Lovable: how I built a CRM and webshop without programmers and how you can start too

I needed a single place for clients, projects, and billing. Instead of looking for a pre-made program that does half of what I need, I built my own app in Lovable. The entire webshop 3dstampabeograd.rs was also built in the same tool, along with an app for orders and products.

In this text, I show how this looks in practice: what I built, how you can build your first app, how much it costs, and where the tool's limits lie. I write from the perspective of a designer who uses the tool daily, not from an advertising perspective.

What is Lovable, in short

Lovable is a tool where you build an app by describing what you need in a chat, and it writes the code and puts the screens together. It also has a built-in backend, so the app immediately gets a database, user login, and file storage, without a separate server.

This way of working is called vibe coding. What this term means and what other tools exist, I explained in the article vibe coding in 2026: what it is and what tools exist. Here I go straight to practice.

What I made in Lovable

Clients, projects, and billing in one app

I made an app for myself that combines CRM, project management, and invoicing. All clients are in one place. I link each client to their projects, and inside the project, I see tasks. In the same app, I also track billing: what I've billed to whom and what I still need to bill.

This app took me about a month. Not because Lovable is slow, but because I first released the simplest version, started using it, and only then added what I really needed. That, in my opinion, is the biggest advantage of the tool: you see what works and what doesn't, instead of building blindly for months based on a wishlist.

Webshop and backoffice for 3D Štampa Beograd

The entire webshop 3dstampabeograd.rs was made in Lovable: a shop with categories (cookie cutters, patron saint day cookie cutters, keychains, figurines), a cart, and cash-on-delivery orders. Alongside the shop, there is also a dedicated backoffice app where products are added and orders are tracked. The site runs on its own domain.

The foundation of the shop was ready in one day. After that comes what every serious shop follows: new features, optimization, and working with data and customer feedback. 3D Štampa Beograd is our family hobby business, and I have previously done the logo and visual identity for 3D Štampa Beograd for it, so the shop relies on the same brand.

How to start: account and free credits

Lovable runs on credits: every change you request consumes a portion of your credits. On the free plan, you get 5 credits per day, up to a maximum of 30 per month. This is enough to try out the tool on a smaller project.

If you create an account through my link, you get another 10 bonus credits immediately upon registration. These credits are valid for 12 months, so there's no rush. The only condition is that you register directly through the link, because Lovable cannot add the invite retroactively.

Create a Lovable account and claim 10 bonus credits

Note: this is my partner link. If you later upgrade to a paid plan, I get credits for Lovable. This costs you nothing extra.

Your first app step-by-step

1. Talk first, build later. In the beginning, I wrote prompts in another AI tool and only then sent them to Lovable. That was the hardest part. Today, Lovable has a chat inside the tool, with a daily free portion for conversation, so you can clear up your idea before making anything. Lovable states that this way of billing chat is temporary, so check the current terms.

2. Request a plan. In Plan mode, Lovable explores the task and writes a plan, but doesn't touch the code. A message in this mode costs 1 credit, plus extra if it has to research.

3. Describe the smallest working version. Not the entire dream app, but what is absolutely necessary. For example: "Make an app for small businesses. I have a list of clients with name, contact, and note. Each client can have multiple projects, and each project a list of tasks with a status. On the home screen, display clients and the number of open tasks."

4. Try it, then change one thing at a time. Once you see the first version, ask for changes one by one. Small changes are cheap: examples from Lovable's documentation say that changing a button's color costs about half a credit.

5. Use it before you add anything new. This is how I worked on the CRM: first, only I used it, and then I gave it to friends and associates for free. Now we track what works, what gets used, and what doesn't, and we change the app step by step, before I might make a commercial version. You only see what you really lack when you use it.

6. Publish. When the app is ready, you publish it from Lovable. For your own domain, as with 3dstampabeograd.rs, a paid plan is required.

How not to waste credits in vain

• Clear up the idea in chat, not in build. Every change in Build mode consumes credits, while talking about what you want is cheaper.

• One change per message. When you ask for five things at once, it's harder to check what has been done, and a mistake is paid for twice.

• Stop a request that's going in the wrong direction. An interrupted request is billed only for the completed part, and if you stop it before it changes anything, it is not billed.

• Check the message price. In the menu below each response, it says how many credits were consumed. After a few days, you get a feel for what is expensive.

• Start from a template when one exists. Lovable has ready-made templates that you can modify, so you don't waste credits on the basics.

Free or Pro: when is the subscription worth it

The advice is simple: start for free, with bonus credits, and upgrade to Pro when your app becomes serious. The differences that are felt the most are these (source: Lovable):

Students and teachers get a 50% discount on the smallest Pro package, for up to 12 months. A sign that it's time for Pro: you run out of credits before the end of the month, or you want the app to run on your own domain.

Open a Lovable account via invitation (partner link)

Where Lovable stops and when you need a designer

Lovable makes exactly what you describe. It doesn't know who your users are, what bothers them, and what should be first on the screen. These decisions are UX, and whether someone will use the app depends on them. It's the same as with Canva: the tool is excellent as long as you know what you want, which I wrote about in the article Canva or a designer: where the tool's limits lie.

For me, everything except the initial prompts was extremely easy, but behind that lies more than 10 years of app design. I know what to ask for and in what order. If the app stores customer data or orders, check who is allowed to see and change what before launching.

If you don't need an app but a presentation website, take a look at the comparison of Framer, Webflow, and custom code, and for a landing page, the guide on how to make a landing page in Framer.

If you want us to design the app together first, my UX/UI app design service is here. And if you want me to build it for you, read what building an app with vibe coding for a small business looks like and get in touch.