Which AI Coding Tool Should You Use?

Every day, more and more AI builder tools are being released.

And it's getting really hard to know which one you should use, even for someone like me who keeps track of AI all day!

In this post I want to provide an overview of the currently most popular AI builder tools, to help you make the selection more easily.

Here's an overview of the most popular tools, which I like to split between “web builders” and “IDEs”.

“Web builders” are tools that you can use directly in your browser. These are typically a bit more catered towards beginners.

“IDEs (Integrated Development Environments)” are apps you download locally on your computer, to use them to write your code. These are usually for slightly more advanced builders.

Now, let's break down each of the tools in more detail with the strengths, weaknesses and target users:

1. Cursor

• Still the best AI coding tool overall in my opinion

• It excels when your project gets big and complex

• There’s a bit of a steeper learning curve

Users: Advanced

2. Windsurf

• Same target audience as Cursor

• It has a strong and intuitive “agent mode” called Cascade

• Some say it's better than Cursor with large codebases

• Right now, I see Windsurf and Cursor neck and neck, it really comes down to a preference thing.

Users: Advanced

3. Bolt.new

• It's very fast and great for building simple and functional SaaS prototypes

• You can also build simple mobile apps with new Expo integration

• It gets more difficult when the project grows and gets more complex. There are some people who have managed to build end-to-end applications with it, but it's not easy.

Users: Beginners

4. Lovable.dev

• Similar target audience, strengths and weaknesses as Bolt

• It’s excels at landing pages and SaaS prototypes. It recently also released a feature that lets you customize your designs, making it a competitor to no-code tools like Webflow.

• It stands out with a native Supabase (database) & resend (emails) integration which makes it very easy to hook up to these third-party tools.

Users: Beginners

5. v0.dev

• It’s great for UI components in a ShadCN style (since it is built by the company that built this library). This makes it useful for design prototyping.

• It has a very big collection of templates.

• It has an import from Figma feature, which also makes it useful for designers.

Users: Beginners

6. Replit

• This is the more advanced web builder tool on this list

• You can build full stack with a native database

• Very easy deployment, since that is also built in

• They now have a mobile app, which makes it easy to build web apps on mobile

Users: Beginners to advanced

7. Databutton

• The standout feature is a full AI generated step-by-step guided approach, as soon as you specify your project details

• It’s definitely the web builder most targeted to absolute beginners

• It has a strong customer support (which seems to be its main differentiator)

• Building complex projects seems to be difficult here, so I would recommend switching to an IDE once the project gets big

 Users: Super beginners

8. CopyCoder.ai

• The main use case: recreate an existing app or design

• It’s great for starting a project and really accelerates going from zero to a functional frontend in Cursor (which means you can keep building to a production ready app)

• It only generates prompts, not actual code. You will still have to use an AI builder tool to generate the code.

Users: Beginners to advanced

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown.

Happy building!

-Moritz

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