# Poly vs Lovable for building with AI together

Lovable is the tool for a founder building alone with occasional help. Poly is the tool for two people building the same thing at the same time.

Published 2026-09-16 by the Poly team. Canonical: https://usepoly.co/poly-vs-lovable
Poly (usepoly.co) is a web app where a team builds with AI, Claude or ChatGPT, together in a shared room. Free to start: https://usepoly.co/

**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.

*Poly and Lovable, from public documentation, September 2026.*

|  | Poly | Lovable |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What the team shares | One AI session and timeline | One project; drafts per teammate |
| Approve before the AI acts | Yes, per change, any member | Owner accepts a whole draft |
| Who spent what | Receipt per turn, per person | Owner's credits, no per-person view |
| Non-coder's role | Prompts, approves, reverts | Builds, or submits drafts |
| Hosting, auth, payments | Live preview; static publish | Included |
| Repository | Your git workspace, GitHub sync | Lovable's, with GitHub sync |
| AI models | Claude and ChatGPT, per member | Lovable's |
| Chat the AI cannot read | Yes | No |
| Members | Invite-only room, free to join | Unlimited on all plans |
| Price | Free start; $20 or $50 per AI user | Free; $25 Pro; $50 Business, by credits |

## 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.

## Common questions

**Can a non-technical founder use Poly alone?**

Yes, but Poly is built for the pair. A founder building alone gets more from Lovable's hosting and integrations; Poly's value starts when a second person joins the room.

**Does Poly host my app like Lovable?**

Members see the app running as a live preview. Publishing gives a public static snapshot. Apps that need a server are previewable but not yet publishable from Poly.

**Can I move a Lovable project into Poly?**

If the project is synced to GitHub, a Poly room can be created from that repository and the AI works on the same code.

More guides: https://usepoly.co/guides · Security: https://usepoly.co/security · Pricing: https://usepoly.co/pricing