Bubble

Bubble and Dyad both turn a description into a web app with logins and a database. The difference is what you're left holding. Bubble counts skipping the code as a plus: it "generates an app you can understand and edit" in a visual editor, and runs it on its own servers. Dyad writes your app as normal code in a folder on your computer.

That works right up until the day you want to leave. Bubble's docs say its apps "can only be run on the Bubble platform," and if you move off it, "you'll have to rebuild the application logic." A Dyad app is a Git repo on your disk, with its data in your own Supabase or Neon account, so you can host it where you like or keep building in VS Code or Cursor. That's the reason Dyad exists: Will Chen built it after an app he pulled down from a cloud builder to debug on his own computer "just didn't work."

Dyad vs Bubble at a Glance

What Each Difference Means

• How you build. Bubble is a visual editor, and its own blog says "Bubble has a learning curve: AI gets you started, but mastering the visual editor for complex apps takes time." In Dyad you keep describing what you want in chat, the AI changes the code, and the preview next to the chat updates. In Agent mode it also reads your code and fixes its own errors. Every AI edit is a Git commit you can restore, so when the AI gets something wrong, you go back a version.

• Which AI builds it. Starter includes 1,000 Bubble AI credits a month, and when they run out, the Agent pauses until you have credits again. Bubble's MCP server (a plug-in connection for outside AI tools) lets you connect Claude or ChatGPT instead, but the result is still a Bubble app, "so there's no generated code to read." In Dyad, the model you pick writes code you can read: an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others, a free local model, or your ChatGPT plan.

• Logins and data. Both handle sign-up and login for you. Bubble keeps users in its built-in database and says private data "needs to be protected with privacy rules to be considered secure," which you set up yourself. On Supabase, Dyad's AI creates your tables, and Dyad's built-in instructions tell it to turn on row-level security (rules about who can read each row) for every one. Review those rules before you launch. Dyad's security review, which is experimental, can help.

How Much Does Bubble Cost?

Bubble's Free plan lets you build and test an app with no time limit, but "to go live, you'll need a paid plan." Starter for a web app costs $29 a month billed annually, or $32 billed monthly, and Bubble says that rises to $32 and $39 on October 20, 2026. Web and mobile together is $59 a month billed annually.

The plan price is the floor, not the bill. Starter includes 175K workload units a month. Past that, overages cost $0.30 per 1,000 units, and they're on by default. If you switch them off, the app goes offline at the limit until you add units or the next billing period starts.

Dyad is free, with no sign-up. Build mode with your own API key has no Dyad message limit. Agent mode is free for 20 messages per 24 hours, and Dyad Pro is $20 a month for 200 AI credits. Your app's users and rows count against the Supabase or Neon plan you pick. Supabase's free plan covers 50,000 monthly active users but pauses a project after a week with no activity, and its Pro plan is $25 a month. To put a business app live, you'll also pay for hosting: Vercel's free Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use, and its Pro plan is $20 a month.

So yes, a business app costs money to run either way. The difference is who you pay: a host and a database on accounts you own, not the builder that holds your app.

Moving a Bubble App to Dyad

You can't import a Bubble app, so plan to rebuild it once. Your data comes with you, and you describe the rest in chat:

1. Export your data from Bubble's Data tab as CSV. Bubble's plan comparison lists CSV export from Starter up.
2. Create a new app in Dyad, connect Supabase, and describe your app: its pages, who can log in, and what each person can see. Dyad asks a few planning questions before it builds.
3. Once Dyad has created the tables, import each CSV in Supabase's Table Editor. Choose Insert, then Import Data from CSV (up to 100 MB a file).
4. Describe each workflow in chat, one at a time, and check it in the preview before you move on to the next.

Who Dyad Is For

Dyad is for you if you'd rather own your app than rent it, and you're fine picking your own host and database to get there. If you're on Bubble now, don't start with the whole app. Rebuild the one page you change most often, and see how it feels to change it by chatting. Download Dyad to try it. Then tell us on r/dyadbuilders: what are you moving off Bubble?

Sources

Bubble's pricing, AI page and plan comparison, its manual pages on app and data ownership, hosting, workload and overages, AI credits, Bubble MCP and privacy rules, and its Bubble vs Lovable and Lovable vs Bolt vs Bubble posts, read October 16, 2026. Hosting and database plans from Vercel and Supabase, same date.