Playas vs. The Rest: Why We Don't Charge for AI
An honest comparison of Playas against v0, Bolt, Lovable, and Galileo AI — and why the BYOAI model wins.
The Elephant in Every AI Tool's Pricing Page
Every AI design tool has the same dirty secret buried in their pricing: you're paying for someone else's API call.
v0 charges credits. Bolt charges tokens. Lovable charges generations. Galileo charges per design. Different names, same game: they're calling OpenAI or Anthropic on your behalf and marking it up 5-10x.
Meanwhile, you're already paying $20/month for Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus. You already have access to the best AI models in the world. These tools are charging you again for access you already bought.
Playas doesn't do this. And that single difference changes everything.
The Competitive Landscape
v0.dev
What they do: Generate React/Tailwind components from text prompts. Great engineering, polished output.
The catch: It's code, not a visual canvas. Designers and PMs can't use it. You're locked into React/Tailwind/shadcn. And you're paying for their AI credits on top of Vercel's platform.
Playas difference: Visual canvas anyone can use. Not locked to any framework. And you use your own AI — no credits to buy.
Bolt / Lovable
What they do: Full-stack app generation from prompts. Impressive for scaffolding entire applications.
The catch: They burn through tokens fast. A complex app can eat $50+ in a single session. They pick the AI model for you. And when you hit your plan's token limit, you're done for the month.
Playas difference: Your AI, your subscription, your limits. Generate as many designs as your AI plan allows. We never throttle you because we never touch your tokens.
Galileo AI
What they do: Beautiful one-shot design generation. The visual quality is impressive.
The catch: Limited iteration. Generate, get a design, and... that's mostly it. Want to refine just the header? Regenerate everything. Single AI provider, single workflow, single price tier that includes AI costs.
Playas difference: Full iterative conversation through your AI. Generate, refine, refine again. Reference specific nodes. And because you're using your own Claude or ChatGPT, you get the conversational context that makes iteration natural.
The Price Comparison That Matters
Here's what you actually pay per month:
| | AI Design Tool | AI Subscription | Total Monthly Cost | |---|---|---|---| | v0.dev | $20/mo (Pro) | Included (locked) | $20/mo | | Bolt | $20-50/mo | Included (locked) | $20-50/mo | | Lovable | $25/mo | Included (locked) | $25/mo | | Galileo | $20/mo | Included (locked) | $20/mo | | Playas | $9/mo | Your existing sub ($0 extra) | $9/mo |
The math is simple. You're already paying for Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus for coding, writing, and everything else. Playas lets you use that same subscription for design. Your AI cost for Playas is effectively $0.
Every other tool forces you to pay for AI twice — once in their subscription and once in your existing AI subscription that sits unused while you're designing.
Why BYOAI Wins on Every Dimension
No Token Anxiety
With token-based tools, every prompt has a cost. You hesitate. "Should I try a different layout or save my credits?" That hesitation kills creativity.
With Playas, your AI subscription is unlimited (or has its own generous limits). Iterate freely. Try five different approaches. Regenerate the whole thing. Your Playas bill doesn't change.
No Provider Lock-in
v0 uses OpenAI. Bolt uses Anthropic. They chose for you. If a better model launches on a different provider, tough luck.
Playas works with any MCP-compatible AI. Claude today, GPT tomorrow, Gemini next week. The tool doesn't care — it speaks MCP, the universal protocol. When the next breakthrough model launches, it works with Playas on day one.
Your Context, Your Conversation
Here's something competitors can't match: when you use your own AI, the conversation has full context. Your Claude knows about your project because you've been discussing it. Your ChatGPT understands your brand guidelines because you uploaded them yesterday.
With wrapped-API tools, every session starts from zero. The AI knows nothing about you beyond the current prompt. You lose the most powerful feature of modern AI: persistent context.
Predictable Billing
AI-wrapped tools have unpredictable costs. Heavy usage month? Surprise $80 bill. Playas is $9/month, period. Your AI costs are whatever you're already paying for your AI subscription — which you'd pay regardless of whether you use Playas.
The Future Is Obvious
Every SaaS that wraps an AI API and charges a markup is building on borrowed time. Users are getting smarter. They see the arbitrage. They know that "500 AI credits" is just "$2 of API calls sold for $20."
The tools that win will be the ones that provide genuine value beyond the AI call itself — the canvas, the rendering, the collaboration, the export pipeline. The ones that say "bring your AI, we'll provide the best possible tool for it to work with."
That's Playas. The first AI-native design tool that doesn't charge you for AI.
Try the Difference
Connect your Claude or ChatGPT to Playas via MCP. Describe a UI. Watch it appear on a real canvas with responsive breakpoints, CSS properties, and Figma export.
Then check your bill. $9. No token charges. No credit packs. No surprises.
Your AI. Your canvas. Your design.