Hercules: developer tools for small business owners and operations teams
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Hercules helps you build software by this route: describe the app you need in a chat box, and it builds it, with the database, logins and payments already included. It is best for small business owners and operations teams who need a working internal tool or business app and do not have a developer to build it.
What it does
You type what you want built and Hercules builds it: pages, forms, tables and the database behind them. The pieces most business apps need come with it rather than being added later. There is a database, logins by email, password, social account or texted code, files and image storage, outgoing email, and payments through Hercules Commerce. When it is ready you publish it, either on a hercules.app subdomain or on a domain you own. Hercules says its apps run on its own hosting and are built to handle large numbers of visitors, and that plans include an allowance of that hosting. It also says the product is used for internal tools, customer apps, marketing sites and mobile apps, and that it is trusted by 100,000+ businesses, which is the company's own claim.
If you want to try it, start on the free plan at hercules.app and build one small app first. The quickstart guide walks through it in four steps. Official site: hercules.app.
We have applied to Hercules's referral program, and this page does not carry a referral link yet: the links to hercules.app here are plain links, and we earn nothing if you sign up through them. If that changes, this page will say so before the link.
Editorial note
Hercules is an AI app builder for business. You describe the app you want in a chat box and it builds it in front of you, including the database, the logins, the email and the payments. Prices on Hercules's own pricing page, checked October 30, 2026: Free is $0 with 15 AI credits a month; Pro is $25 a month billed monthly or $21 a month billed yearly; Business is $199 a month billed monthly or $170 a month billed yearly; Enterprise is quoted by sales.
Who it’s for
- For: small business owners and operations teams who need a working internal tool or business app and do not have a developer to build it.
- When not to use it: someone who needs the finished app to run on their own servers or inside their own network. Hercules builds and hosts the app on Hercules Cloud, so it stays on their platform. It is also not the cheapest way to build a one-page site, where a plain website builder will do the job for less. Our Lovable and Webflow pages cover other approaches.
Key use cases
- Build apps & code
What you can do with it
- You build it by talking to it. You describe the app in a chat box and it writes it in front of you. You can then ask for changes in the same plain words, which is the part that matters if you have never hired a developer.
- The database comes with it. Every app includes a database. Hercules builds the tables from what you describe, and you can open them, edit them and import data into them.
- Logins come with it. People can sign in with a password, an emailed code, a texted code or an account they already have, such as Google. Paid plans add rules about who is allowed to sign up, separate roles and permissions, and single sign-on through SSO or SAML.
- Email, files and payments come with it. Apps can send email, store images and files, and take payments for subscriptions, products, services, events or donations through Hercules Commerce.
- It publishes and hosts the app. You click Publish and it goes live on a hercules.app subdomain or on a domain you own. Hercules says its hosting is built to cope with a sudden rush of visitors, and every plan includes an amount of it.
- Team controls on the paid plans. Business adds other people on the account, role-based access, custom login rules, daily backups and advanced privacy controls.
- It can also be driven from other AI assistants. Hercules publishes an MCP server, so assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor can create and manage apps for you. See the documentation.
How to use Hercules: step-by-step tutorial
Five to eight steps from the account to a first useful result. Where the official guide names a control, the step uses that name. Where it does not, the step stays general.
- Go to hercules.app and create an account. Then type what you want to build into the chat box, in the words you would use with a person. For example: a CRM for my sales team that tracks deals and follow-ups.
- Watch it build, then keep chatting. Ask for the parts you want added or changed, one job at a time. Every message you send uses AI credits, and the Free plan includes 15 a month.
- When the app looks right, click Publish in the top right corner and pick a name for it. It goes live at that name on hercules.app, for example myapp.onhercules.app, and you can share the link with anyone.
- Move to Pro when you want your own domain or you need the Hercules badge taken off the page. Business adds other people on the account, separate roles and daily backups.
- Test the app yourself before you rely on it: sign up as a new user, fill in each form, and check anything that takes a payment. Then read the data it saved to make sure it went where you expected.
These steps follow the official guide: Hercules home page.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hercules have a free plan?
Yes. Hercules lists a Free plan at $0 a month with 15 AI credits a month, unlimited apps, publishing on a hercules.app subdomain and community support. There is no time limit stated on the pricing page. Checked October 30, 2026.
How much does Hercules cost?
On the Monthly setting of the pricing page: Free is $0, Pro is $25 a month and Business is $199 a month. On the Yearly setting Pro is shown as $21 a month and Business as $170 a month, billed once a year. Those are monthly figures. Hercules prints the yearly saving on each card in dollars too, $45 a year on Pro and $348 a year on Business, so check the annual total at checkout rather than multiplying the rounded monthly price. Enterprise is quoted by talking to sales. Checked October 30, 2026.
What is an AI credit?
Hercules charges for building in AI credits. Every message you send to the app builder uses some. The Free plan includes 15 a month, and Pro and Business include 50 a month. Hercules says plan credits expire 28 to 31 days after they are granted, and that you can buy more credits or set them to top up automatically.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes, on Pro and above; publishing to custom domains is the first thing Hercules lists as included in Pro. On the Free plan the app goes live on a hercules.app subdomain such as myapp.onhercules.app.
What can I build with Hercules?
Hercules says people build SaaS products, online stores, internal tools, mobile apps, marketing pages and landing pages with it. Its own documentation lists those as the most common uses.
Pricing
Prices checked on the official pricing page.
- Free
-
$0/month
15 AI credits a month, unlimited apps, publish on a hercules.app subdomain, community support
- Pro
-
$25/month billed monthly, or $21/month billed yearly
50 AI credits a month, publish to your own domain, remove the Hercules badge, buy AI credit top-ups, 20x Hercules Cloud usage in the pricing page's words, and email support
- Business
-
$199/month billed monthly, or $170/month billed yearly
Everything in Pro, plus add teammates, custom login rules, role-based access control, daily data backups and advanced privacy controls. The pricing page lists 50 AI credits a month on this plan too, and marks it Most Popular
- Enterprise
-
Talk to sales
Everything in Business, plus single sign-on through SSO or SAML, a volume discount on AI credits, dedicated technical support, custom integrations, onboarding services, a data processing agreement, audit logs and SCIM user provisioning
These are the prices on Hercules's own pricing page, read from the rendered page on October 30, 2026. The page has a Monthly and a Yearly setting. Both are listed here, because the Yearly setting is not obvious until you click it.
- Free: $0 a month. 15 AI credits a month, unlimited apps, publish on a hercules.app subdomain, community support.
- Pro: $25 a month billed monthly, or $21 a month billed yearly. 50 AI credits a month, publish to your own domain, the Hercules badge removed, AI credit top-ups, 20x the Hercules Cloud usage, and email support. On the yearly setting the card also says you save $45 a year.
- Business: $199 a month billed monthly, or $170 a month billed yearly. Everything in Pro, plus other people on the account, custom login rules, role-based access control, daily data backups and advanced privacy controls. Hercules marks this plan Most Popular. On the yearly setting the card also says you save $348 a year.
- Enterprise: talk to sales. Everything in Business, plus single sign-on through SSO or SAML, a volume discount on AI credits, dedicated support, custom integrations, onboarding services, a data processing agreement, audit logs and SCIM user provisioning. No price is published.
Those yearly prices are shown as a monthly figure, and the page says you are billed yearly, so the whole year is charged in one go. Hercules prints the saving on each card in dollars as well, $45 a year on Pro and $348 a year on Business, and the switch at the top of the page labels the Yearly setting as saving 15 percent. Work your yearly total out from those printed figures at checkout rather than by multiplying the rounded monthly price, because $21 a month does not multiply back to the same total.
- Building is metered. Building is paid for in AI credits, and the Free plan includes 15 a month, which goes quickly once you are making real changes. Hercules says plan credits expire 28 to 31 days after they are granted, so unused credits do not pile up. Hosting is counted separately: every plan includes an allowance of Hercules Cloud, and Hercules says anything past it is charged as you go, so a busy app can cost more than the plan price. And because the app is generated, check what it built before you trust it with customer data or money.
- You are trusting generated code. The app is written by an AI from your description. It will be wrong about something at some point, and the person who catches it is you. Test the forms, the logins and the payments yourself, and read the data it saves before you let customers in.
- The app lives on Hercules. Hercules builds, publishes and hosts the app. If you need to keep the software inside your own network or on your own servers, this is the wrong tool.
- The business claims are the company's own. Hercules says it is trusted by 100,000+ businesses and publishes customer stories with savings and growth figures. Those are its own claims, not something this page has checked.
- Plans change. Prices and limits get updated, so check the official page before you buy.
Facts
- Access
- Ongoing free plan
- Paid plans from
- $21/mo billed yearly
- Checked
- Category
- Category: Development tools (31 in the library).
- On the record
- Hercules has a Free plan at $0 a month with 15 AI credits a month, unlimited apps and publishing on a hercules.app subdomain. The pricing page states no time limit for it. Paid plans start at $21 a month billed yearly, or $25 a month billed monthly.