Cost pages / Community / forum
How much does it cost to build a community / forum with AI?
About $66 to $268, end to end, depending on which builder you point at it. Bolt.new comes out cheapest at $66 of tokens; Cursor + Claude is the expensive end at about $268 all-in. That is a community / forum with 4 standard features, built by someone who iterates two or three times per feature — the ×2.5 iteration tax and the +40% debug surcharge are already in these numbers.
Posts, threads, profiles, moderation. Priced as a standard build.
Adjust the numbers →HOWMUCHTOVIBECODE.COM
* YOUR ESTIMATE *
builder profile: normal human
~3 mo on Bolt.new Pro ($25/mo)
ALL PLATFORMS
✂ CHEAPEST: BOLT.NEW
Tokens are complexity-priced, and debugging loops are the killer — users have burned 2M+ tokens in a day fixing one bug. Prices verified 2026-08-10.
THANK YOU FOR VIBING
Community / forum cost by platform
Midpoint of each estimate, in the platform’s own billing unit and in dollars. “Months” is how long the spend takes to clear at the reference plan’s monthly allowance.
| Platform | Native units | Dollars | Months | Receipt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lovable | 319 cr | ≈ $80 | ~4 on Pro ($25/mo) | Lovable → |
| Bolt.newcheapest | 26.4M tk | ≈ $66 | ~3 on Pro ($25/mo) | Bolt.new → |
| Replit Agent | $177 | ≈ $177 | ~8 on Core ($25/mo) | Replit Agent → |
| v0 by Vercel | $185 | ≈ $185 | ~10 on Premium ($20/mo) | v0 by Vercel → |
| Cursor + Claude | $128 | ≈ $128+ $20/mo × 7 mo ≈ $268 all-in | ~7 on Pro + API ($20/mo) | Cursor + Claude → |
| Claude Code | $152 | ≈ $152 | ~4 on Pro ($20/mo) | Claude Code → |
Read the full receipt
One page per platform: the line items, the plan you’d need, the gotcha that eats the budget, and whether something cheaper does the same job.
Estimate ±40%, verified 2026-08-10. Prices change — see the changelog.