The Tools People Actually Use to Build With AI

New tools for building software with AI appear every month, each claiming you can go from idea to app in minutes. Most people who try a few end up settling on one or two, and the choice depends less on which tool is best in general than on what you want to build and how much you want to see of the code.

This article sorts the main tools into two groups, explains what each is good at, and gives a simple way to choose. Products in this area change quickly, so treat the details as a snapshot and check current features before you commit.

Two kinds of tool

App builders run in your browser. You describe the app in a chat, the tool writes the code, shows you a live preview, and usually handles hosting, a database and publishing. You rarely need to look at the code. They are the easiest starting point for people without a programming background.

Coding assistants work with code files on your computer or in a repository. You still describe what you want, but you see and own the code, and you decide where it runs. They give far more control and handle larger projects, and they expect you to be comfortable with files, folders and a bit of technical setup.

Many people start with an app builder and move to a coding assistant once their project outgrows it.

App builders

Lovable focuses on full web apps with a polished interface. It connects to Supabase for the database and user accounts, which makes it quick to build apps with logins and stored data. It is popular with founders building first versions of a product.

Bolt runs a full development environment in the browser and supports a range of frameworks. It suits people who want quick results and the option to look at and edit the code.

Replit began as an online coding environment and now includes an AI agent that builds and deploys apps. It is strong for apps that need a backend, and for people who want to learn some coding along the way.

v0 from Vercel started as a tool for generating interface designs and has grown into a builder for full web apps. It is a natural choice for anyone who expects to host on Vercel.

All four have free tiers with limits and paid plans priced by usage, and all four let you export or sync the code, which matters if you later want to move to a coding assistant or hand the project to a developer.

Coding assistants

Cursor is a code editor built on Visual Studio Code with AI built in throughout: autocomplete, chat about your code and an agent that can make changes across several files. It supports models from several AI providers. If you have used VS Code, it will look familiar.

Claude Code is Anthropic’s coding agent. It started in the terminal and is now also available in code editors and on the web. It is designed for larger, multi-step tasks: reading a whole codebase, planning changes, editing many files, running tests and fixing failures (Tembo).

GitHub Copilot is built into the most popular editors and into GitHub itself, and is often already available through a company’s existing subscription.

We compare the two most popular in Two Ways to Code With AI, Compared Honestly.

How to choose

If you have never coded and want a working app quickly, start with an app builder. Pick one, build something small, and switch only if you hit a clear limit.

If you need user accounts and a database, choose a builder with those built in, and read up on how it handles access rules before you store real data. In 2025 more than 170 apps built with one popular builder were found with databases readable without logging in (Superblocks). Our guide to building apps by describing them explains why this matters.

If you already use VS Code or want to see and understand your code, try Cursor.

If you are working on a larger project or want an agent that can carry out longer tasks with less supervision, try Claude Code.

If your company already pays for GitHub, check whether Copilot is included before buying anything else.

Whatever you choose, look at three things before building anything important: whether you can export the code, where the app and its data are hosted, and how pricing scales as you use it more.

Where this fits

Tools matter less than method. The approach in From Idea to Working App, Step by Step works in any of them. The free Vibe Coding course on Train Your Skills teaches that method in six short lessons. Start the course here.