What these tools do and who needs them
AI coding tools turn a plain-language request into working code. They used to be for developers only; now there are two groups. One is for engineers: editor assistants and command-line agents such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Codex and aider. The other is for people who cannot code at all and want to build a website or app by chatting, such as Lovable, Bolt, Base44, Floot and Framer. If you want a sign-up page, a small shop site or a simple tool, the second group fits; maintaining real software needs the first.
Three common free-tier traps
1. Credits are not messages. App builders bill in credits, and one instruction costs a variable amount. Lovable’s own examples: “make the button grey” costs 0.5 credits, “add login” costs 1.2, while the free plan gives 5 credits a day, 30 a month, and unused daily credits vanish. v0 has a double cap of US$5 in monthly credits plus 7 messages a day; hit either and it stops.
2. Daily caps bite before monthly caps. Base44 gives 25 credits a month but its docs cap you at 5 a day; Bolt allows 300,000 tokens a day and 1 million a month; Floot allows 100 actions a day. You cannot save it all for a weekend build.
3. Free sites carry branding and may go offline. Replit’s free plan stamps “Made with Replit” on published apps and takes the published link down after 30 days; Bolt, Floot and Framer free sites also carry a badge or watermark, and removing it or using your own domain costs money. Budget for that before going live.
How to choose: three plain rules
- Are you building something new or editing existing code? New: pick a chat-based builder. Existing: pick an editor assistant. Their free limits are measured differently, so do not compare them directly.
- Check whether the free plan lets you publish, and with what strings. A site you cannot put online, or that carries a watermark or expires in 30 days, is not usable for a real project.
- Know the billing unit. Here 17 tools are subscriptions, 7 usage-based, 5 credit-based and 1 per task. Usage-based platforms such as Google AI Studio, OpenRouter and Groq suit occasional use; daily users can budget a subscription more easily.
Category numbers (from the AMPM database, computed 2026-09-12)
- Tools listed: 30, all active; the largest category on the site.
- With a free tier: 26 (87%). The 4 without: Strix, Termi Protocol, Replicate, Hostinger AI Website Builder.
- With a fixed monthly plan: 21; cheapest monthly plan per tool ranges from US$2.99 to US$30 (lowest: Hostinger at US$2.99; highest: v0 and CodeRabbit at US$30).
- Billing model: subscription 17, usage 7, credits 5, per task 1.
- Card requirement: Groq states no card for the free plan; CodeRabbit’s 14-day trial for new organisations is also card-free.
Read on
How we read pricing pages and handle numbers vendors do not publish: guides. Side-by-side plans: price comparison. Free-to-use tools only: free list.
