Bolt.new Guide: Features, Pricing, and Limits

Choose Bolt for a JavaScript web or Expo mobile project that benefits from one browser workspace with editable code and GitHub export. Choose another builder if you need a different backend language, and arrange technical help if nobody can maintain the published app.

For the wider workflow, see our introduction to vibe coding. The Bolt vs Replit comparison helps when you need a different runtime or cloud workspace.

What Is Bolt.new?

Bolt.new is an AI app builder that runs in your browser and generates applications from natural-language prompts. It combines an AI agent, editable code, a terminal for running commands, and a live preview in one workspace.

What Can Bolt Build?

Bolt builds JavaScript websites, web apps, and mobile apps using Expo. Its workspace can create project files, install JavaScript packages, run development commands, and show the result. The code remains visible, so a user can inspect a file or edit it directly instead of relying only on chat.

Bolt's browser environment runs JavaScript backends. Its browser-support documentation rules out running PHP or Python backends there. A prompt can still produce a JavaScript application that calls a Python service hosted elsewhere, but Bolt is not the place where that Python service runs.

Bolt Cloud brings managed databases, hosting, and domains into the same product. Integrations add paths to GitHub, Stripe, Expo, and other services. Those connections shorten setup, but each introduces an account, permission set, billing owner, and recovery path that should be recorded before launch.

Project Need	Bolt Path	Check First
Marketing site	Web project and hosting	Forms, analytics, domain owner
Account-based app	JavaScript app and database	Roles, recovery, data export
Native mobile app	Expo project	Store accounts and review
Python service	External API only	Separate host and deployment

What Are Bolt’s Main Limitations?

Bolt’s main limitations are its restriction to JavaScript backends, variable token consumption, and the technical judgment needed for complex or sensitive app behavior. Access-control errors, corrupted records, payment disputes, dependency vulnerabilities, and store rejections can have consequences outside the editor. Set a threshold for escalation before users depend on the app.

Ask for help when a fix involves database migration, authentication policy, cryptographic keys, webhook signatures, or conflicting Git branches. Preserve a working backup and explain the intended outcome. Repeatedly asking the agent to “try again” can hide the original cause and consume the evidence a developer needs.

Use test data that contains no personal or confidential information. Separate development and production credentials. When the app is ready for real accounts, confirm that logs, analytics, error reports, and backups follow the same privacy rules as the visible application.

How Much Does Bolt Cost?

Bolt offers a free plan, Pro from $25 a month, and Teams from $30 per member a month on monthly billing. AI work is measured in tokens. Free includes one million monthly tokens with a 300,000-token daily limit. Pro includes ten million monthly tokens and no daily limit.

Enterprise uses custom pricing.

The pricing page says paid-plan unused tokens roll into the following month and remain valid for two months in total. Free tokens do not receive the same benefit. Bolt also advertises yearly savings of up to 28 percent, so the exact checkout total depends on plan and billing term.

Plan	Listed Monthly Price	Core Allowance
Free	$0	1M monthly, 300K daily tokens
Pro	From $25	10M monthly tokens
Teams	From $30 per member	Team controls and tokens
Enterprise	Custom	Custom limits and support

Token totals do not translate into a fixed number of features. Bolt warns that larger projects require more file syncing, so later prompts can cost more than early prompts. Model selection, context size, repeated debugging, and broad requests also affect consumption.

How Does Bolt’s Workspace Work?

Bolt’s workspace combines a prompt box, editable project files, a terminal, and a live preview. You can ask the agent for a change, inspect its output, and edit the files directly. A beginner does not need to understand every file, but should know which page is being changed, where errors appear, and which action restores a working state.

Bolt's agent documentation currently lists Standard and Max. Standard is available on Free, while Max requires a paid plan. Bolt handles model selection for Standard and Max. Forge, where available, adds a separate selection of open-source models and its own usage and data terms.

Start by asking for one screen and one complete user action. Confirm that the preview matches the request, then inspect the changed files. Adding authentication, payments, external APIs, and a complex dashboard in the first prompt makes it harder to identify which layer failed.

When the preview looks correct, test the behavior that changes data. Refresh the page, sign out and back in, use an invalid value, and repeat the action from another account if roles are involved. A polished screen does not prove that data access or error handling is correct.

Bolt also supports direct visual edits to text, colors, and formatting through the Select tool. Preview changes collect in a batch before you save them to the code. Trying edits in the preview is free; saving the batch uses tokens. This is useful when you know which element needs changing.

You can start from a Figma frame, a single design screen, instead of describing a layout from scratch. Bolt imports one frame rather than a whole Figma project. Add the intended interactions and check the result at different screen sizes; a design reference does not specify every working behavior.

Bolt also accepts your own image assets. Its AI image editing and generation require a paid plan, and generating images uses more tokens than using stock images. This matters when comparing the cost of a visually rich site with a simpler app.

How Does Bolt Plan Mode Work?

Bolt Plan Mode lets the agent examine a request and propose an implementation without making code changes. Bolt's documentation notes one exception: on a new project, the first Plan Mode request creates a basic structure before planning. That distinction matters if the repository must remain untouched during an initial review.

A useful plan names the screens, user roles, stored data, external services, and acceptance checks. It should also identify decisions that require a human owner, such as whether deleting an account removes records, who can issue refunds, or what happens when an integration is unavailable.

Non-coders should reject plans that hide important behavior behind phrases such as “set up authentication” or “add payments.” Ask which provider is used, where keys live, how failed payments behave, and how an administrator recovers access. The answer becomes a checklist for the build and later handoff.

After the plan is approved, request one specific feature or change at a time. Bolt's token guidance recommends focused prompts and clear context. Small changes are also easier to review, restore, and explain to the next person who inherits the project.

How Can You Control Bolt’s Token Usage?

Control Bolt’s token usage with focused requests, a spending limit, and a check of the balance after each change. Record the starting balance, plan the change, build it, fix one realistic error, and record the ending balance. That gives a project-specific reference without pretending that every future change will cost the same.

Use Plan Mode for questions about approach, and keep Build Mode for approved edits. Tell the agent which files or behavior must remain unchanged. If a request touches unrelated areas, restore the last working version and narrow the task rather than spending more tokens repairing a broad rewrite.

Version history is a cost control as well as a safety feature. Name working checkpoints after completed behavior, such as “account creation and password reset pass.” A meaningful label helps a non-coder choose the correct recovery point without guessing among visually similar snapshots.

Can You Export Bolt Projects to GitHub?

Bolt can connect a project to GitHub, create a repository, import an existing repository, and work with branches. Its documentation says Bolt automatically commits and pulls changes at intervals. The connected repository becomes the durable record that another developer can inspect without entering the original Bolt workspace.

Bolt does not merge branches inside the product. That work happens on GitHub, where conflicts and review comments must be resolved. A non-coder should ask a developer to review any conflict involving authentication, database schemas, payments, or access rules rather than choosing whichever block looks newer.

A project download is another exit path, but code is only part of a running service. Environment variables, databases, uploaded files, DNS records, payment products, email templates, and OAuth settings may remain in external systems. List each system, its owner, and its export or recovery procedure.

Prove portability before launch. Download or clone the repository onto a separate machine, follow written setup instructions, and run the main user flow. If that cannot be done without the original builder explaining undocumented steps, the handoff is incomplete.

Can Bolt Build Mobile Apps?

Bolt can build iOS and Android apps through Expo. A responsive website is a separate output and does not become an App Store app just because it fits a phone screen. The first prompt must identify the project as a mobile app so the correct structure is created.

Bolt's Expo guide separates building from store submission. Submission requires a computer, Node.js, Git, an Expo account, platform developer accounts, signed builds, store metadata, screenshots, privacy disclosures, and review. Apple and Google can reject a build even when it works in a local preview.

For a non-coder, the safer route is to validate the main flow with Expo Go, then involve someone familiar with EAS builds and store requirements. Budget for developer-account fees, device testing, privacy documents, and review time. Do not promise a release date based only on the generated preview.

If the requirement is simply a phone-friendly booking form or dashboard, a responsive web app may avoid store overhead. If push notifications, device APIs, offline behavior, or store distribution are essential, write those requirements before generation and test them on physical devices.

Does Bolt Include a Database and Hosting?

Bolt Cloud can supply a database and hosting, while Bolt also documents external integrations. Define what data is collected, who can read it, how it is backed up, and how it is deleted before inviting users.

Authentication needs more than a sign-in screen. Test password reset, duplicate accounts, expired sessions, deleted users, and every role. For a client portal, create two test customers and confirm that neither can reach the other's records by changing a URL or request identifier.

Payment work needs a provider test environment and official test payment methods. Confirm success, failure, cancellation, refund, duplicate submission, and webhook retry behavior. Keep product IDs, prices, tax settings, and refund permissions under an account owned by the business, not by a temporary contractor.

Hosting also needs a rollback and domain plan. Record where DNS is managed, which account pays for hosting, and how a prior working deployment can be restored. A shareable preview URL is useful for review, but it is not an operations plan.

How Does Collaboration Work in Bolt?

Bolt's collaboration documentation says collaborators share one project chat and only one prompt can be processed at a time. The project owner retains control over GitHub and certain integrations. That makes ownership more important than simply inviting everyone to the workspace.

Assign one person to accept changes and one person to test them. A reviewer should compare the requested behavior with the changed files, then run the affected flow. Visual approval alone misses broken validation, inaccessible controls, and data rules that only fail under a second account.

Keep decisions outside the chat as well. A short repository document can record the user roles, external services, environment variables, deployment route, and known limits. Chat history is useful context, but it is a poor substitute for a handoff that can be checked line by line.

A Safe First Project

A reading list is a useful first exercise because it has visible state changes without payments or sensitive data. Ask for a responsive page where a user can add a title, mark it as read, filter the list, and remove an entry. Keep accounts and cloud storage out of the first pass.

1. Use Plan Mode to list the four actions, the page structure, and the acceptance checks.
2. Build the static interface and verify keyboard access at phone and desktop widths.
3. Add local persistence, then refresh and confirm that entries remain.
4. Enter empty, very long, and repeated titles to test validation.
5. Create a named working checkpoint before requesting visual changes.
6. Connect GitHub, clone the repository elsewhere, and follow the setup instructions.

Success means every action works, errors are understandable, and a second person can run the project from the repository. The platform guide provides alternatives if Bolt's runtime, budget, or ownership model does not match the next project.

If you need help beyond a generated fix, Bolt provides community support through Discord for all plans and email support for paid plans. Its help center links to preview, database, publishing, and account troubleshooting. Choose the route that matches the failure before spending more tokens on the same unsuccessful prompt.

The Verdict

Bolt is the better fit when a JavaScript web or Expo mobile project needs an integrated browser workspace, visible code, and a practical GitHub exit. Choose another route when the backend must use a different language, nobody can own production operations, or the project cannot absorb token variability and the specialist review required for sensitive features.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can Bolt build?

Bolt builds JavaScript-based websites, web apps, and Expo mobile apps in a browser workspace. Bolt Cloud can supply hosting, databases, domains, and other managed services, while integrations cover services such as GitHub and Stripe. A project that needs a non-JavaScript backend is outside Bolt's documented runtime support.

How much does Bolt cost?

Bolt's pricing page lists Free at $0 with one million monthly tokens and a 300,000-token daily limit. Pro starts at $25 per month with ten million monthly tokens and no daily limit. Teams starts at $30 per member per month, while Enterprise uses custom pricing.

Can I move a Bolt project elsewhere?

You can move a Bolt project’s source code through GitHub integration or a project-file download. Moving the files does not automatically move domains, secrets, databases, user records, or third-party accounts, so test the exported project outside Bolt and write down every external dependency before treating the handoff as complete.

Can Bolt build an App Store app?

Bolt can create native iOS and Android projects with Expo, but generation is only the first stage. Store submission requires a computer, local tooling, an Expo account, Apple or Google developer accounts, signed builds, store listings, privacy information, testing, and review by the relevant store.

Pricing, supported technologies, agents, GitHub, and mobile publishing checked against official documentation on October 17, 2026.