Lovable Hits $500M in Annualized Revenue, Adds 1 Million New Projects Weekly

Europe’s fast-growing AI coding startup, Lovable, has surpassed $500 million in annualized revenue run rate. Lovable last discussed its revenue in February, when the company said it crossed $400 million. In August 2024, Lovable said it could hit $1 billion in annualized revenue within 12 months.

It may not be on track to double that figure by summer, but it is still reporting jaw-dropping growth; the company, founded in late 2023, hasn’t yet hit its three-year anniversary. The company also claims it has been used to build over 50 million projects and says usage has accelerated to one million new projects a week. According to a survey of those projects that run on the company’s blog, Lovable says its users are primarily non-technical, yet are increasingly building software they intend to monetize or use in their businesses.

Its users are founders, designers, and salespeople building websites and e-commerce storefronts, as well as internal tools like CRMs, inventory systems, and HR platforms, the company says. That list tells a story. AI coding platforms have been seen as a threat to legacy SaaS software.

Why buy expensive annual contracts when you can just code it yourself? Lovable’s survey appears to offer some data that this is indeed happening. Of course, Lovable — therefore most of the projects built on it — isn’t old enough to answer the harder question about coded software: will such an approach prove short-lived?

That’s because it’s not the initial building part that’s the problem — it’s the maintaining part. Software operates almost like a living organism: even well-written, well-designed code that isn’t AI slop runs atop an ever-shifting stack of dependencies, third-party services, and infrastructure — all of which is constantly being updated, which means end-user software is always breaking. That’s why so many companies choose to buy instead of build.

They want others to be responsible for keeping it running. We’ll have to see if Lovable and other coders will transparently report abandoned projects as their platforms mature — aka the not-as-flattering stuff. If those abandonment rates are low, that will be the true indication that the so-called SaaSpocalypse is here and here to stay.

Why this matters: Lovable's remarkable growth signals a shift in the software development landscape, as non-technical users increasingly turn to AI coding platforms. This trend poses a threat to traditional SaaS providers, who may struggle to compete with the flexibility and affordability of self-built solutions. As Lovable and similar platforms mature, it will be crucial to monitor project abandonment rates and the long-term viability of coded software.

If Lovable can maintain low abandonment rates, it could validate the SaaS disruption narrative. For developers and businesses, this means adapting to a new reality where AI-driven coding platforms are increasingly viable alternatives to traditional software. The implications are far-reaching, with potential consequences for the future of software development, maintenance, and monetization.