Bolt vs Mage (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Bolt grades higher than Mage: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Bolt grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. Mage grades higher on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Bolt
Browser-based AI builder for websites, web apps and mobile apps
Which one is for you
Pick Bolt if
- Fits if you want to prototype a web app from a prompt with nothing to install
- Works for people who switch between prompting and editing the code themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, at 300K tokens a day and 1M a month, with bigger projects spending more per message
- Watch out: free sites carry a Made in Bolt badge and go offline for the month past 10 GB or 333,333 requests
- Skip it if you want a desktop or phone app to build in, as Bolt lives in the browser
- Pricey if you're a team, since Teams is $30 a member and tokens aren't shared between you
- Not for you if you need custom domains or Supabase databases for free, as both need a paid plan
Pick Mage if
- Fits if you already use Wasp 0.23 and want a quick starting project
- Works for people curious about the idea who want a free demo
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a maintained product, as the repository was archived on July 10, 2026
- Not for you if you use any framework but Wasp
- Tight if you want current Wasp, as Mage is frozen on 0.23 and generates legacy apps
- Watch out: there is no pricing page, and its home page shows only a title
How we grade them
| 2.6GPABoltGood | 2.4GPAMageFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $25 a month, or $216 for the year, which works out at $18. That's mid-table for builders here, where the middle is $19 and the dearest quarter starts at $25. You get 10M tokens a month with no daily cap, rollover and custom domains. Teams is $30 a member, and those tokens aren't pooled. | AFree to use, per the README, against a category whose paid plans start at $15 a month. The README is the only place that says so. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for good: 300K tokens a day, 1M a month, private projects, databases and hosting. The caps bite. Bigger projects spend more tokens per message, your site wears a Made in Bolt badge, and it goes dark for the rest of the month past 333,333 requests. | AThe hosted generator is free with no plan or cap listed. Because it is archived, that can change or stop without notice. |
| Features | BIt covers the whole job. Chat builds a full-stack project and Plan Mode talks the approach through first; Bolt Cloud brings hosting, databases, login and domains; Code view edits files without spending tokens; and you can start from a Figma frame or ship phone apps through Expo. Replit does the same, so no A. | DOne narrow function: a form that makes a Wasp project. It is frozen on Wasp 0.23 and produces apps other Wasp versions will not match. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but there's nothing to install and nothing to set up: open a browser tab, type a prompt and it builds. Code view is there if you want it. Supabase databases do need a paid plan. | DThe output is a Wasp project that you must run and fix with the Wasp tooling yourself. No store rating is on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app to build in. It connects to Supabase, Stripe, GitHub, Figma, Netlify and Google Stitch, and to Expo for shipping iOS and Android apps. | CWeb only, with no apps, and the generated code is for one framework. |
| Best for | building in a browser tab with the code in view | a free Wasp app generator, now archived |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Bolt and Mage. How we grade
Price against what you get
Bolt starts at $18 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mage has no paid plan and scores 1.3.
Bolt scores higher, and starts $18 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI app builders on the chart, 1 scores higher than Bolt for less, and none scores higher than Mage for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Mage is open source, according to its own site.
- Bolt also covers no-code.
At a glance
| Bolt | Mage | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $18 per month, billed yearly ($216); $25 billed monthly (Pro) | Free |
| Free plan | 300K tokens a day and 1M a month, public and private projects, unlimited databases, and hosting with up to 333K web requests a month. Published sites carry Bolt branding. | The hosted app at usemage.ai is free to use, according to the project's GitHub README. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | StackBlitz, Inc. | Wasp (wasp-lang) |
| Price read from | bolt.new | github.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Bolt
- The free plan stops at 300K tokens a day and 1M a month, and larger projects use more tokens per message.
- Custom domains and Supabase databases need a paid plan, and free sites show a Made in Bolt badge.
- Free sites go offline for the rest of the month once they pass 10 GB of bandwidth or 333,333 requests.
- On Teams, tokens are allotted to each paid member and are not shared across the team.
Mage
- The GitHub repository was archived on July 10, 2026, and the README says Mage is no longer maintained.
- Mage is frozen on Wasp 0.23 and generates legacy Wasp DSL apps, so output will not match current Wasp versions.
- It produces Wasp projects only, not apps in other frameworks.
- The site publishes no pricing page; that it is free comes from the GitHub README.
Key features
Bolt
- Prompt-to-app building
- Describe an idea in chat and Bolt generates a full-stack project using JavaScript-based web frameworks. Plan Mode lets you discuss an approach before any code is written.
- Bolt Cloud
- Hosting, databases, user authentication and domains are built into each project. Paid plans raise the hosting allowance to 30 GB of bandwidth and 1 million requests a month.
- Code view and GitHub
- Project files can be read and edited directly in Code view, which uses no tokens, and a project can be connected to GitHub or started from an existing repository.
- Design imports
- Start a project from a Figma frame or a Google Stitch design, or add a design system so that generated screens follow existing components.
- Mobile apps through Expo
- Web apps are built natively in Bolt, while mobile apps for iOS and Android are built and shipped through its Expo integration.
- Teams workspace
- A shared workspace with centralized billing, member and integration controls, team prompts and private NPM registry support, priced per member.
Mage
- Describe-to-app form
- A short form takes an app name, a description, a brand color and an auth method, then generates the project.
- Full-stack output
- The generated app uses Wasp with React, Node.js and Prisma, with a database and username-and-password auth as an option.
- Example ideas
- The page offers ready-made ideas such as a todo app, a plant-watering tracker and a blog with comments.
- Open-source code
- The site says the whole app is open-source, and its code is in the wasp-lang/mage GitHub repository.
Plans
Bolt
Free$0
300K tokens a day and 1M a month, public and private projects, hosting with up to 333K web requests, a 10MB upload limit and Bolt branding on sites.
ProFrom $25
per month, billed monthly; $216 a year billed yearly
Starts at 10M tokens a month with no daily limit. Adds token rollover, custom domains, no Bolt branding, 100MB uploads and up to 1M web requests.
Teams$30
per member / month, billed monthly
Everything in Pro, plus centralized billing, team-level access management, admin controls and private NPM registries. Tokens are per member, not pooled.
EnterpriseCustom
SSO, audit logs and compliance support, a dedicated account manager, 24/7 priority support, custom SLAs and data retention policies.
Mage
Free$0
The hosted generator at usemage.ai is free to use, per the GitHub README.
Ways to pay less
Bolt
- Annual discount
Save up to 28% with yearly billing
The pricing page advertises up to 28% off with yearly billing. The help center gives $216 a year for the entry Pro tier against $25 a month, and says other annual plans save 10%.
Mage
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Bolt or Mage?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Mage is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $18 a month for Bolt. Bolt starts at $18 per month, billed yearly ($216); $25 billed monthly (Pro), and Mage is free.
Which has a free plan, Bolt or Mage?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Bolt and Mage have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.