Builder.io vs Bolt.new
Last updated: May, 2026
TL;DR:
If you’re a solo builder or small team trying to get a JavaScript app live quickly from the browser, Bolt.new is built for speed. It gives you a prompt-to-app workflow with the database, auth, storage, hosting, and runtime bundled together, so you can move from idea to working app without setting up the stack yourself.
If you’re a product team building production software, Builder.io is built for collaboration and control. Engineers, designers, and PMs can work with AI agents directly on your repo, framework, infrastructure, and design system, while keeping the code aligned with how your team already ships.
Choose Bolt.new when the priority is building quickly inside a bundled browser-based stack. Choose Builder.io when the priority is production-grade code in a repo you own, running on infrastructure you control, enforced against your design system, and ready for your team’s workflow.
What is Bolt.new?
Bolt.new is StackBlitz's AI-powered builder for websites, web apps, and mobile apps. You describe what you want in a chat, and Claude Agent writes the code inside StackBlitz WebContainers, a browser-based runtime where the dev environment, preview, and dependencies all boot client-side. Web output runs in the browser on a free .bolt.host URL (custom domains on paid plans), and mobile output uses Expo and ships to iOS and Google Play.
Bolt Cloud bundles the rest of the stack (unlimited databases, authentication, file storage, edge functions, and Stripe payments through Supabase edge functions), so a greenfield app can live end-to-end inside Bolt without separate infrastructure accounts.
What Bolt.new does well:
- Claude Agent with model choice. Pick Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6 (default), Opus 4.6, or Opus 4.7 per project. Plan Mode lets the agent reason through complex tasks before writing code.
- Browser-first runtime on StackBlitz WebContainers. Zero local setup. The dev environment boots in the browser as a WebAssembly-based micro OS.
- Bolt Cloud bundles the full stack. Unlimited databases, hosting on a free .bolt.host URL, authentication with role-based permissions, file storage, edge functions, analytics, and Stripe payments through Supabase edge functions.
- Mobile apps via Expo. iPhone, Android, and web from one codebase. Deployment flows through EAS Build and the App Store, Google Play, TestFlight, and Play Beta.
- GitHub code portability. Every new Bolt project can be connected to a new GitHub repo, with auto-commits on every successful change and branch support for parallel work.
- Integrations. Figma frame import (via Anima), Supabase (for Vite projects), Netlify for static hosting, Stripe for payments, Google SSO for end-user sign-in, and MCP server connections.
- Design system support on Teams plans. Upload your own component libraries, tokens, and guidelines, and Bolt generates UI from those sources instead of placeholders.
- Commercial rights on every plan. "All code that you create with Bolt and StackBlitz is your own code, which you can use for any legal purpose including commercial purposes."
What is Builder.io?
Builder.io is a collaborative AI development platform where entire teams build together with AI agents on real production code.
Important context: Builder.io has two products. Fusion is the AI development platform for product, design, and engineering teams. Publish is a visual headless CMS for content teams. This comparison focuses on Fusion vs Bolt.new, since both are AI tools for turning ideas into running software.
What Builder.io does well:
- Works with any codebase. Start a fresh repo with Builder.io, or connect to your existing GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps repo. Either way, the output is production code on your framework, your components, and your APIs.
- Team collaboration on real code. Engineers, designers, PMs, and stakeholders work in the same environment with real-time cursors and parallel multi-role editing on the same branch.
- Design system enforcement. Every change respects your component library, design tokens, and brand rules. The output uses your components.
- Any framework. React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Qwik, and more.
- Any AI model. Claude, Codex, Gemini. Pick the right model for the task.
- Start work from Slack and Jira. Tag @Builder.io in Slack or assign a Jira ticket and the agent reads context and starts building (Team plan and above).
- Hundreds of parallel agents. Each agent operates in its own cloud container with a full dev environment and browser preview.
- Review and QA agents. Review agents flag style, security, accessibility, and performance issues before human review; QA agents drive real browsers and send video bug reports.
- Security for enterprise teams. SOC 2 Type II, with SSO, RBAC, and audit logging on Enterprise.
At-a-glance comparison
Core capabilities
| Capability | Builder.io (Fusion) | Bolt.new |
|---|---|---|
| Natural language to code | Yes. Generates within your design system and existing components. | Yes. Claude Agent generates JavaScript apps, websites, and Expo mobile projects. |
| Full-stack generation | Frontend-focused. Connects to your existing backends and APIs. | Yes. Node.js backend. |
| Works with any codebase | Yes | Yes |
| Framework support | React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Qwik, and more | Any JavaScript framework that runs on the frontend. |
| AI model choice | Claude, Codex, Gemini (switch freely) | Claude and Codex models |
| Design system enforcement | Yes. Applies your tokens, components, and brand rules automatically. | Custom design systems require a paid Team plan. |
| Visual editing | Figma-like canvas that writes production code using your design system. | Chat-based with a code view for direct edits; no visual canvas for non-dev users. |
| Chrome extension for live editing | Yes. Edits live sites including localhost and auth-walled pages. | Not documented as supported. |
| Built-in database | Connects to your existing databases. | Yes. Unlimited Bolt Cloud databases; Supabase via integration. |
| Built-in object storage | Connects to your existing storage. | Yes. File storage inside Bolt Cloud. |
| Built-in authentication | Connects to your existing auth. | Yes. Bolt Cloud auth with role-based permissions; Google SSO via integration. |
| Built-in hosting | Ships to your existing infrastructure. | Yes. Free .bolt.host URL on every plan; custom domain on paid plans. |
Collaboration and workflow
| Capability | Builder.io (Fusion) | Bolt.new |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time team co-editing | Yes. Real-time cursors, parallel editing by engineers, designers, and PMs. | Not documented. On shared team projects, "only the original creator can edit the project, while other team members have view-only access." |
| Multi-role participation | Engineers, designers, PMs, and stakeholders all work on the same branch. | Three team management roles (Member, Admin, Billing Admin); creator-only authoring on shared projects. |
| Slack integration (task start) | Yes. Tag @Builder.io to start tasks from any channel (Team plan+). | No |
| Jira integration (task start) | Yes. Assign tickets to Builder.io agent, auto-creates branches (Team plan+). | No |
| Git integration | Free/Pro/Team: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket. Enterprise: adds Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Enterprise, GitLab Enterprise. | GitHub only, individual accounts. New Bolt projects connect to new GitHub repos; existing Bolt projects can't be connected to existing repos. |
| CI/CD pipeline integration | Yes. Fits into existing deployment workflows. | No. Bolt Cloud hosts the deployed app; teams running their own CI/CD ship outside Bolt. |
| Parallel agents | Yes. Run hundreds of agents simultaneously in cloud containers. | Single Claude Agent per project. |
| AI-powered code review | Yes. Review agents flag style, security, accessibility, and performance. | No |
| Agent-based QA testing | Yes. Agents automate browsers, find bugs, and send video bug reports. | No |
| Figma integration | Export via the Builder.io Figma plugin; Builder.io's agent then implements it in your repo. | Import individual Figma frames via URL, powered by Anima. Whole-file .fig imports are not supported. |
| MCP server integrations | Built-in on Free and Pro; custom MCP servers on Team and Enterprise. | Yes. Connect to an MCP server from the Using Bolt interface on every plan. |
Enterprise and security
| Capability | Builder.io (Fusion) | Bolt.new |
|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Enterprise plan | Enterprise plan |
| RBAC and user provisioning | Enterprise plan with granular roles and SCIM | Team roles available; granular provisioning is Enterprise/contact sales |
| SOC 2 Type II | Yes | Not publicly disclosed |
| GDPR compliance | Yes | Contact sales |
| Audit logs | Enterprise plan | Enterprise plan |
| Private deployment options | Enterprise plan | StackBlitz Enterprise offers self-hosted Kubernetes, separate from bolt.new |
| Data residency and network controls | Enterprise plan: data residency, VPC peering, region selection, static outbound IPs, and single-tenant environments | Contact sales for region, VPC, single-tenant, and static IP options |
| Design system enforcement | Standard on all paid plans | Team plan required for custom design systems |
| AI content-training opt-out | Team plan: opt-out; Enterprise: opt-out by default | Not documented |
Pricing
Pricing verified May 2026. See Builder pricing and Bolt pricing for current rates.
| Plan | Builder.io (Fusion) | Bolt.new |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/user/mo (up to 5 users, 60 monthly Agent Credits, 15 daily limit) | $0/month. 1M tokens/month with a 300K daily cap, Bolt branding on sites, 10 MB file upload, up to 333K web requests, unlimited databases. |
| Pro | $24/user/mo annual or $30/user/mo monthly (up to 5 users, 500 monthly Agent Credits per user, $25/mo per 500 additional credits) | $25/month billed monthly or $18/month billed yearly. Starts at 10M tokens/month, no daily cap, no Bolt branding, custom domain, SEO boosting, image editing with AI, token rollover. |
| Team | $40/user/mo annual or $50/user/mo monthly (up to 20 users, 500 monthly Agent Credits per user, $25/mo per 500 additional credits) | Teams: $30/member/month billed monthly or $27/member/month billed yearly. Per-member tokens (not pooled), centralized billing, admin controls, private NPM registries, design systems. |
| Enterprise | Custom seats and Agent Credits | Enterprise: custom quote. Advanced security (SSO, audit logs, compliance support), dedicated account manager, 24/7 priority support, custom workflows, SLAs, data governance. |
| Billing model | Per-user + Agent Credits. Each paid seat includes 500 monthly Agent Credits. Rollovers and pay-as-you-go overages on Pro and above. | Subscription + monthly tokens per seat. Tokens are not pooled across team members. Paid plans get 2-month token rollover. Annual billing saves up to 28% (Pro); Teams saves 10%. |
| Git providers | Free/Pro/Team: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket. Enterprise: adds Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Enterprise, GitLab Enterprise. | GitHub only, individual accounts. Existing Bolt projects cannot be connected to existing GitHub repositories. |
Detailed comparisons
Where does the generated code live?
Bolt.new builds a new project inside StackBlitz's WebContainers. The code, the database, the authentication, the file storage, the edge functions, and the deployed URL all run in Bolt Cloud by default. You can push a Bolt project to a brand-new GitHub repository and work on it directly in GitHub, but the Bolt docs are explicit about one constraint: "You can't connect an existing Bolt project to an existing GitHub repository." Bolt also doesn't support GitHub organization accounts, so multi-owner repos stay outside the integration.
Builder.io connects to the repo you already ship (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps on Enterprise) and operates on your components, routes, and branches. A change in Builder.io becomes a pull request in your production codebase, running against your CI/CD, with your test suite, in whatever framework your team uses.
Bottom line: Choose Bolt.new when you're starting a new project that can live inside Bolt Cloud and bridge to a new GitHub repo. Choose Builder.io when you want code in your own repo (new or existing, any framework) that runs on infrastructure you control.
How does design-system enforcement compare?
Bolt can learn from your design system, but the feature is plan-gated. The Bolt docs state: "To add your own design system and use it across your team's projects, you need a paid Team plan." Lower tiers can preview and build with pre-loaded systems (the homepage lists Porsche, Material UI, Chakra UI, Shadcn UI, and the Washington Post system as examples), and the Teams plan adds "design system knowledge with per-package prompts" for your own libraries.
Builder.io writes directly into your repo, using the components, tokens, and patterns that are already running in production or the fresh ones you're standing up, on any paid plan. Every build respects your component library and brand rules automatically, in whichever framework your repo ships: React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, or Qwik.
Bottom line: Choose Bolt.new when pre-loaded design systems cover your work, or your team is on the Teams plan with a library to upload. Choose Builder.io when you have a design system to enforce on every build across any framework, whether it's an existing production component library or a new one you're standing up.
How production-ready is the output from each tool?
Bolt optimizes for the prompt-to-running-app loop. For a greenfield JavaScript app that can live end-to-end inside Bolt Cloud, the output works. You get a running web app, a hosted URL, a database, auth, and payments without leaving the browser tab. Teams that need to graduate the code into an existing production codebase, though, hit the new-repo-only GitHub constraint, and features like code review, QA automation, and multi-agent parallelism aren't documented as Bolt capabilities.
Builder.io generates code using your production components, patterns, and design tokens, so the output matches your codebase quality from day one. Review agents flag style violations, security issues, and accessibility problems before human review. QA agents drive real browsers, find bugs, and send video reports. Every change ships as a pull request through your CI/CD pipeline.
Bottom line: Choose Bolt.new for fast prompt-to-app iteration when the app can live inside Bolt Cloud. Choose Builder.io when the bar is production code in your own repo (new or existing), reviewed, tested, and shipped through your own pipeline.
How do team collaboration and workflow differ?
Bolt's team collaboration is asymmetric on a shared project. The docs describe it directly: "A team member creates a project in a team, the project is accessible to all team members by default (even if the project is set as private)" and "only the original creator can edit the project, while other team members have view-only access." Team admin roles (Member, Admin, Billing Admin) manage membership, billing, and access; they don't unlock parallel authoring on the same project. Real-time concurrent editing isn't documented on any Bolt support page.
Builder.io treats humans and AI agents as peers on the same branch. A PM starts an agent on a feature from a Jira ticket while a designer refines another agent's output on the canvas. An engineer reviews the diff in the same environment, all at once with real-time cursors. Hundreds of agents can run in parallel on different parts of the codebase, and tasks can start from Slack, Jira, or a branch push on Team plan and above.
Bottom line: Choose Bolt.new when one author drives a project and the rest of the team reviews the output. Choose Builder.io when engineers, designers, PMs, and many AI agents all contribute to the same production branch at the same time.
How does the infrastructure model compare?
Bolt bundles the full stack. Bolt Cloud ships hosting (free .bolt.host URL, custom domains on paid plans), unlimited databases, authentication with role-based permissions, file storage, edge functions, analytics, and Stripe payments routed through Supabase edge functions. Mobile apps use Expo (iOS, Android, web from one codebase). For a greenfield app that doesn't have an existing stack to honor, the zero-setup path is real.
Builder.io assumes your infrastructure already exists and connects to it. Your database, your auth provider, your object storage, your hosting, your CI/CD pipeline, your observability stack. Builder.io doesn't run your runtime; it builds the code that runs on what you already have.
Bottom line: Choose Bolt.new when you want Bolt Cloud to be your stack and don't want to wire up separate services. Choose Builder.io when you want to own the stack, whether that's an established production infrastructure or a fresh setup you're choosing for a new project.
How does pricing compare?
Bolt sells a subscription plus a monthly token allotment. Free is $0 with 1M tokens/month and a 300K daily cap. Pro is $25/month billed monthly or $18/month billed yearly, starts at 10M tokens/month, and has no daily cap. Teams is $30/member/month billed monthly or $27/member/month billed yearly, with per-member tokens that don't pool across the team. Paid plans get a two-month rollover on unused tokens. Enterprise is a custom quote with SSO, audit logs, and compliance support listed on the pricing page.
Builder.io's Fusion is per-user with Agent Credits attached to each seat. Each paid seat includes 500 monthly Agent Credits. Pro is $24/user/month annual (or $30 monthly) for up to 5 users; Team is $40/user/month annual (or $50 monthly) for up to 20 users. Credits roll over and additional credits are available at $25/month per 500 credits on Pro and above.
The two credit currencies aren't directly comparable. A Bolt token measures LLM input and output; a Builder.io Agent Credit represents a unit of agent work. Compare the pricing models themselves; the raw counts aren't equivalent.
Bottom line: Bolt's Free tier is a generous on-ramp for solo builders, and the Pro tier scales well on annual billing. Builder.io's per-user + Agent Credits model scales more predictably when multiple humans are all authoring with AI on the same repo.
Who should choose Bolt.new
Bolt.new is the right choice if you:
- Want zero local setup and a dev environment that boots in the browser
- Are building a greenfield JavaScript app that can live end-to-end inside Bolt Cloud (database, auth, storage, hosting, payments all bundled)
- Want a native Expo path for iPhone + Android + web from one codebase
- Want to pick a specific Claude model per project (Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.6, Opus 4.7)
- Want Stripe payments wired up through a guided Supabase + edge-functions flow
- Want a first-party design-system upload (on the Teams plan) for your own components and tokens
- Are exploring ideas solo and want the shortest path from prompt to a shareable hosted URL
Ideal Bolt.new user: A solo builder, startup founder, or product team prototyping a new idea whose app fits Bolt Cloud's shape: JavaScript on the frontend, Node.js on the backend, Bolt's database, auth, and hosting carrying the stack. Bolt is the shortest path from a natural-language prompt to a running web or mobile app with a public URL.
Who should choose Builder.io
Builder.io is the right choice if you:
- Want production-grade code output in a repo you own, whether that's a brand-new project or an existing codebase with a component library and design system to respect
- Need multiple roles (engineers, designers, PMs) contributing to the same project on the same branch
- Want to enforce brand and design consistency across every build
- Require enterprise security: SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, with SSO and RBAC available on Enterprise
- Need to integrate into existing CI/CD, git, and deployment workflows
- Want to choose your AI model (Claude, Codex, Gemini)
- Need to run hundreds of AI agents in parallel on different tasks
- Want humans and AI agents contributing to the same production branch in real time
- Want to start work from Slack, Jira, or wherever your team already operates
- Build across multiple frameworks (React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Qwik)
- Are working across the full SDLC, from initial prototyping through production deployment
Ideal Builder.io user: A product, design, or engineering team at a growing or enterprise company that wants to ship production software faster while maintaining code quality, design consistency, and security. Builder.io is the layer that turns solo AI productivity into team-wide velocity.
Switching from Bolt.new to Builder.io
When teams outgrow Bolt.new
Teams often start a greenfield project in Bolt.new, ship fast, and then hit a structural boundary. The app graduates into an existing engineering org with its own codebase, CI/CD, and component library. The team needs PHP, Python, or a runtime outside JavaScript on WebContainers. Engineers want multiple roles authoring the same project at the same time instead of creator-only editing. Review and QA automation becomes a requirement before merge. The app needs to land in an existing GitHub repository, which Bolt's integration doesn't support. These are the signals it's time to move.
What the transition looks like
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Code ownership | Bolt confirms: "All code that you create with Bolt and StackBlitz is your own code, which you can use for any legal purpose including commercial purposes." Your code is yours. |
| Codebase migration | Bolt projects can be pushed to a new GitHub repository. Builder.io connects to your existing GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps repo, and a Bolt-pushed project works as a starting reference while Builder.io picks up new feature work against your components. |
| Infrastructure | Map Bolt Cloud's built-in primitives to your target stack. Bolt Cloud databases migrate to your managed database. File storage moves to your object-storage provider. Bolt Cloud auth maps to your production auth. Supabase integrations keep working via APIs. |
| Framework coverage | Bolt runs on JavaScript and Node.js. Builder.io supports React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Qwik, and more, with explicit targeting of production conventions like the Next.js App Router. |
| Design system setup | Register your production components and tokens in Builder.io. Enforced on every future build across any framework, on every paid plan. |
| Team onboarding | Designers, PMs, and engineers can all start contributing visually on day one, on the same branch. |
| Timeline | Typical migration: 1 to 3 weeks, depending on how deeply the app used Bolt Cloud's built-in runtime (database, storage, deployments, payments) versus external services. |
Migration support
Builder.io provides onboarding support for teams transitioning from AI app platforms. Our team will map your specific migration path and help your team get productive fast.
Frequently asked questions
Bottom line: which should you choose?
Choose Builder.io if you’re shipping production software into a repo your team owns, whether that repo is new or already exists. It’s the better fit when engineers, designers, and PMs all need to contribute, when your team works through CI/CD, and when your design system needs to be enforced against real components already running in production. Builder is where AI moves from solo app generation to team-wide product development.
Choose Bolt.new if you’re a solo builder, startup founder, or small team trying to get a greenfield JavaScript app live quickly from the browser. It’s the better fit when you want the database, auth, storage, hosting, payments, and runtime bundled into one cloud platform, and when Bolt Cloud fits the shape of what you’re building.