Video walkthrough
$432 in, about $1,150 back.
$400 from Circle T, $4 from Amazon, a $500 brand deal offer, and about $250 in Muse tokens — against $432 spent. Plus a few hundred subscribers and an easier fundraiser season.
The credit math
What you actually get for the money.
~$22 a month
I'm grandfathered into the old Starter plan. Today the same 100 credits is Pro at $25 — start your math there.
~8 credits a day
100 monthly credits is about 3 a day. Add 5 free daily credits and you've got roughly 8.
~10¢ per credit
1,483 credits in seven months for $153.65. The free daily credits more than double what the plan gives you.
Hosting is in the credits
Every hosting invoice says $0 because hosting comes out of your credits. That $432 covers building and keeping sites live.
Live sites cost credits to exist
Hosting and backend take a slice every month — even months I barely built anything.
Databases cost even when idle
Almost 120 of CheerHub's credits went to a database sitting there. If your app has one, you're paying for it.
Six real projects
Where the $432 went — and what came back.
These are estimates, not receipts. Lovable doesn't show full history for older projects, so I split the bill by the credits I can see plus what I know Circle T really cost.
chadesheppard.com
~$235The site I tinker with daily — 871 credits. A few hundred YouTube subscribers, 30 billion free Muse tokens (~$250), $4 from Amazon, and a $500 brand deal offer that came in through the contact page.
CheerHub.pro
~$115A tool for cheer coaches, paused for now. About 427 credits — 308 to build, almost 120 just for the database sitting there. Made $0 so far, because I haven't taken it to coaches yet.
Circle T
~$40A cattle embryo business site. About 150 credits to build, 2,500+ Google impressions and 100+ clicks last month, and roughly $400 in commissions.
Varsity Drive
~$20My daughter Madelyn's fundraiser site. Booking a golf team or donating took a minute instead of a phone call. The season raised about $3,000 — the site didn't raise it, but it removed the friction.
Secret Script
~$13A Morse code bracelet store my wife asked for. 47 credits. Built, never published, made nothing.
Full Out Guide
~$9A starter guide for new cheer parents. 36 credits. Abandoned, no traffic in three months.
A project's cost isn't about how big it is. It's about how many times you change your mind.
Every dollar of return came from three sites with a real reason to exist. The sites I built and left alone made nothing. Lovable got them all built — it didn't make any of them successful.
Where I wasted money
The leaks.
- My first month. I didn't know how to prompt yet, burned the month's credits in 5 days, and paid another $25. Many went to fixing things Lovable broke itself. Support gave me credits back, and I haven't seen that loop in 6+ months.
- Projects that went nowhere. Secret Script and Full Out Guide — about $22 between them. Building was the easy part; Lovable can't get anyone to show up.
- Months I didn't use it. Full price, zero credits touched. Credits only roll over one month.
- Vague prompts. The biggest waste isn't on the invoice at all.
Stretch your credits
Three habits that lowered my bill.
Step 01
Spend your free daily credits first
You get 5 free credits every day on top of the plan. That's how I used almost 1,500 credits in seven months on a 100-credit plan — about 10 cents a credit.
Step 02
Don't use Lovable for every small change
Sync your project to GitHub, then make small tweaks in Claude Code or Antigravity. Use Lovable to build the things; use your AI coder for the tweaks.
Step 03
Stop writing vague prompts
"Make it pop" and "no, don't put it there" each cost you. Vague prompts are the most expensive thing you can do in Lovable. Know roughly what you want before you start.
Walkthroughs: Claude Code guide · Antigravity + Lovable · Stop burning Lovable credits
New to Lovable?
Start with 10 extra credits.
Full disclosure: if you sign up and subscribe through my link, I get credits too. 13 people have signed up so far and zero have subscribed — so it hasn't exactly paid off for me yet. Help a Chad out.
Referral link. Lovable's terms and credit amounts can change — confirm before signing up.
The verdict
Why I keep paying: it's the friction, not the price.
Lovable is the easiest way I've found to get something on the web. Could I do more in Claude Code or Antigravity and save credits? Easily. But for most of what I do, I don't have to. The one thing that would change that is hosting — if it starts eating a lot more credits, my site is synced to GitHub and I'd move it to SiteGround.
Worth it if…
- Your site has a real reason to exist — a business, an audience, or a customer.
- You know roughly what you want before prompting.
- You'll use your credits — especially the free daily ones.
- You'd otherwise pay $200–$360 a year for hosting.
Skip it if…
- You won't use your credits most months.
- You need something very simple — you don't need a bulldozer to plant a flower.
- Your domain is elsewhere and DNS setup sounds like a headache.
- You're not ready to be specific in your prompts.
Behind the video
The gear I use to make these.
Everything here is sitting in my office right now. If you buy through an Amazon link, I earn a small commission — it helps the channel, and costs you nothing extra.
Sony Alpha a5000
Compact mirrorless camera for talking-head videos.
View on Amazon →Elgato Facecam
Dedicated webcam when I don't want to rig the mirrorless.
View on Amazon →Elgato Key Light
Bright, dimmable, computer-controlled key light.
View on Amazon →Elgato Stream Deck +
One-press control for lights, scenes, and apps.
View on Amazon →Elgato Wave:3 Mic
Clean mic for voiceovers and screen recordings.
View on Amazon →DJI Mic Mini
Wireless lav mic for away-from-desk shots.
View on Amazon →Elgato Prompter
Built-in screen so I can read while looking at the lens.
View on Amazon →Meross Smart Plug
Reliable HomeKit smart plugs for fans and lamps.
View on Amazon →Govee Smart Bulbs
Color Wi-Fi bulbs with app and voice control.
View on Amazon →EMART Umbrella Lights
Budget-friendly fill lights for even coverage.
View on Amazon →Amazon Associates disclosure: I earn from qualifying purchases. I only list gear I own and use.
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