Bolt.new vs Continue
Pricing
Bolt.new: Free tier, Pro from $20/mo
Continue: Free (open source), no longer maintained since June 2026
Description
Bolt.new: Build full-stack web apps in your browser by describing what you want, no local setup needed
Continue: Open-source AI assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. Cursor acquired it in June 2026 and the project is now read-only
Pros
- Zero setup: open a browser tab and start building
- Live preview updates as the AI writes code
- Supports React, Next.js, Astro, and more out of the box
- The final 2.0 release still installs for free from the VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX and npm
- Works with your own API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini and others) or local models through Ollama and LM Studio
- The code stays available under the Apache 2.0 license, so anyone can fork it
Cons
- Free tier token limits mean you hit walls mid-project
- Browser-based means no access to native tools, local databases, or heavy computation
- Generated code can be messy and hard to maintain long-term
- No longer maintained: no bug fixes, security patches or support for new models
- Hosted accounts and sign-in were retired after the acquisition
- Requires setup: picking a model, getting API keys, configuring the tool
Details
Bolt.new runs a full Node.js environment inside your browser using WebContainers. You describe what you want to build, it writes the code, and you see a live preview instantly. No installing Node, no terminal, no VS Code, just a browser tab.
This is genuinely useful for prototyping. You can go from “I need a landing page with a waitlist form” to a working app in minutes. But the limitations show up when you try to build something complex: the free tier token limits are tight, and the generated code sometimes needs cleanup before it is production-ready. Think of it as a rapid prototyping tool, not a replacement for a real development setup.
Continue was the “bring your own model” approach to AI coding: a free, open-source extension for VS Code and JetBrains, plus a CLI, that connected to the LLM of your choice, from cloud APIs like Claude to local models through Ollama. You got autocomplete, chat and inline editing without a subscription.
In June 2026 Cursor acquired Continue. The team shipped a final 2.0 release on 19 June 2026, retired hosted accounts and sign-in, and made the GitHub repository read-only. The extensions still install and run with your own keys, but nothing will be fixed or updated. For the same free, model-agnostic setup with active development, use Cline inside VS Code, or Aider or Claude Code in the terminal.
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