Bolt
AI-powered vibe coding tool that lets you build websites, apps, and prototypes by chatting with AI, with built-in hosting, databases, and authentication.
Key Features
- ✓AI-powered app and website generation via natural language
- ✓Built-in hosting with custom domains and analytics
- ✓Unlimited databases and enterprise-grade backend infrastructure
- ✓User management and authentication
- ✓SEO optimization built-in
- ✓Automatic error testing, refactoring, and iteration
- ✓Large project context management
- ✓Custom design system integration
- ✓Multiple frontier AI coding agents in one interface
What Is Bolt?
Bolt (bolt.new) is a browser-based, AI-powered development environment built on top of StackBlitz's WebContainers technology. It is an AI-powered full-stack web development tool that generates complete applications from text prompts, offering an in-browser IDE with support for multiple frameworks like React, Next.js, and others. The core pitch is simple: describe what you want to build in plain language, and Bolt scaffolds the code, wires up a backend, and gives you something deployable, all without leaving the browser.
Unlike tools that only handle code generation, Bolt gives AI models complete control over the entire environment, including the filesystem, Node server, package manager, terminal, and browser console. That end-to-end control is what separates it from a wrapper around a code-completion API.
Who It Is For
The platform suits beginners and fast prototyping, while advanced developers may need manual fixes or external tools. In practice, the people getting the most out of it fall into a few buckets: solo founders who want to validate an idea without spinning up a full local environment, developers who want to skip boilerplate for internal tools or MVPs, and technically curious non-coders who can articulate what they want but not necessarily how to build it.
Bolt sits awkwardly between true no-code platforms and developer tools. It is most effective for developers who want AI acceleration, and less effective for non-coders expecting turnkey solutions. That is an honest framing. If you cannot read and debug generated code at all, you will hit a wall quickly.
Core Use Cases
Bolt is praised for its speed (great for quick MVPs), flexibility, and the ability to customize deployment processes. It supports various frameworks and offers real-time debugging, making it suitable for developers who need to prototype and deploy applications quickly.
In practical tests, developers have been able to spin up full projects using default prompts. Within a minute or two, Bolt creates a whole repository, which can then be deployed for free to a hosting provider. The zero-setup angle is real: there is no local install, no Docker container to configure, and no time lost on environment setup.
Pricing
Bolt uses a token-based pricing model, which is a significant factor to understand before committing.
| Plan | Price | Tokens/Month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | ~1M tokens |
| Pro | $25/month | 10M tokens |
| Teams | $30/member/month | 26M tokens |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Annual subscriptions get a 10% discount, and the Enterprise plan is available for larger teams. Token rollover was introduced in mid-2025, with tokens from a paid subscription rolling over for one additional month, making them valid for up to two months in total, provided an active paid subscription is maintained.
Strengths
The biggest genuine strength is iteration speed. Bolt is an excellent solution for developers who need to create proof-of-concept applications quickly. The AI can rapidly generate a functional foundation from a basic product specification, which can then be customized as needed.
Founded in 2024 by Eric Simons, the man behind StackBlitz, the San Francisco-based startup has venture capital backing and is rapidly gaining popularity as a tool for experimenting and hobby projects. The WebContainers foundation gives it a technical credibility that many AI builders lack: real Node execution in the browser is not a gimmick.
Limitations
The token model is where the pain shows up. Token burn from retries and long chats means that regenerations, multi-step fixes, and iterative loops can chew through tokens quickly. Users have reported burning through a large portion of a paid plan's allocation in a single debugging session for a non-trivial app.
Once projects exceed 15 to 20 components or require custom API integrations, context retention degrades noticeably. Token consumption accelerates during debugging cycles, often doubling initial estimates.
Bolt fails to provide the smooth development experience it advertises for complex work. It creates new headaches through unpredictable code generation and deployment problems while token allowances disappear faster than expected. That verdict is harsh but reflects a real pattern: Bolt gets you 70-80% of the way to a working app very fast, then the last stretch requires hands-on developer work.
The backend is also JavaScript-only. Bolt's weaknesses include design limitations, reliance on detailed prompts, and its JavaScript-only backend. If your stack involves Python, Go, or anything outside the Node ecosystem, you are not using Bolt for backend generation.
Versus the Alternatives
Compared to Lovable and v0, Bolt occupies the "developer-centric full-stack" slot. v0 excels at UI components, Lovable delivers fastest full-stack MVPs, and Bolt offers zero-setup browser development.
The difference between v0 and Bolt lies in ecosystem integration. v0 plays extremely well with Vercel projects and GitHub repos. Bolt is more framework-agnostic and more focused on giving you direct code control inside a real IDE, rather than just outputting components.
The bottom line: Bolt is the right tool when you want to move fast on a JavaScript full-stack project, you are comfortable reading and adjusting generated code, and you understand going in that complex projects will cost you more tokens than the marketing implies.
