Dyad vs Lovable

Lovable publishes an agent mode for autonomous multi-step builds and element-level editing to fix results without touching code, both capabilities that matter most for someone who has never shipped an app before. Neither of those is published for Dyad. Lovable also publishes a free tier, 5 build credits a day up to 30 a month, giving a clear runway to learn on, while Dyad does not publish an equivalent free-tier cap since its core is a downloadable app you run with your own API key. Dyad's entry paid plan is cheaper at $20/mo against Lovable's $25/mo, but that is a minor factor next to what is actually confirmed.

Both tools export a full project and both let you self-hostself-host - Run the software on your own servers instead of the vendor’s cloud. the output, so those hard filters are a tie. The tiebreaker is GitHub sync: Lovable's is bidirectional, while Dyad's is one way, giving Lovable the stronger round-trip workflow for engineers. Neither confirms a public API in a way that favors Dyad, Lovable explicitly has none and Dyad does not publish a status either. On the backend, Dyad connects to a self-managed Supabase or Neon database with no Dyad-hosted backend, while Lovable runs a managed Supabase backend through Lovable Cloud, a real tradeoff either way. The stronger GitHub sync edges Lovable ahead.

Lovable publishes a clear free tier cap, 5 build credits a day up to 30 a month, so someone testing before paying always knows the limit. Dyad's core is a downloadable app where you bring your own API key and pay Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter directly, so it does not publish an equivalent free tier cap. Its cheapest published plan is instead a $20/mo hosted credit tier with 200 credits a month, undercutting Lovable's $25/mo plan ($21/mo billed annually). Lovable also confirms unused credits roll over and a custom domain on paid plans, neither of which Dyad publishes. On what actually caps a free trial, Lovable is the clearer answer.

Lovable ships built-in auth and SSO on its Enterprise plan, both relevant for role-gated internal dashboards, while Dyad publishes neither. Lovable also offers built-in collaboration for teams building tools together, again unpublished for Dyad. On the backend itself the two take different paths rather than one being stronger: Dyad connects to a self-managed Supabase or Neon database with no Dyad-hosted backend, giving ops teams full control, while Lovable runs a managed Supabase backend through Lovable Cloud, which is more turnkey. Neither publishes an integrations count. With auth, SSO, and collaboration all confirmed only for Lovable, it is the safer pick for ops and IT teams.

Real native output is the deciding factor for someone targeting a phone rather than a browser tab, and Dyad ships native mobile output through Expo, via a third-party Newly integration, while Lovable's mobile output is a PWA, a wrapped web experience rather than a true native app. That third-party dependency is a real caveat for Dyad, but it still clears the bar Lovable's PWA does not. Both output stacks underneath, React with Vite.js for Dyad and React with TypeScript for Lovable, are web frameworks and do not change the mobile picture. Both let you self-hostself-host - Run the software on your own servers instead of the vendor’s cloud. the output. Lovable does add an agent mode for autonomous builds, which Dyad does not publish, but that does not outweigh the native output gap.

Dyad is built for this use case: it runs offline as a local first app, ships its core under the Apache 2.0 license, and accepts your own API keys for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter so you pay your provider directly instead of a subscription. Lovable publishes none of these, consistent with it being a fully hosted product with no local-first option. Dyad also confirms it has no hosted app-builder SaaS of its own, meaning running it locally is the primary way to use it, not a side option. Both let you self-hostself-host - Run the software on your own servers instead of the vendor’s cloud. the app you build, so that piece is a tie. On every fact that actually decides this use case, Dyad is ahead.

Neither tool publishes a Figma or screenshot import fact, so that piece is genuinely unknown for both. Where the facts do speak, Lovable pulls ahead: it confirms element-level editing to tweak visual polish without a prompt, built-in collaboration for design teams working together, and versioning with rollback, none of which are published for Dyad. The two output stacks are close, Dyad generates React with Vite.js and Lovable generates React with TypeScript, so that is not a strong differentiator either way. With three of the four decided attributes confirmed only for Lovable and the fourth unpublished for both, Lovable is the stronger choice for design-led teams.