Google AI Studio vs Lovable? The price tells a completely different story 💰

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I spent the last 3 days testing Google AI Studio and Lovable side by side.

And when I saw the real numbers, I understood why each one exists. 😮

Everyone's talking about these two as direct competitors. But the truth is they're 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 💸

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼:

🆓 Completely free for experimentation

✅ Perfect for quick prototypes and testing

⚡ No credit limits in testing phase

⚠️ NOT designed for production (frontend-only)

🔧 Cloud Run deployment requires extra work

𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲:

💵 $25/month on Pro plan (150 total credits)

📊 5 daily credits on free plan (30/month)

🚀 Specifically designed for production apps

✨ DevOps automation included

💼 30,000 paying customers building real apps

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: 🔍

I tested both with the same project: a management app with integrated AI.

W𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 (𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲):

⚡ Setup: 15 minutes for prototype

✨ Incredible for showing concepts

❌ Frontend-only code with security issues

❌ Not scalable - would need to rebuild for production

🎯 Perfect for: Demos, proof of concepts, experimentation

W𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 ($𝟮𝟱/𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵):

⏰ Initial setup: 30 minutes

🚀 Scales from MVP to production without rebuilding

💪 Real backend, database, authentication included

⚠️ Credits run out during intense development

🎯 Perfect for: Real products that need to grow

𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗮𝗵𝗮!" 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 💡

Google AI Studio is free because 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. It's a glorified sandbox.

Lovable charges because it's giving you 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

It's like comparing a paper sketch (free) with a professional architectural blueprint ($25/month).

𝗠𝘆 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟯 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀:

To 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝟮 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 and show it to investors → 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲) 🏆
To 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 and becomes a real business → 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 💎
To 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 and then scale → 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗦 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 📊

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵: 💰

𝗠𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆:

I use AI Studio (free) to 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘀 and make quick demos.
I use Lovable ($25/month) for 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹. Every project I build in Lovable can grow without limits.

The difference isn't speed vs price. It's 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝘃𝘀 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 "𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿?" 𝗯𝘂𝘁 "𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂?" 🤔

Have you fallen into the trap of building with prototyping tools thinking it was production-ready? Tell me your experience. 👇

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