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By the toolist.ai editors. Researched from vendor pages and hands-on tests published by others, not hands-on tested by toolist.ai. Updated October 9, 2026.
Best coding tools
AI coding tools range from assistants that work on your own code in an editor to builders that turn a prompt into a hosted app. GitHub Copilot Pro costs $10 a month and Cursor Pro $20. To build an app from a prompt, Replit Core costs $20 with $20 of usage credits, and Lovable Pro and Bolt.new Pro cost $25 a month.
Quick picks
- Bolt.new: best for fast prototypes and small web apps from a chat prompt
- Cursor: best for aI agent coding in a VS Code-style editor
- GitHub Copilot: best for aI coding help inside your editor and GitHub, from $10 a month
- Lovable: best for non-coders building web app prototypes and internal tools from a prompt
- Replit: best for building and hosting an app from a prompt without any setup
Compared
| Tool | Cheapest paid plan | Price per unit, calculated | Basis | Prices checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt.new | Pro ($25 a month) | $2.50 per million tokens | Researched | 2026-10-09 |
| Cursor | Pro ($20 a month) | – | Researched | 2026-10-09 |
| GitHub Copilot | Pro ($10 a month) | – | Researched | 2026-10-09 |
| Lovable | Pro ($25 a month) | $0.250 per credit | Researched | 2026-10-09 |
| Replit | Core ($20 a month) | – | Researched | 2026-10-09 |
Listed in alphabetical order: we do not rank tools we have not tested ourselves. Price per unit divides each cheapest plan's monthly price by what it includes. Units differ between tools, so read the unit before comparing two rows.
Filter every tool by price and free plan in the tool directory, or price your own month in the AI cost calculator.
How to choose
- Editor help or app builder: Cursor and GitHub Copilot work inside your own code, Copilot as a plugin in most popular editors and Cursor as its own VS Code-based editor; Replit, Lovable and Bolt.new build and host a whole app from a prompt.
- Usage decides how far a plan goes: Copilot charges $0.01 a credit past its allowance, Replit bills its Agent by effort, Lovable charges each build message by the work it takes, Bolt.new counts tokens, and Cursor does not publish how much use Pro includes.
- Free plans: Copilot Free gives 2,000 code completions a month, Lovable 5 build credits a day (up to 30 a month), Bolt.new 1 million tokens a month, and an app published on Replit's free plan goes offline after 30 days.
- Training on your code: on Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max, and on Lovable Free and Pro, you have to opt out; Cursor may use your code for training whenever Privacy Mode is off (team members have it on by default).
Read more
- Bolt.new review · pricing
- Cursor review · pricing
- GitHub Copilot review · pricing
- Lovable review · pricing
- Replit review · pricing
Other categories: avatar video, text to video, editors, clips, script to video, voice, image, writing. All lists: best-of lists.