JOYLO VS EMERGENT
Joylo or Emergent.
Which AI app builder is right for you?
If you're building it yourself, Emergent turns your idea into a website, web app or phone app, free to start. If customers will pay for it, Joylo is the better fit. When an Emergent build gets stuck on Free, Standard or Pro, help comes from Emmy, another AI, plus email and Discord. On Joylo, one of its own engineers steps into your project. Buy the hours Joylo recommends, and a written Production Guarantee says Joylo gets you live and pays any overrun. Conditions and exclusions apply.
THE SHORT ANSWER. FOUR DIFFERENCES THAT MATTER.
What's the difference between Joylo and Emergent?
- When the AI gets stuck, Joylo sends a person.Click "Engage an Expert" and a certified, in-house Joylo engineer works in your project, with a first response within 24 hours. Help costs $500 for 10 hours. Every Emergent plan gets Emmy, its AI assistant, plus email and Discord, and Pro adds priority support. Its help pages say higher tiers may include engineers, but give no price.
- A written promise to get you live, once the work is agreed.Joylo's Production Guarantee starts once Joylo has assessed the work and you buy the engineering hours it recommends. After that, launch is Joylo's job. If its estimate was too low, Joylo pays for the extra engineering. Conditions and exclusions apply. Emergent publishes no launch guarantee, and its Enterprise service-level agreement has no published terms.
- Pro gives Emergent's AI more room to think.On Pro, Emergent adds a bigger AI memory (a 1M context window), Ultra thinking and custom AI agents you create. Its Pro-only Maxx mode lets the agents reason deeper and change several files at once without stopping for your approval. That uses more credits. Joylo lets you pick the AI model, and Power mode checks and fixes its own code.
- More than 100 services plug into Emergent.Emergent lists over 100 integrations and MCP connections (links for AI tools), from Stripe, Razorpay and PayPal to Twilio, SendGrid and Shopify. You can even use Emergent as a tool inside Claude Desktop or Cursor. Joylo's built-in list is nine connectors, among them Stripe, Figma, Gmail, Outlook and email by SMTP. For anything else, you add your own keys to a project.
TWO BUILDERS. TWO DIFFERENT JOBS.
What is each builder made for?
Joylo is made for founders, small businesses and small teams whose app has to work for paying customers. When it breaks, you can bring in an engineer. Emergent is made for people who would rather build it themselves. Its Standard plan is pitched at first-time builders, and Pro at creators and brands.
Joylo
Joylo starts the way most AI builders do. You describe the app in plain English, and you get a working web app with sign-in, a database and payments. What changes is what happens next. If your app breaks at 2am and the AI can't fix it, a Joylo engineer takes over. Agree the work, buy the hours Joylo recommends, and Joylo guarantees the launch in writing. Conditions and exclusions apply.
Emergent
Everything starts in one chat. You describe the idea, talk it through in Plan mode if you like, and Emergent's agents build it and run tests as they go. Sign-in, a MongoDB database and Stripe payments come built in. On a paid plan, you can put a web app live or send a phone app to the App Store and Google Play. It suits a hands-on builder who is happy to fix things with the AI.
How does Joylo pricing compare to Emergent?
Starting out, Emergent is the cheaper pick. You pay $20 a month for Standard when billed monthly, and $17 a month when you pay for the year. Joylo's Solo Builder is $25 a month, and Joylo has a Free plan too, plus a $1 Trial for the first month. The two split as you spend more. Emergent's Pro plan costs $200 a month, billed monthly, for 750 credits a month, a bigger AI memory and Ultra thinking. Joylo's Co-Build adds engineer time instead, at $3,000 to $6,000 a month for 40 to 160 hours.
What does each Joylo plan include?
Every Joylo plan comes with app ownership and the AI Confidence Score, and every paid plan adds export to GitHub, version control and a custom domain. You run Free, the Trial, Solo Builder and Starter yourself, and Starter is where a team workspace begins. Co-Build hands the work to a named Joylo engineer for 40, 80 or 160 hours a month. Limits for each plan sit in the table below.
| Free | Trial | Solo Builder | Starter | Co-Build 40 | Co-Build 80 | Co-Build 160 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $1 first month, then $25 | $25 | $50 | $3,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| AI credits | 30 first month, then 10 / month | 100 (first month) | 100 / month | 250 / month | 400 / month | 800 / month | 1,600 / month |
| Apps | 3 public | 10 private | 10 private | Unlimited private | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 1 GB | 5 GB | 5 GB | 10 GB | As Starter | As Starter | As Starter |
| Custom domains | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Team workspace | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Team members | Just you | Just you | Just you | Unlimited, no seat fee | Unlimited, no seat fee | Unlimited, no seat fee | Unlimited, no seat fee |
| Roles and basic analytics | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Engineering hours | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | 40 / month | 80 / month | 160 / month |
| Engineer response | 24 hours (Expert Assist) | 24 hours (Expert Assist) | 24 hours (Expert Assist) | 24 hours (Expert Assist) | 4 business hours | 4 business hours | 2 business hours |
| Production Support | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | Advanced included | Advanced included | Advanced included |
If you build on your own, start with Solo Builder at $25 a month. Move to Starter at $50 once other people need to work in the app with you. Co-Build is a different purchase, because a named engineer builds the app for you.
- Team members. Unlimited and free, with no per-seat charge, in a team workspace. A team workspace comes with Starter ($50 a month) and the Co-Build plans. Free, Trial and Solo Builder are single-user plans.
- Every plan includes app ownership and the AI Confidence Score. Every paid plan, from the $1 Trial up, adds export to GitHub, version control, credit top-ups, removing the Joylo badge and free standard migration.
- The Free plan has no expiry date. The $1 Trial gives you Solo Builder for your first month, then renews at $25. There is no annual billing. All plans are monthly.
- Co-Build 160 adds a dedicated developer, a part-time business analyst, executive reporting and custom integrations.
What do the engineer plans cost, and what do you get?
Engineer help starts with Expert Assist, an add-on on any plan. One block of help is $500 for 10 hours, and the first response comes within 24 hours. For more, Co-Build puts a named engineer on your app for 40, 80 or 160 hours a month. Emergent publishes neither option. Its paid help is priority support on Pro and up, so the table below is Joylo only.
| Expert Assist | Co-Build 40 | Co-Build 80 | Co-Build 160 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $500 for 10 architect hours | $3,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Engineering hours | Hours are bought in blocks of 10. Self-serve plans can use up to 20 hours a month | 40 / month | 80 / month | 160 / month |
| How it works | Choose "Engage an Expert" inside your project. A Joylo engineer works in your project to fix an issue, finish a feature or help you launch | A named Joylo engineer builds the app for you. You meet 30 minutes, three times a week | ||
| First response | Within 24 hours | 4 business hours | 4 business hours | 2 business hours |
| AI credits included | Your plan's credits | 400 / month | 800 / month | 1,600 / month |
| Production Support | $299 or $999 a month | Advanced included | Advanced included | Advanced included |
| Extra engineering | $500 for 10 architect hours | Fixed $500 blocks | ||
| Also included | Chat with the engineer inside the project, follow tasks on a board and see the hours logged | No extras listed | No extras listed | A dedicated developer, a part-time business analyst, executive reporting and custom integrations |
| Written guarantee | Buy the engineering hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope, and Joylo guarantees that scope goes live. Joylo pays for any overrun. Conditions and exclusions apply | |||
Work out how many hours your app needs before you pick. Expert Assist is capped at 20 hours a month on the self-serve plans. If you need more, Co-Build gives you 40, 80 or 160 hours a month, a faster first response and three 30-minute meetings a week.
What does each Emergent plan include?
Free, Standard and Pro carry a published price, and every Emergent plan gets Emmy, email support and the Discord community. Standard costs $20 a month billed monthly or $17 a month billed yearly. Pro costs $200 a month billed monthly or $167 a month billed yearly. Business and Enterprise are priced after a demo. The table below lists what each plan adds.
| Free | Standard | Pro | Business | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $20 | $200 | Custom, book a demo | Custom, book a demo |
| Yearly price | Not applicable | $17 a month, saves $36 | $167 a month, saves $396 | Custom | Custom |
| AI credits | 10 | 100 / month | 750 / month | Not listed | Not listed |
| Publish a live app | No. A free front-end-only app may qualify | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Keeping an app live | Not applicable | A fixed monthly credit fee for each live app, from 50 to 1,100 credits | |||
| Custom domains | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Save to GitHub | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Phone app builds for the App Store and Google Play | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1M context window, Ultra thinking, System Prompt Edit | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Community | Standard | Priority | Priority | Priority SLA and support |
| Shared team workspaces, role-based access, real-time co-editing | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs, user groups, apps in your own cloud, self-hosted database | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes |
| Human engineer | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed. Onboarding, training and a priority SLA |
| Refund | Not applicable | The help pages offer a prorated refund of unused monthly credits, but the terms of service say no partial refunds. Top-up credits are non-refundable | |||
As you move up, Emergent's plans add credits and AI power, and team features arrive with Business. Joylo's higher plans add engineer hours. That shows who each one is built for.
What do the add-ons and services cost?
On Joylo, most add-ons bring in an engineer. You can book an engineer through Expert Assist or pay from $299 a month for Production Support. For a complex move, our engineers do the work for a fixed $2,000. Emergent sells extra credits instead, in one-time packs from 250 credits for $50 to 10,000 or more for $2,000. Credits you buy this way never expire, but they can't be refunded. The table below compares each service side by side.
| Service | Joylo | Emergent |
|---|---|---|
| Expert Assist | $500 for 10 architect hours. First response within 24 hours. | Not published |
| Standard migration | Free on every paid plan, from the $1 Trial up. | Import code from GitHub or a public link when you start a new project |
| Complex migration | $2,000 fixed price. You buy it, our engineers do the work. No charge if it doesn't work. | Not published |
| Production Support, Essential | $299 a month. 24/7 automated monitoring, next-business-day engineer response. | Not published. Priority support comes with Pro |
| Production Support, Advanced | $999 a month. Adds security patching, monthly restore tests and 4-hour engineer response. | Not published. Enterprise lists a priority SLA and support |
| Extra live apps on Production Support | $199 per app per month, beyond 3 apps. | Each live app has its own monthly credit fee, from 50 to 1,100 credits |
| Extra Co-Build engineering | Fixed $500 blocks. | Not published |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing. | Custom, book a demo. Audit logs, a priority SLA, user groups and apps in your own cloud |
Most of Joylo's add-ons buy an engineer's time, while Emergent's extras buy more credits. If you want someone watching your app after launch, read the Production Support rows.
How do Joylo and Emergent compare at a glance?
Where Joylo pulls ahead is help when you're stuck. It has its own engineers and a written guarantee once you agree the work and buy the hours it recommends. Conditions and exclusions apply. You can also export to your own GitHub on every paid plan, with changes flowing both ways. Emergent is easier to start with, thanks to cheaper yearly prices and more AI power on Pro. The 20 rows below show both sides.
| Feature | Joylo | Emergent |
|---|---|---|
| Access to a human engineer | Yes. Joylo's own engineers, from inside your project | No published service. The help pages say higher-tier plans may include engineers, with no price or details |
| Written guarantee | Production Guarantee: buy the hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope and Joylo gets it live, paying any overrun. Conditions and exclusions apply | Not published. Enterprise lists a priority SLA |
| Starting price | Free at $0, or $1 for the first month on the Trial. Paid plans from $25 a month. | Free at $0, or Standard at $20 a month |
| Paid plans | Solo Builder $25, Starter $50, Co-Build $3,000 / $4,000 / $6,000 a month | Standard $20, Pro $200 a month, billed monthly. Business and Enterprise priced on request |
| Free plan | Yes, $0, with 30 AI credits in the first month, then 10 a month, and 3 public apps | Yes, $0 with 10 credits. Publishing usually needs a paid plan |
| Billing | Monthly, fixed price, no long-term contract, 30-day money-back on paid plans | Monthly or annual (annual saves $36 on Standard and $396 on Pro), cancel any time. The help pages and the terms of service disagree on refunds |
| How usage is charged | AI credits for building, changing and publishing. Hosting for live apps is covered by your monthly renewal. No separate hosting bill. | AI credits for building, testing and publishing. Each live app also costs a fixed monthly credit fee, from 50 credits. |
| Builds | Full-stack web apps; design-only screens; mobile apps built with Expo, published to the App Store and Google Play | Websites, full-stack web apps, landing pages and mobile apps built with Expo, published to the App Store and Google Play |
| Built in | Sign-in, Postgres database, Stripe payments, file storage, AI key for your app | Sign-in, MongoDB database, Stripe and Razorpay payments, 5 GB file storage, AI key for your app paid in credits |
| Hosting and domains | No separate hosting bill. Published apps always on and a custom domain on all paid plans. Free-plan apps sleep when idle | Hosting paid in credits, from 50 a month for each live app. Custom domains on Standard and up |
| Team members | Unlimited, no seat fee, on Starter and Co-Build | Invite admins and members to a project, and they use the owner's credits. Shared team workspaces on Business |
| Code ownership | You own the full app on every plan | You own the code Emergent writes, under its terms of service |
| Code export | Export to your own GitHub on every paid plan, from the $1 Trial up, with two-way sync | Push to your own GitHub on Standard and up. No two-way sync |
| Tech stack | React, Node, Postgres. No proprietary runtime. | React, Node.js or FastAPI, and a MongoDB database. Mobile apps use Expo |
| Who the engineers are | HST Solutions, Dublin, since 2007. HST is certified to ISO 27001 and ISO 22301. | Not published. Emergent is made by Emergent Labs Inc |
| Engineer price | $500 for 10 hours (Expert Assist), or 40–160 hours a month on Co-Build | Not published |
| Engineer response | Within 24 hours (Expert Assist); 4 or 2 business hours (Co-Build) | Not published. Support email usually replies within one business day |
| Engineer hours | 9am to 5pm GMT, Monday to Friday | An AI assistant, email and Discord support. Hours for people not published |
| Migration in | Free standard migration on paid plans; $2,000 fixed price for complex moves, done by our engineers | Import code from GitHub or a public link at the start of a new project |
| App check | AI Confidence Score on every plan | Not published. The help pages give a checklist you run yourself before publishing |
Want help when something breaks? Read the engineer lines first. If you want the lowest price to start, look at the free plan and billing lines, because that's where Emergent wins.
STUCK? BRING IN AN ENGINEER.
What happens when your app gets stuck?
An app your revenue depends on cannot run on a prompt box alone. APIs change. Payment gateways break at 2am. Every fix the AI makes can add new bugs. That is the moment most builders leave you to find a freelancer. Joylo's answer is a certified in-house engineer, inside your project within 24 hours, backed by a written Production Guarantee: buy the hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope, and Joylo takes responsibility for getting it live. If the estimate runs over, Joylo pays the difference. Conditions and exclusions apply. To start, choose "Engage an Expert" inside your project.
- Launch is guaranteed, in writing.Buy the engineering hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope, and Joylo guarantees that scope goes live. Joylo pays for any overrun. Conditions and exclusions apply.
- Who they are.Joylo's engineers are its own in-house team, not freelancers. Joylo's engineers come from a team that builds software for regulated businesses, such as fund groups, banks and insurers.
- You stay in control.Engineers see your code only after you approve access. Nothing merges without your approval. Chat with the engineer inside the project, follow tasks on a board and see the hours logged.
- What it costs.$500 for 10 architect hours. Hours are bought in blocks of 10. Self-serve plans can use up to 20 hours a month.
- Rather not build it yourself?A named Joylo engineer builds the app for you: 40, 80 or 160 hours a month. You meet 30 minutes, three times a week.
CODE YOU OWN. TAKE IT ANYWHERE.
Who owns the code you build?
Both builders say the code is yours. On Joylo, you can export it to your own GitHub on every paid plan, from the $1 Trial up, and changes flow both ways after that. Emergent's terms give you ownership too, but Save to GitHub starts on Standard, its first paid plan. It only sends code out, and changes made in GitHub don't come back.
Joylo
- Ownership. You own the full application on every plan. No lock-in.
- The code. React front end, Node API and a Postgres database. No proprietary runtime or client SDK. Any developer can pick it up.
- Hosting. It runs on AWS, Azure, GCP or your own servers.
- Export. On paid plans, from the $1 Trial up, push the project to a new or existing GitHub repository, private or public. After export, changes sync both ways, with help resolving conflicts.
- Moving in. Import from Lovable, Replit, Bolt or your own GitHub repository. Standard migration is free on paid plans. Complex migration: $2,000 fixed price. You buy it, our engineers do the work. No charge if it doesn't work.
Emergent
- Ownership. Emergent's terms say you keep ownership of the code, data and files you create, including the code its AI writes.
- The code. React, Node.js or FastAPI, and a MongoDB database. You can view and edit the code inside Emergent on every plan.
- Hosting. Push the code to GitHub and host it with any provider you choose. Apps you publish on Emergent cost a monthly credit fee.
- Export. Save to GitHub on Standard and up. Secrets and database records aren't included, and the database is exported separately.
- Moving in. Import code from GitHub or a public link when you start a new project. There's no sync after that.
How do Joylo and Emergent compare feature by feature?
Most of the basics match. Each one builds from a chat, can plan before it builds, adds sign-in, a database and Stripe payments, and publishes web and phone apps. Joylo adds its own engineers and an app check that scores each build out of 100. Its Production Guarantee starts once you agree the work and buy the hours Joylo recommends. Conditions and exclusions apply. Emergent goes further on AI and connections. Pro gives it a bigger AI memory and lets you create your own AI agents. It also takes Razorpay payments as well as Stripe, and links to more than 100 other services. The table below sorts every feature by the job you want done.
| Feature | What Joylo does | Emergent |
|---|---|---|
| Build with AI | ||
| Describe it in plain English | Type or speak what you want. You can attach images or files as a reference. | Yes, by chat, and you can attach screenshots or files |
| Plan first, or build straight away | In Plan mode Joylo shows its plan and waits for your approval. In Build mode it goes ahead. | Yes, Plan mode and Build mode |
| Three kinds of project | App: a full working web app. Design: screens only, which can be turned into an app later. Mobile: a phone app. | Full Stack App, Mobile App, Landing Page or Brainstorm |
| Choice of AI model | Pick which AI model does the work. | Pick an agent tier (E1, E2 or E3) and a separate AI model. Maxx mode, on Pro, thinks harder and uses more credits |
| Power mode | The AI reviews its own code, runs visual tests and fixes what it finds. | The agents run tests, including visual scans, before you publish |
| Built-in backend | ||
| Database | Each app gets its own Postgres database, set up automatically. | A MongoDB database for each app, set up automatically |
| Sign-in | Joylo Sign-in adds Google and GitHub login to your app without you setting up a login provider. | Emergent Auth: email and password, Google sign-in and phone codes. Auth0, Clerk or Firebase Auth also work |
| Payments | Connect your own Stripe account to a project. Joylo then builds the payment flows. | Stripe and Razorpay built in, with guides for Paystack and PayPal |
| Storage | Space for your apps' files: 1 GB on Free, 5 GB on Trial and Solo Builder, 10 GB on Starter. | 5 GB of file storage. Uploaded files can't be deleted |
| AI inside your app | A Universal AI Key lets the apps you build call AI models without your own AI provider account. | The Universal LLM Key calls GPT, Claude or Gemini, paid from your credits |
| Your own keys | Add your own API keys and settings to a project. | Yes, a Secrets tab for each app |
| Preview and mobile | ||
| Live preview | See the app running in your browser as it is built. | Yes, a live preview link you can share |
| Mobile app preview | Mobile projects are built with Expo. Scan a QR code with the Expo Go app to open the app on your phone. | Mobile apps are built with Expo. Scan a QR code to open the app in Expo Go |
| Publish to the App Store or Google Play | Mobile apps are published to the App Store and Google Play through Expo. | Yes, through Emergent's own build service on a paid plan. You need your own Apple and Google developer accounts |
| Sleep when idle | While you are building, an unused preview goes to sleep. Published apps on paid plans stay on. Free-plan apps sleep when idle. | The preview sleeps after 30 minutes. Live apps with little traffic can be slow to wake up |
| Editing | ||
| Change it by chat | Ask for changes in plain English, one message at a time. | Yes |
| Visual editor | Click an element in the preview and edit it in a side panel. | Canvas edit: click an element, then describe the change in chat |
| Code editor and terminal | Browse and edit the files, and use a terminal, in the browser. | A VS Code view with a terminal in the workspace, on every plan |
| Use your own editor | Connect VS Code or Cursor to the project over SSH. | Not published |
| Figma import | Paste a Figma link, or use the Joylo plugin, and Joylo builds from the design. | Not published |
| App check (AI Confidence Score) | Scores the app out of 100 across security, reliability, integrations, scalability and code quality, and lists what to review. | Not published. A pre-publish checklist in the help pages, which you run yourself |
| SEO and AI search check | Reviews your pages for search and AI-search issues, then fixes them with AI. | An Enable SEO switch, so search engines see the full page |
| Publish and hosting | ||
| Publish to a live web address | Publish in a few clicks to a Joylo web address. | Yes, at yourapp.emergent.host, on Standard and up |
| Custom domain | On paid plans, point your own domain at a published app. You buy the domain from a registrar. | Yes, on Standard and up |
| Hosting included | Hosting is included in your plan, not a separate bill. Publishing uses credits upfront, from about 58 credits, and your monthly renewal covers hosting for apps already live. Published apps on paid plans are always on. | Each live app costs a fixed monthly credit fee, from 50 to 1,100 credits. US or EU hosting, and the EU costs more |
| Live apps stay live | Hosting for a live app is covered by your monthly renewal. If you run out of credits mid-month, new builds pause until your reset or an optional top-up, but live apps keep running. | A live app stays up only while your credits cover its monthly fee |
| Remove the Joylo badge | Hide the Joylo badge on your app, on paid plans. | Not published |
| Team workspace | ||
| Team workspace | A shared space for projects, members, billing and credits. Starter and Co-Build | Shared team workspaces on Business |
| Unlimited members, no seat fee | Invite people by email. There is no member limit and no per-seat charge. Starter and Co-Build | Any number of admins and members on a project. Everyone uses the owner's credits |
| Roles | Owner, Admin, Editor or Viewer for each member. Starter and Co-Build | Owner, Admin and Member, with Viewer on Enterprise. Role-based access listed on Business |
| Require two-step login | The workspace owner can require two-factor authentication for every member. Starter and Co-Build | Yes, on Enterprise. On other plans, two-step login comes from your Google or Apple account |
| Share a project | Share a link to a project or its preview. | Yes, share the preview link |
| Code ownership and export | ||
| You own the app | You own the full application on every plan. | Yes. Emergent's terms say you own the code, data and files you create |
| Standard stack | React front end, Node API and a Postgres database. No proprietary runtime or client SDK. | React, Node.js or FastAPI, and a MongoDB database. Mobile apps use Expo |
| Export to GitHub | On paid plans, push the project to a new or existing GitHub repository, private or public. | Save to GitHub on Standard and up. There's no download button |
| Two-way GitHub sync | After export, changes sync both ways, with help resolving conflicts. | Not available. Import works only when you start a new project |
| Bring an app from elsewhere | Import from Lovable, Replit, Bolt or your own GitHub repository. Standard migration is free on paid plans. | Import code from GitHub or a public link at the start of a new project |
| Integrations (connectors) | ||
| Connectors | Stripe (payments), Joylo Sign-in (login), Universal AI Key (AI in your app), GitHub, Figma, Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, email by SMTP. | 100+ integrations and MCP connections, including Stripe, Twilio, Resend, SendGrid and Shopify |
| Human engineers | ||
| Expert Assist | Choose "Engage an Expert" inside your project. A Joylo engineer works in your project to fix an issue, finish a feature or help you launch. Add-on on any plan | Not published. The help pages say higher-tier plans may include engineers, with no details |
| Fixed price | $500 for 10 architect hours. Hours are bought in blocks of 10. Self-serve plans can use up to 20 hours a month. | Not published |
| Response time and hours | First response within 24 hours. Engineers work 9am to 5pm GMT, Monday to Friday. | An AI assistant in the app, email support that usually replies within one business day, and a Discord community |
| Work you can see | Chat with the engineer inside the project, follow tasks on a board and see the hours logged. | Not published |
| Approval before access | Engineers see your code only after you approve access. Nothing merges without your approval. Published policy | Not published |
| Co-Build | A named Joylo engineer builds the app for you: 40, 80 or 160 hours a month. You meet 30 minutes, three times a week. | Not published |
| Production Support | 24/7 automated monitoring, with engineers acting during business hours. $299 or $999 a month. Add-on | Not published. Priority support on Pro, a priority SLA on Enterprise |
| Production Guarantee | Buy the engineering hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope, and Joylo guarantees that scope goes live. Joylo pays for any overrun. Conditions and exclusions apply. Written terms | Not published |
| Billing and credits | ||
| Fixed monthly price | Each plan has a fixed monthly price. Billing is monthly only. No long-term contract. | Monthly or annual. Annual saves $36 on Standard and $396 on Pro |
| AI credits | Credits pay for building, changing and publishing. The monthly allowance resets each month. Unused monthly credits do not roll over. | Monthly credits reset each billing cycle and don't roll over. Top-up credits never expire |
| Top-ups | Buy more credits at any time on a paid plan. | 250 credits for $50, up to 10,000+ credits for $2,000 |
| Free plan and Trial | Free plan at $0, with 30 AI credits in the first month and 10 a month after that. Or the Trial: $1 for the first month with 100 credits, then it renews as Solo Builder at $25 a month. | No priced trial. The Free plan costs nothing and comes with 10 credits |
| Promo codes | Enter a promo code at checkout. | Not published. Emergent runs a referral and affiliate program |
| Money-back guarantee | Paid plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee. | Not published. The help pages offer prorated refunds, but the terms of service say no partial refunds |
| Security | ||
| Two-factor login | Add an authenticator app to your Joylo account. | Through your Google or Apple account |
| Sign in with Google, GitHub or Microsoft | Use an existing account to log in to Joylo. | Email, Google or Apple. Single sign-on on higher plans |
| Role-based access | Roles control what each team member can do. Starter and Co-Build | Listed on Business |
| GDPR | GDPR-ready. A data processing agreement is available on request. EU-only hosting is available on request. | A data processing agreement is part of the terms. EU-only data hosting isn't self-serve |
| Certifications | GDPR-ready. Engineering by HST Solutions, which holds ISO 27001 and ISO 22301. | SOC 2 Type I and ISO 27001 (Emergent's stated claim) |
| What Emergent offers that Joylo doesn't | ||
| Bigger AI memory and deeper thinking (1M context window, Ultra thinking) | Not published | Yes, on Pro and up |
| Payments for India and Africa (Razorpay, Paystack) | Not published | Yes, Razorpay built in and a Paystack guide |
| Audit logs | Not published | Enterprise |
| No AI training on your personal data | Not published | Its data processing agreement says personal data isn't used, but its terms of service let Emergent use your content to train AI |
| Annual billing | All plans are monthly | Yes, and it saves $36 on Standard and $396 on Pro |
Emergent comes out ahead on yearly prices, payments for India and Africa and its own security certifications. Joylo wins on the human engineer rows and leaving with your code on every paid plan. You're choosing between a lower starting price and an engineer you can reach when your app breaks.
Which one is
right for you?
Choose Emergent if you want to build it all yourself and keep early costs low. For an app that paying customers rely on, Joylo is the better fit. Both will get you to a working demo. After that, Emergent's help is Emmy, email and Discord, with save points to undo a bad change. Joylo sends its own engineers. Agree the work and buy the hours it recommends, and Joylo guarantees in writing that your app goes live. Conditions and exclusions apply.
Joylo
Choose Joylo if
- Your revenue will depend on this app. APIs change and payment gateways break. When the prompt box starts adding bugs instead of fixing them, a certified Joylo engineer steps into your repo within 24 hours. No freelancer marketplace, no agency quote.
- You want someone accountable for launch, in writing. Buy the hours Joylo recommends for an agreed scope and Joylo guarantees that scope goes live. If the estimate runs over, Joylo pays the difference. Conditions and exclusions apply.
- You are a non-technical founder who wants a real app with logins, data and payments, not a prototype.
- You want to own your code: a standard React, Node and Postgres app you can export to your GitHub and host anywhere.
- You are stuck on another builder and want the app moved across and finished.
- You would rather not build it yourself and want a named engineer doing the work (Co-Build).
Not the best fit for
- Round-the-clock human support. Engineers work UK business hours. Out of hours there is automated monitoring only, unless you agree an Enterprise arrangement.
- Long-term hobby use. Paid plans start at $25 a month.
- A team on the $25 plan. Team workspaces start at Starter, $50 a month.
- Annual billing. All plans are monthly.
- Building mainly by drag and drop. Joylo is chat-first. The visual editor is for small changes.
Start with the page written for you:First-time foundersFixing a half-finished appSmall teams
Emergent
Emergent is right for you if:
- You want to pay less by the year. Standard drops from $20 to $17 a month when you pay yearly. On Joylo, all plans are monthly.
- Your company wants a builder with its own security certifications. Emergent says it is SOC 2 Type I and ISO 27001 certified, with audit logs and single sign-on on its top plans.
- You'd rather do all the building yourself with the AI. Emergent's agents plan, build, test and publish from one chat, and save points let you undo a change that broke something.
Emergent is not for you if:
- You want an engineer to step in when your app gets stuck. Emergent offers an AI assistant, email support and a Discord community, and publishes no price for engineer time.
- You want to keep editing in GitHub and bring the changes back. Emergent's Save to GitHub only sends code out, and imports happen only when you start a new project.
- You need your live app to stay up if your credits run out. On Emergent, a live app stays up only while your credits cover its monthly fee.
Each builder suits a different job. Pick the one whose list sounds most like you.
Fair questions.
Straight answers.
The practical details before you choose.
What will I pay for Emergent, monthly or yearly?
$20 a month for Standard and $200 for Pro, on monthly billing. Paying yearly lowers them to $17 and $167 a month. There's also a Free plan, and Business and Enterprise are priced after a demo. Emergent's homepage quotes $250 a month for teams, but its pricing page lists no such plan. On Joylo, Solo Builder is $25 and Starter is $50 a month, billed monthly only.
Does Emergent really build an app in minutes?
A first version, yes. Its main promise is "Describe your idea, Emergent builds it in minutes." Putting it live takes longer. The first publish takes around 15 minutes and usually needs a paid plan. After that, each live app costs 50 to 1,100 credits a month. Joylo also builds from a chat, and lets you bring in an engineer when the AI gets stuck.
Is Emergent a good fit for a first-time builder?
It is, if you're happy to do the building yourself. Emergent pitches its Standard plan at first-time builders and Pro at creators and brands. You can start free, talk an idea through in Plan mode and build web or phone apps. If you'd rather hand the hard parts to a person, Joylo lets a certified, in-house engineer step into your project.
What is Maxx mode on Emergent?
It's a Pro-only setting that lets Emergent's agents think deeper and work longer on their own. In Maxx mode, they can change several files at once and keep going without waiting for your approval at each step. It uses a lot more credits. Joylo's nearest feature is Power mode, where the AI reviews its own code, runs visual tests and fixes what it finds.
Who helps me when Emergent's AI gets stuck?
Emmy, Emergent's AI assistant, helps first, backed by a Discord community and email that usually gets a reply within one business day. Pro adds priority support. Its help pages say higher tiers may include engineers, with no price or details. On Joylo, choose "Engage an Expert" and a certified, in-house engineer works in your project, with a first response within 24 hours.
Will Joylo promise in writing to get my app live?
Yes, once Joylo has assessed the work and you buy the engineering hours it recommends. That's when the Production Guarantee begins. Getting that work live is then Joylo's job, and Joylo pays any extra engineering cost if its own estimate was too low. Conditions and exclusions apply. Emergent doesn't publish a launch guarantee, and its Enterprise plan gives no terms for its priority service-level agreement.
How do I bring an Emergent project into Joylo?
Save it to your own GitHub from Emergent, then import it into Joylo. Emergent's Save to GitHub works on Standard and up, and Joylo imports from Lovable, Replit, Bolt or your own GitHub. Free standard migration covers apps from Lovable, Replit or Bolt. For a complex move, our engineers do the work for a fixed $2,000, with no charge if it doesn't work.
Who owns the code Emergent writes for me?
You do. Emergent's terms say you keep ownership of the code, data and files you create. Save to GitHub sends it to your own account on Standard or above, and every plan lets you copy files from the code view. There's no download button, and changes made in GitHub don't flow back. On Joylo, you own your app and can export it to your own GitHub on every paid plan, with changes flowing both ways.
Start building.
With a guarantee it goes live.
Describe your app and see what you can build. Guarantee conditions and exclusions apply.
Prices in USD, excluding VAT. Engineers work 9am to 5pm GMT, Monday to Friday. Prices can change, so check each pricing page before you buy.