AI app builder for $5 a month: is there one? (2026)
We read 18 other AI app builders' pricing pages. Their lowest month-to-month price was $17. AppX Basic is $5. What it buys and what it doesn't.
Ilyos Olimov · · 8 min read
Disclosure: AppX is our product. Prices of other tools come from their own pricing pages, docs or FAQ, read on 13 October 2026 and linked at the end. Prices change, so check the linked page before you pay.
Short answer. Yes. AppX Basic costs $5 a month, billed monthly, and includes 100 credits a month. We also read the pricing of 18 other AI app builders on 13 October 2026. Eleven state a price you can pay month by month, and the lowest of those is $17. One tool, Wron, shows about $6 a month, but only if you pay for a year at once; month by month it is $30. Five pages did not show a clear monthly price, so we do not quote them.
Who is near $5, and who is not
"From $5 a month" can mean two different things. One is a plan you pay for one month and can stop. The other is a yearly payment divided by twelve. The table keeps them apart.
| Tool | Cheapest paid plan | Billed monthly | If you pay a year at once | What it builds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppX | Basic, 100 credits a month | $5 | Basic is monthly only | Mobile apps (Expo + React Native) |
| Wron | Starter, 100 credits a month | $30 | $5.95 a month | Mobile apps and websites |
| CatDoes | Core, 50 credits a month | $17 | discount shown, no figure | iOS and Android publishing starts on the $42 plan |
| Rork | Pro, 100 credits a month | $20 | not listed | Mobile and web apps |
| RapidNative | Starter, 50 credits a month | $20 | $119 a year | Mobile apps (React Native / Expo) |
| Bloom | Starter | $20 | not shown | Mobile apps |
| Emergent | Standard, 100 credits a month | $20 | $17 a month | Web and mobile apps |
| Bolt | Pro | $25 | discount shown, no figure | Web apps |
| Lovable | Pro, 100 credits a month | $25 | $21 a month | Web apps |
| Newly | Entry tier, 50 credits a month | $25 | not mentioned | iOS and Android apps |
| v0 | Plus | $30 | not shown | Web apps |
| FlutterFlow | Basic | $39 | discount shown, no figure | Mobile, web and desktop (Flutter) |
Two more show only a yearly-billed price on their pricing page: Base44 Starter at $16 a month and Replit Core at $18 a month.
Wron's yearly price moved while we looked. The page showed it under a countdown discount: one read gave $4.99 a month, a later one $5.95.
Five pages we could not read clearly enough to quote a monthly price: a0.dev, Fastshot, Thunkable, Draftbit and Anything. We left them out of the table instead of guessing.
A credit is not the same size on every tool, so "100 credits" on one line is not directly comparable with "100 credits" on another. Compare by what a real app costs. The next section does that for AppX.
What $5 buys on AppX
Basic gives you 100 credits every month. Credits pay for building and editing. Here is what six real apps in our gallery cost for their first build:
| App | Screens | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato, a pomodoro timer | 1 | 11 |
| SipDay, a water reminder | 2 | 16 |
| Pocket Semester, an expense tracker | 3 | 21 |
| Crumbs, a recipe box | 5 | 29 |
| Streaks, a habit tracker | 5 | 29 |
| Reps, a workout log | 5 | 30 |
So 100 credits is about three five-screen apps, or one app plus a good number of changes. A small edit usually costs a few credits.
On every plan, including Basic, you also get:
- A plan before the build. AppX shows the screens it will build and an estimate of the credits. Nothing is built until you approve.
- A live preview in the browser, on your computer or on your phone.
- Edits by chat. You describe the change in plain words.
- The full code. A standard Expo + React Native project, downloaded as a ZIP. Our guide on builders that give you the code explains what to check in any export.
If you run out, 60 extra credits cost $5.
What $5 does not buy
It is a cheap plan, and it has limits. These are the honest ones.
- There is no free plan. We removed it on 1 October 2026. You pay $5 before the first build. If you want to try a builder without paying anything, several tools in the table have a free tier, and AppX does not.
- A big app can use 100 credits in one evening. A long brief is built in milestones, and each milestone and each edit costs credits. For a large app, expect to buy extra credits or move to a bigger plan.
- A database for your app starts on Starter, at $20 a month.
- Store publishing is not included and not automatic. A real person helps you publish on the App Store and Google Play, at a written price you see before you pay. Nobody can promise that Apple or Google will approve an app.
- Custom native modules need work outside the chat.
Monthly price or yearly price: do the sum
A low "per month" number on a yearly plan means you pay for twelve months on day one.
- Wron Starter at $5.95 a month billed annually is about $71 up front. Paid month by month, it is $30.
- Base44 Starter at $16 a month billed annually is $192 up front.
- AppX Basic is $5 for one month. Twelve months of it is $60, and you can stop after the first.
Neither model is wrong. A yearly plan suits you if you already know you will use the tool all year. A monthly plan suits you if you want to find out whether your idea works at all.
When another tool is the better pick
- You want to try for free first. Rork, RapidNative, CatDoes, Bolt, Lovable, Base44 and Emergent all list a free tier, with small limits.
- You are building a website, not a phone app. Bolt, Lovable and v0 are web builders.
- You want Flutter. FlutterFlow exports Flutter code from its $39 plan.
- You need a database on the cheapest plan. On AppX that starts at $20 a month.
For a wider comparison by use case, see the best AI mobile app builders in 2026.
FAQ
Is there an AI app builder for $5 a month?
Yes. AppX Basic is $5 a month, billed monthly, with 100 credits a month. Among the 18 other tools we checked on 13 October 2026, the lowest price you can pay month by month was $17.
What is the cheapest AI app builder?
It depends on what you count. Several builders have a free tier with small limits. Among paid plans you can pay month by month, the lowest price we found was AppX Basic at $5. The lowest price on a yearly plan was Wron Starter at about $6 a month, paid as one yearly sum.
Is $5 enough to build a real app?
For a small app, yes. Five-screen apps in our gallery cost 29 or 30 credits for the first build, and Basic includes 100 credits a month. A large app with many screens will need extra credits.
Does the $5 plan include the source code?
Yes. Every AppX plan lets you download the full Expo + React Native project as a ZIP.
Why does AppX not have a free plan?
We had one until 1 October 2026. Free credits brought many people who tried one build and left, and every build costs us real money. We replaced it with the $5 plan. We wrote about what happened next.
Sources
All pages read on 2026-10-13.
- AppX: https://appx.uz/pricing · https://appx.uz/gallery
- Wron: https://www.wron.ai/#pricing
- CatDoes: https://catdoes.com/pricing
- Rork: https://docs.rork.com/introduction/subscriptions
- RapidNative: https://www.rapidnative.com/pricing
- Bloom: https://bloom.diy/pricing
- Emergent: https://emergent.sh/pricing
- Bolt: https://bolt.new/pricing
- Lovable: https://docs.lovable.dev/introduction/subscription-plans
- Newly: https://newly.app/faq
- v0: https://v0.app/docs/pricing
- FlutterFlow: https://www.flutterflow.io/pricing
- Base44: https://base44.com/pricing
- Replit: https://replit.com/pricing
Ready to try your idea?
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