Orchids
You know that app idea you had three beers deep last Friday? Orchids might actually be able to build it for free. It’s a "text-to-site" generator that gives you a massive 100,000 AI tokens every single day on the house—enough to spin up a working prototype before you even sober up.
🎨 What It Actually Does
Orchids calls itself an "AI Full-Stack Engineer," which is a fancy way of saying it doesn't just make pretty pictures of websites—it writes the actual code that makes them work.
- Vibe Coding: You type natural language (e.g., "Make a dark-mode to-do list that saves to a database"), and it writes the frontend, backend, and database logic instantly. – No more stitching together random tutorials.
- Live Preview: As it writes code, a window shows you the app running in real-time. – You catch errors instantly instead of waiting until the end.
- Database Integration: It automatically sets up a database (like Supabase) for your project. – Your app can actually remember users and data, rather than resetting every time you refresh the page.
- Mobile Export: It can supposedly bundle your web app into something that works on iOS/Android. – Saves you from learning Swift or Kotlin just to test an idea on your phone.
The Real Cost (Free vs. Paid)
Here is where the rubber meets the road. The free tier is generous with usage (tokens), but stingy with ownership. If you want a professional site with your own .com and the ability to download the code to your own computer, you have to pay up.
| Plan | Cost | Key Limits/Perks |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100,000 Daily Tokens (reset daily), 1 Live Project, Subdomain only (orchids.app/you). |
| Pro | $25/mo | 2M Monthly Tokens, 10 Live Projects, Code Export, Custom Domains. |
The Catch: The biggest "gotcha" on the free plan is Lock-in. You can build it and host it on their URL, but one search result indicates "Codebase Download" is a Pro feature. This means your app lives and dies inside Orchids unless you upgrade.
How It Stacks Up
- Vs. Lovable: Lovable is the current darling for "text-to-full-stack" apps. Orchids competes aggressively on price (Lovable’s free tier is often more restrictive on "runs" or credits). However, Lovable’s code quality is slightly more polished for complex logic.
- Vs. Bolt.new: Bolt runs entirely in your browser and is incredible for quick experiments. Orchids feels more like a dedicated "IDE" (Integrated Development Environment) with better built-in database handling.
- Vs. v0 (Vercel): v0 is the king of User Interface (making things look good). Orchids is better if you need the backend (making things actually work, like logging in or saving data).
The Verdict
Orchids represents a shift from "coding" to "directing." We are rapidly approaching a moment where the barrier to building software isn't knowing JavaScript—it's having a clear idea and the patience to explain it.
If you are a non-coder with a vision, this is currently one of the best ways to get that vision out of your head and onto a screen without spending a dime. Just remember: until you pay that $25, you are renting the factory, not owning it.
