Bolt.new vs OpenHands
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Bolt.new if you want prompt, edit, and deploy full-stack web apps in the browser (Supervised agent, freemium); choose OpenHands if you want open-source ai software engineer that edits, runs, and tests code in a sandbox (Supervised agent, freemium).
| Bolt.new | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Prompt, edit, and deploy full-stack web apps in the browser | Open-source AI software engineer that edits, runs, and tests code in a sandbox |
| Type | agent | framework |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Supervised agent |
| Pricing | freemium · Free (1M tokens/mo); Pro from $25/mo | freemium · Free (open source, self-hosted); Cloud free tier with usage caps |
| Best for | consumers, developers, smb | developers, enterprise |
| Deployment | saas | self-hosted, saas, api, on-prem |
| Modalities | text, code | text, code, browser, api |
| Models | claude, model-agnostic | model-agnostic, claude, gpt, gemini, open-source |
| Protocols | rest-api | mcp, rest-api, function-calling |
| Integrations | Netlify, Supabase, GitHub, Expo | GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Slack, Jira, Linear |
| Capabilities | 3 documented | 4 documented |
Bolt.new
- +Full dev environment runs in the browser via WebContainers, with the AI controlling filesystem, terminal, and server
- +Generates true full-stack apps (not just UI) and can deploy via Bolt Cloud
- +No local setup; fast for prototyping and iterating by chatting
- -Token-based usage cost can rise quickly on complex or long-running builds
- -Output needs human review and iteration; it is not a hands-off autonomous engineer
OpenHands
- +Fully open source (MIT core) and model-agnostic with no vendor lock-in; self-hostable for privacy
- +Genuinely agentic: edits, runs, and tests code in a sandbox and opens PRs, not just autocomplete
- +Large open-source community plus a mature SDK, REST/WebSocket API, and MCP support
- -Open-source build is single-user with no built-in auth/isolation; teams need the Enterprise tier
- -Output must be reviewed and tested, and open-ended tasks can burn many LLM calls
Which should you choose?
Bolt.new is prompt, edit, and deploy full-stack web apps in the browser, best for consumers, developers, smb. OpenHands is open-source ai software engineer that edits, runs, and tests code in a sandbox, best for developers, enterprise. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.
This comparison is generated from the sourced Bolt.new and OpenHands profiles. Open either profile to review its evidence and last-reviewed date.