Poly vs Lovable for building with AI together

Lovable and Poly both let people who do not code build real software with AI, and they answer a different question. Lovable answers "how do I build this myself?": prompts become a full-stack app with hosting, auth and payments included, and teammates contribute through a shared chat or through drafts that anyone with edit access can accept. Poly (usepoly.co) answers "how do we build this together?": one AI in one session, every member prompting, approving and undoing, with a receipt on every turn. Lovable is the bigger product by far. Poly is the narrower one, built for the pair.

How do two people build together in Lovable?

You invite your cofounder to the workspace or to one project. Lovable's roles are Viewer, Editor, Admin and Owner; Free workspaces have no admin role. Everyone with access sees the project's chat and the changes as they happen. Since September 8, 2026, instructions sent while the agent is working are picked up as follow-ups during the run instead of waiting in a prompt queue, and comments pinned to the preview can be sent to the agent.

To work in parallel, each of you opens a draft: a branch of the project with its own chat and preview. Everyone with edit access sees the same drafts and can accept one into the project. When two drafts touch the same thing, Lovable reworks the draft's edits as it updates. Every message is paid from the owner's workspace credits, whoever sends it. On Business, an admin can cap each member's monthly credits.

What that gives a pair: you can both build at once without stepping on each other. What it doesn't: a say over each change before it lands. The agent applies a prompt's changes as it goes, and the review happens when someone accepts a whole draft.

How do two people build together in Poly?

You both open the same room in a browser. It holds one AI session, and every prompt, reply and change lands in one timeline you both watch as it happens. Either of you can prompt; prompts queue and run in order. The room's mode sets how much the AI does on its own, from "just build" to "ask about everything". In the modes that ask, each proposed edit or command appears as a plain-language card on both screens, and whichever of you decides first, decides. Questions the AI asks are cards either of you can answer.

Every turn ends as a commit with a receipt naming who ran it and what it cost, and either of you can undo it in one click. The running app sits beside the conversation as a live preview. A group chat and polls sit next to the timeline where the AI cannot read them.

What that gives a pair: one shared view of the work and a vote on every change. The shared agent runs one turn at a time on purpose. To split up, the room's owner can turn on multi-agent mode, which gives each member their own agent on their own branch, merged when the work is ready.

Where Lovable is stronger

• Everything included. Hosting, a database, authentication and payments come with the app. A Poly room previews the running app live and publishes a static snapshot; anything with a backend is previewable but not yet publishable.
• Breadth. Millions of users, a large template and integration ecosystem, and a founders page that says plainly you do not need a technical cofounder.
• Unlimited members on every plan, priced by credits rather than seats.
• Working apart by default. Any editor can open a draft; in Poly, separate branches need the room's multi-agent mode.

Where Poly is stronger

• One session, not drafts. Lovable's drafts, added in September 2026, let a teammate work in an isolated copy that anyone with edit access can accept. That keeps people apart on purpose. In Poly both people watch the same turn and either can act on it.
• A say before it lands. Lovable's accept step applies a whole draft. Poly's approval modes put each proposed change on every screen as a plain-language card before the AI makes it.
• Receipts. Lovable collaborators spend the owner's workspace credits, with per-member limits from Pro up. Poly's receipt on every turn names who ran it and what it cost.
• Your own repository. Poly rooms work on a git workspace you can connect to GitHub; the work goes to a branch and a pull request when someone sends it. Lovable syncs to GitHub too, but the workspace is Lovable's.
• Four labs. Claude, GPT, Grok or Muse per member, in one room.
• A channel the AI cannot read for arguing about the plan.

Pricing, side by side

Lovable is free with 5 build credits a day (up to 30 a month). Pro starts at $25 a month for 100 credits and Business at $50 for 100 credits. Pro includes roles and per-member credit limits; Business adds SSO and role-based access. Every plan has unlimited members, and annual billing saves about 17%. Other options for teams are compared in Lovable alternatives for teams and Base44 vs Lovable. Poly is free to start with no card; each person who runs the AI pays $20 for Pro or $50 for Max, and watching, chatting and approving are free. For a pair where both prompt, that is $40 on Poly against $25 and up on Lovable depending on usage.

Which should you pick?

• You are building mostly alone and want hosting, auth and payments handled: Lovable.
• You and a cofounder are building the same thing at the same time and want to see and approve every change together: Poly.
• One of you codes and wants the repo: Poly, connected to GitHub.
• You want a landing page live by tonight with a custom domain: Lovable.

Lovable's own founders page says your idea does not need a technical cofounder. Poly assumes you have a cofounder, technical or not, and builds the room for the two of you. Both are true of different founders.