Best No-Code AI Builder

AI app builder pricing in 2026: credits, tokens, seats and the real bill

Entry prices cluster around $20 to $25 a month. The bill for a system used every day depends on the unit each builder charges in, and some of those units grow with the project.

By The editors · Updated · 4 min read

A controller at a desk by a window reviews a printed usage report with a pen, a mug and a closed laptop beside her, an industrial building visible outside.
The usage report, not the price page, shows what a builder costs.
Contents
  1. The five ways builders charge
  2. What a change costs
  3. A worked example: a 25-person company
  4. How to budget a year
  5. Questions buyers ask
  6. Sources

Every AI builder publishes a low entry price. What differs is what that price buys: a number of seats, a pool of credits that varies with each change, or tokens whose consumption rises as the app grows. For a company system used every day, the unit matters more than the headline.

The five ways builders charge

Credits per change. Lovable charges one credit per message in plan mode and a variable amount in build mode; its own examples run from 0.5 credits for a colour change to 1.2 for adding authentication and 2 for a landing page⁠1. Pro starts at $25 a month for 100 credits⁠2. Base44 splits credits in two: message credits for building and integration credits for what the app does, from $16 a month billed annually for 100 message credits⁠3.

Tokens. Bolt bills in tokens, and most token use comes from reading and syncing the project's files, so each message costs more as the project grows. Pro is $25 a month from 10 million tokens; unused tokens stay valid for two months⁠45.

Effort. Replit Agent charges per checkpoint according to the effort a request takes. It replaced a flat $0.25 per checkpoint in June 2025⁠6. Core is $20 a month including $20 of credits; Pro is $100 including $100⁠7. Budget limits and usage alerts are available⁠8.

Seats. Retool prices per builder and per internal user: on the page we read, Team was €9 per builder and €5 per user a month billed annually, and Business €46 and €14. Agents are billed separately by the hour beyond a free monthly allowance⁠9. Softr prices per workspace by builders and app users: Business is $329 a month billed annually for 3 builders, 30 team users and 100 client users⁠10.

A plan plus hosting. OpenLazarus publishes Starter at $100 and Pro at $300 a month, each including that amount in AI credits, plus managed hosting from $150 a month⁠1112. Companies of 30 or more people start with a session with its engineers instead⁠13.

What a change costs

On Lovable's Pro plan, 100 credits cost $25, or $0.25 a credit⁠1. At Lovable's own example rates, adding authentication (1.2 credits) costs about $0.30 and a new landing page (2 credits) about $0.50. That is cheap per change. The question is how many changes a year a living system needs, and whether each will stay as small.

Bolt's model answers the second question directly: the same request costs more in a large project than in a small one⁠5. Replit's effort pricing has the same property for complex requests⁠6.

A worked example: a 25-person company

Take a company with 25 staff, two people who build and change the system, and 23 who use it. Using published list prices (our arithmetic, before taxes, add-ons and usage overages):

BuilderPlanMonthly cost
RetoolBusiness: 2 builders at €46 and 23 users at €14, billed annually⁠9€414
SoftrBusiness, billed annually; covers 3 builders and 30 team users⁠10$329
OpenLazarusStarter plus hosting from $150⁠1112from $250
LovableBusiness from $50 for 100 credits; usage-dependent⁠2from $50
Base44Builder, billed annually⁠3$40

The AI app builders look cheapest because they do not charge for the people who use the app. Their bill grows with building activity instead, and they leave hosting choices, security reviews and maintenance with the buyer. The per-user platforms cost more on paper and include the access controls the company would otherwise build itself; Retool's custom permission groups, for example, start on Business⁠14.

How to budget a year

  1. Price the plan that has the permissions and logs you need, not the entry plan. Audit logs are Enterprise-only at Lovable and Bolt⁠24.
  2. Count users a year out. Softr caps team and client users by plan, with paid add-ons⁠10.
  3. Set a hard cap on credit, token or effort spending wherever the builder offers one.
  4. Add the cost of upkeep: a person's time, or a support plan such as OpenLazarus developer support from $4,500 a month⁠12.
  5. Re-check after three months against actual usage, and move to a seat or plan model if credit spending keeps rising.

A well-budgeted system ends its first year close to the figure set at the start, with no unplanned upgrade to obtain a permission the app needed all along.

Questions buyers ask

Why do AI app builders charge in credits?

Because the cost to them varies with the work. Lovable charges by credits that depend on the size of each change, Bolt by tokens that grow with the project, and Replit by effort per checkpoint. The unit lets them pass model costs on, and it makes the buyer's bill harder to predict.

Which AI builder has the most predictable price?

Per-user and per-plan pricing is easiest to forecast. Softr pauses AI features when monthly credits run out rather than charging overage, Retool prices per builder and user, and OpenLazarus publishes a monthly plan plus hosting. Credit and token builders need a budget cap.

Is the free plan enough for a company app?

Rarely. Base44's free plan caps apps at five, Softr's free plan allows five app users, Bolt's free plan caps tokens at 300,000 a day, and Retool's free plan is limited to five users and a production environment only.

Sources

  1. Plans and credits. Lovable Docs. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  2. Subscription plans. Lovable Docs. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  3. Base44 Plans & Pricing. Base44. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  4. Plans & pricing. Bolt. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  5. Tokens. Bolt Help Center. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  6. Introducing Effort-Based Pricing for Replit Agent. Replit, 18 Jun 2025. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  7. Pricing and Plans. Replit. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  8. Replit AI Billing. Replit Docs. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  9. Retool Pricing: Find the plan that works for you. Retool. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  10. Pricing and Plans. Softr Help Docs. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  11. Questions about OpenLazarus (FAQ). OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  12. Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  13. Design your company’s operating system. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  14. Permissions quickstart. Retool Docs. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.

Updated 8 Nov 2026: First published.

Further reading