Building an app with AI is a new possibility, and the space is changing and developing quickly, with new features and platforms available seemingly every week. With so many AI-powered app builders available now, we wanted to test and review the most popular options and see what each was best for. In this comparison, we tested out three popular platforms: Replit, Bolt, and Bubble. 

Replit is an all-in-one programming environment and AI chatbot that allows you to code (or generate code via AI), iterate, collaborate, and host your app all in one place. Replit is slightly more accessible than Bolt for non-developers, with a built-in backend and an easier-to-use AI, plus it offers stronger built-in security and collaboration features. 

Bolt integrates AI building with traditional coding in a code-first editor. It brands itself — and works well — as an AI assistant for developers looking to speed up familiar tasks and generate new code quickly, rather than starting from a “blank page.” It has slightly easier mobile app development and is a bit faster at making iterations and complex features compared to Replit. 

Bubble is an AI visual development platform that allows anyone to build and launch fully functional web apps without code. Bubble combines AI app generation with drag-and-drop visual programming so you can start building faster and customize every aspect of your app without needing advanced technical expertise. This way, you can build, launch, and grow a real business while remaining in control the whole time.

Bubble also offers an “all-in-one” platform, giving you strong security, collaboration features, and built-in databases, hosting, integrations, and design tools suited to developing businesses, not just prototypes.

In this article, we compare all three platforms — the benefits, the drawbacks, and the best use cases for each — but if you’re curious to see a deep dive into each, check out our other comparisons: 

• Bubble vs. Replit
• Bubble vs. Bolt

Replit vs. Bolt vs. Bubble: Key factors

Even the best AI output (at this point) can only get you about 80% of the way to a fully functional app that’s ready to launch and scale. 

Once that 80% is done, the last 20% — the work of iterating on, customizing, and scaling your app — usually falls to the human builder. Evaluating how a platform supports that final 20% is especially important to consider for users without technical expertise. Currently, there are two main approaches to resolving that last 20%: 

• A code-first approach, taken by platforms like Replit and Bolt. The AI focuses primarily on generating code, which you can then edit and iterate on either manually or via the AI chat. 
• A visual approach, taken by a platform like Bubble, which allows builders to edit and iterate the AI output visually, drag-and-drop style. 

Despite the assistance of AI agents, the code-first approach can present a major roadblock for non-developers. Builders with coding experience can jump in and edit code manually when AI gets stuck, but non-coders may find themselves stuck in “prompt purgatory” — endlessly prompting the AI but not getting the results they want. 

In our comparison, we considered how each platform supported both developers and non-developers in resolving the last 20% beyond the initial AI output, alongside a number of other key factors. Here’s a quick breakdown of how the platforms stack up:  

App output quality 

Obviously, the initial quality of your app is a major factor to consider. After all, the better the initial output, the less iteration you’ll have to do to make your app ready to launch. 

All three of these platforms have solid app outputs. But all three provide different strengths when it comes to output: 

• Bolt provided the most complete output, but inconsistently. That is, sometimes the visual preview didn’t work, or the platform hit the daily rate limit before it even finished generating the initial output. Great when it worked, but it didn’t always work. 
• Replit produced more limited output — good UI and good functionality, but nothing exceptional. But it did provide that consistently, and was one of the best tools for iterating with AI.
• Bubble produced the best visual output, generating solid UI and features that really worked on the first try. Bubble had the strongest visual preview and editor, which made it simple to continue to iterate and add functionality and features. 

Bolt generated great UI and good functionality in the initial output, but it struggled to do so consistently. When it did work, the UI was solid, the functionality worked and was more complete compared to Replit, and it was easy to prompt and change the look and feel of the app. 

The major downside is that sometimes Bolt didn’t work. There were several tests where the functionality was quite limited, or the visual preview wouldn’t load, or the code had errors that Bolt couldn’t find or resolve. 

And in one test, Bolt didn’t even finish generating an initial output of our app before we were blocked by the daily rate limit. Bolt’s Free plan is supposed to include up to 150,000 tokens per day, but it wasn’t clear how many tokens our prompt(s) were going to use or how quickly we’d hit those limits. This is a common problem mentioned in the Bolt forums as well, and makes for a frustrating experience. 

By contrast, Replit produced a more limited output initially, but was more consistent. It generated both frontend and backend features, but the UI and the functionality were more limited compared to Bolt. In general, Replit needed more “hand-holding.” That is, we needed to prompt it step-by-step to get the functionality we wanted. But when it did create that functionality, it was more consistent than Bolt. 

Both Replit and Bolt are code-forward though, which can be helpful for experienced developers. You have full access to the code on each to manually iterate and optimize without having to prompt the AI. 

Bubble was strong across the board, producing both solid UI and functionality. Bubble stands out because it gets you started in every area — design, data, and the logic that powers your app behind the scenes. Because Bubble has a built-in backend, the features and functionality actually worked from the initial output. Plus, Bubble takes a visual approach to the output and editing. Instead of a code-first editor, Bubble uses a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easier to preview and edit your app visually. Bubble was also much more consistent compared to Bolt. 

App development workflow 

The output is important, but just as important is the process of how you get there. All three of these apps take a similar approach to ‌initial app development, but they have different strengths. 

Replit and Bolt both cater to developers or more experienced builders who are looking to seamlessly integrate AI into a familiar code-based editor. Replit has slightly stronger AI-based iterations, while Bolt focuses more on the code editor. However, Bubble provides a true no-code experience combined with the speed of AI to spin up v1. It eliminates the need for traditional coding while still being sophisticated enough to develop fully functional, enterprise-grade apps.

Replit and Bolt have very similar approaches to app development. First, you’ll prompt the AI, then it will take you to a split-screen view with the AI progress and chat on the left-hand side, and an integrated coding environment and visual preview on the right-hand side. 

Once your code has been generated, you can toggle on the right between viewing (and editing) the code manually or a visual preview. On Bolt, our visual preview often got stuck and wouldn’t update, and the AI chat didn’t seem to know how to resolve this. 

For both, you can make further iterations on your app either by manually coding directly in the code editor, or by prompting the AI to make changes to your app, find bugs, and fix errors. We found Replit’s AI chat to be slightly better than Bolt’s at identifying and adjusting errors and adding new functionality. Bolt’s editor is slightly more code-forward. 

Another great feature of Replit’s app development process is that before it generates code, it will give you a project plan of what it’s going to build and suggest additional functionality that you can choose to add (or not) to your initial output. Bubble also includes this step in its development workflow. 

However, on Bubble, after you’ve prompted the AI and approved the project plan, you don’t get a split-screen view. Instead, you’re taken directly to the visual editor, where you can preview your app and edit it directly all in one place. 

Bubble’s editor provides a completely different way to build and edit apps beyond the initial AI generation. Instead of chatting with an AI agent or manually editing code, you can edit everything — design, databases, workflows, functionality — with a drag-and-drop editor. On Bubble, the platform speaks your language rather than asking you to speak a programming language. This gives you full control without having to learn code, and it’s much easier to iterate on specific features and connected workflows. 

For example, in Replit or Bolt, if you want to edit what a specific button does, you have to find that section of code and edit it manually, or prompt the AI to fix it (which can deliver inconsistent outputs). On Bubble, you simply click on that button in the visual preview, then set up a workflow that follows a simple if-then structure.

Customizability

Unless you’re only looking to spin up some prototypes or MVPs, customization is a key factor to consider — specifically, how much customization a platform allows and how easy it is to customize. 

The good news: Replit, Bolt, and Bubble all offer a high level of customization. The difference comes in how you customize your app once it’s generated. 

For Replit, the primary means of customization is through the AI chat. Replit offers both an AI agent — for creating and iterating on code — and an AI assistant — for asking questions, making detailed changes, and fixing errors and bugs. This approach gives you access to more LLM models that can help you get better output for different tasks, making Replit a bit more approachable for beginners compared to Bolt. Of course, you can also edit the code directly and make any changes exactly as you want them. 

Bolt’s limited token rates mean that AI-driven iteration and customization are pretty limited. We usually hit rate limits quickly, which means that you need to be comfortable with traditional coding to develop quickly in Bolt and have full access to customization. 

One other thing to note is that both Bolt and Replit’s AI struggle with the same issues as most of today’s AI builders — occasionally bloated code, being unable to find or fix errors, and just delivering somewhat unpredictable output. If you’re trying to create your app solely through the AI chat, you will have less control overall on Replit and Bolt than if you have the experience needed to edit your code directly.

On Bubble, all customizations happen visually, via the drag-and-drop editor. You get the same unlimited customization as with traditional coding, but without actually having to code. You have full control over UI design, workflows, triggers, actions, data types, database structure, conditionals, and more. Plus, you can add reusable styles and elements to further speed up your design and development. 

By prioritizing visual programming, Bubble eliminates two common issues at once:

1. You won’t get stuck going back and forth with an AI agent without being able to get exactly the results you want — you can click on any element to edit it yourself in a way you can understand. 
2. You don’t need to have coding or programming knowledge to be able to have full control and customization for your app. You can create an app that looks, feels, and functions exactly how you imagine it without ever touching a line of code.

In short: Bubble gives you full control and customization options in every part of your app’s frontend and backend — no code needed. 

Design functionality

Evaluating the level of design functionality a tool has helps you understand how easy it will be to create visually appealing apps with that tool. Are there a lot of design tools and features within the platform, or does a good design mostly stem from traditional coding? 

Neither Bolt nor Replit are very design-focused platforms, but Bubble takes a very intuitive approach to design. However, all three platforms offer the ability to create well-designed apps, depending on your level of experience. 

Replit’s programming approach is much less visual than Bubble’s. At its core, it is an AI-enabled coding environment that doesn’t offer extensive design features. That said, Replit does create automatically responsive designs and offers multi-modal AI approaches. You can prompt Replit’s AI agent with an image, a screenshot, or a Figma file and it will attempt to build out that interface in code. 

Bolt takes a similar approach, and also offers a direct Figma integration as well. We also found Bolt’s AI pretty apt in making design-focused changes — one of our testers said that one or two prompts was generally enough to change the entire look and feel of the app. However, as with other iterations on Bolt, we often hit token rate limits quickly, which prevented us from making further changes to our app unless we coded them manually or upgraded to a higher pricing tier.

Of the three, Bubble is the most design-focused platform, with strong design features via a fully visual editor. It’s super flexible, and gives you complete control over every pixel — without having to prompt an AI tool or write code. Just drag and drop, create manual breakpoints and layouts, develop responsive designs, and make customizations exactly how you want them, all visually. And yes — you can import Figma wireframes or other design tool mockups into Bubble and Bubble will convert them seamlessly into a functional app. You can also create complete design systems on Bubble with reusable UI components, custom styles, and everything you need for cohesive, aesthetic apps. 

Although Bolt and Replit offer full design customization through traditional coding, Bubble’s visual approach is a much more manageable way to design your app, particularly for non-coders. 

Collaboration

If you’re looking to build, launch, and grow an app for enterprise use or end-users, collaboration on your platform of choice is key for moving and iterating quickly. Bubble and Replit provide the strongest collaboration features. Bolt also makes collaboration possible via GitHub and StackBlitz. 

All three of these platforms offer basic collaboration features, such as: 

• Adding collaborators to your project or app 
• Choosing which of your projects collaborators can access 
• Providing team plans and version control 

One key difference is the level of control you get with access permissions. Bolt offers the most limited (just view or edit). Replit offers view, edit, or deploy access. Bubble has the most customizable access permissions, allowing you to control edit access for different spaces (like UI vs. databases). 

In addition, Replit and Bubble provide real-time collaboration in the editor with live cursors, so you can see your teammates and their work in real time. On Bolt, collaborating on the same project will create forked versions via GitHub, so the process is more suited toward those with experience working in traditional development workflows. 

Finally, the teams plans vary in cost on each platform as well: 

• Replit team plans start at $40 per user per month, plus additional pay-as-you-go billing for usage. 
• Bolt team plans start at $60 per user per month, with 25 million monthly tokens included for each user (they recommend this plan for teams who only use Bolt a few times per week). 
• Bubble team plans start at a flat-rate $119 per month, with hosting and a built-in database included. Bubble also doesn’t charge extra for AI generation. 

Security

If you’re just looking to spin up some quick prototypes or avoid starting from scratch with coding, security might not be a major factor. But for builders who are looking to build, deploy, and host real businesses all in one place, security is a key factor to consider. 

You’ll want to consider what platform-level security is offered (the security of the platform you’re building on) and what app-level security is offered (the security of the app you’re building for your data and end-user data). For users without a technical background, it’s also important to consider how much security is “built-in” vs. what you’ll be expected to implement yourself. 

Bolt provides the least “built-in” security of these platforms — in part because Bolt isn’t responsible for managing your databases or hosting your app. Both hosting and databases are managed by third parties, Bolt is really just for writing the code and managing the frontend. As such, your app-level security depends on how you build your app and the standards of the third-party services you use (like Supabase and Netlify). In short: on Bolt, the security of your app rests squarely on your shoulders to know what to set up, and how. 

Replit offers strong platform-level security, but leaves app-level security up to the builder. Replit itself is SOC 2 Type II compliant, GDPR compliant, and offers security features like end-to-end encryption, 2FA, and SSO, offering compliance for your data. However, Replit doesn’t offer built-in privacy rules, role-based access, or integrated end-user authentication, leaving your end-user data potentially exposed or unsecured. Without any security guidance or guardrails for non-coders, building a secure app on Replit is possible, but it requires technical expertise to code privacy rules and settings for your app manually.

Bubble provides the strongest “built-in” security, plus step-by-step guidance for non-coders. You get enterprise-grade security features like SOC 2 Type II compliance, GDPR compliance, enterprise-grade infrastructure and encryption, DDoS protection, and more. Basically, these certifications and standards mean Bubble’s platform itself is a secure place to launch and grow an app for business use. 

Plus, Bubble also offers built-in user authentication and makes it simple to set up custom privacy rules and restrictions specific to your app and data types through the visual editor. This way, it’s much easier to keep your customer data safe, since you won’t have to code, and Bubble provides lots of guardrails for non-developers to help guide you through the process. 

Bubble even offers additional security features and automated vulnerability testing through Flusk, making it easier to build a secure app even if you’re not an expert. 

Native mobile app creation

Whether or not you’re looking to build a mobile app right now, having the option to build one within the same platform can make it a lot easier to expand and scale in the future. 

Luckily, all three of these platforms support mobile app development: Replit supports React Native and Expo app development, Bolt uses Expo, and Bubble offers native mobile app functionality directly via Bubble’s no-code editor. 

Replit and Bolt’s mobile app development mirrors their web app development process, so their processes are pretty similar. You add the Expo framework template to your editor in Replit or Bolt, then use the AI chat as usual to prompt for functionality and design. You can edit the code manually or iterate via AI chat. We found Bolt’s AI slightly better at interpreting our prompts compared to Replit. 

Either way, the same downsides apply: If you get stuck with AI prompting, due to rate limits or prompt loops, your only other option for iterating on Replit or Bolt is traditional coding. 

Bubble also offers native mobile app functionality (coming for everyone in June 2025!). Bubble takes a no-code approach, offering one of the only true no-code builders for native mobile apps. Use the visual editor to build, iterate on, and launch your mobile app, which has a much lower learning curve. Your apps will also share a backend, eliminating the need to duplicate databases and logic that powers both apps. Plus, you can publish your app directly to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store right from the Bubble editor.

Framework support

A “framework” is a kind of library that provides pre-built bits of code in a certain programming language. For example, the Angular framework provides some reusable UI components and pre-built workflows for common tasks for the TypeScript/JavaScript language. 

Some AI app builders support certain frameworks and programming languages only, while others offer a wide range of frameworks. If you’re a developer or programmer who needs to use a certain language — due to your team’s knowledge or tech stack, or other constraints — it’s important to consider which platforms will support that. 

For experienced developers and technical builders, Replit offers the most framework support and flexibility — the platform supports 30+ programming languages, so you can code in basically any framework that’s familiar to you. 

Bolt also provides support for the most popular frameworks and languages, including JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Astro, Tailwind CSS, and ShadCN. Notably, Bolt does not support Python, C#, or C++. 

Bubble offers the most flexibility for non-developers by working with a fully visual programming language that doesn’t require any coding experience. Instead of working within specific programming languages like JavaScript or React, it uses visual programming that is “framework-agnostic.” For technical users who want to add custom code to their apps, the Bubble editor supports that as well. 

Integrations

Plugins and integrations can create an ecosystem of support that can expand the possibilities and capabilities of the platform you’re using — and the app you create. The key factor to consider with integrations on any AI app-building platform is: 

• How robust their integrations library is 
• How easy the integrations are to use 
• Who “owns” the maintenance and updates for integrations 

Bolt offers a limited integration library. Though the integrations are simple to use, if you need something beyond what they offer, you’ll have to code your own, which can be tricky. Bolt’s primary integrations include Supabase and Firebase for databases, Netlify for deployment, and GitHub, GrokAI, Gemini, and ElevenLabs API. 

Replit provides built-in integrations as well that are super easy to access and use right from the Replit editor. They have more built-in integrations than Bolt, including Slack, Discord, Hubspot, Stripe, Google Sheets and Docs, OpenAI, Anthropic, and a few others. If you need something beyond their built-in list, you can configure your own manually or via the AI editor. 

Bubble offers the largest integration library by far, with thousands of built-in and expert-maintained plugins. On Bubble, you get “one-click” integrations with tools like: 

• OpenAI & Chat-GPT 4
• Anthropic Claude AI
• DALL-E
• Github
• Figma
• Stripe
• Paypal
• Plaid 
• SendGrid
• Google Suite products
• and thousands more

Bubble’s plugins are built and maintained by expert developers, who know how to create custom functionality and maintain it. Like the official integrations maintained by Replit and Bolt, Bubble’s massive integration library “just works” with the platform. If you need something else, you can also build your own integrations via Bubble’s API connector. This allows anyone to easily connect your app on Bubble to basically any other external app or system without having to custom code integrations. 

Deployment and hosting

A complicated deployment and hosting process can trip you up right when you’re ready to go live with your app — the opposite of the forward momentum you want and need at that moment. All three of these platforms make deployment and hosting pretty simple, but there are some differences to consider. 

Replit has built-in hosting, but the process isn’t as streamlined as Bolt or Bubble. They provide multiple deployment options, which can be helpful for developers, but confusing for non-programmers who just want a simple launch. Also worth considering: Publishing your app through Replit forces an MIT license currently, which eliminates the privacy of your software. Private deployments are only available on higher-paid tiers.  

Bolt makes the process a bit simpler, even though they don’t offer built-in hosting. Netlify is their hosting provider, so when you deploy your app through Bolt, it hosts it for you on Netlify automatically. Then, you can set up a Netlify account and claim the URL to add the project to your Netlify account. You can also export code for self-hosting.

Bubble makes the process the simplest of all, with built-in hosting and deployment on Bubble servers. Deployment and hosting is truly “one-click” and you get to keep everything in one place. Even better: only one platform and account to juggle and pay for! 

Education

A good AI app builder makes their own platform easy to learn — and part of that ease comes from having great resources and educational guides to uplevel your own knowledge or troubleshoot when you get stuck. 

Bolt has the most limited education resources of these three platforms. They offer some technical documentation, but it’s sparse — mostly limited to a brief overview of the platform, prompting techniques, and a few tutorials around integrations and specific use cases. They have a YouTube channel as well, which is also pretty sparse. If you get stuck building with Bolt, it can be tough to troubleshoot from their documentation alone.  

Replit has a lot more resources, comparatively. They have more detailed documentation surrounding the platform, features, how-to guides, integrations, and a number of tutorials and walkthroughs. Their documentation is also more beginner-focused, helping you get the most from the platform even if you don’t have a technical background. They’re also building out a solid YouTube library with general tutorials and videos on specific workflows and tasks in Replit. 

Bubble has the most resources of the three — with comprehensive education and documentation geared toward all skill levels and different learning styles. The core of Bubble’s education is in the Bubble Manual, which provides detailed and comprehensive documentation of the entire platform for both beginners and experienced developers. 

But you’ll also find tutorials, how-to guides, courses, interactive lessons in the Bubble editor, YouTube videos, and more. However you like to learn, and wherever you are in your app building journey, you’ll find support and educational resources from Bubble. And if you still find yourself getting stuck, you can turn to the active Bubble forums for help from experienced builders. 

Required technical expertise

Finally, it’s important to consider how much technical expertise the platform requires to take your app all the way to launch and beyond. Most AI app builders make it super easy to get started — but what about that final 20%? 

Each of these three platforms requires different levels of technical expertise: 

• Bolt assumes the most technical expertise and is geared toward developers. 
• Replit assumes technical familiarity, while also offering control, handholds, and AI assistance for non-programmers. 
• Bubble is designed to be equally accessible for developers and non-developers alike, and offers the most control for non-coders. 

Bolt requires the most technical expertise to build a fully functional app. It’s not targeting non-developers, and the Bolt team recommends that builders learn coding basics before using Bolt. Anything beyond the basics — say, setting up databases or adding complex functionality — requires technical expertise, or requires you to rely on AI (which, as discussed, isn’t the best move since the AI right now is still pretty inconsistent and uses a lot of tokens). 

Replit also assumes some technical familiarity, but it provides more AI support and scaffolding for beginners who are looking to learn. Their educational materials are more geared toward beginners, the interface is a bit more intuitive than Bolt’s, and overall, the Replit platform is a bit more streamlined. 

It can also be a great way for those who are interested in learning code to “learn by doing,” with the help of an AI coach to build alongside them, help troubleshoot, and help take them step-by-step through the process. That said, you will need to learn some code at some point to build a fully functional and scalable app on Replit. 

By contrast, Bubble offers a true no-code experience, and is the most accessible for non-developers. Bubble doesn’t assume builders will be familiar with code or have a technical background, and the visual editor is much more intuitive compared to Replit and Bolt’s code-first editors. Bubble’s visual programming interface takes some time to learn upfront, but then it gives anyone complete control and customization without having to learn to code, which makes the platform much more approachable, more quickly, in the long run. 

With Replit and Bolt, you will have to code eventually if you want your app to look and function exactly how you imagined. With Bubble, you can stay codeless through launch and beyond, without sacrificing control or complexity.

Which AI builder is right for you?

Replit and Bolt are both AI-powered app generators paired with editors that merge code-based development with AI-driven iterations. Both can generate frontend and backend code, offer full customization via manual coding, and support collaboration and mobile app creation. However, despite the similarities in their interfaces and app development workflows, both apps are best for different situations. 

Bolt is best for experienced developers who want a familiar, code-first development environment with integrated AI-powered iterations. It’s for developers who are looking to speed up workflows, avoid starting from scratch, and integrate AI with their existing GitHub and StackBlitz projects. Bolt’s limited free plan usage also makes it best for established teams who have the budget for higher-tier plans that will support regular usage. In addition, it lacks the documentation and “built-in” features like built-in hosting, security, and integrations to make it easy to use for non-developers. 

Replit provides a similar editor and workflow to Bolt, but makes it more intuitive and accessible to non-developers. For those who are looking to learn coding with the support of AI, or want to lean heavily on AI with the control and access to traditional coding, Replit provides a good solution. Replit also offers many more “built-in” features, such as built-in hosting, stronger platform security, more collaboration features within the Replit editor, and more education for beginners. 

Bubble, by contrast, is the only AI-powered platform that offers true no-code, visual development built for you to grow a business. Bolt and Replit both default to traditional code where the AI falls short, while Bubble provides a fully visual approach that gives you full control and customization all the way to launch and beyond. You can create production-grade apps and enterprise software with speed, scalability, and full control, without a technical background. 

Bubble’s platform provides everything you need to build an app for your business “out-of-the-box,” including built-in databases, security, mobile app development, integrations, deployment and hosting, and more. Bubble helps you create an app you understand, all in one place — giving you the tools and platform you need to build a business you can scale. 

Of course, the best way to see if Bubble will work for your project is to test it out for yourself. Try our AI app generator today for free and see how fast you can get your ideas into a real-life product.