Yes, you can sell that app you vibe-coded with Cursor. Here is what buyers check

Originally published on ExitBid — the full guide covers transfer runbooks, the disclosure question, and platform comparison.

Short answer to the question I keep seeing on r/SideProject and X: yes, apps built with Cursor, Lovable, or Bolt sell for real money — if they work, have a live demo, and you're upfront about how they were built.

I've been on the marketplace side of these deals, and the pattern is consistent: buyers don't reject AI-written code. They discount it — unless you take away their reasons to.

What buyers actually check in a vibe-coded app

Forget "is the code elegant." Here's the real due-diligence list:

1. Secrets in the repo. Hardcoded API keys, .env committed, seller-retained credentials. This is the #1 kill signal — it screams "nobody reviewed this."
2. Supabase/DB security rules. AI scaffolds love to skip row-level security. Buyers check whether any user can read any table.
3. Single-API dependency. If your app is a thin wrapper and the underlying model/API changes pricing, the buyer inherits that risk. Show them your margins survive a price change.
4. Does it actually run from a clean clone? A README with working setup steps beats beautiful architecture. Most vibe-coded projects fail this — which means passing it puts you ahead of the market.
5. Commit history honesty. Buyers can tell it's AI-built from the commits. Hiding it reads as deception; disclosing it with "and here's how I reviewed/hardened it" reads as competence.

The pricing reality with $0 MRR

No revenue means no multiple — so the price anchors to replacement cost (what it'd cost the buyer to rebuild: dev-hours × rate, minus a discount because your version already exists and is proven to run), plus whatever real assets ride along: domain, waitlist, users, SEO. For working MVPs that's typically low hundreds to low thousands of dollars; audience or unique data pushes it up.

The honest problem: any asking price you pick is a guess. There's no comp database for "weekend Cursor app with 300 signups." That's exactly the case where competitive bidding beats fixed pricing — the market finds the number instead of you defending one. (Disclosure: this is why I built ExitBid with a pre-revenue auction track — $199 flat, 0% commission, 5-day auction. Free boards like SideProjectors also work fine for sub-$2K projects; I compared them all here.)

Full valuation methodology with real 2026 sold comps: how much a pre-revenue project is worth.

Do you even own the code? (checked July 2026)

I read the current ToS so you don't have to:

• Cursor: output belongs to you (their terms assign rights in suggestions to the user).
• Bolt/StackBlitz: code you create is yours, commercial use fine.
• Lovable: you own the AI output — subject to third-party rights in the underlying models/outputs, so keep an eye on what you fed it.

As of July 2026, for all three: you can sell what you built. Licenses of your dependencies are a separate check — run a quick license audit before listing.

The 5-step prep that removes the AI discount

1. Rotate every secret; move keys to env vars; scrub git history if needed.
2. Turn on and test your DB security rules.
3. Write the README you'd want as a stranger: setup, env list, deploy steps, monthly costs.
4. Record a 3-minute demo video of the app working.
5. Write the disclosure line: "Built with [tool], reviewed and hardened by me — here's what I fixed."

That last one converts your biggest perceived weakness into a trust signal. Sellers who hide the AI origin get caught in the commit log and lose the deal; sellers who lead with it close.

Questions about a specific stack (Supabase/Vercel/Stripe handover is its own dance) — ask below, I've seen most of the failure modes by now.