Do you own the code?
Every one of the eight tools here can export source code, so the real question is not export but what happens when you stop paying. 3 keep working, 4 keep partial access, and 1 locks the project outright. Export before you cancel, not after.
This is the last question most people ask before paying, and it usually gets a one-word "yes" that hides the part that matters. Export and survival are two different things. Every tool on this site is below, checked 2026-08-14.
| Tool | Code export | If you stop paying | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | It is your repository | You keep working | Limited requests |
| FlutterFlow | Full Dart source from $39 tier | You keep working | Usable, but no code export |
| Hand-coded Expo | It is your repository | You keep working | Free tooling |
| Bolt.new | Yes | Partial access | 1M tokens/month |
| Lovable | GitHub | Partial access | 5 daily credits |
| Replit | Yes | Partial access | Daily agent credits |
| v0 by Vercel | Yes | Partial access | $5 credits/month |
| Rork | GitHub, paid tiers | Project locks | Public projects only, no code export, no publishing |
The distinction that costs people money
"Can I export?" and "what happens if I stop paying?" get treated as one question. They are not. All 8 export. Only 3 leave you with something that still works after you cancel.
The trap is specific and avoidable: on some tools, code export is itself a paid-tier feature. If the subscription lapses first, you can lose the ability to retrieve the very thing you would need in order to leave. That single sequencing mistake generates more angry reviews in this category than pricing does.
What to do, in order
- Export to GitHub on day one, not when you are thinking about leaving. It costs nothing and it turns a rented project into an owned one.
- Check the export actually builds. An export you have never run is a backup you have never tested.
- Only then think about tiers. Once you can leave at any time, price becomes an ordinary decision rather than a hostage situation.
Where this leaves each choice
If lock-in is your main worry, the ranking is not the same as the ranking for capability. Cursor, FlutterFlow and Hand-coded Expo are the safest on this axis specifically — which is not the same as saying they are the right tool for your project. Rork sits in the "project locks" row, and it is the one tool on this page we earn a commission on; it is in that row because that is what the data says.
Work through the trade-offs properly: which tool fits your project · the full 8-tool comparison · the dated price tracker · the raw dataset
FAQ
Can you export code from every AI app builder? Yes, all eight covered here produce source you can take away. The differences are which tier it requires and how usable the result is once it is out.
What actually happens if you stop paying? It depends on the tool. Cursor, FlutterFlow and Hand-coded Expo leave you with something that keeps working. Bolt.new, Lovable, Replit and v0 by Vercel give partial access. Rork locks the project until you resubscribe.
Is exported AI-generated code maintainable by a developer? Usually yes for a small app. The honest caveat is that a developer inheriting it will spend time understanding structure they did not choose. That cost is real, and far smaller than a rebuild.
What is the one thing to do before cancelling anything? Export to GitHub while the subscription is still active.
Does a free tier let you export? Often not. Several free tiers exist to let you judge output quality, not to let you take the output away. Check the free tier column above before assuming you can evaluate and extract in one go.