Replit AI

I built three small projects entirely inside Replit AI's browser IDE — a Next.js landing page, a Python FastAPI backend, and a simple Discord bot — and the experience of going from zero to deployed in a single browser tab is genuinely addictive. I typed "build me a CRUD app for tracking freelance invoices with SQLite" and Replit's AI agent scaffolded the full project structure, installed dependencies, created the database schema, and generated working CRUD endpoints in about 90 seconds. The instant deploy feature pushed it to a live URL that I could share immediately. The collaboration features feel like Google Docs for code. I shared a project link with a colleague, and we were both editing the same files simultaneously with cursor presence indicators. Performance is the Achilles' heel — the free tier is sluggish with 15-20 second file saves. The $25/month Replit Core plan is noticeably faster but still not as responsive as a local VS Code setup. Compared to Cursor at $20/month, Replit trades raw performance for zero local setup and instant hosting. I'd recommend it for students, learners, and anyone who wants to prototype without touching a terminal — but for production development, a local IDE with AI plugins remains the better choice.