Side-by-side comparison

DoAny vs Buildpad: validate the idea, or start selling it.

Buildpad, formerly aicofounder.com, validates an idea for $39 a month after a 3-day trial, and its docs describe no checkout. DoAny researches too, then builds an app that sells on the $0 Free plan, taking 0% of sales (Stripe’s fees apply).

Work out what each route from idea to first sale costs

  • $0DoAny Free, which can go live and take card payments
  • Up to 20Research agents Buildpad runs at once, plus voice interviews
  • $468Buildpad Pro for a year, at the standard $39 a month
By the DoAny editorial teamLast reviewed September 25, 2026DoAny described first-hand; Buildpad from its pricing page, docs, help center and Terms.

Fee calculator

From idea to first sale

Validate on Buildpad, then sell with the tool you pick, or do both on DoAny. Every price comes from the pages cited in this article.

month
months

Over 12 months, Buildpad Pro costs $468: $39 while you validate, then $429 while you sell from its site through a Stripe payment link. DoAny Free researches, builds and sells for $0.

  • LowestDoAny Free$0over 12 months$0 a month to research, build and sell
  • Buildpad Pro$468over 12 months$39 × 12 months, with a Stripe payment link
From idea to first sale: line items
What you payDoAny FreeBuildpad Pro
Validating, 1 month$0$39
Selling, 11 months$0$429
How customers payDoAny checkout, on your StripeA Stripe payment link you add
Total, 12 months$0$468
  • Hosting is part of a Buildpad subscription, so selling from its site keeps the plan running. Or export the site’s code, which Buildpad says you can upload to any host, and stop paying after validating: that host’s price is yours to add, and the docs don’t say whether the email signup form keeps working there. A payment link takes one-off payments; Buildpad’s docs describe no customer logins or database, so a members’ area means building in another product.
  • Buildpad starts with a 3-day trial of 10 credits a day, 30 in all, then bills the plan unless you cancel. Its docs put Pro’s 200 credits at ~5 projects, so the trial covers less than one, and at least one paid month is priced.
  • Buildpad is testing prices (pricing_59_2026_09): some visitors see Pro at $59 for 300 credits and Max at $125 for 700, instead of $39 for 200 and $85 for 500.
  • Stripe’s processing fees apply on both and are left out.
  • Plan prices only: top-ups aren’t included, and a credit buys different work on each product. DoAny Free’s $0 holds as long as 5 credits a day, up to 30 a month, covers your work; Pro, from $25 a month, adds 100 monthly credits.
Save $468 vs Buildpad. Start free, no card

Prices and fees checked September 25, 2026

How we calculated this
  1. Months: 1 validating + 11 selling = 12.
  2. DoAny Free: $0 × 12 = $0.
  3. Buildpad Pro: $39 × 12 = $468. Hosting is part of the subscription, so it runs through the months you sell.

Sources, checked September 25, 2026

Side by side

DoAny and Buildpad at a glance

Prices and terms as published on September 25, 2026, before tax. Every Buildpad cell links to the Buildpad page it comes from.

Swipe to compare every column.

DoAny and Buildpad compared on model, price, credits, product, payments and export
QuestionDoAnyBuildpad
What it isAn AI company builder. One agent, Annie, researches, builds the product and does the growth work. DoAny homepageAn “AI cofounder” that “works inside the loop”: it researches and drafts, and you take the outside actions. Buildpad’s “What is an AI cofounder”
Try it without payingFree plan: $0, no card, unlimited companies on 5 credits a day up to 30 a month, no end date.3-day trial on Pro or Max: 10 credits a day, 30 in total. The subscription “starts automatically when the trial ends.” Buildpad plans and credits
Entry paid planPro from $25 a month: 100 monthly credits plus 5 daily credits every day. DoAny pricingPro $39 a month for 200 credits; Max $85 for 500. A running price test shows some visitors Pro at $59 for 300. Buildpad pricing page
Unused monthly creditsExpire at the end of the billing month. Daily credits reset at midnight UTC; top-ups last 12 months.Roll over one billing cycle, capped at one month’s allocation (200 on Pro). Buildpad Terms §8.2
When credits run outWork pauses and DoAny tells you. No overage, no automatic recharge, and the site stays live.A large task can take the balance “slightly below zero”; the next credits repay it first. Buildpad’s how-credits-work page
Research before buildingAnnie researches your idea and your market first, on Free too, so you learn whether it holds up before anything ships. She searches the web, reads pages and tells you when she can’t read one.1 to 20 research agents in parallel, each typically doing 5 to 15 searches and page reads, then a citations agent. You approve each run. Buildpad research docs
Talking to prospectsAnnie finds likely customers, breaks the ice, follows up and answers their questions. No voice interviews.AI voice interviews through a public link. You get the transcript; the audio is not stored. Buildpad Privacy Policy §4.4
What the site can doA web app with customer accounts, a database, file uploads, backend functions and email sent from your app.Landing pages, marketing sites and web apps. The only backend the docs describe is email capture, which works on the published site, not the preview. Buildpad website docs
Taking paymentsStripe checkout on your own Stripe account, on the Free plan too. DoAny takes 0% of sales; Stripe’s fees apply. DoAny payments docsNot documented: no checkout, customer login or database. To sell, you add another tool. Buildpad website docs
Posting and outreachAnnie posts every day, follows up with leads and runs your CRM. New recurring jobs and account connections wait for your approval.Drafts for LinkedIn, X, Reddit and email. “Posts are not published automatically”; you copy and paste. Buildpad content calendar
Address and hostingyourname.doany.site with HTTPS on every plan; your own domain on Pro. Hosting is included and uses no credits.A buildpad.site subdomain; your own domain on Pro or Max, with SSL. Buildpad publishing docs. Hosting is part of the subscription. Buildpad’s what’s-included page
ExportExport your code and data and walk away anytime; sync the code to GitHub.One ZIP of documents, notes, website code and posts (Word, PDF, TXT or Markdown), plus signups as CSV. Document images are left out. Buildpad export docs

Where DoAny is different

DoAny vs Buildpad: four differences that change your next month

It takes money, not just email addresses

Buildpad’s documented backend is a signup form, and its website export is a folder of code you can open as index.html or upload to any host. A $29 monthly membership needs logins, a database and recurring billing, so on Buildpad the members’ area has to be built in another product.

A DoAny app has all three, with Stripe checkout on your own account under your business name, on the Free plan too. Forty members pay $1,160 a month into your Stripe account; DoAny takes none of it. Stripe’s processing fees apply.

Free has no clock and no card, and it can sell

DoAny Free is $0 with no card: unlimited companies sharing 5 credits a day, up to 30 a month, with no end date. It can press Go live and take real card payments, with 0% of sales to DoAny (Stripe’s fees apply). Buildpad’s tryout is 30 credits over three days, then $39 or $85 a month bills automatically unless you cancel. The trial gave 20 credits a day in May 2026. Buildpad’s ChatGPT comparison calls it “free to start”, which describes the 3-day trial; there is no ongoing free plan.

Annie does the posting and follow-up

Buildpad drafts posts and emails for you to paste, with no social accounts connected. Annie posts every day, finds likely customers, follows up, runs your CRM and answers customers around the clock. The big calls wait on an approval card: turning on payments, new recurring jobs, connecting an outside account and paid video renders. You can stop Annie mid-task with one click.

Your code and customer data come with you

DoAny’s Code view shows every source file and the Data view every record, and you can export your code and data or sync the code to GitHub. Buildpad’s export is documents plus website files you can open as index.html or upload to any host. Images in documents are left out, and the docs don’t say whether the signup form keeps working once the site is hosted elsewhere.

Buildpad’s edge

Where Buildpad is stronger

Start with Buildpad if you haven’t chosen an idea or want evidence from real prospects before you build. These are the things it does better than DoAny.

Research

Research you can audit, with a cost check first

Buildpad runs 1 to 20 research agents at once, each typically doing 5 to 15 searches and page reads. A separate citations agent checks claims against sources and adds inline citations. An Approve or Skip card appears before a run spends credits. Buildpad research docs

Customers

Voice interviews with real prospects

Share a link and an AI interviewer asks your prospects follow-up questions. You get the transcript; Buildpad does not store the audio (Buildpad Privacy Policy §4.4). Interviews are part of every subscription. DoAny has no voice-interview feature.

No idea yet

Ideas from problems people already post about

Brainstorming collects hundreds of recent community posts and typically surfaces “a few dozen” first-person problems to choose from. Buildpad brainstorming docs

Planning

Pushback and a one-constraint plan

Ultraplan looks for “the single most important thing blocking progress” and plans around it, and you agree on the plan before it is saved. Buildpad Ultraplan docs. Buildpad says its AI pushes back “without softening the feedback”.

Data terms

No-training terms in writing, hosted in Germany

Neither company trains AI on your content. Buildpad writes it into Buildpad Terms §6.3 and bars its AI providers from it too. It stores data primarily with Hetzner in Germany, though its AI and voice providers are US-based (Buildpad Privacy Policy §4, §10). EU founders may prefer that.

Teamwork

One live canvas for a co-founder

Invited members edit the same canvas and chat in real time, with full access. For advisers who only need to look, a public canvas link is read-only and needs no account. Buildpad collaboration docs. DoAny Pro lets you add teammates with no per-seat fee (Free is one person), but it has no shared live canvas.

Track record

Two years in, and it reports over 100,000 founders

Buildpad launched in August 2024 and says it grew from about 20,000 users in October 2025 to “over 100,000 founders” by July 2026. Those are its own figures. Rebrand post

DoAny’s limits here:

  • No voice interviews with prospects.
  • Monthly credits don’t roll over, and every company shares one balance, so weighing two ideas side by side on Free splits the same 30 credits a month.
  • Chat-only editing, no drag-and-drop editor.
  • Web apps customers can add to their home screen, not native iOS or Android apps.
  • The checkout on the sites DoAny builds is Stripe only, with no sales-tax or VAT calculation, coupons or free trials at the moment.

Arithmetic on published prices

Buildpad pricing vs DoAny: what a year costs

Published prices on September 25, 2026, before tax. Buildpad figures come from the Buildpad pricing page, Buildpad plans and credits and Buildpad Terms §8; DoAny’s from DoAny pricing. A DoAny credit and a Buildpad credit buy different work, so these rows compare dollars and rules, not credit counts.

$300

DoAny Pro for a year: $25 × 12. Hosting included. Selling doesn’t need it: Free ($0) can take payments.

$468

Buildpad Pro for a year: $39 × 12 = $468, or $59 × 12 = $708 at the test price. Max is $85 × 12 = $1,020. The Buildpad pricing page lists monthly prices only.

$168

The year-one difference at Buildpad’s standard price: $468 − $300.

Swipe to compare every column.

Six situations worked out from each vendor’s published prices and terms
SituationDoAnyBuildpad
Trying it before paying$0 on Free, no card, up to 30 credits a month, no end date3 days × 10 credits = 30 credits, then $39 or $85 charged automatically unless you cancel
One project, by Buildpad’s own estimatesNo per-project estimate; usage history shows what each task cost in credits$39 ÷ 5 = $7.80 using the docs’ “~5 projects”; $39 ÷ 3 = $13 using its May 2026 post’s “about 3 projects”
450 unused top-up credits at renewal, on ProAll 450 stay, valid 12 months from purchaseCapped at 200. The other 250 × $0.20 = about $50 forfeited.
Cancelling with 300 bought credits leftUsable until they expire, 12 months after purchaseForfeited at period end: 300 × $0.20 = $60
Selling a $29 membership to 40 people ($1,160 a month)Free: $0 a year for the plan, 0% of $1,160 to DoAny; Stripe’s fees apply. Pro ($25 × 12 = $300) only for your own domain or over 30 credits a monthNo documented checkout, logins or database; a Stripe payment link can be pasted in its code editor (Stripe’s fees apply); member logins mean another product

The calculator’s other route, Lovable, uses its Pro price of $25 a month or $250 a year, built-in payments on Pro and the 20-credit monthly Cloud grant that Lovable calls temporary; the full comparison is DoAny vs Lovable.

Credits: who keeps what. Buildpad comes out ahead on unused monthly credits. DoAny comes out ahead on credits you buy and on what you keep when you leave.

Swipe to compare every column.

Credits: who keeps what, from each vendor’s published terms
CreditsDoAnyBuildpad
Unused monthly creditsExpire at the end of the billing monthRoll over one billing cycle, capped at the plan’s monthly allocation (200 on Pro). Buildpad Terms §8.2
Bought creditsTop-ups last 12 months from purchase and stay usable after you cancelThe same cap at each renewal (§8.3), and forfeited when the subscription ends (§8.4). Buildpad Terms §8.4
At zeroWork pauses and DoAny tells you; the site stays live, with no overage or automatic rechargeA large task can take the balance “slightly below zero”, and the next credits repay it first. Buildpad’s how-credits-work page

The Buildpad price you see may be a test

The Buildpad pricing page, fetched on September 25, 2026, holds two sets of plans. The default shows Pro at $39 for 200 credits and Max at $85 for 500. A script running an experiment named pricing_59_2026_09 shows some visitors Pro at $59 for 300 credits and Max at $125 for 700. An August 7, 2026 snapshot held an earlier, paused test at $25 for 200 and $85 for 800. Check the price on your own checkout screen before the trial converts.

Read before the trial ends

Buildpad fine print: rollover, cancellation, courts

Rollover is capped, and bought credits count

At renewal, remaining credits are “capped at your plan’s monthly allocation before new credits are added,” and the rest are forfeited. §8.3 applies the same rule to purchased credits. The docs’ shorter line, “Purchased credits roll over for one month”, leaves the cap out. Buildpad Terms §8.2–8.3

Cancelling forfeits what’s left

When a subscription ends, remaining credits, “including purchased credits, are forfeited”. Buildpad Terms §8.4. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for. Buildpad cancellation help

Disputes go to Romanian courts

Buildpad’s Terms are governed by Romanian law, with disputes heard in Romanian courts. Buildpad Terms §14

Deleting the account doesn’t stop billing

Buildpad’s cancellation help page says: “Deleting your account does not cancel your subscription.” Cancel first, then delete.

Decision rules

DoAny or Buildpad: pick by the job

Swipe to compare every column.

If you need this, pick this, for this reason
If you needPickBecause
To find out whether anyone has the problemBuildpadCited multi-agent research and voice interviews are its core.
To pick an idea when you don’t have oneBuildpadBrainstorming turns hundreds of community posts into a few dozen specific problems.
To send every post and email yourselfBuildpadIt drafts; you copy, paste and send, with no accounts connected.
A live product that takes paymentsDoAnyStripe checkout on your own account comes built in, on the Free plan too, and DoAny takes 0% of sales (Stripe’s fees apply).
To start with no card and no deadlineDoAnyFree is $0 with 5 credits a day; Buildpad’s 3-day trial becomes a paid plan unless you cancel.
Posting and follow-ups done for youDoAnyAnnie posts and follows up; Buildpad drafts for you to paste.
Customers who log in and come backDoAnyAccounts, a database and file uploads are built in; Buildpad’s docs describe only email capture.
Evidence first, then a product to sellBoth, in that orderOne Buildpad Pro month, then DoAny Free: $39 + (11 × $0) = $39. Then DoAny Pro instead: $39 + (11 × $25) = $314, $14 more than Pro alone.

A signup is interest; a payment is proof. Buildpad’s sites collect the first; a DoAny app can take the second through a real Stripe checkout on your own account.

For one-off validation reports, a business-plan tool or a general AI assistant, the Buildpad alternatives shortlist prices six options side by side, and every side-by-side comparison is on the comparisons page. For a plain-language way to test an idea first, read how to start a company from zero.

First-hand walkthrough

What you’ll see in DoAny, from idea to first sale

This is the flow Buildpad’s docs stop short of: turning validated demand into a checkout that pays you. The labels are the ones on screen.

  1. Describe the business

    Write it in plain language, in any language. Paste in what you already learned: the problem, interview notes, the price you tested. Annie researches the idea and market first and works from the brief she saves.

  2. The first version goes live

    During the first build the site publishes to yourname.doany.site with HTTPS, and DoAny emails you when it is live. After that, changes land on a private preview, and the live site changes only when you press Publish.

  3. Approve checkout on a card

    Ask for a paid plan, a booking or a product. Annie shows an approval card: “Set up payments” or “Not now”. Typing “yes” in chat doesn’t count; nothing changes until you press the button.

  4. Buy from yourself with a test card

    The preview takes Stripe test cards such as 4242 4242 4242 4242, so you can buy from your own site before you give Stripe any details. Until you go live, the published site takes no payments. DoAny payments docs

  5. Press “Go live” in Payments

    Pick your country and complete Stripe’s own verification. It works on the Free plan, so you don’t need Pro to take real payments. A sole trader is fine; you don’t need a registered company. Live payments work for businesses in 42 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and every EU country.

  6. Watch orders and payouts

    The Payments panel lists orders and payouts, and opens your Stripe Express dashboard for refunds and disputes. Taking payments uses no DoAny credits. More in how to sell online.

Switching notes

Moving from Buildpad to DoAny, in order

  1. Export before you cancel. In Buildpad, the Export button gives one ZIP of documents, notes, website code and calendar posts, in Word, PDF, TXT or Markdown. Images in documents are left out and research citations become plain links, so save any charts separately. Buildpad export docs
  2. Download the signup list. Captured emails download as a CSV with timestamps. Those people asked to hear from you; they are your first list once checkout is live. Buildpad export docs
  3. Spend your credits before the paid period ends. Once you cancel, unused credits, bought ones included, are forfeited at the end of the current billing period. Buildpad Terms §8.4
  4. Start DoAny from the evidence. Give Annie the validated problem, the interview transcripts and your price. Bring the exported website code and your signup list too: DoAny imports existing code and database records, so you don’t start over. Annie adds accounts, data and checkout. Buildpad’s docs describe no customer logins or payments, so none carry across; checkout runs on the new Stripe account DoAny opens for you at Go live.
  5. Move the domain once DoAny is live. On DoAny Pro, add your domain in the Domains panel. DoAny shows the DNS records, verifies them and issues HTTPS. Cloudflare-proxied records aren’t supported, so set those to DNS only. Then press Unpublish in Buildpad. Buildpad publishing
  6. Cancel before the renewal date, then delete. Deleting a Buildpad account does not cancel the subscription. Buildpad cancellation help

If you leave DoAny later, your work comes with you: export your code and data, or keep the copy synced to GitHub. DoAny’s DoAny Terms give you ownership of the websites, software and copy made for you, and rule out equity or a share of your revenue.

Common questions

DoAny vs Buildpad FAQ

Is Buildpad the same product as aicofounder.com?

Yes. Buildpad launched in August 2024, renamed itself aicofounder.com in October 2025, and went back to Buildpad on July 11, 2026. The old domain redirects to buildpad.io, and published sites moved from aicofounder.co to buildpad.site addresses. The prices, trial rules and Terms on this page apply under either name.

Is Buildpad free?

No. There is no free plan, only a 3-day trial on Pro or Max with 10 credits a day, 30 in total. The subscription starts automatically when the trial ends: $39 a month for Pro or $85 for Max at the standard price, or $59 and $125 for visitors in Buildpad’s current price test. DoAny Free is a plan, not a trial: $0 with no card, unlimited companies sharing 5 credits a day up to 30 a month, and it can take real card payments once you press Go live.

Can a Buildpad website take payments?

Not according to its documentation. Buildpad’s docs describe one backend, an email signup form: no checkout, logins or database. A DoAny app takes Stripe payments on your own account, and DoAny takes 0% of sales (Stripe’s fees apply). You can sell on DoAny’s Free plan: press Go live, complete Stripe’s verification and take real card payments for $0 a month.

Which is better for validating an idea?

Buildpad, if validation is the whole job. Its research runs 1 to 20 agents in parallel with a separate citations agent, and it interviews prospects by voice. DoAny researches your idea and market before it builds, then puts a live product in front of people, so the test becomes whether they sign up and pay.

Does either company train AI models on my content?

Both say no. Buildpad’s Terms, updated August 29, 2026, say it does not use your content to train AI models and that its AI providers are contractually prohibited from training on it. DoAny does not train AI models on your data.

What happens to unused credits if I cancel?

On Buildpad, every remaining credit, including purchased and rolled-over credits, is forfeited when the subscription ends. On DoAny, your plan runs to the end of the paid month, top-up credits stay usable until they expire 12 months after purchase, and everything you built stays yours.

Source record

Sources and method

DoAny facts are our own first-hand description of the product and its public pages. Buildpad facts come from its pricing page HTML, docs, help center, Terms and Privacy Policy (both last updated August 29, 2026) and blog, plus two Wayback Machine snapshots that show earlier prices and trial terms. Lovable’s prices, payment rules and hosting credits, used in the calculator, come from its docs. Every source was checked on September 25, 2026. More side-by-side comparisons are on the comparisons page.

  1. DoAny: Homepage: research first, growth work, export and ownershipofficial product, checked September 25, 2026
  2. DoAny: Pricing, credits and hosting FAQofficial product, checked September 25, 2026
  3. DoAny: How to run a company solo: approval cards and credits that stop hardofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  4. DoAny: Terms of Service (September 24, 2026): ownership, no equity or revenue shareofficial terms, checked September 25, 2026
  5. DoAny: Setting up Stripe: test cards and Go liveofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  6. Buildpad: aicofounder.com is now Buildpad (July 11, 2026)official product, checked September 25, 2026
  7. Buildpad: What is an AI cofounderofficial product, checked September 25, 2026
  8. Buildpad: Pricing page, including the pricing_59_2026_09 test plansofficial product, checked September 25, 2026
  9. Buildpad: Pricing page, Wayback Machine snapshot of August 7, 2026official product, checked September 25, 2026
  10. Buildpad: Plans and credits: trial, top-ups and rolloverofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  11. Buildpad: Plans and credits, Wayback Machine snapshot of May 7, 2026official help, checked September 25, 2026
  12. Buildpad: Buildpad reviews blog post (May 22, 2026): “about 3 projects” per Pro monthofficial product, checked September 25, 2026
  13. Buildpad: How do credits work: balances below zeroofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  14. Buildpad: Terms of Service, last updated August 29, 2026official terms, checked September 25, 2026
  15. Buildpad: Privacy Policy (August 29, 2026): interviews, Hetzner hosting in Germanyofficial terms, checked September 25, 2026
  16. Buildpad: How do I cancel my subscription?official help, checked September 25, 2026
  17. Buildpad: Research: parallel agents, citations and the approval cardofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  18. Buildpad: Brainstorming from community postsofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  19. Buildpad: Ultraplanofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  20. Buildpad: What is included in a Buildpad subscriptionofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  21. Buildpad: Websites and email captureofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  22. Buildpad: Publishing and custom domainsofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  23. Buildpad: Content calendarofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  24. Buildpad: Collaborationofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  25. Buildpad: Canvas: the public read-only linkofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  26. Buildpad: Export formats and limitsofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  27. Buildpad: Buildpad vs ChatGPT (FAQ: “free to start”)official product, checked September 25, 2026
  28. Lovable: Plans and credit tiers: Pro $25 a month or $250 a yearofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  29. Lovable: Payments: built-in payments need a paid plan; Free connects your own Stripeofficial help, checked September 25, 2026
  30. Lovable: Credits and usage: the temporary Cloud grant, pauses at zero credits and top-upsofficial help, checked September 25, 2026

Put the evidence to work

Build the version that can take a payment.

Start on DoAny Free: 5 credits a day, no card. Build your first version and test checkout with Stripe test cards before you give Stripe anything, then go live and take real payments, still on Free. If you’re still choosing an idea, compare research tools in the Buildpad alternatives.

Start free, no cardSee current pricing