Compare Buildra and Lovable (formerly GPT Engineer). See feature differences in AI code generation, deployment, pricing, and developer workflow.
Lovable (formerly GPT Engineer) is the best-known name in the AI app builder category right now, and any serious Lovable alternative conversation eventually lands on two questions: can the alternative match Lovable's generation quality, and does it get out of your way when you want to own the code? Buildra answers the second one plainly. An agent builds your app in a live project, every commit it makes is mirrored out to a GitHub repository you own, the source is downloadable as a .tar.gz from the free tier, and the app publishes to a live URL from the same screen. If you're searching for a Lovable alternative because code download starts at Pro, or because you want to begin from a repository you already have, Buildra is the direct fit — with the honest caveat that Lovable's free monthly allowance is the larger of the two.
Lovable is an AI app builder you talk to in a chat: you describe a web app and it writes and hosts a full-stack one for you. Its own documentation calls it “an AI-powered platform that enables users of any skill level to create full-stack web applications through natural language.” It grew out of the open-source gpt-engineer project — the commercial site gptengineer.app was rebranded to Lovable. Publishing is free on every plan, and each app gets its own address on lovable.app.
Pro starts at $25 a month for 100 credits a month, or $250 a year — about $21 a month. Business starts at $50 a month for the same 100 credits and adds role-based access, SSO and a security centre. Both then scale in larger credit tiers, and Enterprise is quoted by sales — that is where SCIM, audit logs and scheduled security scans live. Credits are spent per build message, so what you actually pay follows how much you iterate, not how many seats you buy.
Yes — there is a real free plan, and it publishes. It grants 5 build credits a day, capped at 30 in a calendar month, plus 20 Cloud credits and 4 AI credits a month. It includes workspace-private projects, unlimited workspace members, Git sync to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket, custom connectors and community support. What it does not include: editing the code inside Lovable, downloading the code, connecting a new custom domain, and removing the “Edit with Lovable” badge — those start at Pro. On Pro and Business the 30-a-month cap on daily build credits goes away.
Both let you leave, through different doors. Lovable syncs to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket on every plan including free, but downloading the code as an archive — and editing it inside Lovable — starts at Pro, and its FAQ says there is currently no way to start a Lovable project from code you already have on GitHub. Buildra runs the other way: it imports an existing GitHub repository as a starting point, mirrors every agent commit out to a repository you own, and offers a .tar.gz of the source on the free tier. The mirror is one direction only — a push you make on GitHub does not flow back — and Buildra does not branch, open pull requests or run CI.
When governance matters: Business and Enterprise bring role-based access, SSO, SCIM and audit logs, and Buildra has none of that. When you want to buy a domain and connect it inside the same product. When you want to edit the generated code in the browser without leaving the builder. And on the free tier the arithmetic favours Lovable — 5 build credits a day capped at 30 a month, against Buildra's 5 a day capped at 25. Buildra's case is narrower, and worth stating plainly: start from a repository you already have, keep a mirror of every commit in a repository you own, and download the source without paying.
Every figure here comes from Lovable's own pages, read on 2026-09-20. Prices and limits move — check the sources before you decide.
Sources: lovable.dev/pricing, Lovable docs — Subscription plans, Lovable docs — Credits and limits, Lovable docs — Deploy, Lovable docs — FAQ
| Feature | Buildra | Lovable |
|---|---|---|
| AI code generation | Yes | Yes |
| Live preview | Yes | Yes |
| One-click deploy | Yes | Yes |
| GitHub sync | Yes | Yes |
| Full-stack (frontend + backend + DB) | Yes | Built-in Cloud |
| Custom domains | On paid plans | Paid plans |
| Multi-language UI | 4 languages | No |
| Export / download code | Yes | Pro and above |
| Conversation history | Yes | Yes |
| Phone app, built and uploaded to the stores | On a paid plan | Not documented |
Lovable generates a React frontend and runs the backend on its own Cloud, which it hosts for you and meters in credits as your app is used. That is the smoother road if you want one vendor to own hosting, database and domain together. Buildra generates the app and publishes it, but the repository is the artefact: the code lands in a repository you own, so the app can be picked up and hosted elsewhere without an export step. Neither approach is free of trade-offs — Lovable's is less work, Buildra's is less lock-in.
Buildra's free tier gives you 5 credits a day, up to 25 a month, across up to 3 projects, with publishing, the source download and the one-way GitHub mirror included. Buildra's paid plans run from Starter at $25 a month for 100 credits to Pro from $100 for 400, with a year costing ten months.
Lovable syncs to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket on every plan, free included; what starts at Pro is downloading the code as an archive and editing it inside Lovable. Buildra mirrors every commit the agent makes out to a GitHub repository you own, and offers the source as a .tar.gz on the free tier. Two limits are worth knowing before you choose: the mirror runs one direction only, so a push you make on GitHub does not come back into Buildra, and Buildra does not open branches or pull requests or run CI for you. Work you want to continue in Cursor, Claude Code or VS Code continues there — but it continues there, not back in the builder.
Lovable's free plan grants 5 build credits a day, capped at 30 in a calendar month. Buildra's free tier grants 5 a day, capped at 25 a month, across up to 3 projects — five fewer a month than Lovable's. Where Buildra's free tier does go further is what it lets you do with the result: the source download and the GitHub mirror are there from the start, where Lovable puts code download behind Pro. Which one is more generous depends entirely on whether you are counting credits or counting what you can take with you.
Buildra builds the frontend, the server and the database from a single description, already wired together.
Publish to the app's own buildra.page address in one click. The preview runs the real app while you build.
Download the source as a .tar.gz on any plan, or mirror every commit the agent makes to a GitHub repository you own. No vendor lock-in.
Lovable is a capable, well-staffed AI app builder with a bigger free monthly allowance than Buildra's, hosting and domains in one place, and governance — roles, SSO, audit logs — that Buildra does not offer at all. For a team that needs any of those, it is the better buy and this page will not pretend otherwise. Buildra's case is narrower: start from a repository you already have, keep a mirror of every agent commit in a repository you own, and download the source without paying. If that is the reason you went looking for a Lovable alternative, start free at buildra.dev.