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Bolt.new Free Tokens 2026: Free Build Weekend and $10,000 Hackathon

Bolt.new free tokens get a big boost this weekend: for two days, every Bolt user builds AI apps for free, and the best business built on it wins $10,000. From Saturday October 17 to Sunday October 18, 2026, Pacific Time (Saturday 07:00 to Monday 06:59 UTC), the GLM 5.3 Flash model is free for every account, free or paid. The Bolt hackathon pays $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500, and you can enter on Bolt’s free plan until Tuesday October 20 at 11:59 pm PT, which is Wednesday October 21 at 06:59 UTC.

Free build weekend
Build free on Bolt.new this weekend
StartsSat Oct 17, 07:00 UTCSat Oct 17, 12:00 am PT
EndsMon Oct 19, 06:59 UTCSun Oct 18, 11:59 pm PT

Bolt is the AI tool that turns a plain-English description into a working web app. Bolt Builders Week, the event behind the offer, has three parts: the free build weekend, a week of live sessions with the Bolt team, and the contest. The contest is open worldwide, with a few exclusions covered below.

This guide explains every part in plain English: how Bolt.new free tokens work on the free plan and over the weekend, the exact times in Pacific Time, UTC and your own local time, how the free six-hour blocks work, how to build and publish your first app step by step, the contest rules that trip people up, and what Bolt costs once the weekend ends.

Bolt.new free tokens: free AI app building this weekend and a $10K Bolt hackathon
Bolt Builders Week runs October 17 to 24, 2026: a free build weekend, live sessions and a contest with a $10,000 grand prize.

Bolt.new free tokens: the short answer

If you only read one section, read this one. Here is what Bolt Builders Week gives you and what it asks of you:

Free building: GLM 5.3 Flash costs nothing on every Bolt account from Saturday Oct 17, 12:00 am PT to Sunday Oct 18, 11:59 pm PT, which is Saturday 07:00 to Monday 06:59 UTC.
No catch on the plan: free accounts get it too, with no plan change and no code to redeem. Paid plans get five times as much per block.
Cash prizes: $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 in US dollars, $17,500 in all, for a business idea or a business you run, built in Bolt.
Deadline: entries close Tuesday Oct 20 at 11:59 pm PT, which is Wednesday Oct 21 at 06:59 UTC.
Free to enter: the free plan is enough, and a paid plan does not help your score.
Keep client data out: the free model runs on Bolt Forge, whose prompts and code are used to train open-source models.

The smart move is simple: plan your app first in Plan Mode, build it before the free build weekend ends (Sunday 11:59 pm PT, which is Monday 06:59 UTC), publish it to a free bolt.host address, and submit it on Monday or Tuesday, well before the deadline.

Bolt Builders Week 2026 at a glance

Bolt Builders Week runs from October 17 to 24, 2026, but the contest opened earlier, on October 13, and the winners come later. Four dates matter:

STEP 01
Oct 13
Contest opens
Entries open on Oct 13. Build in Bolt and submit by Oct 20 PT (Oct 21, 06:59 UTC).
STEP 02
Oct 17 and 18
Free build weekend
GLM 5.3 Flash is free for every Bolt account, in six-hour blocks.
STEP 03
Oct 20 to 23
Live sessions
A founder Q and A, then workshops on SEO, growth and design.
STEP 04
Oct 31
Winners announced
Entries close Oct 20 PT (Oct 21, 06:59 UTC), judging runs Oct 21 to 31.

Bolt publishes every time in Pacific Time (PT), the US west coast time zone. In October, PT is 7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), so add 7 hours to any PT time to get UTC. Here is the full schedule in both, and the last column shows each time in your own time zone, worked out automatically by your browser:

Times from Bolt’s Builders Week page and official rules; UTC is PT plus 7 hours in October, and your browser fills in the last column with your own local time.
What Pacific Time (PT) UTC Your local time
Contest opens Tue Oct 13, 12:00 am Tue Oct 13, 07:00 Worked out by your browser
Free build weekend starts Sat Oct 17, 12:00 am Sat Oct 17, 07:00 Worked out by your browser
Free build weekend ends Sun Oct 18, 11:59 pm Mon Oct 19, 06:59 Worked out by your browser
Founder Q and A (Eric and Albert) Tue Oct 20, 10:00 am Tue Oct 20, 17:00 Worked out by your browser
Last minute to enter the contest Tue Oct 20, 11:59 pm Wed Oct 21, 06:59 Worked out by your browser
Judging About Oct 21 to 31 About Oct 21 to Nov 1 No exact time given
Winners announced On or about Sat Oct 31 On or about Sat Oct 31 or Sun Nov 1 No exact time given

Notice the contest deadline. PT is behind most of the world, so in every time zone ahead of it the last minute to enter falls on Wednesday October 21 (06:59 UTC), not on Tuesday. The table above shows the exact minute in your own time zone. Bolt’s own clock is the official timekeeper, so do not leave it to the final hour.

Plan to keep building after the weekend? Get 20% off Bolt Pro with our referral link

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Bolt Builders Week video walkthrough

Prefer to watch first? This 5 minute video covers the free build weekend and its six-hour blocks, how to build and publish your first app, the $17,500 contest and its rules, and the deadline.

Bolt.new free tokens this weekend: GLM 5.3 Flash for everyone

The free build weekend is the headline of Bolt Builders Week. From Saturday October 17 at 12:00 am PT to Sunday October 18 at 11:59 pm PT, every Bolt user gets the GLM 5.3 Flash model free in the model picker. A model is the AI engine that reads your instructions and writes the code, and Bolt normally charges for its use in tokens.

A token is a small chunk of text, roughly three quarters of a word, and it is how Bolt measures AI usage. On a normal day, Bolt.new free tokens on the Free plan come to 300,000, within a 1 million monthly cap, and larger projects use more tokens per message. Over the free build weekend, GLM 5.3 Flash usage does not come out of your normal plan allowance.

Who gets it

Everyone with a Bolt account: free accounts, personal paid plans and Teams accounts. On Teams, every member gets their own allowance. You do not switch plans, enter a code or sign up for anything extra. If you do not have a Bolt account yet, create one with Google, GitHub or an email address; no card is needed.

How the six-hour blocks work

The free usage does not come as one big pot. It comes in six-hour blocks. Your first block starts when you open Bolt. When a block ends, your next visit starts a fresh one. Think of it like a mobile data allowance that refills every six hours, but only once you come back.

Three rules follow from that. If you use up a block early, you wait for the next one. Unused free usage does not carry over to the next block, so open Bolt when you are ready to work through a whole block. Paid plans get five times the free allowance in every block, and while they wait they can keep building with their normal plan tokens. Bolt has not published how many tokens a block holds, and standard rate limits apply.

In practice, the 48-hour weekend fits at most eight six-hour blocks, and only if you start each new block the moment the last one ends, overnight included; any time away pushes the later blocks back. On the Bolt.new free plan, open Bolt as soon as the weekend starts (Saturday 12:00 am PT, which is 07:00 UTC), do focused work in each block, and use the gaps to test your app and write your next prompt.

What GLM 5.3 Flash is

GLM 5.3 Flash is an open-source model from Z.ai (Zhipu AI), which means its makers publish the model so anyone can run it. In Bolt, it lives inside Bolt Forge, an agent built only on open-source models. The other Forge models are GLM 5.3, Kimi K3 and DeepSeek v4 Pro. Bolt recommends GLM 5.3 Flash for most tasks, calling it fast, smart and token-efficient, and it is the one model Bolt made free for the weekend.

Bolt also offers two of its own agents, Standard and Max. Standard is fast and token-efficient and is the agent included with the free plan; Max reasons more deeply for complex tasks and needs a paid plan such as Pro. During the free build weekend, GLM 5.3 Flash is the only free option, so pick it in the model picker before you start.

Your data on Bolt Forge

This part matters for anyone in finance. The Bolt Forge terms say that when you use Forge, de-identified prompts, code, project files and edit histories are used by Bolt’s partners to train open-source models. Sessions from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are not used. Bolt asks you to agree to these terms the first time you prompt a Forge model.

Bolt has not said whether the free weekend works any differently, so plan as if it does not.

There is a second setting to know about: Bolt’s Model training setting is on by default for accounts outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland, and it covers content you create on or after October 7, 2026, per its release notes. It lets Bolt use your projects and chats to train AI models. Turn it off under Account settings, General, Model training, but know that it does not cover Forge: Forge keeps its own data terms, so switching the setting off does not stop GLM 5.3 Flash sessions from being used for training. Only a different agent, such as Standard, keeps your work out of Forge.

The safe habit is simple: build with sample data, never with real client names, bank statements or tax records. A demo app with made-up numbers works just as well for the contest. Bolt also calls the Forge models experimental and suggests duplicating an important project before you edit it with them.

What Bolt is, in plain English

Bolt, at bolt.new, is an AI app builder made by StackBlitz. You describe the app you want in a chat box, and Bolt writes the code, shows you a live preview and fixes problems when you point them out. It builds JavaScript web apps: websites, dashboards, booking pages, trackers and small online shops.

Think of it like briefing a fast junior developer who works in front of you. You say “build a page where clients upload their monthly bills”, watch it appear, then say “make the upload button bigger and add a due date”. The difference is speed: a first version takes minutes, not weeks.

Bolt also handles the parts that usually stop non-programmers. Bolt Cloud, built in, gives your app a database to store data, user sign-up and log-in, file storage and hosting on a free bolt.host web address. Paid plans add custom domains, and Stripe payments are built in. You can export the code to GitHub at any time, so you are never locked in, and Bolt’s commercial use page says the code you create is yours, including for commercial use.

If you already use AI for finance work, Bolt fits next to tools like Claude Code. Our Claude Code tutorial for finance teams covers the coding-agent side, and our guide to AI in finance and accounting shows where these tools save real hours.

How to build your first app in Bolt this weekend

Here is the full path from an empty screen to a live app, using Bolt’s own steps. It works with Bolt.new free tokens alone, and it is exactly what a Bolt hackathon entry needs.

Build apps free on Bolt.new during the free build weekend, with a $10K prize
Build and publish your first app free over the weekend, then enter it in the $17,500 contest.
  1. Use the right browser. Bolt’s QuickStart guide asks for Chrome or another Chromium browser, such as Edge, Brave or Opera.
  2. Sign up. Go to bolt.new and choose Sign up with Google, Sign up with GitHub, or email and password. Email sign-ups must click Confirm your email before they can log in. No card is needed.
  3. Pick a starting point. The Builders Week page offers 12 starter templates, including Finance Tracker, SaaS Landing, Plumbing, Wedding Planner and Architect Portfolio. Open one in Bolt, or start from a blank prompt. The contest rules allow Bolt’s own templates as a starting point.
  4. Choose the model. Do this before your first prompt, Plan prompts included. During the free build weekend, click the current agent name at the bottom of the chat box, then choose Bolt Forge and GLM 5.3 Flash. Bolt remembers the choice for each project separately, so check it in every new project. On other days, the free plan uses Bolt’s Standard agent.
  5. Plan first. Click Plan in the bottom-right corner of the chat box; it turns blue. Plan Mode lets you ask questions and agree on a plan without changing any code, and it uses fewer tokens. When the plan looks right, click Implement this plan.
  6. Prompt in small steps. Add one feature at a time and say exactly what should and should not change. Bolt’s built-in Enhance prompt, under the plus icon in the chat box, can turn a rough idea into a fuller prompt.
  7. Check the preview. Use Responsive mode above the preview to see the phone view. If the preview goes blank, do a hard refresh with Ctrl + Shift + R, then tell Bolt “The preview is not showing, fix this.” If that fails, paste the errors from the browser console into the chat.
  8. Roll back when needed. The clock icon opens Version history. Click a version, then Restore this version. Restoring costs no tokens, but it does not change your database, and edits you make yourself in Code view are not saved in Version history.
  9. Add data and log-in. Bolt adds a Bolt Database by itself when your app needs one. Log-in is not always added on its own, so ask for sign-up and log-in if your app needs accounts.
  10. Publish. Click Publish at the top right, then Publish again. After about a minute, you get a live bolt.host link. Rename it with the pencil icon next to the address. Changes do not go live by themselves: click Update in the Publish menu after each round of edits.
  11. Get your project link. Click Share at the top right, under Project Access set Anyone with the link to Viewer (not Editor, which lets anyone change your project), then click Copy link. The contest asks for this link along with your live site.

A first prompt that works

Bolt suggests answering five questions before your first prompt: what you are building, who it is for, which features it needs, what look and feel you want and how people will reach it: as a website, a web app or a mobile app. Put those answers into one clear paragraph. Here is an example for a small accounting practice:

Example first prompt
Build a web app called DocDrop for a small accounting practice. Clients log in and upload their monthly bills and bank statements as PDF files. Each client sees a checklist of the documents due this month, with a status of Missing, Uploaded or Checked. The accountant sees all clients in one table, filters by status and marks documents as Checked. Use a clean, professional look with white cards and a deep blue accent. It must work well on a phone. Use sample data only.

Then build it in small steps: first the client checklist, then the upload, then the accountant table, then the filters. For more prompt patterns, our 20 tested AI prompts for accounting and AI prompts for Excel show how specific wording changes the result.

Make the free allowance last

Bolt’s token-saving tips make your Bolt.new free tokens last, and they matter even more when your usage comes in blocks. Larger projects use more tokens per message, because Bolt reads your project files each time. These habits stretch every block:

Plan in Plan Mode first, then build: planning uses fewer tokens.
Use buttons instead of prompts for Publish, Version history and Restore. Clicks cost no tokens.
Make small visual changes in the preview with the Select tool: click Add changes for each edit, then Save changes once. Editing is free and tokens are used only when you save, so save once for the whole page.
Edit text and small values yourself in Code view, which uses no tokens.
Add one feature per prompt, and do not keep clicking Attempt fix: describe the problem instead.
Turn on connectors, such as Notion or Linear, only when you need them, because the data they add to your project uses more tokens.

The Bolt hackathon: $17,500 in prizes

The Builders Week contest, which most people search for as the Bolt hackathon, is the part that pays. StackBlitz, the company that makes Bolt, sponsors it and runs it as a contest of skill under official rules. The Bolt hackathon brief is short: turn a business idea into a product in Bolt, or grow a business you already run, and submit it by 11:59 pm PT on October 20 (06:59 UTC on October 21).

Second prize
$5,000
Paid in US dollars
Grand prize
$10,000
Plus a 1:1 mentoring session with Bolt CEO Eric Simons
Third prize
$2,500
Paid in US dollars

One prize per entrant, and prizes cannot be transferred. The project does not have to be new: an app you started in Bolt before October 13 counts, as long as it meets the rules below.

Bolt hackathon prize: $10,000 for one app, free to enter
The Bolt contest pays $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500, judged on four equal criteria.

Who can enter

The Bolt hackathon is open to individuals who are at least 18 and of the age of majority where they live, teams of such people, and organizations that already exist at the time of entry. Every person involved needs a Bolt account in good standing. Teams and organizations pick one Representative to submit the entry. A team’s prize goes to its Representative; an organization’s prize goes to the organization.

The rules exclude people in places where US or local law bars entry, including Brazil, China, Crimea, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, Russia and Syria. Each entrant may submit one entry, and using more than one account can disqualify every entry linked to it.

What to submit

The Bolt hackathon entry form on the Builders Week page asks for your name, email, project name and a one-line description of up to 120 characters. Then comes “Tell us about your business”, up to 1,200 characters, where you explain the idea, who it is for and the problem it solves, and list every tool you used besides Bolt. Have these ready:

A live link anyone can open for free: your bolt.host address or a custom domain. It must keep working through the end of judging, which the rules put at about October 31 PT (already November 1 in much of the world), so keep it live into November.
Your Bolt project link, from the Share button.
Your list of every tool you used besides Bolt, as the rules require. It goes in the same 1,200-character business box, so keep it short.
Optional: a demo video of up to five minutes, public on YouTube or X.

You also tick a box confirming you are 18 or older, that you built the project primarily in Bolt and that you accept the rules. Entries must be in English, or include an English translation. Once the entry window closes, you cannot change your project, except to keep it online and working.

The rules that trip people up

Most entries that fail will fail on these points, so read them twice:

  • Built primarily in Bolt. The first structure and the main development must start in Bolt, and the core of the app must run in Bolt. Bolt may ask for your project history as proof.
  • Other AI tools only in support roles. ChatGPT, Claude, Figma and other assistants are fine for ideas, design, prototyping or isolated code snippets. Other platforms are allowed only where Bolt is currently less suited, and that use must stay minimal. List every outside tool, platform and piece of third-party content in your entry.
  • No borrowed logos. Do not use other companies’ logos or trademarks without permission, apart from accurate mentions of tools you used. Copies or remixes of other people’s projects are not allowed.
  • A working, free link until judging ends, about October 31 PT (already November 1 in much of the world). If judges hit a broken page or a paywall, your entry cannot be judged. Free hosting has a hard monthly cap of 10 GB of bandwidth and 333,333 requests, shared by every site on your account, and once it runs out your free sites, your entry included, stay offline until usage resets. On a paid plan, check that the site is published as Public, not private. Test the live link in a private browser window before you submit.
  • Your entry is not confidential. You keep ownership, but entering gives StackBlitz, the contest sponsor, a permanent, royalty-free licence to use your submission in its marketing, and Bolt may build similar ideas. Do not enter a secret product idea.

How entries are judged

Four criteria, each worth 25% of the score. Ties go to the higher Use of Bolt score, so the more of your app that genuinely runs on Bolt, the better.

Use of Bolt25%
How much of the project is built in Bolt, and how creatively. Ties go to the higher score here.
Idea25%
How creative and original the business idea is.
Implementation and design25%
Does it work, is it complete, and is it pleasant to use?
Potential impact25%
How useful it is for the people it is meant for.

Judging runs from about October 21 to 31, and winners are announced on or about October 31 on the Builders Week page and on Bolt’s social accounts.

How winners get paid

Bolt contest prizes are paid in US dollars by wire transfer or PayPal, within about 60 days after a winner is verified. Possible winners are told only by email, at the address on the entry, so watch that inbox.

Within 10 days of that email, a winner must sign and return an eligibility affidavit, a liability release, a publicity release where the law allows, and the tax forms; miss the 10 days and the prize can go to the next-highest entry. Winners who are not US persons provide an IRS Form W-8, and StackBlitz, the contest sponsor, may withhold tax where the law or a tax treaty requires it. Any tax due in your own country is yours to pay.

Contest ideas that fit the rules

Bolt contest judges reward a real business with a clear user. Small, finished and useful beats big and half-built. A few starting points for people who know finance or run a small business:

  • A document portal for a small practice: clients upload monthly papers, and the firm sees what is missing at a glance.
  • A booking page with deposits for a tutor, salon or repair service, using Bolt’s built-in Stripe payments.
  • A petty cash and expense log for a shop, with photo receipts and a monthly summary.
  • A quote builder for a contractor that turns a short form into a clean, shareable price quote.
  • A simple dashboard that turns a sales sheet into charts, the web version of our Excel financial dashboard templates.

Whatever you build, write the 1,200-character business description as carefully as the app. It is where you explain your idea, who it is for and the problem it solves, and it must also list the tools you used besides Bolt, so leave room for that.

The live sessions: October 20 to 23

Bolt Builders Week also runs four free live sessions, all about growing a business on Bolt. RSVP on each Luma page to get the join link. Each session page says it will be recorded and posted to the Bolt.new Workshops playlist on YouTube, so you can catch up if a session falls late at night where you live.

Times from Bolt’s Builders Week page and each session’s Luma page; the last column shows each start time in your own time zone.
Session Who and what Pacific Time UTC Your local time
Ask Eric and Albert anything Bolt co-founders Eric Simons (CEO) and Albert Pai (CTO), live and unscripted Tue Oct 20, 10:00 to 11:00 am Tue Oct 20, 17:00 to 18:00 Worked out by your browser
Help customers find you Alberto Aviles, Head of Demand Generation: three SEO tips for a Bolt site Wed Oct 21, 10:30 to 11:00 am Wed Oct 21, 17:30 to 18:00 Worked out by your browser
Turn sign-ups into regulars Enrique Hoyos, Growth Marketing Lead: onboarding, adoption and retention Thu Oct 22, 10:30 to 11:30 am Thu Oct 22, 17:30 to 18:30 Worked out by your browser
How to stand out Qian Yu, Head of Design: a design and branding clinic with live project reviews Fri Oct 23, 10:30 to 11:30 am Fri Oct 23, 17:30 to 18:30 Worked out by your browser

Mind the order of dates. The Bolt hackathon closes on Tuesday October 20 at 11:59 pm PT, so only the founder Q and A happens before the deadline. The SEO, growth and design sessions come after entries are locked, which makes them useful for growing your app, not for polishing your entry.

The Friday design clinic is worth joining live if you can: Qian Yu reviews founder projects on air, and you share yours by dropping your live Bolt project link in the chat.

Bolt.new free plan and pricing after the weekend

Once the free build weekend ends, the free GLM 5.3 Flash blocks stop and only your normal Bolt.new free tokens or plan allowance is left. Here is what each plan costs on Bolt’s pricing page:

Free
$0
300K tokens a day, 1M a month. Standard agent only. Public bolt.host sites with a Made in Bolt badge.
Our pick
Pro
$25/month
$18/month billed yearly
From 10M tokens a month, no daily cap, Max agent, custom domains, no badge, private sharing.
Teams
$30/member
$27/member billed yearly
Everything in Pro plus central billing and admin controls. Each paid seat has its own tokens.
Enterprise
Custom
SSO, audit logs, a dedicated account manager, SLAs and data governance.

Two details are easy to miss. First, the Bolt.new free plan’s 300,000 daily tokens do not carry over to the next day, and its 1 million monthly tokens reset on the 1st. Second, tokens on a paid plan roll over for one extra month, so a quiet month is not wasted, but you lose them if you cancel. Bolt’s token rules explain both.

Before you pay, note three billing rules from Bolt’s billing help: Pro and Teams take only credit or debit cards, subscriptions are non-refundable, and from November 1, 2026, Link by Stripe handles billing and may add VAT or sales tax where a region requires it. The yearly price saves 28% on the entry Pro tier; higher tiers and Teams save about 10%.

Hosting on the Bolt.new free plan is generous for a first app: up to 10 GB of bandwidth and 333,333 requests a month, which Bolt puts at roughly 10,000 to 15,000 visits. Pro raises that to 30 GB and 1 million requests, per Bolt’s hosting limits.

Get 20% off Bolt Pro

If you plan to keep building after the free build weekend, Bolt Pro is the next step up for a solo builder: no daily cap, the deeper Max agent, a custom domain and no Made in Bolt badge. Bolt runs a referral program: anyone who signs up through a member’s link gets 20% off.

Bolt.new logo

Our referral link
Get 20% off Bolt Pro
Sign up for Bolt through our referral link and 20% comes off Bolt Pro at checkout: for your first 3 months on monthly billing, or once on an annual plan. No code to type. The free build weekend still costs nothing.

How it works: open the link, create your Bolt account through it, and the discount applies by itself when you buy a Pro or Teams plan. If you already have an account or sign up without the link first, the discount cannot be added later. On a $25 monthly Pro plan, 20% off saves $5 a month for three months.

Is Bolt worth paying for?

For the weekend, the answer is easy: it is free, so try Bolt. After that, it depends on what you build. If you want a working prototype, a client portal or a simple product you can show people, Bolt is one of the fastest ways to get there without hiring a developer, and the free plan is enough to test the idea.

Pay for Pro when your Bolt.new free tokens run out too often, when you need a custom domain, or when the app is for paying customers and the Made in Bolt badge looks out of place. Stay on the Bolt.new free plan if you build a few evenings a month. And if your work is mostly spreadsheets, AI chat tools may give you more for less; our AI leaderboard and Claude for finance guide compare the options.

Starting a company around your build? Our free credits list covers cloud and AI credits for startups, including Cloudflare for Startups and Claude for Startups.

Key takeaways

  • Bolt.new free tokens: the Free plan gives 300,000 tokens a day and 1 million a month, and the weekend adds free GLM 5.3 Flash on top.
  • Bolt Builders Week runs October 17 to 24, 2026, with a free build weekend, live sessions and a $17,500 Bolt hackathon.
  • GLM 5.3 Flash is free for every Bolt account from Saturday 12:00 am PT to Sunday 11:59 pm PT (Saturday 07:00 to Monday 06:59 UTC), in six-hour blocks; paid plans get five times as much.
  • The Bolt hackathon closes Tuesday October 20 at 11:59 pm PT (Wednesday October 21 at 06:59 UTC), and the Bolt.new free plan is enough to enter. It is open worldwide, with a few exclusions.
  • Build primarily in Bolt, list every outside tool, and keep your live link free and working into November, past the end of judging.
  • Keep client data out: Bolt Forge prompts and code are used to train open-source models.
  • After the weekend, Bolt Pro costs $25 a month, or $18 a month billed yearly; sign up through our referral link before you subscribe and you get 20% off your first 3 months on monthly billing, or once on an annual plan.

Please note: we update this page from time to time, but Bolt’s plans, offers and contest rules can change quickly, and there can be a gap between a change and our update. Check Bolt’s official Builders Week page and rules before you act. This guide helps you plan and enter; it is not legal or tax advice, and ReconScribe is not responsible for decisions made on it.

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Bolt.new free tokens: frequently asked questions

How many Bolt.new free tokens do I get?

The Free plan gives 300,000 tokens a day and 1 million tokens a month, and the daily allowance does not carry over. During the free build weekend of October 17 and 18, 2026, GLM 5.3 Flash is free on top of that for every account, in six-hour blocks.

What is Bolt Builders Week?

Bolt Builders Week is a Bolt event running October 17 to 24, 2026. It has three parts: a free build weekend on October 17 and 18, four free live sessions from October 20 to 23, and a contest with $17,500 in cash prizes for a business built in Bolt.

When is the Bolt free build weekend in my time zone?

It runs from Saturday October 17 at 12:00 am to Sunday October 18 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time, which is Saturday October 17 at 07:00 UTC to Monday October 19 at 06:59 UTC. The dates table in this guide converts both times to your local time automatically.

Is the Bolt free build weekend really free?

Yes. Every Bolt account, free and paid, gets the GLM 5.3 Flash model free in the model picker from Saturday 12:00 am PT to Sunday 11:59 pm PT, in six-hour blocks with a set allowance in each. You do not change your plan or redeem a code. It is the only free model that weekend, and rate limits apply.

How much can I build with Bolt.new free tokens during the weekend?

Bolt has not published a number. Your free usage comes in six-hour blocks: a block starts when you open Bolt, and your first visit after it ends starts the next one. Paid plans get five times the free allowance in each block, and blocks you miss do not carry over.

Which countries can enter the Bolt hackathon?

The contest is open worldwide, but the official rules exclude people in places where US or local law bars entry, including Brazil, China, Crimea, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, Russia and Syria. You must be 18 or older and of the age of majority where you live, and you need a Bolt account in good standing.

Do I need a paid Bolt plan to enter the Bolt hackathon?

No. The rules say no purchase is needed, the Bolt.new free plan may be used to enter, and a paid plan or extra tokens are not considered in judging.

What is the deadline for the Bolt hackathon?

Entries close on Tuesday October 20, 2026 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time, which is Wednesday October 21 at 06:59 UTC. Entries that arrive later are not judged.

What do I need to submit for the Bolt hackathon?

Three things: a public live link anyone can open for free, such as your bolt.host address or a custom domain; your Bolt project link; and a written description that lists any tools you used besides Bolt. A demo video of up to five minutes on YouTube or X is optional.

Can I use ChatGPT or Claude for my Bolt hackathon entry?

Only in supporting roles, such as ideas, design, prototyping or isolated code snippets. The main build must start and run in Bolt, other platforms are allowed only where Bolt is currently less suited and must be kept minimal, and you must disclose every outside tool in your entry.

How are the Bolt hackathon winners paid?

Prizes are paid in US dollars by wire transfer or PayPal, within about 60 days after a winner is verified. Winners must return the signed forms within 10 days of the winner email, or the prize can go to the next-highest entry. Winners who are not US persons provide an IRS Form W-8, and StackBlitz, the contest sponsor, may withhold tax where the law requires it.

Does Bolt use my prompts to train AI models?

For Bolt Forge, yes: Bolt's terms say de-identified prompts, code and project files are used by its partners to train open-source models, except for sessions from the EEA, UK and Switzerland. Separately, Bolt's Model training setting is on by default outside the EU, UK and Switzerland; turn it off under Account settings, General, Model training, but it does not cover Forge, so keep client data out of your builds.

How much does Bolt Pro cost?

Bolt Pro costs $25 a month billed monthly, or $18 a month billed yearly, and starts at 10 million tokens a month with no daily limit. Teams costs $30 per member a month. The Free plan stays at $0 with 300,000 tokens a day and 1 million a month.

How do I get 20% off Bolt Pro?

Sign up for Bolt through a member's referral link before you subscribe. Bolt then takes 20% off Bolt Pro at checkout, for the first 3 months on monthly billing or once on an annual plan. The link in this guide is ReconScribe's own referral link.

More open hackathons

See every open hackathon, with filters and deadlines in your local time

Related reading

Sources

  • Bolt: Builders Week: bolt.new/builders-week
  • Bolt: Builders Week contest official rules: bolt.new/builders-week/terms
  • Bolt: pricing: bolt.new/pricing
  • Bolt help: Bolt Forge: support.bolt.new/account/bolt-forge
  • Bolt blog: What is Bolt Forge: bolt.new/blog/what-is-bolt-forge
  • Bolt help: agents: support.bolt.new/building/agents
  • Bolt help: tokens: support.bolt.new/account/tokens
  • Bolt help: QuickStart: support.bolt.new/get-started/quickstart
  • Bolt help: Plan Mode: support.bolt.new/prompting/plan-mode
  • Bolt help: prompting effectively: support.bolt.new/prompting/prompting-effectively
  • Bolt help: maximizing token efficiency: support.bolt.new/prompting/maximizing-token-efficiency
  • Bolt help: rollback and backup: support.bolt.new/managing-projects/rollback-backup
  • Bolt help: Bolt Database: support.bolt.new/bolt-cloud/database
  • Bolt help: publishing to bolt.host: support.bolt.new/bolt-cloud/hosting/publish
  • Bolt help: hosting plans and limits: support.bolt.new/bolt-cloud/hosting/plans
  • Bolt help: sharing projects: support.bolt.new/collaboration/sharing
  • Bolt help: referral program: support.bolt.new/account/referral-program
  • Bolt help: release notes: support.bolt.new/release-notes
  • Bolt help: corporate and commercial use: support.bolt.new/account/corporate-commercial
  • Bolt help: billing: support.bolt.new/account/billing
  • Luma: Ask Eric and Albert anything
  • Luma: Help customers find you
  • Luma: Turn sign-ups into regulars
  • Luma: How to stand out
  • YouTube: Bolt.new Workshops playlist

Referral disclosure: links to Bolt in this guide, including the buttons, use ReconScribe's own referral link. If you sign up through it and later buy a paid plan, you get 20% off and ReconScribe earns a reward from Bolt, at no extra cost to you. It is our referral link, not a Bolt promotion. Bolt's rules and help pages are listed above as addresses.