Is Windmill a self-hosted alternative to Lovable?

For internal software, yes. Windmill is open source (AGPLv3 core) and runs entirely on your own infrastructure with Docker or Kubernetes: the editor, the AI sessions, the workers and the database. Lovable documents that its platform, the editor and the AI agent, is a managed service that cannot be self-hosted or deployed inside a customer VPC. Apps built with Lovable can be exported and hosted elsewhere, but building them happens on Lovable.

Can business teams build apps with AI on Windmill like they do with Lovable?

Yes. AI sessions build scripts, flows and full-code apps from a prompt, with a live preview, in a workspace or a fork of it. Lovable is more polished for building a standalone web app, a landing page or a SaaS prototype from a blank prompt. Windmill is built for internal software that sits on top of the workflows, data and permissions engineers already run, with changes reviewed before they reach production.

How does review before production compare?

On Windmill, protection rulesets (Enterprise) can block direct deployment, so changes built in a fork or dev workspace reach production only when an engineer reviews the diff and deploys it, or merges a Git pull request. On Lovable Enterprise, workspace policies can require approval before publishing in specific cases, such as external publishing, apps that use connectors or unresolved PII findings, and a quick security scan runs on every publish.

Which AI models does each platform use?

Windmill uses the providers you configure: OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, DeepSeek, Gemini, AWS Bedrock, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as a local Ollama server. Lovable chooses the model behind its build, plan and chat modes, so builders cannot pick one. On Lovable Free and Pro, customer data may be used to train Lovable models unless the account opts out; Business and Enterprise workspaces are excluded by default.

Can I move an app from Lovable to Windmill?

Lovable apps are TypeScript projects you can sync to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket, so the React frontend can become a Windmill full-code app and the edge functions can be rewritten as Windmill scripts. The Supabase-based backend maps to Windmill data tables or your own Postgres, and its database data and storage files have to be exported separately.

How does pricing compare?

Lovable is priced by credits rather than seats: Pro starts at $25/month for 100 credits and Business at $50/month for 100 credits, with SSO and role-based access on Business, and SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise. Windmill is free to self-host with up to 10 SSO users and 3 workspaces, with public per-seat and compute-based Enterprise pricing on the pricing page.

Windmill

Windmill cloud

OSS

Windmill vs Lovable

Eight questions teams ask when choosing where business teams build internal software with AI, with an honest answer on each one.

Try Windmill cloud Self-host in 3 mins

The 8 questions

01What you can buildWhich solution fits for your specific use case
02TargetWho the platform is built for
03Build experienceHow you build on each platform
04IntegrationsHow the platform integrates with your existing stack
05Migration & lock-inHow hard to get in, how hard to get out
06Enterprise requirementsReview, audit logs, security, where code runs
07Licensing & pricingOpen source, pricing, self-hosting
08VerdictThe verdict

Windmill in one sentence

An open-source, self-hostable code-first platform for workflows, apps and AI agents, where business teams build with AI and engineers review, promote and run what ships on their own infrastructure, alongside scripts, workflows and data pipelines written in code.

Lovable in one sentence

A managed, proprietary platform to build web apps with an AI agent: describe an app, Lovable writes a TypeScript project on a Supabase-based backend and hosts it, with exportable code and enterprise governance on its higher tiers.

01 · What you can build

Which internal software can you build and orchestrate?

Windmill centralizes scripts, workflows, data pipelines, full-code apps, AI agents and operator UIs on a single runtime, with shared resources, auth and observability. Lovable builds and hosts complete web apps from a prompt, internal or public, on a Supabase-based backend with scheduled jobs and edge functions. There is no workflow engine, so multi-step automations, pipelines and agents live inside each app's own code.

Primitive	Windmill	Lovable
Apps built from a prompt Describe an internal tool and let AI build the frontend, backend and data access
Full-code internal apps Custom dashboards and admin tools built in React or Svelte
Workflows Chain steps into flows with branching, retries, suspends and approval steps
Scripts Standalone functions exposed as APIs, webhooks or cron jobs with an auto-generated UI		Edge functions
Data pipelines ETL, syncs and scheduled data jobs with parallel branches
AI agents with tool calling Agents that call tools, branch on outputs and run as workflow steps		In app code
Scheduled tasks Cron jobs with retries, error handling and alerting
Event triggers Kafka, Postgres CDC, SQS, MQTT, NATS, email and webhook triggers on any runnable		Webhooks via edge functions

02 · Target

Who is each platform built for?

Windmill puts business teams and engineers on one platform engineers control, so AI-built software runs next to engineered workflows under the same review. Lovable is built for anyone to create web apps with its agent, internal or public, with governance added on the higher tiers.

Windmill

Lovable

Primary audience

Windmill

Engineering and platform teams who run internal software in production, and the business teams who build on the same platform with AI. Engineers own the platform: code, Git, local dev, review, workers and infrastructure.

Lovable

Anyone building web applications in natural language. Lovable lists SaaS products, internal tools, dashboards, CRMs, client portals, company websites and landing pages, and offers an enterprise tier for "a governed environment to build AI-generated applications at scale".

How business teams and engineers work together

Windmill

In the same workspaces. Business teams build in AI sessions in the UI, engineers write code locally and sync it with Git, and both go through the same fork, review and promotion flow. What the AI builds can call the scripts and flows engineers already maintain.

Lovable

Workspace members share projects with owner, admin, editor, viewer and collaborator roles. Engineers can sync a project to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket and work on the code, or take it out of Lovable to host it themselves.

03 · Build experience

How do you build on each platform?

Both build apps from a prompt. Lovable is the more polished way to go from an idea to a standalone web app. Windmill builds with AI inside the workspace engineers already run, so the result is versioned, reviewable and works the same from the UI or a local IDE.

Windmill

Lovable

Building with AI

Windmill

AI sessions build scripts, flows and full-code apps from a prompt, with a live preview, plan mode and a diff of every change. Each session can run in its own workspace fork. Skills, MCP servers and instructions are scoped by folder and workspace.

Lovable

Lovable's agent builds full-stack apps from a prompt, with build, plan and chat modes, drafts that work like branches, and automatic version history with revert. This is Lovable's core product and it is polished for going from an idea to a working app.

Local dev & IDE

Windmill

Engineers work locally with the CLI, the VS Code extension and coding agents such as Claude Code against real source files, and sync the workspace with Git. Scripts, flows and apps are files in the repo.

Lovable

Building happens in Lovable's web editor. Git sync with GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket is on every plan, and code download is on Pro and above, so engineers can edit the generated project in their own tools.

Stack

Windmill

Scripts in TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, SQL, PowerShell, PHP, Rust, C#, Java and more, with automatic dependency resolution, and full-code apps in React or Svelte backed by those scripts and flows.

Lovable

TypeScript web apps (TanStack Start for new projects, React and Vite for older ones) on a backend built on Supabase: Postgres, auth, storage, edge functions and scheduled jobs.

Git & CI

Windmill

Scripts, flows, apps, resources, schedules and permissions are files in Git, deployed with the CLI and Git sync Enterprise only beyond 2 users, with pull requests and CI tests.

Lovable

Projects sync to a Git repository on every plan. Commit attribution is on Business and above, and Enterprise can connect to GitHub Enterprise Server.

04 · Integrations

How does the platform integrate with your existing stack?

Lovable ships managed connectors for common SaaS tools. Windmill runs in your network, so private databases and internal APIs are reachable without exposing them.

Windmill

Lovable

Connecting out

Windmill

Any npm, PyPI, Go or Maven package is a first-class import, and typed resources hold credentials for databases and SaaS, scoped by folder. The AI uses the resources the person building can read, and can call MCP servers you connect.

Lovable

50+ connectors (Slack, Stripe, Notion, HubSpot, Google Workspace, AWS S3 and more), MCP servers, custom REST connectors and calls to any API from the app's code.

Receiving events

Windmill

Native triggers for HTTP, schedules, Kafka, Postgres CDC, SQS, MQTT, NATS, email and WebSocket, attachable to any script or flow without glue code.

Lovable

Edge functions handle webhooks and background work, and jobs run on a schedule. Other event sources are handled in the app's code.

Private systems

Windmill

Workers run in your network, so they reach private databases and internal APIs directly, and worker groups can sit in different networks per environment.

Lovable

Lovable documents no VPC peering or private endpoints. Enterprise workspaces can use static egress IPs, shared Lovable infrastructure, for custom MCP servers.

05 · Migration & lock-in

How hard to get in, and how hard to get out?

Lock-in is low on both sides for code. Lovable apps export as standard projects on a Supabase backend, and Windmill workspaces export as plain files. The hosting and managed services are what you replace when leaving either.

Windmill

Lovable

Getting in

Windmill

Existing scripts and SQL paste into the script editor and get a UI and an API. A Lovable app synced to Git can become a full-code app, with its edge functions rewritten as scripts.

Lovable

Fast for new apps: a prompt and an account, with a free tier of daily credits.

Getting out

Windmill

Scripts are standard code and the CLI exports the whole workspace as plain files. What you leave behind is the runtime, not your code.

Lovable

Apps can be deployed to Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, AWS or your own servers, and the backend can move to managed or self-hosted Supabase. Database data and storage files are exported separately.

06 · Enterprise requirements

Review, audit logs, security and where code runs

Both offer SSO, audit logs and SOC 2 on their upper tiers. Windmill adds review and promotion between separate environments, and runs code and models where you choose. Lovable adds publishing approvals and scans on Enterprise, on infrastructure and models it manages.

Windmill

Lovable

Review before production

Windmill

Protection rulesets Enterprise only block direct deployment, so changes built in a fork or dev workspace reach production only when an engineer reviews the diff and deploys it, or merges a Git pull request.

Lovable

Workspace policies Enterprise only can require approval before publishing for external publishing, apps using connectors, unresolved PII findings and more, decided by admins in an action center. A quick security scan runs on every publish.

Environments

Windmill

Dev and prod workspaces with their own credentials and API keys, promoted through Compare & Deploy or Git. Workspace-specific values are never overwritten by a promotion.

Lovable

Drafts branch a project, and Lovable documents that a draft uses the project's real data. Its docs do not describe separate dev, staging and production environments.

Where code and models run

Windmill

Everything runs on your infrastructure, on workers you assign per team or environment, with process isolation available. The AI calls the model providers you configure, including local models.

Lovable

The editor, agent and default hosting are managed by Lovable. Lovable chooses the models, EU inference is Enterprise only, and data from Free and Pro accounts may be used for model training unless the account opts out.

Audit logs & access

Windmill

Workspace roles, folder permissions and SSO for up to 10 users on every edition. Full audit logs, SAML, SCIM and custom roles are Enterprise only. SOC 2 Type II.

Lovable

Roles on every plan, with role-based access and SSO on Business, and SCIM and audit logs Enterprise only. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001; not HIPAA compliant.

07 · Licensing & pricing

Open source, pricing, and self-hosting?

Windmill is open source and self-hostable without a sales conversation. Lovable is a managed product priced by AI usage credits.

Windmill

Lovable

License & self-hosting

Windmill

AGPLv3 core, free to self-host with Docker or Kubernetes. Enterprise features ship in a separate proprietary codebase. Managed cloud also available.

Lovable

Proprietary and managed: the editor and agent cannot be self-hosted. Generated apps use open-source frameworks and can be hosted elsewhere once exported.

Pricing

Windmill

Free self-hosted with up to 10 SSO users and 3 workspaces. Enterprise is priced per seat and compute, published on the pricing page. Members who only run what others built count as half a seat.

Lovable

Priced by credits, with unlimited members: Pro from $25/month and Business from $50/month for 100 credits, scaling with credit volume. Enterprise is custom pricing.

08 · Verdict

The verdict

Lovable and Windmill both let people build software with AI. Lovable is a managed product built around its agent: the fastest path from an idea to a web app, internal or public, with exportable code and governance controls on its higher tiers.

Windmill is built for internal software that has to live next to production systems. Business teams build in the same workspaces as engineers, changes are reviewed and promoted between environments, and everything runs on your own infrastructure with the models you choose. The same platform runs the workflows, data pipelines and AI agents engineers write in code, so what business teams build can reuse them instead of re-implementing them in each app.

If your teams mostly need standalone web apps and a managed service is acceptable, Lovable gets them there quickly. If the apps must reach private systems, go through review, or run on infrastructure you control, Windmill is built for that. The fastest way to judge is to spend an afternoon in each.

Frequently asked questions

: For internal software, yes. Windmill is open source (AGPLv3 core) and runs entirely on your own infrastructure with Docker or Kubernetes: the editor, the AI sessions, the workers and the database. Lovable documents that its platform, the editor and the AI agent, is a managed service that cannot be self-hosted or deployed inside a customer VPC. Apps built with Lovable can be exported and hosted elsewhere, but building them happens on Lovable.
: Yes. AI sessions build scripts, flows and full-code apps from a prompt, with a live preview, in a workspace or a fork of it. Lovable is more polished for building a standalone web app, a landing page or a SaaS prototype from a blank prompt. Windmill is built for internal software that sits on top of the workflows, data and permissions engineers already run, with changes reviewed before they reach production.
: On Windmill, protection rulesets (Enterprise) can block direct deployment, so changes built in a fork or dev workspace reach production only when an engineer reviews the diff and deploys it, or merges a Git pull request. On Lovable Enterprise, workspace policies can require approval before publishing in specific cases, such as external publishing, apps that use connectors or unresolved PII findings, and a quick security scan runs on every publish.
: Windmill uses the providers you configure: OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, DeepSeek, Gemini, AWS Bedrock, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as a local Ollama server. Lovable chooses the model behind its build, plan and chat modes, so builders cannot pick one. On Lovable Free and Pro, customer data may be used to train Lovable models unless the account opts out; Business and Enterprise workspaces are excluded by default.
: Lovable apps are TypeScript projects you can sync to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket, so the React frontend can become a Windmill full-code app and the edge functions can be rewritten as Windmill scripts. The Supabase-based backend maps to Windmill data tables or your own Postgres, and its database data and storage files have to be exported separately.
: Lovable is priced by credits rather than seats: Pro starts at $25/month for 100 credits and Business at $50/month for 100 credits, with SSO and role-based access on Business, and SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise. Windmill is free to self-host with up to 10 SSO users and 3 workspaces, with public per-seat and compute-based Enterprise pricing on the pricing page.

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