Bubble (bubble.io) and Lovable take the same request, an app from a prompt, and deliver opposite things. Bubble turns the prompt into a visual app with pages, a database and workflows that you keep editing in its editor, and one project can also ship native iOS and Android apps. Lovable writes React and TypeScript code that you can sync to Git and carry elsewhere. Pick Bubble for logic-heavy apps you want to run without a developer, or for real store apps. Pick Lovable when owning the code, a free plan that publishes, or a whole team on one subscription matters more.
Entry prices look close but sit on different bases. Bubble's Starter plan (Web) is $32 per month billed annually or $39 per month billed monthly, per app.[1] Lovable's Pro plan with 100 credits is $25 per month billed monthly, or one $250 charge for a year, per workspace.[2] One price follows your apps. The other follows your team's workspace, and that difference drives nearly every cost question below.
Per app on one side, per workspace on the other
Bubble sells one plan per project, and a project holds a web app, a mobile app or both. Ten projects need ten plans. App editors come with the plan rather than as seats you buy: one on Free and Starter, two on Bubble's Growth plan, five on Bubble's Team plan. A product with three people editing it therefore needs the Team plan, which on the Web tab is $349 per month billed annually or $399 per month billed monthly, per app. Only the Agency account is billed per seat, and agency apps cannot go live.
Lovable bills the workspace. Pro and Business list unlimited users and Free allows unlimited collaborators, so adding teammates leaves the invoice alone. Credits move the bill instead: each plan offers eleven monthly credit levels up to 10,000, and Pro at that top level is $2,250 per month billed monthly. Lovable's yearly price equals ten monthly payments and carries no percentage label. Bubble's switch says Save up to 20% annually, yet by our arithmetic the real saving is $84 a year (about 18%) on Starter (Web) and about 11% on Growth (Web).
Prices shown are what Bubble lists for visitors in the United States, in US dollars. Your price can differ by country, currency and local taxes such as VAT.
| Bubble | Lovable | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per app / project, on a Web, Mobile or Web & Mobile tab | Per workspace; unlimited users on Pro and Business |
| Free tier | $0 per app; 50K WU and 500 AI credits a month; no live app | $0, no card; 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month; can publish |
| Entry plan, billed monthly | Starter (Web): $39 per month per app | Pro, 100 credits: $25 per month |
| Entry plan, billed annually | Starter (Web): $32 per month per app | Pro, 100 credits: $21 per month ($250 a year) |
| Next plan, billed monthly | Growth (Web): $134 per month per app | Business, 100 credits: $50 per month |
| Next plan, billed annually | Growth (Web): $119 per month per app | Business, 100 credits: $42 per month ($500 a year) |
| Usage meter | Workload units for running, AI credits for building | One credit balance for building, hosting, in-app AI, connectors |
| Taking the app elsewhere | No source code; data as CSV, JSON or NDJSON | Git sync on any plan; zip download from Pro |
| Native iOS and Android | React Native, beta; Mobile or Web & Mobile tab | Web apps; PWA or a Capacitor wrapper built outside the tool |
Two rows outweigh the price lines. A per-app column means every extra project brings its own subscription, while a workspace column lets one subscription cover everyone you invite. The usage row decides what breaks when an allowance runs dry: on the per-app side, AI building and the live app draw on two separate pools; on the per-workspace side, hosting, backend and building all share one.
Workload units and AI credits against one balance
Bubble splits usage in two. Workload units (WU) pay for running the app: searches, writes, API calls, scheduled workflows and other server work, with the Development version counting too. Starter includes 175K WU a month, Growth 250K and Team 500K, per app. AI credits pay for building with the Agent, page and image generation and test data, at 1,000 a month on Starter, 2,000 on Growth and 4,000 on Team. Generating a new app and editing by hand use no credits. The two allowances never convert into each other, and an empty credit balance leaves the live app and the visual editor working.
Past its WU allowance, a paid Bubble app pays overages at $0.30 per 1K WU, switched on by default, or you add a workload tier. Switch overages off and the app goes offline at the limit until you re-enable overages, buy a workload tier or the next billing period starts. By our arithmetic, Tier 1 (200K WU at $26 per month, only with an annual app plan) beats the default overage once the extra need passes about 87K WU a month; with a monthly plan the tier is $29 and the threshold about 97K WU. Extra AI credits come in one-time packs at $10 per 1,000, valid six months. Our Bubble pricing guide covers every tier and tab.
A paid Bubble app that passes its monthly workload units keeps running and is billed $0.30 per 1K WU unless you add a tier or switch overages off, which takes the app offline at the limit until you re-enable overages, buy a tier or the next billing period starts.
Lovable runs everything through one credit balance: building, Lovable Cloud hosting and backend, AI features inside deployed apps and managed connectors. On Pro and Business, unused monthly credits roll over for one month on monthly billing (they expire two months after issue) or until a month after the annual period ends. At zero, building stops, published pages keep serving, AI features in deployed apps fail and apps on the built-in backend pause. Top-ups on Pro cost $15 per 50 credits and stay valid for 12 months.
A free plan that launches, and one that does not
Bubble's Free plan costs $0 per app and has no time limit, but it cannot go live. It includes 50K WU and 500 AI credits a month, one app editor, 200 database things and 0.5GB of file storage, with Bubble branding and a development version only. Custom domains, store releases, overages and credit packs are all missing. The bridge is a 14-day trial of Bubble's Starter plan, open to new apps only, which places a $1 hold on your card and converts to paid Starter unless you cancel.
Lovable's Free plan needs no card. It can publish. You get 5 build credits a day up to 30 a month, plus 20 Cloud credits, 4 AI credits and 1 connector credit monthly. Apps go out publicly or invite-only, up to 10 people per project, on a lovable.app address. Git sync works from the first day, though code stays read-only inside Lovable until Pro, where custom domains and badge removal also start. For a public launch at zero cost, only Lovable's free tier qualifies, as long as the app stays within the 20 Cloud credits a month; past that, apps on the built-in backend pause.
Bubble's Free plan has no time limit for building and testing. The 14-day trial of Bubble's Starter plan is for new apps only and must start within 10 days of creating the app; it puts a $1 hold on your card and converts to paid Starter unless canceled, with no refund after it converts. Start it early only if you can judge Starter within those two weeks; otherwise build on Free and move straight to a paid plan.
Visual logic versus generated code, and how you leave
Bubble's AI writes Bubble's visual logic, never source code. App generation moves from a prompt through clarifying questions to a plan with a live preview, then produces pages, a database with sample data, workflows, privacy rules and sign-in flows. Bubble's blog says app generation, which uses no AI credits, allows up to 10 new apps a month (as read in November 2026). Agent 2 left beta in October 2026, and in August 2026 Bubble's co-CEO admitted the Agent still trailed Lovable as a conversational builder.
Lovable generates React, TypeScript and Tailwind code in Build mode (Plan mode drafts a plan first, Chat mode answers without changing code), and new apps since May 2026 (June 2026 on Enterprise) run on TanStack Start with server-side rendering. That matters for pages meant to rank in search. Bubble's architecture is mostly client-side, and Bubble lists server-side rendering on its roadmap with no timeline (October 2026). Bubble's Agent also cannot add custom code, which keeps non-developers in control and leaves developers nothing to open in an IDE.
Leaving splits them hardest. Bubble apps run only on Bubble and cannot be exported as code, so moving off means rebuilding the logic.[3] Data exports as CSV, JSON or NDJSON, and through the Bubble MCP (beta) an outside AI agent can read the app's design and logic and rebuild it in code, without guaranteed fidelity and with hosting left to you. Lovable says you own code, apps and data, with Git sync to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket and the database exported separately.
Store apps or a web app on a phone
Bubble builds native iOS and Android apps on React Native inside the same project as the web app, sharing database, workflows and users. Bubble labels its native mobile builder beta as of November 2026. Store publishing needs a paid plan on the Mobile or Web & Mobile tab. Bubble's Starter plan (Mobile) is $42 per month billed annually or $49 per month billed monthly, per app, and Starter (Web & Mobile) is $59 per month billed annually or $69 per month billed monthly, per app. Apple's developer account costs $99 a year and Google's $25 one-time.
Text, design and workflow changes reach Bubble mobile users as over-the-air updates, typically within 5 to 10 minutes. Face ID sign-in and offline mode were not supported as of September 2026, and in-app purchases cover subscriptions only. Lovable, by contrast, builds web apps. Reaching a phone means a responsive site, a PWA or a Capacitor wrapper assembled outside Lovable. If store presence is the goal, our guide to Bubble's mobile builder walks through the in-editor path.
Store publishing on Bubble needs a paid plan on the Mobile or Web & Mobile tab, and those tabs cost more than Web, so choose the project type before you pick a plan.
Security posture, AI training and support
Bubble says its platform is SOC 2 Type II compliant, but that status does not transfer to your app, and the privacy rules on each data type are yours to set and review. The security dashboard runs 5 basic tests on Starter and unlimited advanced checks from Growth. SSO, hosting-region choice and an uptime SLA are Enterprise-only; self-serve apps are hosted in the US.
Bubble's preliminary root-cause analysis (November 2026) says an attacker got partial access to Bubble's production systems and some user data in October 2026, including private plugin data such as credentials plugin developers had saved. It also targeted individual apps through platform issues that reached stored credentials or data even in correctly set-up apps, and through settings such as privacy rules that granted access; affected owners were contacted, and a final RCA will follow.
Bubble's Terms let it use the input and output of its AI tools to train those tools, and Bubble does not publish an opt-out. Lovable lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, AIUC-1 and GDPR, and since September 2026 Free and Pro data may train Lovable's models unless the user opts out, with Business and Enterprise excluded by default. On support, Bubble's paid plans reach the Support Center, and Team adds a one-on-one demo and a consultation service with audits. Our Lovable review covers its side in depth.
On Trustpilot, the Bubble complaints that recur most concern billing and charges, support, canceling and trials. Those themes line up with hard terms: Bubble's plans, converted trials and AI credit packs are non-refundable, annual plans commit you to the full year and renew unless canceled at least 30 days before the anniversary, and the Starter trial converts on its own. Lovable is non-refundable too, except where the law requires otherwise. Read the reviews as a map of friction points.
Frequently asked questions
Do Bubble and Lovable offer student discounts?+
Lovable offers 50% off Pro with 100 credits billed monthly, $12.50 a month instead of $25, for up to 12 months from a Free workspace. Bubble offers student discounts on every plan on request and publishes no amount.
Can I move a Lovable app into Bubble?+
Bubble's universal import, in beta for a subset of users, takes a codebase ZIP and lists Lovable exports among those that work well. Lovable's codebase zip download needs Pro or higher, while Git sync works on any plan. Keys, data and outside services have to be set up again.
How does canceling work on each?+
On Bubble a canceled plan runs to the end of the billing period, with no refund. The live app keeps using workload units meanwhile, and overages accrue unless you switch them off. An annual plan commits you to the full year and renews unless canceled at least 30 days before the anniversary. On Lovable the plan also runs to the end of the period after a downgrade, and payments are non-refundable except where the law requires.
Can one Bubble plan cover a web app and a mobile app?+
Yes. A Web & Mobile project shares one database and one workload allowance, and Bubble's Starter plan (Web & Mobile) is $59 per month billed annually or $69 per month billed monthly, per app.
The bottom line
Choose by what the app needs in two years, not by the entry price. If it is logic-heavy, must reach the App Store and Google Play, and will be maintained by people who do not write code, Bubble fits, provided you budget per project, watch workload units and accept that the app never leaves Bubble as code. If you want code in your own repository, a free plan that can publish, or unlimited teammates on one subscription, Lovable fits better, with building, Cloud hosting and in-app AI all drawing on one credit balance.
- [1] Bubble Pricing — Start Free, Scale as You Grow (2026-11) https://bubble.io/pricing
- [2] Lovable Pricing (2026-11) https://lovable.dev/pricing
- [3] Bubble Manual: Application and data ownership (2026-11) https://manual.bubble.io/account-and-marketplace/application-and-data-ownership