I'm a fullstack developer with about 7 years of experience across multiple languages. When I tried automated code tools in the past, they created clunky results with poor, basically unmaintainable garbage. I also couldn't justify working with proprietary tools that either lock you in or force you to learn a whole new tool instead of just using programming.
But these new AI coding tools seem different. They work with actual code instead of just being low-code platforms, while potentially saving development time and generating stuff that's actually usable. The cherry on top is having integrations and automatic implementations of backend stuff with swiss army knife services like Supabase. The tech seems almost mature enough and very handy, so I wanted to test some. I decided to try Lovable and Builder.io by building the same beer tracking app on both platforms. It is a simple CRUD app with auth and a listing.
There are a lot of AI code assistants like cursor, but I was mostly looking for a more streamlined helper for very quickly implementing prototypes and ideas when the coding itself isn't the main focus initially. Tools like lovable even keep an eye in the results and try to fix them before asking for your next input. This post is mostly geared towards developers who are interested in the code generated, including quality and patterns.
Disclosure: I did use AI to help shorten this post. So it may feel a bit AI-y
What works well:
generate.new/ in your browser and start typing a prompt for quick prototypes (seems to be paid or is broken when I tested)Limitations:
Builder.io just launched "Fusion" in 2025 to compete with Lovable's experience. It seems to work with some kind of code seed under the hood.