bolt.diyvsEmergent
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
bolt.diy
stackblitz-labs community · Web app builder
#73OSSMCP
Panel
5.56 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.0
- Usefulness
- 5.3
- Cost
- 6.7
- Longevity
- 5.0
“Started life as oTToDev, which remains the best name anything on this board has given up.”
Emergent
Emergent · Web app builder
#161MCP
Panel
5.12 spec wins
- Reliability
- 4.5
- Usefulness
- 5.7
- Cost
- 4.7
- Longevity
- 5.7
“Promises no DevOps hassle, then bills in credits, which is DevOps hassle with a nicer font.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | bolt.diy | Emergent |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Web app builder | Web app builder |
| Runs | local, sandbox | cloud |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows, web | web |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | No |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | No | Yes |
| Sandboxed execution | No | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | No | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, OpenRouter, any of 19 providers | Claude, GPT, Gemini |
| Bring your own model | Yes | No |
| Local models | Yes | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | subscription |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $17/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | No |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | No |
| License | MIT | proprietary |
| GitHub stars | 19,929 | n/a |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | bolt.diy | Emergent | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 6.0 | 5.8 | bolt.diy — Pick bolt.diy if you want Bolt without the credit meter and can live inside a browser sandbox that only runs JavaScript; pick Dyad if you want a desktop builder with a real local project. |
| El Crítico | 5.5 | 5.3 | bolt.diy — The MIT fork sits on the WebContainer API, which needs a commercial license for production commercial use, so the open part is the UI and the proprietary part is the runtime. |
| El Profesor | 5.3 | 5.3 | no preference |
| La Inversora | 4.0 | 6.0 | Emergent — YC S24, $70M from SoftBank and Khosla in 2026, and a $200 Pro tier; the money says platform, the pricing says a few heavy users will pay for the free ones. |
| La Jefa | 4.5 | 4.5 | no preference |
| El Hacker | 7.8 | 4.0 | bolt.diy — MIT, keys in .env.local, nineteen providers including Ollama and LM Studio for a fully local run, MCP servers, and docker compose --profile development; this is the Bolt I would run. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.