Lovable, Bolt, v0 or Cursor: which AI tool to build with?

01The short answer

• Use Lovable, Bolt or v0 to try an idea fast: a clickable demo, a prototype, a test you can throw away.
• Use Cursor for a site you'll look after for years, your own or a client's.
• Plan first, whichever you choose. Our guide Cursor, ChatGPT or Claude? Which to use for what explains how.

02What each one is, and who makes it

• Lovable is made by a Swedish company of the same name. You describe an app in a chat, and it builds the pages, the database and the logins, with a live preview.
• Bolt (bolt.new) is made by StackBlitz. It runs in your browser too, with a chat, a preview and, on a desktop, a view of the code.
• v0 is made by Vercel, the hosting company the course uses. You chat at v0.app, watch a preview, and publish to Vercel.
• Cursor is a code editor made by Anysphere, which became part of SpaceX in August 2026. You install it on your laptop (Windows, Mac or Linux), and its AI reads and edits the files in your project's folder.

03Chat in the browser, or an editor on your laptop

The biggest difference is where your work lives. In Lovable, Bolt and v0, the chat is the centre, and the project lives in your account on their website. You can build a whole app without opening a single file. In Cursor, the files are in front of you, in a folder on your laptop, and you see every change the AI makes.

• The browser builders win on speed: nothing to install, a quick first result, and hosting and a database in one place.
• Cursor wins on control: open any file, see what changed, undo it, and use any host or database. The cost is a slower start, because you install Cursor, Node.js and Git first.

04Free plans, and how paid plans charge you

Lovable counts credits, Bolt counts tokens (its measure of the AI's work), v0 counts credits worth dollars, and Cursor gives you an allowance. This is what you get at the time of writing (November 2026), in US dollars, before any tax:

Behind the numbers:

• Lovable: a planning message costs one credit, or more if it researches. What building costs depends on the job.
• Bolt: tokens are used to read your prompt and your project's files, to plan and to write code.
• v0: credits are worked out from the tokens you send and receive. New users also get US$5 of credits, once.
• Cursor: since October 2026, new customers buy the X Subscription, which bundles Cursor with the Grok AI assistant and X Premium. Paid plans share one weekly allowance with Grok, with top-ups if you run out. Other companies' models, such as Claude, cost extra, from the US$30 Premium plan up.

With all four, vague prompts waste your allowance.

05Who owns the code, and can you take it away?

All four can keep your code in GitHub, the website that stores a project and every version of it:

• Lovable syncs both ways with GitHub on every plan, so you can also work on the code in your own editor. Editing code inside Lovable needs a paid plan.
• Bolt saves a snapshot (a commit) to GitHub each time a change works, and pulls in changes made elsewhere. On a desktop you can also download the project as a zip file.
• v0 creates a private repository for you and commits every change. Its help pages say Vercel doesn't own the code it generates for you.
• Cursor keeps the code on your laptop from the start. You save versions with Git and send them to GitHub yourself.

So none of them traps your code. The difference is whether the code is your everyday workspace or a copy you take away. Either way, connect GitHub on day one.

06Adding a back end

The back end is the part of a site visitors don't see: the database that stores orders, and the logins.

• Lovable has its own back end, Lovable Cloud, switched on by default. It's built on Supabase's open-source foundation and paid for with Lovable credits. You can connect your own Supabase project instead, on any plan.
• Bolt gives new projects a Bolt database. Connecting Supabase instead needs a Pro or Teams plan.
• v0 connects databases such as Supabase, Neon and Upstash in one click, through the Vercel Marketplace.
• Cursor works with whatever you choose. The course uses Supabase for the database and logins, and Resend for emails.

For a client, think about who controls the data. Lovable's help pages note that your own Supabase project gives you direct ownership and full access to its dashboard.

07Putting it live on your own domain

• Lovable publishes to a free lovable.app address. Your own domain needs a paid plan.
• Bolt publishes to a free bolt.host address. Your own domain needs a paid plan.
• v0 publishes to Vercel, at a vercel.app address, and you add your own domain in Vercel.
• Cursor is only where you build. A host such as Vercel puts the site online from GitHub, and you connect your domain there.

On their free plans, Lovable and Bolt sites carry the builder's badge. Both also sell domains, but read how to buy a domain name in Ghana first: a business's domain should belong to the owner, in their own account.

08Paying from Ghana

All four list their prices in US dollars. Bolt takes only credit and debit cards, not PayPal or bank transfers, and Cursor takes all major credit and debit cards. Check what Lovable and v0 accept when you upgrade.

We couldn't confirm that every Ghanaian bank card works with each of them. Ask your bank whether your card is enabled for international online payments. A card in cedis is charged at the exchange rate, so the amount can change from month to month. Start on the free plan, and pay only when you know you'll use it.

09Which to use for what

A browser builder suits:

• a clickable demo of a client's future site, before you agree a price
• testing an idea in an afternoon
• a one-off page that nobody will maintain

Cursor suits:

• a client's site you'll still be changing years from now
• anything with orders, emails or a login, where a quiet failure costs someone money
• learning how websites work, so you can fix them yourself

You can also mix them: try the idea in a builder, connect GitHub, then carry on in Cursor on your laptop. Read the code first, because it may be set up differently from what you're used to. Building by chat without ever reading the code is what people call vibe coding: What is vibe coding? explains where it works and where it breaks.

Use a builder to show an idea. Use a folder on your laptop, saved in GitHub, to look after a site for years.

10Why the course teaches Cursor

The course teaches Cursor, alongside ChatGPT and Claude, for four reasons:

• The real code lives on your laptop and in GitHub. Tools change, as Cursor's own plans did in October 2026. Your project stays an ordinary folder with its full history.
• You can read it and fix it. You see every change the AI makes, and you can undo it. When something breaks, you know where to look.
• It works for any project: a five-page site, a shop with orders, a login for the owner, on any host, with any database.
• The skills carry over. A clear brief, good prompts, Git and reading code make the browser builders work better too.

In the course, students build their own studio site, then a business site with orders, emails and an owner login, using Cursor, GitHub, Vercel, Supabase and Resend. Wondering how much code you need to understand? Read Do you need to know coding to build a website in 2026?

11Set up your tools the professional way

Module 1 of the course, Your Starter Setup, sets up the tools you'll build with, the way professionals do: GitHub with two-factor login, Vercel connected to GitHub, Node.js and Git, and Cursor itself. Module 2, The Prompt System, then teaches the prompts that get AI tools to build what you meant. Module 0 is free, so you can see how the course teaches first, then look at the full course, paid once with mobile money or card.