Take Over

The Secret Strategy For Cost Effective Vibe Coding

Vibe coding platforms like Lovable have built $100M ARR on credit-burning addiction. Here's how to vibe code effectively for free (or dirt cheap) using GitHub exports and Cursor's unlimited auto agent.

Cost effective vibe coding strategy with free tools and unlimited prompts

The Secret Strategy For Cost Effective Vibe Coding

Vibe Coding has lured many non-technical people into the world of web app development, often marketing it as a simple prompt to create a completely functioning website. The truth is that popular sites like Lovable have sucked tens of thousands into their ecosystem of “credit burning.” New users create a basic frontend AI slop website with one sentence, then the dopamine hits and you’re hooked. What they don’t tell you is that it only goes downhill from there.

Debugging, database issues, moving form fields around—then you upgrade your account to $200/month and next thing you know you burned through all your credits in 4 days and you have to wait over 3 weeks for them to refresh unless you spend more money. This profit model is the reason why Lovable has grown to $100 million ARR (annual recurring revenue) faster than any other company in the world.

The Free Alternative Nobody Talks About

What many people don’t realize is you can effectively vibe code for free, or at least dirt cheap by exporting your project to GitHub like this and transferring your project to many other AI IDEs such as Windsurf, or my favorite…Cursor.

You can take advantage of the free trials that are typically 2 weeks and go back and forth creating new accounts. This is not a sustainable long-term method of vibe coding, but it’s enough to hone your skills and figure out how to prompt better to get the results you want.

The Cursor Advantage

Cursor’s pro plan is $20/month and you get UNLIMITED auto agent requests. Auto agent is essentially Cursor using whatever model they choose at the time. And to be honest, 90% of my code has been done on auto mode. I will use Sonnet 4.5 for more extensive heavy prompts where the context is much larger, but auto will do you just fine.

And now with MCP integration, you can even connect your backend directly to Supabase to make changes. This was one of the ONLY reasons Lovable had the upper hand, but now that advantage is gone. I doubt unlimited prompts for $20 will last too long, so take advantage of the free trials and generous agent modes while you still can.

The Real Strategy

Here’s what the credit-burning platforms don’t want you to know:

  1. Export early, export often - Get your projects out of their ecosystem as soon as possible
  2. Use free trials strategically - Rotate between different AI IDEs to maximize free usage
  3. Master the art of prompting - Better prompts = fewer iterations = fewer credits burned
  4. Invest in Cursor Pro - $20/month for unlimited requests is a steal compared to credit systems
  5. Connect everything with MCP - Direct database integration eliminates the need for platform-specific features

The vibe coding revolution isn’t about being locked into expensive platforms. It’s about using AI as your coding partner without the artificial scarcity. The tools are there. The knowledge is there. The only question is: are you ready to break free from the credit trap?

Stop feeding the $100M ARR machine. Start building on your terms.