Bolt
Bolt is an AI app builder from StackBlitz: you describe a website, web app or mobile app, and it builds it in JavaScript in your browser, with hosting and a database included.
It suits founders and developers who want working code they can open, edit and sync to GitHub, with the hosting already handled.
The free plan gives 1M tokens a month, up to 300K a day; Pro starts at $25 a month for 10M tokens, as checked on 30 October 2026.
Reviewed by the IndieHacked team
- What it does
- Describe a web or mobile app and Bolt builds it in JavaScript in your browser, with hosting and a database included.
- Our take
- Founders and developers who want a JavaScript app they can open and edit. Bolt builds it from a prompt in the browser, hosts it with a database included, and keeps the code synced with GitHub.
- Pricing
- FreemiumMid priceFree: 1M tokens a month, up to 300K a day, and hosting on a bolt.host address, which goes offline for the rest of the month past 10 GB of bandwidth or 333,333 requests. Pro is $25 a month for 10M tokens, or $216 a year, with your own domain, no Bolt badge and the Max agent; Teams is $30 a month per member, as checked on 30 October 2026. More tokens cost more: Bolt's help center gives 26M for $50 and 55M for $100 a month. A larger project uses more tokens per message, unused paid tokens stay valid for two months, and Pro hosting can buy extra traffic up to a spending cap you set. Subscriptions are not refunded.
The IndieHacked breakdown
What it does
You describe what you want and Bolt builds it in your browser, on StackBlitz's WebContainers, so nothing is installed. It works in JavaScript: any front-end framework, with Node.js for the backend. Plan Mode talks an app through before any code is written, the Standard agent handles everyday work and the Max agent, on paid plans, takes larger codebases. Visual edits change text, colours and styles in the preview, and spend tokens only when you save them.
Bolt Cloud adds the rest: a database with sign-in, file storage and server functions, which you can move into your own Supabase account, plus hosting on a bolt.host address and custom domains on paid plans. Stripe handles payments, and GitHub sync keeps a full history of the code outside Bolt. One setting to check: StackBlitz's terms let it train AI models on your project content and license de-identified datasets from it unless you opt out, which is free on every plan.
Who it suits
Founders and developers who want working code they can read and change. Code view and a terminal open the project in the browser, and Bolt says the code you create is yours for any legal purpose, commercial use included. A web app can go from prompt to a live address on the free plan, database and hosting included.
It fits a founder who starts on one tool and moves on. Bolt can start from a Figma frame, a GitHub repository or a Lovable project, and with the code in GitHub you can publish on Bolt, on Netlify or on a host of your own. Mobile apps come through Expo: say mobile app in the first prompt and you can preview it on your phone in Expo Go.
Not the right fit for
Founders who need a backend in Python or PHP. Bolt supports JavaScript backends only, on Node.js. Replit, reviewed here, runs Python and other languages in the same workspace as its agent.
Founders who want the app stores handled for them. Bolt builds the mobile app, but publishing to the App Store or Google Play means downloading the code and running Expo's command-line tools on your own computer. Draftbit and Bubble, reviewed here, publish to both stores from inside the builder.
Also on the shortlist
- DraftbitApp buildingNative iOS and Android apps from Claude Code or Codex, refined in a visual editor and exported as a standard Expo project.From $15 a month to publish to the app stores, as checked on 29 October 2026Affiliate link
- LovableApp buildingWeb apps only, built from a prompt, with hosting, a database, sign-in and payments included and the code synced to GitHub.Free with 5 credits a day, paid plans from $25 a month, as checked on 30 October 2026
- BubbleApp buildingWeb and native mobile apps in a visual editor where you change the logic and data by hand, with no generated code.Free to build, live apps from $39 a month, as checked on 30 October 2026
- ReplitApp buildingAn agent that builds and hosts web and mobile apps, with the code, a terminal and more than 50 languages in the same workspace.Free to start, paid plans from $20 a month plus usage, as checked on 30 October 2026
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