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Developer Tools · head to head

Earthly vs Lovable

Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Lovable logo

Lovable

Technology

Build software by prompting

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact; Lovable credit-metered rather than unlimited: Free plan gets 5 build credits/day capped at 30/month, plus 20 cloud-hosting credits/month and 4 AI-feature credits/month
  • They diverge on capability: Earthly covers Policy as code, Lovable covers Natural language programming.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Earthly and Lovable actually diverge.

Attributes where Earthly and Lovable differ
AttributeEarthlyLovable
Pricing modelNo pricing published on websiteUnknown
PlatformsWeb, CLIWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsTechnology
Founded20202023

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

Only in Lovable

  • Natural language programming
  • Full application generation
  • Real-time development
  • AI pair programming
  • Multi-technology support
  • Automated testing
  • Deployment assistance
  • Code optimization

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot Lovable
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Lovable
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Lovable
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot Lovable

Lovable

  • SaaS and business apps: subscription products, customer dashboards, admin panelsnot Earthly
  • Consumer community and content platformsnot Earthly
  • Marketplaces: booking tools and storefrontsnot Earthly
  • Internal tools: workflow tools and operational dashboardsnot Earthly
  • Marketing landing pages and campaign sitesnot Earthly

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Lovable

  • Credit-metered rather than unlimited: Free plan gets 5 build credits/day capped at 30/month, plus 20 cloud-hosting credits/month and 4 AI-feature credits/month
  • Credits expire: monthly plan credits expire after 2 months unused, annual-plan credits expire 1 month after the annual period ends, and all credits are non-refundable
  • Not open source; only the legacy precursor CLI gpt-engineer is open source (MIT), and that repo was archived read-only on 2026-04-22
  • Hosting is free only for smaller apps; significant traffic or size draws additional charges from the credit balance

Pricing, plan by plan

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Lovable

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Lovable review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Choose Lovable if

  • You need natural language programming.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want full application generation.
Lovable review

Questions people ask

Is Earthly or Lovable better?
Neither clearly leads. Earthly starts at Free and Lovable at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Earthly or Lovable?
Earthly starts at Free and Lovable at Free.
Does Earthly or Lovable run on more platforms?
Earthly runs on Web, CLI. Lovable runs on Web.
Can I use Earthly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Earthly best used for?
Earthly is most often used for enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers, automating incident response procedures across all repositories, embedding compliance requirements into development workflows, standardizing build processes with earthfiles. Of those, enforcing engineering standards across ai and human developers and automating incident response procedures across all repositories are not what Lovable is typically brought in for.
What can Earthly do that Lovable cannot?
Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies. Lovable covers Natural language programming, Full application generation, Real-time development, AI pair programming.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
Lovable: What is included in Lovable's free plan?

The free plan includes 5 build credits per day (up to 30 per month), 20 Cloud credits per month, and 4 AI feature credits for trying features in apps. All plan members can access unlimited workspace members.

Source
Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
Lovable: How do credits work in Lovable's paid plans?

Lovable uses a credit-based model where costs depend on monthly credit allocation rather than per-seat pricing. Build tasks consume variable credits ranging from 0.50 to 1.70 credits depending on complexity, or 1 credit per message in Plan Mode.

Source
Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
Lovable: Do credits expire in Lovable?

Yes, credit expiration depends on the plan: monthly plan credits expire 2 months after issuance, annual plan credits expire 1 month after the annual period ends, and top-up credits expire 12 months from purchase. Daily grants expire daily with no rollover.

Source
Lovable: Are there additional costs for app hosting on Lovable?

Most small and new apps run free under included grants, but larger apps with significant traffic incur charges against the credit balance.

Source
Lovable: Does Lovable offer educational discounts?

Yes, a student discount is available with a valid university email.

Source
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