Mother's missives

Is there an AI app builder with unlimited free credits?

November 12, 2026.

Not from a hosted builder. The closest thing is an open source builder on your own computer, running a free local model. Then your computer is the only limit. With a cloud model, you pay the AI company instead of the builder.

Do hosted builders offer unlimited credits?

No. Base44, Lovable, Replit, Bolt, v0 and Google AI Studio all cap free use by messages, credits, or tokens. Our post on free AI app builders lists each limit.

Some search answers call Google AI Studio unlimited. Google's docs describe a "modest quota" that resets each day.

What about builders that say "no credits"?

Some hosted builders let you bring your own key. You connect your own account with an AI company, and the builder charges no credits.

• Ideavo says it is free and runs on the AI subscription you already have, such as ChatGPT or Claude.
• Draftbit lets every plan, including the free one, use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, or OpenRouter key. Work on your key skips Draftbit's credits.

The building is free. The AI is not. You pay the AI company through your plan or for each request.

Which open source builders run on your computer?

• bolt.diy. A builder you run yourself, with Node, Docker, or a desktop app. It works with over 22 AI providers and with local models. Its license is MIT. It started as a copy of Bolt and is not the official product.
• Dyad. A desktop app for Mac and Windows, with no sign-up. It takes your own key or a local model. Most of its code is under Apache 2.0, but its Pro features use a different license. Dyad Pro costs $20 a month.
• Cline. A coding agent inside the VS Code editor, under Apache 2.0. It works with many AI companies and local models. You get more control and more to learn.

Check that a project is still active before you start. Roo Code shut down in May 2026. Open Lovable needs a Firecrawl key and a sandbox account, so it isn't free to run.

Where do you get a free AI model?

• Ollama. It runs models on your own computer. Ollama says that use is "always unlimited." Models can take tens to hundreds of gigabytes of disk space.
• The Gemini API free tier. Some models are free, with daily limits. On the free tier, Google says it uses your content to improve its products.
• OpenRouter free models. 20 requests a minute and 50 a day. After you buy at least 10 credits, the daily cap is 1,000.

Is a local model good enough to build an app?

Sometimes, for a small app. A model on a laptop is slower than a cloud model, and it can lose track of a large project.

Aider's docs warn that Ollama starts with a small context window and quietly drops anything beyond it. Raise that setting before you build. Then start with something small and see how it goes.

What is the free path that lasts?

Don't spend credits rebuilding software that already exists. A lot of business software is free, with public code your agent can set up and run. Our post on building a business app with AI for free shows how.

Search the directory by the product you would replace, or ask your coding agent:

What we do not cover yet

• We have not compared local models. We did not build the same app on each one.
• Hardware needs vary. Ollama's docs give no memory figure for each model size, so we don't give one either.

Sources

All read November 12, 2026.

• Ideavo.
• REST APIs and bring your own keys for everyone. Draftbit, May 7, 2026.
• bolt.diy, Dyad, Cline, Roo Code and Open Lovable on GitHub.
• Dyad pricing. Dyad.
• Pricing and macOS install notes. Ollama.
• Gemini API pricing and Google AI plans. Google.
• Limits. OpenRouter.
• Ollama. Aider docs.