Kombai vs Magic Patterns (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Kombai and Magic Patterns share a 2.2 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about value for money, where Kombai grades higher, or platforms, where Magic Patterns does.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Kombai
AI design engineer that designs on a canvas and codes in your repo
Magic Patterns
AI prototyping tool that builds product UIs from prompts
Which one is for you
Pick Kombai if
- Fits if your team has a React repo and a design system to build against
- Works for front-end developers who already use Cursor or VS Code
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 300 credits a month, 50 a day
- Skip it if you want a web app: only desktop apps and extensions are listed
- Watch out: shared credits, shared rules and up to 20 seats need Team at $32 and up
- Watch out: credit tiers go up to 110,000 a month and each step costs more
Pick Magic Patterns if
- Fits if you need clickable screens to show a team before building
- Makes sense if you work in Figma and GitHub already
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a deployed app: it makes prototypes
- Tight if you stay free: the allowance is small and the page doesn't say how small
- Pricey if the team grows: prices are per seat, and Business is $85
- Watch out: SSO and usage reporting need Business, and unused credits roll over only once
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKombaiFair | 2.2GPAMagic PatternsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPro is $16 a month on yearly billing, at the cheap end of the category's range, for 2,000 credits. Team starts at $32. | C$17 a seat a month billed yearly sits just above the category's cheaper quarter. Business is $85 a seat and the price grows with the team. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree: 300 credits a month (50 a day), one seat. Enough to try, not to ship with. | CA free plan exists but the page gives no credit number, so you can't tell how far it goes. |
| Features | CCanvas, repo-aware coding, Storybook, 50+ models and a built-in browser. Indexing private packages is Team only and a custom context engine is Enterprise. | CPrompt to prototype, GitHub sync, MCP and Figma export. It makes prototypes, not deployed apps, and design-system import is Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It needs setting up against your repo, design system or Figma. | CNo store rating on record. You write prompts and iterate, and credits scale with request size. |
| Platforms and integrations | CMac, Windows, Linux and editor extensions, which is computers only. No web editor or phone app is listed. | BWeb app with GitHub, Figma and MCP connections. |
| Best for | UI coding inside your own repo | AI prototypes of product screens |
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: Kombai and Magic Patterns. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kombai starts at $16 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Magic Patterns starts at $17 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
Magic Patterns scores higher, and starts $1 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI app builders on the chart, 10 score higher than Kombai for less, and 7 score higher than Magic Patterns 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
- Kombai also covers AI agents.
- Magic Patterns also covers no-code.
At a glance
| Kombai | Magic Patterns | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $16 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $17 per seat / month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 150 credits on sign-up, then 50 credits a day up to 300 a month, with rollovers up to half the monthly limit. | Free plan with a small monthly credit allowance; the page does not give the number. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Kombai | North Park Labs, Inc. |
| Price read from | kombai.com | magicpatterns.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Kombai
- Pro is for one seat; shared credit pools, shared rules and up to 20 seats need Team.
- Credit tiers on Pro and Team range from 2,000 to 110,000 a month, with a higher price at each step.
- Index external and private packages is a Team feature, and a custom context engine is Enterprise only.
- The pricing page lists desktop apps and editor extensions; no web version of the editor is listed.
Magic Patterns
- Free-plan credits are small; the page does not give the figure.
- Unused monthly credits roll over once and then expire after one month.
- SSO and usage reporting need Business at $85 per seat / month billed annually.
- Prices are per seat, so cost scales with team size.
Key features
Kombai
- Infinite canvas
- Explore ideas on a canvas before they touch production code, with parallel agents, targeted variations and live HTML, states and animations.
- Repo-aware coding
- Context graphs reuse components, tokens and hooks from your repo or npm package, and Storybook can be indexed for real props.
- Design systems
- Remembers key design decisions from a repo, Figma or a website and carries them into later work.
- Many models
- Choose from 50+ models, including Anthropic, xAI, Moonshot AI and OpenAI, or use an automatic model router.
- Built-in browser
- A Kombai Browser and browser extension support editing in the page, with autonomous browser testing and terminal commands.
Magic Patterns
- Prompt to prototype
- Describes screens in text and generates a multi-page interactive prototype; credits scale with the size of the request.
- Export options
- Starter and above list MCP, GitHub sync and Figma exporting.
- Team workspaces
- Starter includes team workspaces for 10 users; Business is listed for more than 10.
- On-demand usage
- When monthly credits run out, paid plans can keep prompting at a fixed per-credit rate billed on the next invoice.
- Design system import
- Enterprise lists a custom import of a company design system.
Plans
Kombai
Free$0
300 credits a month (150 on sign-up, then 50 a day). One seat.
Pro$16
per month for 2,000 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
2,000 credits a month, rollovers up to 5x, email support and SOC 2 compliance. Tiers go up to 110,000 credits.
Team$32
per month and up, billed annually ($40 billed monthly)
Shared credit pool, up to 20 seats, unlimited rollovers, shared rules, centralized billing and usage analytics.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom context engine for large repos, dedicated support, onboarding and custom SLAs. Sold through sales.
Magic Patterns
Free$0
Free monthly credits for trying the tool; the allowance is not stated on the page.
Starter$17
per seat / month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
1,000 monthly credits, watermark removed on previews, GitHub sync, MCP and on-demand usage.
Business$85
per seat / month, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
5,000 monthly credits, SSO, usage reporting and shared workspaces for more than 10 users.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credit pools, SCIM, priority support and a dedicated account manager. Annual commitment.
Ways to pay less
Kombai
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
Pro and Team are 20% cheaper billed annually: Pro is $16 a month instead of $20. A quarterly option is billed at the monthly price for the same credits per quarter.
Magic Patterns
- Annual discount
15% off with annual billing
The pricing toggle shows Annual at 15% off: Starter $17 versus $20 monthly, Business $85 versus $100.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Kombai or Magic Patterns?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Kombai starts at $16 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly), and Magic Patterns starts at $17 per seat / month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Kombai or Magic Patterns?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Kombai and Magic Patterns have a free plan.
Which platforms do Kombai and Magic Patterns run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Kombai lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and a browser extension and only Magic Patterns lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.