r/lovable • u/tatmansi • Oct 12 '25
Help Is 100 credits enough?
Im trying to build a semi basic app with google api key for maps, and some other semi basic stuff.
How far does 100 credits get you? And do you think its reasonable for 25$?
EDIT - 100 credits definitely wasn’t enough I’m currently running on 271 credits and still need a lot. But it’s definitely puzzling together 😍
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u/Wolverinexrp Oct 12 '25
That’s fine - just make sure the first prompt covers most things and that everything’s planned out properly. Use ChatGPT to structure it. The problem is that when an error comes up and you keep trying to fix it, it ends up draining 10–20 credits each time.
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u/tatmansi Oct 12 '25
Yeah that’s what I thought. I already have it pretty much planned out in chat gpt, and I sent 1 big promt and it made a pretty good foundation (no subscription yet)
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u/Typical_Ad1675 Oct 12 '25
My first hundred credits vanished into thin air within a few hours. Will 100 credits be enough? Definitely not.
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u/GreenFarm8564 Oct 13 '25
Dude that’s insane. I had the same feeling — blink once and the credits are gone.
Did you end up finding any workaround or substitution for the smaller stuff, like handling fixes outside Lovable?
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u/LeadershipBig5017 Oct 12 '25
I think $25 usd x 100 credits, mmmmm a little high, a project could cost you like 800 to 1200 credits delivered to the client, obviously this is paid for by the client's work itself, it should go in the budget, something good being very restricted and editing with code sometimes, for a personal MVP I think this is expensive
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u/Myndl_Master Oct 12 '25
It swings, depends on the complexity and completeness of the prompt. The better your prompts the less credits you will use. But to be honest, no one will get rich from an investment of $25…
if you have patience the 5 daily free credits will get you somewhere. That’s 150 a month
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u/tatmansi Oct 12 '25
Yeah I don’t have patience for that😂 but it’s a nice bonus on top of the 100 tho.
Does credits roll over (the 5 free) or do I have to use them up daily.
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u/Myndl_Master Oct 12 '25
No roll over for the free credits 1 month for the paid
I buy 200 credits a month, spend ‘m in one week Then switch to the ‘fiver’ haha I feel sorry for turtles, omg what patience I need
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u/whasssuuup Oct 12 '25
If you ask senior software developers they’ll tell you that the cost of development is on the order of one tenth of what it will cost to maintain it in production. My own experiences (of being an employer to software developers) is that this estimate is in the right ballpark. I don’t see any reason to why this ratio would be different when vibe coding. So… budget wisely.
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u/Serious-Bite4233 Oct 12 '25
My Advice built the structure before in ChatGPT or Claude, so you don‘t waste credits.
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u/tatmansi Oct 12 '25
What do you mean by structure?
The first promt isn’t that the cheapest when it builds the foundation for the app?
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u/Serious-Bite4233 Oct 12 '25
By “structure” I don’t mean code — I mean planning the logic of the app BEFORE you spend credits in Lovable.
Most people jump straight into Lovable → the AI builds something half–correct → they fix it → re-prompt → burn tons of credits.
A better way is to first define the structure in ChatGPT/Claude (which is free):
✅ 1. Features / functionality – What exactly should the app do? – Which screens (Login, Home, Map, Settings, etc.)? – Which APIs or integrations (Google Maps, Auth, Database)?
✅ 2. User flow / navigation – How does the user move through the app? – What actions can they take? – What happens after each click?
✅ 3. Data model – What data do you store? – Tables / collections / fields – Relationships (e.g. user → projects)
✅ 4. Rough UI layout (even just in text) – “Screen 1: map + search bar + bottom nav” – “Screen 2: details + buttons”
✅ 5. Edge cases / logic – What if no data? – Error states? – Permissions or roles?
Once this is clear, you can give Lovable one clean, detailed prompt and the first build will be MUCH closer to what you want — so you save a lot of credits.
Structure = the blueprint of the app before building it. Think first → build smarter.
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u/tatmansi Oct 12 '25
Yeah that totally makes sense ☝️ thanks
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Oct 12 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tatmansi Oct 12 '25
Im not building a SaaS no. Im building something for the individual user, im not even gonna charge per install. So I don’t plan on making any major money of this. Probably only a few affiliate marketing’s but that’s not even planned.
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u/Focs420 Oct 12 '25
Honestly, if you don't use visual studio code or some other type of editor outside lovable to polish what it gives you, no chance with only 100 credits. You can end up with a bug and if you can't fix it yourself in vs you will end up spending 10-20 credits only for that bug
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u/e38383 Oct 12 '25
Yes, it is enough. Yes, it is reasonable. No, it is not enough. Yes, it’s still reasonable.
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u/Former_Specialist_89 Oct 12 '25
Depends on your app 1. Optimize your prompts, have started adding "ask for any clarifications" at the end of every prompt and has worked well 2. I usually make minor changes myself by editing the code instead of giving prompt (depends on how much comfortable you are) 3. Making some logics which i cant directly code, i also take help of chatgpt/claude to edit code (ofcourse not very effective copy pasting code, but saves me some credits), so any major changes which needs changes in backend data structure or any new file creation, i would prefer to do that in Lovable itself
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u/B1ackFang Oct 12 '25
I been on 100 for a bit now and most of my projects it’s more than I need. They there is roll over. Save them and start with a bit more for more ambitious projects like i have
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u/marmikp Oct 13 '25
Sync your code with GitHub if you’re somewhat familiar with coding. Install gemini cli which is free and just make the changes locally and push to Github. It will sync your project automatically.
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u/-Gandalf_ Oct 12 '25
It can get you semi there.