About & methodology
BenchCoded is an independent review site. We build the same real app in each vibe-coding tool and score every result the same way.
The rules
- One fixed prompt, identical for every tool.
- At most 5 fix prompts, which may only describe what's broken.
- No hand-editing of code.
- A 90-minute cap per tool.
- Testing on the live, deployed URL in a clean (incognito) browser.
- Free tier first; we only pay when a free tier blocks the test, and we say so.
The 100-point rubric
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Works end to end (10-item checklist) | 30 |
| Time to first working version | 15 |
| Bugs (by severity; security probe failures count) | 15 |
| Design / UX (average of two reviewers) | 15 |
| Deploy ease | 15 |
| Cost | 10 |
Pro tools for developers (Cursor, Claude Code) are scored separately as baselines.
Benchmark #1: SlotKeeper
A booking and waitlist app for a demo business, Maple Yoga Studio: validated booking form, waitlist with positions, duplicate-email blocking, owner sign-up and a protected admin to manage slots, auto-promotion from the waitlist, a real database, mobile-friendly design, 3 seeded slots, and a public deploy.
Independence
Some links are affiliate links. They never change scores or the bug list. See our affiliate disclosure.