# Bolt launches Forge and $9 Lite plan

> Bolt's September 14 launch of Forge adds a research preview based entirely on open-weight models. Individual Pro subscribers who opt in to share anonymized build-session data can receive up to 50 times their usual usage at no extra cost through October 14, 2026.

- Publication: Go Big News
- By Nifal Adam, Go Big News Staff (Staff News)
- Category: AI
- Published: 2026-09-20T08:35:03.365+00:00
- Canonical: https://www.gobignews.com/ai/bolt-launches-forge-and-9-lite-plan

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[Bolt](https://stackblitz.com) launched Forge on September 14, a research preview inside Bolt.new that runs only on open-weight models. The company also introduced Bolt Lite, a $9-a-month plan for students and side-project builders.

CEO Eric Simons said in a post on X that Forge is launching in partnership with Arcee, Microsoft, Vercel, Fireworks and DigitalOcean. Bolt's [Forge blog post](https://bolt.new/blog/what-is-bolt-forge) identifies Arcee's role: anonymized build-session data from opted-in users will go to the open-model lab under a signed data processing agreement.

Forge defaults to GLM 5.3 Flash and also offers GLM 5.3, with experimental Kimi K3 and DeepSeek v4 Pro. Its models scored 92.2 on Bolt's internal Build Index, compared with 101.0 for Bolt's top paid model.

Individual Pro subscribers can opt in to share anonymized session data and receive up to 50 times their usual Forge usage at no extra cost through October 14. Bolt Pro costs $25 a month when billed yearly and provides immediate access to that allowance without a waitlist.

Arcee plans a first training run for a trillion-parameter-class open-weight model in October. Arcee AI CEO Mark McQuade said models trained on Forge sessions will be released publicly.

Bolt Lite runs on Forge. Its sign-up window closes October 14, and early subscribers keep the $9 monthly price indefinitely.

StackBlitz, the company behind Bolt, was founded in San Francisco in 2017 by Simons and CTO Albert Pai. It began as a browser-based cloud IDE before launching Bolt.new in October 2024. Bolt.new raised $105.5 million in a Series B announced in January 2025, co-led by Emergence Capital and GV, at a valuation of about $700 million.

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## Companies in this story

- Stackblitz: https://www.gobignews.com/company/stackblitz

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## X profiles in this story

- @ericsimons: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/ericsimons