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Lovable (lovable.dev) is an AI web app builder that charges in credits instead of tokens. Users spend credits by sending messages to the AI builder. A monthly credit pool supports bursts of work, and a daily bonus drip rewards users who come back every day.

Lovable’s Billing Model

Lovable’s pricing combines message credits with separate metering for cloud hosting and AI features. Lovable’s pricing FAQ describes these rules (lovable.dev/pricing):
  • Credit-based subscription: Messages to the AI spend credits. In Plan Mode, 1 credit = 1 message. In Default Mode, the cost varies with task complexity.
  • Credits are shared across unlimited users: Every member of a workspace draws from one pool. Plans are priced by credits, not per seat.
  • Monthly credits refresh on renewal: Each renewal adds the plan’s credits. Unused monthly credits expire two months after they’re issued.
  • On-demand credit top-ups: Users can buy more credits if they run out. Top-up credits last 12 months.
  • Separate usage-based Cloud + AI billing: Hosting and AI features in user apps have their own monthly grant, then draw from the credit balance.
  • Daily bonus credits reset each day: A use-it-or-lose-it daily drip of 5 credits that doesn’t roll over.

What Makes It Unique

  • Message-based simplicity: Users think in messages, not tokens or model weights. This deconstruction models the simplest form, 1 credit = 1 message.
  • Daily drip + monthly pool hybrid: The 5 daily bonus credits reward daily use, and the 100 monthly credits cover bursts of work.
  • Team-wide shared pool: Credits are shared across unlimited users for a flat team price, not per seat.
  • Two-layer billing: Credits pay for AI interactions, and cloud infrastructure is metered separately.

Build This with Dodo Payments

You can build Lovable’s hybrid model with Dodo Payments credit entitlements and usage-based meters.
1

Create a Custom Unit Credit Entitlement

In your Dodo Payments dashboard, go to Products → Credits and create the message credit. This credit holds the monthly pool.
  • Credit Type: Custom Unit
  • Unit Name: “Messages”
  • Precision: 0
  • Credit Expiry: 60 days (matches Lovable’s two-month expiry for monthly credits)
  • Allow Overage: Disabled
Dodo Payments doesn’t block usage when a balance reaches zero. To enforce a hard cap, check the balance in your application before you accept a message.
2

Create Subscription Products

Create your plans and attach the credit to the paid ones. Your application handles the Free plan’s daily bonus.
  • Free: $0/mo, 0 credits (daily bonus handled by app logic)
  • Pro: $25/mo, 100 credits/cycle, attach credit entitlement
  • Business: $50/mo, 100 credits/cycle, attach credit entitlement
3

Create a Usage Meter for Cloud + AI

Lovable bills cloud infrastructure separately from messages. Create a meter to track it.
  • Event name: cloud.compute_seconds
  • Aggregation: Sum, with compute_seconds as the Over Property
Add this meter to your subscription products with a price per unit. Dodo Payments calculates the charge from the usage you send. This snippet reuses the client from the previous step.
4

Implement Daily Bonus Credits (Application Logic)

Your application handles the daily bonus drip. Reset a daily counter with a scheduled job, and spend bonus credits before the Dodo Payments balance.Bonus messages use a separate event name, ai.message.bonus, that no credit-linked meter uses. They’re recorded for analytics without deducting from the monthly pool.
5

Send Usage Events for Messages

Track each AI message as a usage event. Create a Count meter for the ai.message event, toggle Bill usage in Credits on it, select the “Messages” credit, and set Meter units per credit to 1.
6

Handle Webhooks for Low Balance

Notify users when their credits run low so they can top up or upgrade.

Accelerate with the LLM Ingestion Blueprint

The LLM Ingestion Blueprint wraps your AI client and sends a usage event for every call.
Each event also carries inputTokens, outputTokens, totalTokens, and model in its metadata. See the full blueprint documentation for more details on automatic tracking.

Architecture Overview

The sequence below shows one message: the app spends the daily bonus first, then the Dodo Payments credit balance, and meters cloud usage separately.

Key Dodo Features Used

These Dodo Payments features power the implementation:

Credit-Based Billing

Manage message credits and shared team pools.

Subscriptions

Set up recurring plans for Pro and Business tiers.

Usage-Based Billing

Meter cloud infrastructure usage separately from AI credits.

Event Ingestion

Send high-volume message and compute events to Dodo Payments.

Webhooks

Automate notifications for low credit balances.

LLM Ingestion Blueprint

Simplify AI usage tracking with pre-built integrations.
Last modified on September 26, 2026