- CodeMago
- CodeMago against the other AI app builders
- CodeMago or Lovable: the comparison with the arithmetic shown
CodeMago or Lovable: the comparison with the arithmetic shown
Lovable is the best-known platform in this category, and it is good. But it counts your limit in one-size-fits-all messages and leaves database, login and domain to you. If you are looking at the price, the maths is worth checking before you subscribe.
| CodeMago | Lovable | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | US$ 18 a month (US$ 216 a year) · R$ 94.99 in Brazil | US$ 25/mo (Pro) |
| How many messages fit in a month | 375 on the entry plan, worst case of the model chain — the arithmetic is right below | 72 for the same money, at the US$ 0.25 per message they publish |
| What the month gives you | 9,000 credits a month, and 1 credit is US$ 0.001 of real AI usage | 100 credits a month — and one message costs one credit, big or small |
| How spend is counted | By what the request actually consumed. “Make the button blue” costs a fraction of “rebuild the orders screen”. And you pick the effort: fast, balanced or maximum. | One flat credit per message, whatever its size. Multi-file requests cost 2 or 3. |
| Trying it without paying | 100 free credits when you create the account, no card | 5 credits a day (up to ~30 a month) |
| The fine print | No card to try it. Cancel from the dashboard, no phone call. | monthly credits expire after 2 months |
| Billing currency | US dollars, or Brazilian reais with no currency spread | US dollars |
| Database, login and custom domain | Included in the plan, no third-party service to wire up | Usually needs third-party services (database, auth, domain), each with its own account and its own bill. |
Competitor prices checked on their official page on September 22, 2026. Prices change: check https://lovable.dev/pricing before deciding.
A credit per message against a credit per real usage
On Lovable, one message costs one credit. Asking “make the button blue” and asking “rebuild the entire orders screen with a date filter” cost exactly the same. Complex multi-file requests can run to 2 or 3 credits, but the unit is still the message, not the work.
On CodeMago the credit is actual money: 1 credit is US$ 0.001 of AI usage. The small tweak costs little because it consumed little. And you pick the effort — fast, balanced or maximum — so spending more is your decision, made up front.
This changes how you work. People who pay per message learn to stack five requests into one giant prompt to avoid burning five credits, and then get five changes at once with no idea which one broke the screen. People who pay for usage ask for one thing at a time, which is how fine-tuning actually works.
How we got to that number
A sales number with no arithmetic behind it is worth nothing, so here is ours, for you to redo. Lovable publishes the unit price: US$ 0.25 per credit, one credit per message, at every Pro step up to 800 credits. For the US$ 18 of our entry plan, that is 72 messages.
On our side, we measured what a message actually consumes: around 90,000 input tokens and 1.4 model calls, plus the 3 minutes of container that build the app. Multiplied by the per-million-token price of the most expensive model in our chain, one message comes to 24 credits — and the entry plan holds 9,000. That is 375 messages.
5.2x more messages for the same money, and that is the floor: the sum was done with the priciest model the platform can pick. When the request is simple and the chain picks a cheaper one, it goes much further. The 5x plan gives 1,875 messages and Max gives 4,145.
What could change this: them moving the credit price (check the link in the table, with the date printed there), or us changing the model chain. That is why the number is recalculated on every publish, not typed in.
Credit expiry, which nobody reads until it bites
Lovable's monthly credits expire two months after they are issued; annual-plan credits expire one month after the annual period ends; top-ups last twelve months. That is three different clocks to keep track of.
Here the quota is monthly and simply renews. The 100 trial credits on a new account are a one-off gift with no deadline attached.
What comes with the plan and what you wire up yourself
Database, Google login and a custom address are part of the CodeMago plan. The published app goes up with a working address, and if you own a domain it points there.
On most platforms in this category those three come from third-party services, each with its own account, its own dashboard and its own invoice. That is not a flaw — it is an architecture choice. But it shows up in the total cost and in the hours you spend configuring, and it almost never makes it into the price comparisons you read.
When Lovable is the right choice
If your goal is to export clean React code and hand it to a development team, Lovable does that very well and has years of road behind it on that specific path.
If you already run Supabase and Vercel day to day, much of the advantage described above does not apply to you.
If you need a large community with a video tutorial for every question, Lovable has millions of users — we do not, and pretending otherwise would be a lie.
Frequently asked questions
Is CodeMago cheaper than Lovable?
Cheaper and further. Cheaper: US$ 18 against US$ 25 at the entry tier. Further: 375 messages against 72 for the same money — 5.2x more — and that sum was done with the most expensive model in our chain, so it is the floor, not the best case.
Can I import a Lovable project?
There is no automatic import. What works is describing what the app does and letting the AI rebuild it here, which is usually faster than adapting another generator's code.
Do CodeMago credits expire?
The quota is monthly and renews. The 100 trial credits on a new account are a one-off with no deadline.
What happens when Lovable credits run out mid-month?
You buy top-ups or wait for the reset. Here you watch the balance in the dashboard before it runs out, and the short window is 20% of the monthly quota — you get warned, not blocked by surprise.
Start now, for free
Describe it in your own words. The AI builds the app, you refine it by chatting, and you publish it at its own address. No code to write.