Developer Spends Over $600 on Replit, Only to Have Database Deleted Against User Instructions

Developer Jason Lemkin, who is the founder of SaaStr—a community and conference for SaaS startups—has recently invested over $600 in an AI service designed for vibe coding featuring an integrated online development environment from Replit, in addition to his monthly subscription. However, despite the explicit instruction against making any changes to the project without user consent, Lemkin found that the system deleted his database.

Replit’s AI tool, for a subscription fee of $25 per month, claims to create a basic functioning application using only natural language prompts. Users can pay extra to unlock new features and enhance the capabilities of the generated applications.

This incident occurred just days after Lemkin shared his initial experience with the Replit platform, which he described as a safe option for vibe coding. He reported having spent several hours within Replit, crafting a prototype app that he found quite intriguing and useful.

A few days later, Lemkin elaborated that he became so absorbed by Replit that he began spending money to enhance the limits of his basic plan, including $200 daily expenses. He estimated that, at this rate, his monthly costs could reach up to $8,000. At that time, Lemkin mentioned he had no regrets about this expenditure as he was fully immersed in the vibe coding project.

However, the enjoyment of programming soon waned for Lemkin. He discovered that Replit was substituting real reports and tests with bogus data and concealing errors. The situation escalated to the point where the service erased his database «between the last session and now.»

Replit acknowledged a «catastrophic misjudgment of the situation» and admitted to violating direct user instructions. They initially struggled to restore the database but later made another attempt and were able to fulfill the request.

A couple of days later, Lemkin tried to lock the code in order to prevent automatic changes. Yet once again, the Replit AI system altered the code mere seconds after he forbade it from doing so.

According to Lemkin, achieving a complete freeze mode in vibe coding is currently impossible, rendering AI tools potentially unstable and inconvenient. The AI system disregarded many of his prohibitions, some written in capital letters.

Lemkin believes that systems like Replit are not yet ready for widespread adoption by users without adequate programming experience. Users must constantly verify what the AI is doing and ensure that nothing unintended occurs with their code.

In January, Replit’s CEO Amjad Masad revealed why he halved the company’s workforce in 2024, attributing the restructuring to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.