Compared with the alternatives
Two columns decide it. Does an AI build the app for you? Does the result run on infrastructure you own? Every tool below has one of the two. This one has both.
Last updated 2026-09-05
| Tool | AI builds the app | Runs on infrastructure you own | How you pay for AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lovable | Yes | No — Lovable Cloud | Credits |
| Bolt.new | Yes | No — their cloud | Tokens |
| Replit | Yes | No — Replit's infrastructure | Usage-based, effort-billed |
| v0 | Yes | No — Vercel | Credits |
| Dyad | Yes, locally | Nothing runs — you deploy it yourself | Free, your own key |
| Coolify / Dokploy | No builder | Yes — your VPS | Free, open source |
| my-app.engineer | Yes | Yes — your own Kubernetes cluster, your nodes | Flat plan · your own key on Pro |
Competitor columns describe each product's standard hosted offering as publicly documented at the time of writing. If one is out of date, tell us at hello@my-app.engineer and we will correct it.
Versus the AI builders (Lovable, Bolt, Replit, v0)
These are excellent at the first half: you describe, they build. The app then runs on their cloud, and you pay for the AI in credits or tokens whose exchange rate you do not set. Moving the result elsewhere is your problem.
Here the app is deployed into a Kubernetes namespace you can read with kubectl, backed by git repos you can clone, on a plan that is a flat €19 with a visible message allowance — or your own key and no allowance. If you want to leave, everything is already in standard formats.
Versus local builders (Dyad)
Dyad runs the builder on your machine with your own key, which is a real kind of ownership. What it does not give you is hosting: when the code is written, deploying and running it is still on you. my-app.engineer takes the app from "written" to "live on a cluster that is yours" in the same conversation.
Versus self-hosting PaaS (Coolify, Dokploy)
These are the honest way to own your infrastructure today: a control panel on a VPS you rent, deploying containers you already have. There is no AI builder, and the "cluster" is one machine. my-app.engineer is Kubernetes with a control plane per account, one-click tools, nodes you can add from home, and the agents that write the app in the first place.
What we do not claim
- We are not cheaper than every free tool. Coolify on a €5 VPS is €5.
- We do not run a public status page yet. Maintenance is announced by email.
- Managed cloud clusters (EKS, AKS, GKE) cannot be brought in yet — Bring an existing app lists what can.