- Lovable is a full-stack app builder: real code you can sync to GitHub, a Postgres backend, logins, payments and custom domains.
- Bob is an AI coworker who builds small internal apps when the job needs one, hosted for you and private to your workspace by default.
- Lovable's app connectors run on one shared account. A Bob app uses the connection of the person who made it, and that person approves each tool first.
- Lovable charges credits from $25/mo (100 credits), and private internal apps need its Business plan, from $50/mo. Bob is one workspace fee from $75/mo for everything he does.
- Keeping a Bob app running costs about $3 a month in credits if your team uses it a few hours each workday, and about $15 if it is busy around the clock. And it can use the 3,200+ apps your team already connected to Bob from day one.
- Building a product for customers? Lovable is the stronger tool. Need a tracker for your team today? Bob gets you there with one message.
What Lovable is
Lovable describes itself as “a full-stack AI development platform for building, iterating on, and deploying web applications using natural language.” You chat with it to build, adjust the result with a visual edit toolbar, and on paid plans edit the code in the browser, sync it both ways with GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket, or download it.
Lovable Cloud supplies a Postgres database, file storage, scheduled jobs, logins (email, Google, Microsoft, SAML SSO and more), Stripe or Paddle payments and app email. Apps publish to a lovable.app address, or a custom domain on Pro and up. Lovable lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
What Bob is
Bob is an AI coworker. Your team asks him for work in Slack or in the HeyBob app for Mac, Windows and Linux, and he does it across the 3,200+ apps you connect: the report, the follow-up email, the update in the CRM. Writes wait for an Approve button by default, and every finished job posts a receipt with what it cost.
Sometimes the job is a small tool, and then Bob builds it. Ask for an expense tracker or a request board and he builds a small web app with its own database, hosts it at its own address, and keeps it private to your workspace unless you say otherwise. If the job is a view of numbers you already have, he builds a page instead, which costs nothing to keep.
A builder you open, or a coworker you ask
Lovable is where you go to make software. You open a project, describe it, review the code, set up logins and a database, and publish. That is the right shape when the app is the product.
Bob starts from the other end. Your team already asks him for reports and follow-ups in Slack or the HeyBob app, and your tools are already connected. When a job needs a small tool, he builds it in the same thread, hosts it, and keeps doing the work around it. There is no project to manage, no repo and no second bill. The tradeoff is depth: Bob's apps are small internal tools, not products.
Use the data you already have
Most app builders start you from an empty database, then ask you to wire up connectors, keys or server code to reach your business data. With Bob, that part is already done. Your team connects its tools to Bob once, by asking (“connect HubSpot”), pressing Connect and signing in, and 3,200+ apps are on the menu.
When Bob builds an app, it can read those same tools, and write to them if you allow it, through the connection of the person who asked for it. That person approves each tool before the app goes live. Your Google Sheets, HubSpot deals or Gmail are in the app on day one, with no keys or server code. Lovable has connectors too, about 95 in its docs by our count, and an app’s connectors run on one shared account.
What it costs to keep an app running
Bob’s apps are billed in the same credits as the rest of his work: 30 credits a day to keep an app, plus 10 for each hour it is awake. When nobody is using it, it sleeps. At the entry plan’s rate ($75 for 40,000 credits), that works out like this:
| How much your team uses the app | Credits a month | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Opened now and then | About 1,000 | Under $2 |
| A few hours each workday | About 1,560 | About $3 |
| Busy around the clock | About 8,100 | About $15 |
Those credits come out of the workspace plan you already have, which is $75 a month (half price through December 31, 2026) and covers everything Bob does. So an app is a small slice of an existing bill, not a new subscription. If an app builder is all you want, Lovable costs less to start.
On Lovable, private internal apps need the Business plan, from $50 a month. Hosting is included with no cap on visitors, and the plan’s credits pay for running the app’s Cloud backend as well as for building.
Side by side
What Bob’s apps do not do yet
We would rather you hear the limits from us than find them after you build.
- An app does not know who is using it yet. So there are no per-person views, roles or approvals inside an app.
- No custom domains, file uploads, payments or email sent from an app yet.
- No code export. Bob owns the build: you describe the change, he makes it.
- Signing in to a private app goes through Slack today. Teams on the HeyBob app without Slack can use public apps.
- A sleeping app takes a couple of seconds to wake up.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Lovable if…
- You are building a product for customers, with payments, logins and a custom domain.
- You want to own the code, review it, and host it anywhere.
- You need SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 paperwork today.
Pick Bob if…
- You need a small tool for your team, not a product.
- Your data already lives in tools Bob is connected to, and the app should use a real person's access to them.
- You want one coworker who builds the tracker and keeps doing the work around it.
- You would rather keep one workspace bill than add a builder subscription.
Plenty of teams will use both: Lovable for the product they sell, Bob for the tools and busywork around it.
Fair questions
Is Bob a good Lovable alternative?
For internal tools, often yes: ask Bob in Slack or the HeyBob app and he builds, hosts and changes a small app for your team. For a product you sell, no. Lovable's code ownership, payments, custom domains and end-user logins are things Bob's apps do not do yet.
Can I export the code of an app Bob builds?
No. Bob keeps the code and changes it when you ask. If owning and hosting the code yourself matters, Lovable's Git sync and zip download are the better fit.
How do the prices compare?
Lovable charges credits for building and running apps, from $25 a month for 100 credits on Pro, with private internal apps on Business from $50 a month. Bob is one workspace fee from $75 a month for 40,000 credits that cover everything he does. An app he hosts costs 30 credits a day plus 10 for each hour it is awake.
Can a Bob app use our HubSpot or Gmail?
Yes. An app can read and write your connected tools through the connection of the person who made it, and that person approves each tool first. Lovable's app connectors run on one shared account, with an option for each end user to connect their own.
Which one has more security paperwork?
Lovable lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. HeyBob's SOC 2 Type 1 is in progress with no target date yet. Every Bob app gets its own separate database, and your data is never used to train AI models.
Lovable is a trademark of its respective owner. HeyBob and Bob are products of Tiny Cloud Ventures. Comparison reflects public information as of October 6, 2026.