AI buildersOct 14, 2026Updated Oct 15, 20263 min read

Lovable vs Cursor

Lovable writes the app for you in the browser and also hosts it. Cursor is a code editor on your computer with an AI agent inside. You see every file, and running and hosting the app is up to you.

vsChat in the browser or an editor on your computer

Lovable and Cursor side by side

	Lovable	Cursor
What it is	An app builder in the browser	A code editor with an AI agent
Where the code lives	In Lovable, synced to GitHub	In a folder on your computer and in your GitHub repo
Hosting	Included, at a lovable.app address	Not included. You pick a host
Backend	Lovable Cloud (built on Supabase) or your own Supabase	None. You keep the backend you have
Edit the code by hand	On paid plans, in the code editor	Yes, it is a full editor
Notes for the AI	Project knowledge in the settings, or AGENTS.md in the repo	AGENTS.md or rules in .cursor/rules
Price	Free plan with daily credits. Pro $25 a month, or $21 billed yearly	Free plan. Plus is $8 a month for Grok models only. Claude, GPT and other models cost extra, by usage

Prices checked on 15 October 2026. Cursor changed its plans on 12 October 2026. If you already pay for Cursor, you can keep your current plan for now. Cursor says it will move those plans later, with notice. Both change often, so check the pricing pages before you decide.

Credits or a weekly allowance: what do you pay for?

Lovable counts credits. Every message to the agent costs credits, and so do hosting, the backend and AI features inside your app. Pro starts at $25 a month for 100 credits, plus 5 credits a day. 50 more credits cost $15.

Cursor gives you a usage allowance that refreshes every week. On the new plans it covers Grok models only. Claude, GPT and other models are billed by how much you use them. You can set a spending limit, so you know the most you will pay.

When Lovable credits run out, the published app stays online, but AI features in the app stop and the backend pauses soon after. When Cursor usage runs out, only the agent stops. Your app keeps running on its host.

What you give up with Cursor

Hosting. Lovable publishes the app with one click. With Cursor you deploy it yourself.
A preview that just works. Cursor has Design Mode, where you click on the running app to change it, but you start the app on your computer first.
Lovable Cloud, if you leave Lovable completely. The backend then moves to your own Supabase project.

What Cursor gives you

Every file in an editor. You read what the agent changed before you keep it.
Any tool and any host. The project is a normal folder with a normal Git repository.
Projects that never started in Lovable work the same way.

Can a team work on it together in Cursor?

In Lovable, yes, in the same project at the same time. Everyone sees changes as they happen, and each person can also work in a draft first. Members use the credits of the workspace owner.

In Cursor each person works on their own copy of the code and shares changes through GitHub. The Teams plan, from $30 per person a month, adds shared rules for the agent, one bill and an admin dashboard.

Lovable or Cursor: which one fits you?

Stay on Lovable if you do not want to touch code, you want hosting included and the app still changes every day.
Pick Cursor if you want to see every file, use other tools on the same code or host the app where you like.
Never opened a code editor? Cursor will feel like a big step. Codex and Claude Code have desktop apps that look more like a chat.

Keep Lovable and Cursor on the same code

Lovable syncs with GitHub both ways, so Cursor can work on the same repository. Pull before you start, push when you finish and do not edit in both at once.

When and how to move to Cursor

Move when the Lovable editor cannot make a change you need or the credits cost more than the result is worth. Connect the project to GitHub, open the repository in Cursor and let the agent start the app. The step-by-step guide asks a few questions about your app and shows only the steps you need.