Lovable
From $21/monthPro, $250 billed yearly; $25 monthly; free plan available
- Strength: Generates web apps from a chat, so the first version comes together fast.
- Trade-off: Pro is $21/month billed yearly, $25 monthly.
Job guide
Apps & MVPs with AI app builders
What buyers wantFounders and small teams want an app or web app they can demo and launch — often a minimal first version to test the idea.
Four numbersLast 7 days · updated hourly · last update 10-04 11:04 (Beijing time)
- Job posts, last 7 days
- 158posts
- Overseas 156 · China 2
- Median budget
- $500
- USD fixed-price · 53 posts, last 4 weeks
- Median bids
- 74bids
- Per post · 161 posts with bid counts
- How much AI can do
- AI does most, a person checks
- First take, rechecked Oct 15
Where AI fits: AI generates the interface and most of the code quickly. Changing requirements, app store review and maintenance after launch are on you.
Market
Market for this job
5 sub-categories combined; a post that fits several counts once
Trend
Job posts per week (weeks start Monday, Beijing time), both markets
| Week | Total | Overseas | China | Days with data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| week of 2026-09-21 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| week of 2026-09-28 | 158 | 156 | 2 | 7 |
- Last full week
- 158posts · 09-28 to 10-04
Job posts per week, Monday to Sunday (Beijing time), both markets. Lighter bars are partial weeks (this week so far, or weeks with days missing). Hover a bar for the split by market.
Sub-categories
By job posts in the last 7 days. Category pages are in Chinese for now.
Budgets
median $500
- Hourly (USD)
- $25/hourmedian · 20 posts
- Other currencies (not converted)
- 89 postsINR 65 · EUR 15 · GBP 5 · AUD 3
- Listing prices (Etsy / eBay services)
- $77median · 18 listings, last 30 days
Budgets are what the posts state: USD uses the upper end of fixed-price budgets (Freelancer uses brackets, so percentiles often land on $30, $250 or $750); CNY uses the stated budget. Neither is the final deal price. Last 4 weeks of posts; fewer than 3 posts means no percentiles; other currencies are counted, not converted.
China vs overseas
| Metric | Overseas99% of last 7 days | China1% of last 7 days |
|---|---|---|
| Job posts, last 7 days | 156 posts | 2 posts |
| Job posts, since 09-27 | 161 posts | 3 posts |
| Median budget | $500USD · 53 posts | n/afewer than 3 posts with a budget in 4 weeks |
| Median bids per post | 74161 posts with bid counts | n/aonly Freelancer shows bid counts |
| New listings, last 7 days | 2 postsSince 09-27: 2 | 1 postsSince 09-27: 1 |
| Median listing price | $7718 Etsy / eBay service listings | n/anone in 30 days |
| Posts that mention AI | positive 7% · negative 1%164 posts, last 4 weeks | —4 posts in 4 weeks; we need 10 for a share |
Positive = the buyer wants AI output, names an AI tool or accepts AI; negative = says no AI (posts that say both count as negative). Job posts only. Listings = service listings first seen that day (Etsy / eBay service listings only); freelancers who sell privately don't show up here.
Tools
Tools you need
Three levels: get the essentials first, add the next level as work grows, use the optional ones when a client asks
Essentials
Enough to start taking work
Cursor
$20/monthfree plan available (Hobby)
- Strength: AI code editor for taking over and changing generated code.
- Trade-off: The paid individual plan is $20/month.
Supabase
From $25/monthfree plan: 2 projects, paused after 1 week idle
- Strength: Login, database and file storage ready to use; the free plan is enough for a first version.
- Trade-off: Free projects are paused after 1 week of inactivity.
Level up
Add when you have more work
FlutterFlow
From $39/monthfree plan: 2 projects, no source code download
- Strength: Build mobile apps with drag and drop.
- Trade-off: The free plan can't download the source code.
Bubble
From $29/monthweb-only plan, billed yearly; $32 monthly; free plan can't go live
- Strength: Build web apps without code.
- Trade-off: Apps on the free plan can't go live.
Firebase
Pay as you gofree Spark plan, no card needed
- Strength: A backend for your app; the free plan needs no card.
- Trade-off: Beyond the free quota, you pay for what you use.
Optional
Use when a client asks
Vercel
Free (non-commercial)Pro $20/month
- Strength: One-click front-end deployment.
- Trade-off: The free plan is for personal, non-commercial use only.
Prices and partner terms come from each vendor's official pricing pages (check dates on each card) and change over time. Prices may vary by region, and tax may be added at checkout; the official page is always the final word. “Price not verified” means we haven't checked the pricing page yet. Links go through our redirect page: “Affiliate” means we may earn a commission; “Has an affiliate program” means we don't have a link yet.
Where to find work
Where to find this work
Posts for this job we collected in the last 28 days: Freelancer 161, Eleduck (电鸭社区) 5, Himalayas 3, freelancermap 3, X 2, Shixian (实现网) 2. We only count platforms we collect from; a missing platform doesn't mean there is no demand there.
| Name | What it is | Fees | Best for | Go |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upwork | One of the largest general freelance marketplaces — send proposals for fixed-price or hourly work | 0%–15%varies by contract, shown when you send a proposal | Good English · longer projects | Go → |
| Freelancer | Bid on projects with public budget ranges; many of the job posts we track come from here; 161 of these posts here in the last 28 days | 10% or $5, whichever is higherhourly projects 10% per payment | Good for first jobs | Go → |
| Fiverr | Package your service as fixed-price gigs; buyers order directly | 20%sellers keep 80%; withdraw 14 days after completion | Can package a service | Go → |
Platform fees, payouts and getting your first order: see Platforms (in Chinese)
Get started
Get started
Four general steps: pick tools → make samples → list a service or bid → let AI draft, check by hand
Pick your tools
Use a chat-based app builder for the first version, keep working on it in an AI code editor, and use ready-made services for login and the database. Before you start, check whether you can export the source code.
Build a clickable demo
Build a small app people can click through (bookings, expense tracking, to-do lists and the like) and add a one-minute screen recording of it to your portfolio.
List a service or bid
Price by feature list. State which version counts as finished, how changed requirements are charged, and who pays for app store and server costs.
Let AI draft, check by hand
AI generates the code; you test every feature, especially login and data permissions. Hand over the source code and deployment notes.
Updated 2026-10-04 11:04 (Beijing time) · data up to 10:48 · demand numbers aggregate public job posts, not completed deals; tool prices and partner terms follow the official pages.