bolt.new

bolt.new is StackBlitz's prompt-to-app builder, and it's been one of the most impressive AI tools to actually ship in the last year. Type 'build me a Notion clone with markdown editing,' and bolt spins up a full project in your browser. Real Node.js, real npm install, real preview URL, and editable code that runs in WebContainers (StackBlitz's browser-native runtime). No backend round trip, no waiting for servers. It just works. The killer differentiator vs Lovable and v0 is framework breadth. bolt supports React, Vue, Svelte, Astro, Remix, plain Node.js, even Python via Pyodide. Lovable locks you into React + Supabase. v0 locks you into React + Tailwind. bolt lets you pick the stack and just goes. For founders who want to prototype in their actual production stack, this matters. The other win is the runtime. WebContainers means bolt runs the full Node.js process in your browser. No backend infrastructure to manage, no waiting for builds to deploy, instant feedback. You can install npm packages, run scripts, see errors in real time. It feels closer to a real dev environment than the 'AI generates code, you preview a static result' approach of v0. The pricing is tiered by tokens-used. Free tier gives you 150K daily tokens (roughly 5-10 prompts on a medium-complexity app). Pro at $20/month gives you 10M monthly tokens. Teams add multi-user features and higher limits. The token-based pricing is honest but unpredictable — heavy iteration on a complex feature can burn through a day's quota fast. Where bolt struggles: the generated code can be uneven. Complex multi-file changes sometimes break things. The 'I'll just keep prompting until it works' loop can spiral into context confusion where bolt loses track of what it changed earlier. For deeper iteration, exporting to GitHub and continuing in Cursor often beats fighting bolt. My take: try all three (bolt.new, v0, Lovable) on the same prompt — the differences become obvious. bolt wins for non-React stacks and full-stack apps. v0 wins for polished UI components. Lovable wins for the 'I want auth and a database wired up' first-build experience. Pick based on stack and task, not loyalty.