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 drafts the owner accepts. 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.

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.

Where Poly is stronger

• One session, not drafts. Lovable's drafts, added in September 2026, let a teammate work in an isolated copy that the owner accepts. 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 credits with no per-person view. 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; turns push to a branch. Lovable syncs to GitHub too, but the workspace is Lovable's.
• Two labs. Claude or ChatGPT per member, in one room.
• A channel the AI cannot read for arguing about the plan.

Pricing, side by side

Lovable is free with daily build credits, Pro from $25 a month and Business from $50, all by credits with unlimited members. 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.