Does Hercules let me edit the code it generates?

You can read it. The codebase view asks you to upgrade to Hercules Business before you can edit code directly, so changing anything is a paid tier. Kashvi opens the editor and the ZIP export on every plan, free included.

What is the Convex lock-in people mention?

Hercules writes its backend as Convex modules, files such as convex/schema.ts and convex/users.ts. Even if you get the code out, it only runs against Convex. Kashvi generates a plain Postgres backend, or connects the Supabase or Firebase you already use, so where it runs stays your decision.

Its own interface says changes can take several minutes, and the preview shows a blank-app placeholder while a build is in flight. For batched work that is fine; for rapid iteration it stings. Kashvi streams the generated code into the editor as it is written and rebuilds the preview as soon as the run lands, which is seconds rather than minutes.

What does Hercules cost?

Hercules publishes its plans on its own pricing page, with AI credits bought on top — read the current numbers there rather than any figure we quote, since both change. Two tier gates are worth knowing before you start: editing code directly needs the Business tier, and a custom domain needs Pro, so a free app stays on an onhercules.app subdomain. Kashvi's prices are published too, and the one billing promise we add is on failure — when a generation fails outright, those credits go back to your balance.

Can either one take UPI payments?

Kashvi wires Razorpay and UPI into the apps it builds and prices them in rupees. Searching the Hercules product and its docs for Razorpay, for UPI, or for anything priced in INR came back empty for us, so an Indian business would be integrating that part itself.

Is Hercules better than Kashvi at anything?

Yes, at several things. Role-based permissions with auditing, built-in speech and image generation, its 200-plus chat and MCP integrations, push notifications and a tests beta all go beyond what Kashvi ships today. If those sit on your must-have list, Hercules is the stronger choice.

Comparison

Kashvi vs Hercules: A Fair Head-to-Head

Hercules, from Zeus AI Labs, calls itself the best AI app builder for business, and the product backs up a lot of that claim: chat goes in, custom business software comes out, with authentication, hosting, a database, payments, email and storage already wired. Kashvi answers a narrower set of questions. What do you actually walk away owning, how fast does the loop feel while you are still figuring the app out, and does any of it work for a business that gets paid in rupees? Here is where each tool wins, without the gloss.

Hercules is a genuinely strong product

Any comparison that opened by calling Hercules thin would be dishonest. Its workspace is one of the richest in the category: milestones, skills, branches, versioned history, a tests beta, push notifications, role-based permissions with auditing, and north of two hundred chat and MCP integrations sitting in the side panel. It ships AI capabilities you would otherwise stitch together yourself, including text, image and speech generation plus chatbots, and it publishes finished apps to a custom domain, the iOS App Store and Google Play. The company is well funded, the team behind it is credible, and it advertises more than a hundred thousand businesses on the platform. If your requirement list reads like an internal enterprise tool with fine-grained roles and an audit trail, that breadth is real value and we are not going to argue with it.

Where the two products actually part ways

The first divergence is the one you meet by clicking the codebase tab. Hercules shows you the files, then tells you to upgrade to Hercules Business to edit code directly. Reading is free; changing a line is a plan upgrade. Kashvi treats editing as table stakes, so every plan including the free one opens the full editor and lets you pull a ZIP of the project whenever you feel like it. For a founder who wants to tweak one query or hand the folder to a contractor on Friday, that gap is not philosophical, it is Monday morning.

The second is what the backend is made of. Hercules writes Convex-shaped code, files like convex/schema.ts and convex/users.ts, which means even an export arrives married to Convex. It runs where Convex runs and nowhere else. Kashvi provisions ordinary Postgres, the kind every host, every agency and every future developer already understands, and if you would rather bring your own Supabase or Firebase, that is one sentence in the prompt. Portability here is not a bullet on a pricing page, it is the shape of the code you receive.

	Kashvi	Hercules
Code ownership & editing	Full editor plus ZIP download on every plan, free tier included	Codebase is viewable, but editing needs the Business upgrade
Backend portability	Plain Postgres you keep, or bring your own Supabase/Firebase	Convex-specific backend; exported code still needs Convex to run
Preview speed	Code streams as it is written; the preview rebuilds when the run lands, in seconds	Warns changes can take several minutes; blank-app placeholder meanwhile
India & payments	Razorpay, UPI and rupee pricing inside the generated app	USD-centric; we found no Razorpay, UPI or INR support in the product or its docs

The feedback loop, and the bill

Hercules is candid about its own latency. The interface warns that changes can take several minutes, and while you wait the preview pane sits on a welcome-to-your-blank-app screen. That is a reasonable trade if you batch a day of changes and go do something else. It is a painful one when you are twelve prompts deep trying to make a form behave, because every guess costs a coffee break. Kashvi streams the code into the editor as it is written and rebuilds the preview the moment the run lands — seconds, not a coffee break — so a wrong turn is cheap to undo. On the bill we will make a much narrower claim than the speed one, because both products publish their prices and you can read Hercules' plans and cloud rates on its own pricing page as easily as ours. The difference worth naming is what happens when the machine misfires: a Kashvi generation that fails outright puts the credits back on your balance rather than quietly spending them. Beyond that, budget for the tier gates on either side — a custom domain on Hercules waits behind Pro, so a free app lives on an onhercules.app subdomain until you upgrade.

Editing generated code is free on every Kashvi plan; on Hercules it sits behind the Business tier.
Kashvi backends are ordinary Postgres, so an export runs on any host instead of requiring Convex.
The generated code streams into the editor as it is written, and the preview rebuilds the moment the run lands — seconds, not a several-minute wait on a placeholder.
A Kashvi generation that fails outright is refunded to your balance instead of being spent.
Razorpay and UPI checkout with rupee pricing ship inside the app itself; we found nothing equivalent on the Hercules side.

A fair warning about scope: Hercules covers more surface area than Kashvi — auditing, skills, a tests beta, 200-plus integrations. We are not claiming parity on breadth. We are claiming you own what you build, you see it sooner, and you can charge Indian customers.

Which should you pick?

Choose Hercules when the requirement is breadth inside a single vendor: role-based access with auditing for an internal tool, speech or image generation you do not want to wire up yourself, a long tail of MCP and chat integrations, push notifications out of the box, or a procurement conversation that goes better with a well-funded company and a hundred thousand businesses behind the logo. Those are legitimate reasons and Hercules serves them well. Choose Kashvi when the code has to be yours to edit from day one, when the backend must survive leaving the platform, when you iterate too often to lose several minutes per change, or when the people paying you tap a UPI app and think in rupees. Both tools will hand you a working product. They disagree about who holds the keys afterwards.

Questions

Frequently asked

Does Hercules let me edit the code it generates?: You can read it. The codebase view asks you to upgrade to Hercules Business before you can edit code directly, so changing anything is a paid tier. Kashvi opens the editor and the ZIP export on every plan, free included.
What is the Convex lock-in people mention?: Hercules writes its backend as Convex modules, files such as convex/schema.ts and convex/users.ts. Even if you get the code out, it only runs against Convex. Kashvi generates a plain Postgres backend, or connects the Supabase or Firebase you already use, so where it runs stays your decision.
Is Hercules slow?: Its own interface says changes can take several minutes, and the preview shows a blank-app placeholder while a build is in flight. For batched work that is fine; for rapid iteration it stings. Kashvi streams the generated code into the editor as it is written and rebuilds the preview as soon as the run lands, which is seconds rather than minutes.
What does Hercules cost?: Hercules publishes its plans on its own pricing page, with AI credits bought on top — read the current numbers there rather than any figure we quote, since both change. Two tier gates are worth knowing before you start: editing code directly needs the Business tier, and a custom domain needs Pro, so a free app stays on an onhercules.app subdomain. Kashvi's prices are published too, and the one billing promise we add is on failure — when a generation fails outright, those credits go back to your balance.
Can either one take UPI payments?: Kashvi wires Razorpay and UPI into the apps it builds and prices them in rupees. Searching the Hercules product and its docs for Razorpay, for UPI, or for anything priced in INR came back empty for us, so an Indian business would be integrating that part itself.
Is Hercules better than Kashvi at anything?: Yes, at several things. Role-based permissions with auditing, built-in speech and image generation, its 200-plus chat and MCP integrations, push notifications and a tests beta all go beyond what Kashvi ships today. If those sit on your must-have list, Hercules is the stronger choice.

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