the free plan. That's enough to explore Lovable's capabilities, build a simple prototype, and decide if upgrading makes sense.

For comparison, see how Lovable's free tier stacks up against other free AI app builders.

Lovable vs Competitors: How Does Pricing Compare?

Lovable isn't the only vibe coding tool on the market. Here's how its pricing compares to the major alternatives:

Lovable's pricing is competitive, especially when you factor in the included Cloud hosting. While Bolt.new starts $5 cheaper, Lovable's integrated hosting and Supabase backend can save you from additional third-party costs.

For a deeper dive into how Lovable compares feature-by-feature, check out our Lovable vs Base44 comparison, Lovable vs v0, or Lovable vs Cursor guides.

Business Plan: When Should You Upgrade?

The Business plan doubles the base price ($50/month for 100 credits vs. $25/month on Pro) but adds critical features for teams and organizations:

• SSO (Single Sign-On) — Required for many corporate environments
• Data training opt-out — Your code and prompts won't be used to train Lovable's AI
• Restricted projects — Control who can access specific projects within your workspace
• Design templates — Build reusable templates to standardize your team's output
• Per-user credit limits — Admins can cap how many credits each team member uses monthly

Who needs Business? If you're an agency building apps for clients (like the agencies discussed in our Lovable agency case study), working in a regulated industry, or managing a team of 5+ builders, the Business plan's governance features are worth the premium.

How to Get the Best Value from Lovable

After building dozens of apps on Lovable, here are our top tips for maximizing your credits:

1. Start with a Plan

Don't waste credits figuring out what to build. Use Lovable's Plan Mode or draft your app structure before prompting. Our 12 Pro Lovable Tips guide covers this in detail.

2. Write Detailed Prompts

Vague prompts lead to back-and-forth revisions that burn credits. One detailed prompt is cheaper than five follow-up corrections. Learn the right approach in our complete vibe coding guide.

3. Use Annual Billing

Annual plans save roughly 16% compared to monthly billing. On the Pro 100-credit plan, that's $48/year saved. On higher tiers, the savings are substantial — the 400-credit plan saves $192/year.

4. Leverage Daily Credits

Don't forget your 5 free daily credits. On paid plans, these add up to 150 additional credits per month — effectively getting 60% more than your plan alone.

5. Use Credit Rollovers Strategically

If you have a quiet month, your unused credits carry forward. This means you can bank credits for intensive build sprints. Annual plan users get even longer rollover periods.

6. Consider the Student Discount

Students can get up to 50% off the Pro plan by verifying their student status through Lovable's student program. That brings the Pro plan down to as low as $12.50/month.

Is Lovable Worth It? Real Cost Scenarios

Let's look at what you'd actually spend building different types of apps:

The ROI is clear: even at $480/month for an agency plan, Lovable costs a fraction of what you'd pay a developer ($5,000-$15,000+/month). This is why many AI app builders are transforming how startups build software.

Lovable Pricing Tips: Save Money Without Sacrificing Quality

• Start on Free, upgrade when ready. Don't pay until you've confirmed Lovable works for your use case.
• Use Lovable + Cursor workflow — Build the initial app in Lovable, then make detailed code changes in Cursor to conserve Lovable credits.
• Monitor per-message costs. Check the three-dot menu on messages to identify credit-heavy prompts.
• Batch your building sessions. Plan your changes in advance to avoid wasteful trial-and-error prompting.
• Export to GitHub early. Once you have a solid base, you can continue development outside Lovable if needed.

Frequently Asked Questions About Lovable Pricing

How much does Lovable cost per month?

Lovable's Free plan costs $0/month with 5 daily credits (up to 30/month). The Pro plan starts at $25/month for 100 monthly credits, and the Business plan starts at $50/month with additional team features like SSO and data opt-out. Annual billing saves roughly 16%.

What is a Lovable credit and how many do I need?

A credit is used each time you send a message to Lovable's AI. Simple styling changes cost ~0.5 credits, while complex features like authentication cost ~1.2 credits. For building a basic MVP, expect to use 150-300 credits over a few weeks. The Pro plan at 100 monthly credits plus 150 daily credits gives most solo builders enough to work with.

Does Lovable offer a free plan?

Yes. Lovable's Free plan includes 5 daily credits (up to 30 per month), private projects, unlimited collaborators, and 5 lovable.app subdomains. Currently, free users also get $25/month in free Cloud hosting (temporary through Q1 2026). You can build and publish small projects entirely for free.

Is Lovable cheaper than hiring a developer?

Significantly. A freelance developer typically charges $50-150/hour, meaning even a simple MVP could cost $5,000-$20,000. With Lovable's Pro plan at $25-$100/month, you can build comparable apps in days instead of weeks. Even at the highest tier ($2,250/month for 10,000 credits), it's a fraction of developer costs.

What are Lovable Cloud costs and are they separate?

Yes, Cloud hosting and AI usage are billed separately from your subscription credits. Every workspace gets $25/month in free Cloud hosting and $1/month in free AI usage. For small apps (under 5,000 monthly visits), the free allowance typically covers everything. Larger apps pay usage-based rates similar to standard cloud hosting providers.

Can I cancel my Lovable subscription anytime?

Yes. You can downgrade or cancel from Settings → Workspace → Plans & credits at any time. Your current plan stays active until the end of the billing period. Note that unused and rollover credits expire upon cancellation.

Does Lovable offer a student discount?

Yes. Students can get up to 50% off the Lovable Pro plan by verifying their student status through Lovable's student program page. This makes the Pro plan as affordable as $12.50/month.

How does Lovable pricing compare to Bolt.new?

Bolt.new starts at $20/month compared to Lovable's $25/month. However, Lovable includes integrated Cloud hosting ($25/month free allowance) and a Supabase-powered backend. Bolt requires separate hosting through Netlify. For a detailed breakdown, see our Bolt vs Lovable pricing comparison.

Final Verdict: Which Lovable Plan Should You Choose?

Here's our recommendation based on building dozens of apps across every plan:

• Choose Free if you're exploring Lovable for the first time, learning vibe coding as a beginner, or building a simple prototype.
• Choose Pro 100 ($25/mo) if you're building one active project and want custom domains plus the Lovable badge removed. This is the sweet spot for most solo builders.
• Choose Pro 400 ($100/mo) if you're actively building and iterating on a production app or managing 2-3 projects simultaneously.
• Choose Business ($50+/mo) if you need SSO, data privacy controls, or you're building apps for clients in regulated industries.
• Choose Enterprise if you need dedicated support, custom onboarding, SCIM, and audit logs for large organizations.

The most important thing? Start with the Free plan and upgrade only when you hit the limits. Lovable's credit system means you only pay for what you use, and the alternatives are always there if another tool better fits your needs.

Ready to start building? Check out our step-by-step Lovable tutorial to go from first prompt to published app, or explore the best no-code app builders in 2026 for more options.