GX-06 / COMPARE
Launchpad vs bolt.new
bolt.new supports more frameworks, builds mobile apps through Expo, and has a large community. It meters literal tokens with a daily cap on the free plan, and reviewers consistently report spending tokens fixing Bolt's own errors. Launchpad meters credits with the price shown up front, has no daily cap, waives failed turns, and runs in a real microVM rather than the browser. Choose Bolt for breadth; choose Launchpad for predictable cost.
At a glance
The six numbers people ask about.
| Launchpad | bolt.new | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free planReviewers report hitting the daily cap before a first build finishes. | $0, 30 credits a month, no daily cap | $0, 1M tokens a month with a 300K-token daily cap | Launchpad |
| Entry paid plan | Pro $19/mo for 250 credits | Pro $25/mo for 10M tokens | Launchpad |
| Teams | Business $49/mo for 650 credits | Teams $30 per member per month | Even |
| A failed build costs | 0 credits. A turn that errors is waived under the Fair Turn Guarantee | The tokens it used | Launchpad |
| Frameworks | Vite + React | Vite, Next.js, Svelte, Astro, Expo and more | bolt.new |
| Community | None yet. Three users and a founder who answers email | About 95,000 on Discord; ran a $1M hackathon | bolt.new |
Feature by feature
Where each one wins.
An edge is a judgement, not a score. The note under a row says why it fell the way it did.
| Launchpad | bolt.new | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metering unitTokens are honest but hard to predict; you learn the cost after. | Credits per turn, with the price shown before the turn runs and the tokens, model and sandbox time shown after | Raw LLM tokens; a landing page can cost 200K to 500K tokens | Launchpad |
| Paying for the agent's mistakes | 0 credits. A turn that errors is waived under the Fair Turn Guarantee | Product Hunt reviewers estimate half their tokens go to fixing Bolt's bugs | Launchpad |
| Runtime | A kernel-isolated microVM sandbox with real npm, a real filesystem and network access | WebContainer in the browser: fast to start, but no Python, no Postgres, limited network | Launchpad |
| Mobile apps | No. Web apps only | Yes, through Expo | bolt.new |
| Integrations | Supabase, GitHub | Supabase, Stripe, Netlify, Figma, Expo, Google Stitch, plus Bolt's own database and hosting | bolt.new |
| Code ownership | A real Vite + React + TypeScript repository, on every plan including Free | Download or push to GitHub | Even |
| MCP server | Not yet. On the roadmap | None. Bolt is an MCP client only | Even |
| Model choice | Pick Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok per project, each with its credit multiplier shown | Bolt picks the model | Launchpad |
| Security of published apps | A security badge on every published site recording the checks it passed; the agent asks before deleting files, installing packages or touching secrets | Not stated on the site | Launchpad |
| SupportLaunchpad's support is a small team, so this edge is depth, not scale. | A person answers email | Bot-first support is the second most common complaint in reviews | Launchpad |
Choose bolt.new if
- You need a framework other than Vite + React, or a mobile app.
- You want Stripe, Figma or Netlify wired in without leaving the tool.
- You want a large community and hackathons around you.
Choose Launchpad if
- You want to know what a turn costs before it runs.
- You do not want a daily cap deciding when you stop.
- You want a real sandbox, not a browser tab pretending to be one.
- You have paid for an agent's mistakes before and will not again.
Questions
Asked before switching.
- Is bolt.new free?
- There is a free plan with 1M tokens a month, but it is capped at 300K tokens a day and shows Bolt branding on your site. Launchpad's free plan is 30 credits a month with no daily cap.
- Why does Bolt charge in tokens?
- Because that is what the model bills Bolt. It is transparent about the unit and opaque about the total: you find out what a build cost when it is done. Launchpad prices each turn in credits and shows it first.
- Does Bolt charge when the build fails?
- Yes, the tokens are spent either way. Launchpad waives any turn that errors.
- Can Bolt build mobile apps?
- Yes. Bolt generates Expo projects, so an iOS or Android app is a first-class output. Launchpad builds web apps only; a mobile app is on the open-questions list, not the roadmap.
- What runs my code on each?
- Bolt runs a WebContainer inside your browser, which is fast but cannot run Python or a real database. Launchpad runs a kernel-isolated microVM with real npm and a real filesystem.
- Can I export my code from both?
- Yes. Both let you download the project or push it to GitHub. Launchpad exports on the free plan too.
- Which is bigger?
- Bolt: millions of registered users and a $105M raise in 2025, though it has not disclosed revenue since March 2025. Launchpad is a small team with a handful of users.
- Can I move a Bolt project to Launchpad?
- If it is a Vite + React project, export it and import the folder. Next.js, Svelte and Expo projects will not build on Launchpad.
Try it
30 credits a month, no card, no daily cap.
Failed turns are free. The repository is yours on every plan.
bolt.new is a trademark of its owner. Launchpad is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by bolt.new (bolt.new). Their facts were checked on 2026-09-08 and may have changed since.