2w ago

Vibe coding platform Replit's latest update is infuriating customers with surprise cost overruns

www.theregister.com

Replit infuriating customers with surprise cost overruns

AI coding service Replit is in trouble again as users are protesting steep cost increases and some glitches when employing the newest version of its service.
You may remember Replit for deleting one of its customers’ production databases and making up data.
The company promised to move on from that mess, and on September 10 launched Agent 3, a coding helper that it says offers developers an easier way to build and test apps.
Feedback on the new service, which Replit billed as “our most advanced and autonomous Agent yet” and “3x faster and 10x more cost-effective than Computer Use models”, has been mixed, with the main complaint being that certain tasks take longer, and involve more checkpoints, so therefore cost surprisingly more.

11 comments

Introduce 'very useful and helpful' thing at low cost, subscription pricing model.
Wait for dependency to set in.
????
Jack up prices. (Profit)
....Duh?
Did anyone not see this coming?
This is literally the most basic tech/corpo business strategy.
Have none of you vibe coders ever studied the history of the business of software developmemt?
Did you think primarily B2B services were... immune to enshittification?
- This is the enshittifcation in rapid form. Thankfully there are alternatives, and cheaper models are becoming more powerful.
  
  Or you could actually learn how to code instead of finding a new umbillical cord to attach yourself to?
  Bare minimum, run one locally, so you actually control it?
- I only know two vibe coders, but can confirm that they don't know the history of the business of software development.
Yikes. I miss when Replit wasn't prioritizing shoving AI features to customers.
- For real - before all this vibe coding nonsense it was actually a really good web IDE. I used to use it regularly back when my school forced me to use a Chromebook and it was great.
  Came back to it the other day and they had locked all my projects behind a paywall and the entire IDE had been replaced by a chatbot. I couldn't delete my account fast enough.
  
  Same. Started using it two years ago when it was recommended by a programming professor and my only device was a shitty craptop that could barely start VScode. Was all I wanted from a simple IDE, and on top of that managed libraries and build tools automatically so all I had to do was code.
  Used it again a couple of months ago when I needed to use an IDE but the class PCs didn't have one installed yet. All I have available is my generic Java playground I made, rest of my projects locked...
  I didn't mind the AI auto complete or the chat section, but I could tell already it was shitting the bed. Such a shame.
I remember when this site was actually useful

11 comments