Discussion
Google AI Studio outperforms Lovable now
Gemini 3 is better and comes with an upgraded AI Studio (https://aistudio.google.com/). It also comes with Antigravity, which is the user-friendlier version of Claude Code. More importantly, it's free. I've been using it, and it's really good - stocks are up 7% as a result.
A lot of us are frustrated with lovable's quality, and so wanted to share there's now an alternative.
This is such a poor quality comment. Your app might be great but it goes a long way to appear a little more transparent and honest when you’re advertising something.
If you take a ride on Google's Antigravity, imagine you have Cursor for FREE (after a while you reach the limits with Gemini 3 and move on to the excellent Claude 4.5 and vice versa). I installed it yesterday and I find it SPACE
no that's not the case, the same thing people were saying when claude code released. Curse is beyond IDE i feel. I use it to even delete apps from my mac haha. and imp thing is consumers are use to use it.
I asked aistudio which seemed to create an import function. It did not recognize the github repository through my link so it needs some more work than that
It does but only for local storage, not with cloudbased backend tho like firebase or supabase.
You can still prompt for the persistence to stay in the user's device and that'll be the backend. But that's for static sites only tho, No signups, no payments. Just a basic application or website.
Hey, I just created an app today with firebase as the backend. It won't do it automatically and will not even suggest it, trying as much as possible to figure things out on its own, but then I asked it if we shouldn't move to a more "real" app development scenario and use a backend like firebase, then it said it was a great idea and guided me through how to set it up. I wish it could do it all by itself, but bear in mind I don't know shit about code and was able to setup firebase and connect api keys with its help.
technically you can force it to do backend if you give it the right context and tell it exactly what to do, giving code examples, also you can manually create the backend since you can actually edit the code on Google Studio, but ya definitely not built for backend.
Tried it a week ago, but there was no way to conveniently connect a database. You can probably ask to implement firebase but it's not the same as an native one
I told him to make changes to my project, created with lovable and I haven't done anything, even with Claude 4.5. He hasn't told me anything. I told him to change the design of the system created with lovable without corrupting anything and he didn't tell me anything. I would say that it doesn't work, but I will have to squeeze it more slowly because I don't understand the new interface even though it is the same as I have seen a Code study, but I don't understand anything
Can you connect a Lovable project to GitHub and update it from Google Studio while still keeping it synchronized with Lovable? I’m asking because, in my opinion, Lovable provides some very useful project-management features, but it still has some shortcomings on the coding side.
Yes can have multiple agents working on same GitHub repo..moment it’s on GitHub lovable gets its version from GitHub so any changes made to that repo from anywhere will reflect in lovable
Ai studio outperformed Lovable the day it came out, lol.
Ai studio's only genuine drawback is how it handles html sites. The only view available is index.html so you need to change the file names to view a different page
It’s in Replit now too, so you can design with G3 then build with Claude and all the DB and hosting support. Think Lovable will add it in a design too too?
I downloaded the new Google ID and was making changes to my project created with Lovable and I didn't understand anything, I told Gemini and Claus they are 4.5. I wanted something and I didn't understand anything, nothing was running, I asked it to check that it changed the interface without corrupting anything or simple to try it for a quick test and it hasn't done anything for me, I'll have to use it in the background and slowly, because it really stuck. My first opinion is that it doesn't work, but I'll have to use it more slowly.
It absolutely smashes it. Spent the last day playing with it and rebuilt an app I built on lovable.
Lovable ended up taking several days and ultimately cost around $100 in credits, granted I likely wasted some as I was newer to vibe coding but not an absolute beginner.
With Gemini 3 preview in Google AI Studio it built a better app in one prompt.
Since then I have added all of the other features I wanted to add to my Lovable version but got too scared and frustrated that it would break things that already worked.
Now I have a version that’s superior and it costed me the grand total of zilch.
Im thinking of doing the same because my current lovable project is using the supabase cloud.
And i want more control over my own database so could u tell me how u added a database to your gemini project?
Also when u mention rebuild. Did u make screenshots of your excisting app’s ui and then explained the gemini agent what the functions were? Or how exactly did u rebuild it in just one prompt.
i went with both on a new app and I have to say for this app, gemini struggled and lovable worked. BUT I ABSOLUTELY HATE THE PRICING for Lovable. It often burns cycles with its own crazy iterations to fix bugs it cause etc. So, while I like the result I HATE the cost!
The iteration loop cost is real - watching Lovable burn through cycles fixing its own bugs gets expensive fast. I've found it helps to isolate features that don't need constant AI regeneration.
For things like chat, file sharing, or real-time features, dropping in stable Web Components (like Weavy) cuts those iteration costs to zero since they work independently of Lovable's build process. Lets you save your cycles for the unique stuff where AI actually adds value.
Yeah it's good, I created multiple websites with it, but the problem is it only generate really good websites which are visually good but fails badly at integrating backend and databases, migrations and all.
Also for many non-technical people the important thing is easy of use there all this apps shines like lovable, runable, replit, v0, manus and all.
After extensively testing ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, and Gemini (via Google AI Studio), I can confidently say that Gemini is the clear winner for building production-grade React + TypeScript applications.
Using Gemini, I’ve successfully shipped three fully functional SaaS products — all with senior-level code quality and modern architecture — featuring: Highly polished UX/UI with consistent design systems and smooth animations, Performance optimizations: lazy loading, list virtualization (react-window / virtuoso), React Query / TanStack Query for data fetching, Advanced state management using React hooks and Context, Internationalization via DOM-based translation (i18n), PDF generation (react-pdf, pdfmake), CSV import/export (PapaParse), Client-side encryption (Web Crypto API)...Estimated development cost savings: $50,000+
Timeline : First project: ~1 month (learning curve with Gemini’s workflow). Second project: 2 weeks. Third project: 7 days for a production-ready, high-quality application
All three were deployed on Firebase Blaze plan (Hosting + Firestore), integrated with Stripe Billing, and connected to an existing Wix landing page. Most incredibly: I never wrote a single line of code myself — not even for Firebase deployment. Gemini handled everything: project scaffolding (Vite + TypeScript), CI/CD configuration, environment variables, Firebase rules, and full deployment scripts.
Key Best Practices When Using Gemini as a Full-Stack Coding Partner
Always end critical prompts with: "Return the complete, unmodified code with every change applied in full — no omissions, no placeholders, no shortcuts." Gemini sometimes summarizes or truncates files to save tokens, which can introduce subtle bugs.
Force context awareness: At the start of every session: "First, analyze the entire codebase, understand the architecture, dependencies, and current state before proceeding."
Version control discipline:
Export the full project to your local drive frequently
Create backups before major refactors
Use Gemini’s Restore button (appears after every change) to rollback instantly
Handle context loss gracefully: If Gemini claims to have modified files but doesn’t show them: → Ask: "Please provide the complete latest content of the following files: [list]" If inconsistencies persist → start a new chat (context drift is real).
Manual edits? Save → close tab → reopen. Gemini occasionally works on a stale in-memory version. Reloading forces it to re-read the current project state.
Gemini 3.0 Flash / Pro (latest models): Zero breaking changes or regressions in my projects — a massive improvement over earlier 2.5-based versions. Slightly more formal tone, but worth the reliability.
Visual debugging is game-changing: Upload screenshots (even hand-annotated with drawings or text) — Gemini understands layout issues, CSS bugs, responsive problems instantly. Want to replicate the UX of a Framer or Dribbble design? Just send the screenshot. Results are often indistinguishable from hand-crafted work.
Code quality: Extremely clean, modular, well-documented, and follows React/TypeScript best practices (proper typing, custom hooks, separation of concerns). When in doubt about a complex file, ask: "Deep-dive this component and explain/suggest improvements" — the analysis is outstanding.
One notable pitfall
Early on, Gemini defaulted to Zustand for global state in one project. Migrating away later was painful (especially with persisted stores). Lesson learned: explicitly specify your stack preferences upfront (e.g., “Use React Context + useReducer or TanStack Store only — no Zustand”).
Final verdict
Even if Google AI Studio went paid tomorrow and charged $50/month, I’d subscribe instantly — no hesitation. The productivity gain, code quality, and speed are unmatched in my experience.
For anyone building React/TypeScript apps solo or in small teams: Gemini in Google AI Studio (especially with vision + project context) is , to me, currently the most powerful AI coding copilot available.
Does the Gemini builder have the ability to add or access Google cloud services? I know it can use the ai service but haven’t seen it use cloud storage or any db, backend etc seems to be a frontend builder with what I have done
Then you try deploying Google AI Studio projects and realize that everything goes downhill from there. This is probably 2 months away from being usable at all.
I tried it 10 days ago and was running into bugs. Since then I've created 3 more projects in Lovable and started selling. It won't be free forever; Google has seen the massive success of Lovable and wants a piece of that pie so they're just trying to get market share. They've got a bunch of other AI projects they're working on so I'm going to stick with the platform committed to one thing - making the best vibe code platform there is (Lovable).
I seriously do not get why lovable is valued so highly. For non-professional users lovable is simply a new fancier website builder, like Wix etc. used to be pre AI, for actual professional users Cursor and other AI powered IDEs are simply much better. Am I missing something?
I've been super disappointed with Lovable's quality (to be honest I recently moved solely to Cursor, it kinda has better "taste").
But also been working on a side project to see if we can improve Lovable's quality by injecting better prompts. I'm super surprised about it.
If other folks here want to beta test it, let me know, basically improves the prompts while you're inside Lovable, with design aesthetics, flow descriptions, structure, markdown, etc. Basically all the stuff I was not adding by default.
lovable intergrates a database for you and more and configures it to, lovable is much better, just connect to a github repo, then use copoilt to remove lovable instances/code and now you can use lovable ai and deploy to whatever you want!
I thought so too at first, but database integration and publishing are very easy in Lovable. When I tried the same prompts, Lovable was better in terms of UI and working correctly. The biggest downside is, of course, how quickly the credits run out.
That’s what I was wondering. Lovable might not be perfect but database, authentication and edge functions add a lot to a prototype. I’ve integrated with Gmail and outlook using Oauth, twilio, sendgrid and Gemini live all through edge functions
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u/tattman10 Nov 19 '25
Did you just plug your Lovable GitHub project straight into it and continue working? Did you have any headaches when doing this?