Vibe coding 2.0 - ⚒️What Actually Works After Testing 10 Ideas to Products
(Haven't read my first edition where I initially explored AI coding tools? Check out my previous post to get the full context!)
After spending another 3 weeks diving deeper into these tools, I've gathered more insights and learnings to share:
Could I build real, functioning products using only AI-powered coding tools? No engineers. No figma mockups. Just me, prompts, and a bunch of new-gen AI dev platforms.
What started as an experiment turned into a mission. Like every builder, I got greedy. I didn't want to just test tools — I wanted to ship something useful. Fast. 😅
The Struggle: Idea Rich, Time Poor
Every PM I know has 10+ side project ideas sitting in Notion.
But between work, life, and trying to actually launch, most of them die in the sandbox.
So I asked:
Can AI finally bridge the gap between “cool idea” and working product — without needing a full-stack dev team?
I went deep with four tools:
Lovable, Vercel V0, Replit, and Bolt. Here's what happened. 👇
🧪 The Experiment: Build Real Apps Using Only AI Tools
My goal was simple:
✅ Test how quickly I can go from idea → working MVP using each tool
✅ See which tools actually ship, and which ones just demo well
✅ Document what works for PMs, hackers, and solo builders
I tried to build multiple products including GetPrompts (a prompt discovery tool), a time tracker app, a mental health journal, a course website, metrics dashboards, a personal goal tracker, my own portfolio website (let me know if you want a guide on building your personal website with these tools!), a podcast website, and several others.
Before we dive into the tools, check out my product GetPrompts - we've got you covered with 850+ free prompts!
Whether you're a Product Manager looking to:
🎯 Prepare for Interviews
📝 Create impactful Product Requirements Documents (PRDs)
📊 Define user stories and product strategies
🔍 Conduct market research and opportunity analysis
🗺️ Build data-driven product roadmaps
💬 Manage stakeholder communications
🚀 Execute successful product launches
Now let's see what's possible with vibe coding tools. Leave a comment below on what you think about these tools!
Here’s the honest breakdown.
🏆 Lovable – “From 0 to 1 Without Losing Your Mind”
I spent several weeks testing Lovable extensively, and found it to be surprisingly capable for a no-code AI tool. While the initial learning curve is steep, it provides a robust platform for building functional web applications. The tool excels at handling complex features like user authentication, database management, and responsive UI components. What sets it apart is its ability to understand natural language instructions and convert them into working code – though you'll need to be precise with your prompts.
Unlike simpler tools, Lovable lets you build multi-page applications with proper navigation, state management, and data persistence. I particularly appreciated its debugging capabilities and the ability to iterate quickly once you understand the platform's workflow.
Best For: Shipping a working MVP
My Verdict: The real MVP of this test. Harder to learn, but once you get it, it delivers.
✅ Gets you to a usable product
✅ Best option for full workflows (auth, state, UI)
❌ Steeper learning curve
❌ UI editor can feel clunky
🧠 Insight: “It’s like early Webflow, but for full-stack apps — you’ll fight it a bit, but it actually works.”
⚡ Vercel V0 – “Idea to Prototype in 10 Minutes”
After extensive testing and multiple iterations, V0 emerged as one of the most promising tools for rapid development. Here's my detailed breakdown: Best For: Rapid prototyping, landing pages, and idea validation
My Verdict: Great for fast iteration. Not stable for real apps (yet).
✅ Limited free credits (new paid plans added)
✅ Beautiful UI with little effort
✅ Ideal for testing multiple ideas
❌ Breaks often (auth issues, crashes)
❌ Not ready for production-grade products
🔁 I had to recreate the same project three times just to fix an auth bug. That said — I still use it. Just not for launch.
🐌 Replit – “Slow and Stuck”
Note: This review comes strictly from someone with zero coding experience. I'm a PM who can barely write an HTML tag, so my perspective is purely from a no-code/low-code angle. If you're an experienced developer, your mileage may vary with these tools.
After spending considerable time testing Replit from a no-code/low-code perspective, I found it particularly challenging to achieve any meaningful progress. While it markets itself as a collaborative coding platform, my experience as a non-technical user was far from smooth.
Best For:… actually, I don’t know.
My Verdict: Constantly froze, crashed, or stalled. Too unreliable.
❌ UI freezes
❌ Projects randomly hang
❌ Frustrating even for simple apps
💬 “Replit felt like I was debugging the tool more than building the product.”
❌ Bolt – “Nope.”
I tried it multiple times to just create something useful just to figure out if it's worth the hype. Nothing worked. Anyone in my shoes - have you built anything useful with this tool? Let me know if you have, would love to chat more with you on this.
Best For: Giving up.
My Verdict: Couldn’t get anything usable. Tried multiple times. Failed.
😤 Nothing worked. At all. I gave it a fair shot — but it’s not ready.
🧱 The Real Product I Built
With Lovable, I actually shipped GetPrompts — a prompt discovery and testing app for PMs and builders.
With Vercel, I built out 6–7 mini prototypes — a way to pitch ideas, test flows, and get stakeholder feedback before writing spec docs.
The combo works:
Lovable for production
Vercel V0 for ideation and iteration
TL;DR – My Recommendations for Builders
Tool Best For Verdict Lovable Full MVPs, product-ready builds ⭐ Winner — use for real apps Vercel V0 Prototyping, idea testing ⚡ Great for fast iterations Replit ??? 🐌 Too slow and unreliable Bolt Nothing (yet) ❌ Doesn’t work in practice
🧪 Try This Yourself
Here’s what I’d recommend:
Got an idea? Spin up a Vercel prototype in 10 minutes.
Think it’s worth building? Move to Lovable.
Skip the rest (for now) — they’re just not there yet.
And hey — if you are using one of these tools, reply and show me what you built! 👇
Would love to feature some of your projects in the next post.
Until then — keep building. Keep prompting.
We’re just getting started. 💥