Zeltro › Zeltro compared to AI app builders and local dev tools
How Zeltro compares
Where the code runs, whose model builds it, and what you hold afterwards — Zeltro next to Lovable, Bolt, Hercules, Base44, Emergent, Dyad, DDEV and Lando, scored on facts rather than opinions.
Comparison charts are usually written to make one product win. This one is scored on things you can go and verify: who supplies the model, where the app runs, what lands on your machine, and whether you get a live URL at the end.
Who supplies the model
Where the app runs
What lands on your machine
Whether you get a live URL
Zeltro loses a column below. That is deliberate — a chart that only flatters its author is not worth reading.
The chart#
| Tool | Builds from a prompt | Whose model | Runs on | Languages | Live URL | What you hold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zeltro | Yes | Yours — 7 agents, any endpoint, or local | Your machine | PHP, Python, Node | No | Everything, from the first command |
| Dyad | Yes | Yours (bring your own key) | Your machine | JavaScript | No | Full code |
| Lovable | Yes | Theirs, bundled | Their cloud | JavaScript | Yes | React app via GitHub sync or download; backend stays in Lovable Cloud |
| Bolt.new | Yes | Theirs, bundled | Browser / their cloud | JavaScript | Yes | Zip or GitHub; database stays in Bolt Cloud |
| Hercules | Yes | Theirs, bundled | Their cloud | JavaScript | Yes | Code download on Pro; backend managed by Hercules |
| Emergent | Yes | Theirs, bundled | Their cloud, or self-host | JS + Python | Yes | Full codebase; repo in your GitHub on paid tiers |
| Base44 | Yes | Theirs, bundled | Their servers | JavaScript | Yes | Front end on paid plans; backend stays on their SDK |
| Relume | Design only | Theirs | Their cloud | — | No | React + Tailwind components, or HTML |
| DDEV | No | — | Your machine | PHP, Node | No | Everything, per project |
| Lando | No | — | Your machine | Many | No | Everything, per project |
Two columns carry most of the meaning.
Whose model
Hosted builders bundle the model into their pricing, so your bill scales with how much you prompt them. Zeltro and Dyad both let you bring your own, which means an existing Claude or ChatGPT subscription does the work, or a cheap OpenRouter model does, or Ollama does it for nothing.
What you hold
This is where the differences get real, and where they are easy to check yourself before committing to anything.
For what each of them costs, in dollars and tokens, see the cost comparison, or put in your own numbers in the savings calculator.
Where the code lives#
The phrase "you own your code" is used by nearly everyone in this category and means noticeably different things.
Zeltro and Dyad
The project is a directory on your disk from the first command. There is nothing to export because nothing was ever held anywhere else.
Bolt.new and Lovable
A genuine export of the code. Bolt gives you a zip or a GitHub repo; Lovable syncs to a GitHub repo you own or lets you download the codebase on a paid plan. The front end runs with npm install && npm run dev. The backend is the catch: both now default to a database in their own cloud (Bolt Cloud, Lovable Cloud), and that does not come with the download. See the Lovable and Bolt.new pages for what their docs say about running locally, and the step-by-step guides to moving a Lovable app to Zeltro and running a Bolt.new project locally.
Hercules
Code and a database snapshot download on Pro and above, but it has no local development and no support for self-hosting, and its backend, sign-in and payments are Hercules services. More on Hercules.
Emergent
Exports a full codebase (React or Next, Expo for mobile, FastAPI or Node behind it, MongoDB), and on the Standard plan and up the repository lives in your own GitHub account. Running an Emergent app locally.
Replit and v0
Both export a real codebase, Replit as a zip or through GitHub, v0 through GitHub. Secrets and databases stay behind. Step by step: run a Replit project locally and run a v0 project locally.
Base44
The one to read carefully. Code export is a paid-plan feature, and what exports is the front end; the backend continues to call Base44's SDK against their servers. Running the download on your own machine gives you screens that load and buttons that do not, until you rebuild the backend somewhere else. What self-hosting a Base44 app takes.
None of this makes Base44 a bad product — it is a hosted platform and it is upfront that hosting is what it does. It matters only if your plan is to leave one day. Check the export terms of anything before you build something you care about on it.
What to know before you switch#
Zeltro does not host your appIt gives you a running app on your own machine; Lovable, Bolt, Hercules, Base44 and Emergent hand you a public link in one go. The flip side is that nothing about your app is locked to their platform. When you want it live, use any host, or I will do it for you: your domain, your server, kept running.
It runs on DockerYou do not have to learn it. The desktop app manages every project. Windows gets a normal installer, and Mac installs with one command.
You will be using a coding agent directlyClaude Code or another agent does the building, in plain English, the way a builder's chat does. If that is new, start with Claude Code for beginners or vibe coding for beginners.
A single small React page barely needs any of thisA Bolt export runs with npm install && npm run dev. Zeltro starts paying off at the second project, or the first database, and most projects get there quickly.
Why it is the better home for your projects#
You build in PHP or Python
Laravel, Django, FastAPI, WordPress and October CMS are first-class. Most of this category is JavaScript-only.
You have a lot of projects
One MariaDB, one Postgres, one Redis, one Mongo shared across all of them, each project reachable at its own assigned address. Ten projects do not mean ten database containers or ten ports to remember.
You want to choose the model
Including a local one, if the code should not leave the building.
You already got burned by lock-in
If you are reading this after trying to get a project out of something, the structural answer is a tool where the export problem cannot arise.
It costs nothing to try
Free for personal use, no account, no credits. Install Zeltro.
Questions
Is Zeltro an AI app builder or a local development environment?
Both, and they reinforce each other. zeltro create "<idea>" scaffolds a project
from plain English and hands it to an AI agent — that is the app-builder half.
The environment half is what makes it work: the agent gets a container with the
runtime, database and networking already set up, so it writes your app instead of
inventing infrastructure.
How does it compare to Dyad?
Dyad is the closest thing in spirit — local, open source, bring your own key, and considerably more established. The practical differences are language and scope: Dyad is TypeScript and builds JavaScript apps, while Zeltro covers PHP, Python and Node; and Dyad is focused on building an app, while Zeltro also manages every other project on the machine and can install 200+ ready-made open-source apps.
Do I need to pay for an AI subscription?
You need some model, but you have options. Claude Code, Codex and Antigravity sign in with accounts you may already pay for. Qwen Code or Aider through OpenRouter costs a fraction of a frontier model. Aider pointed at Ollama runs entirely on your own hardware for nothing.
Can I move a project out of Zeltro later?
There is nothing to move out of. A Zeltro project is an ordinary directory with an ordinary framework in it — a Laravel app is just a Laravel app. Delete Zeltro and the code is still there and still runs anywhere that framework runs.
Does Zeltro host my site?
No. It is a local development environment; deployment is a separate concern and a separate tool. If you need hosting, that is what a host like a VPS, a platform, or one of the hosted builders above is for.
Try Zeltro on your own computer
Free for personal use, with no account. Build with the AI you already pay for, and keep the app, its data and its code on your own machine.
Install Zeltro Why bring your own key
Rather not set it up yourself? I’ll do it for you.
Checked 2026-09-28. Other products change often — if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets fixed.