In a recent development, Replit has entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft that promises to benefit both companies. This collaboration will see Replit become accessible through Microsoft's enterprise cloud app store, Azure Marketplace, allowing Microsoft shops to purchase Replit subscriptions directly. Replit's integration with various Microsoft cloud services, such as containers, virtual machines, and Neon Serverless Postgres, will also contribute to Azure's revenue from Replit apps used in production.

While Microsoft's GitHub Copilot and Anysphere's Cursor compete as AI-powered, in-browser coding assistants, Replit caters to a broader audience, including those with minimal coding experience. Users can create web apps through natural language prompts, with Replit handling database setup, authentication, storage, and other backend tasks. Programmers can then customize features directly, as Replit supports multiple programming languages.

This partnership positions Replit as a prototyping and designing tool, rivaling Figma, and targets non-programmer business managers for build-it-yourself apps. For instance, a sales manager could use Replit to develop a tool that tracks correlations between contract renewals and customer support tickets.

Replit's spokesperson highlighted the company's complementary role to Copilot, stating, "We are enabling all employees across all functions to develop apps, regardless of coding experience." Replit has emerged as a standout in the vibe coding world, with CEO Amjad Masad tweeting that the company's annual recurring revenue jumped from $10 million to $100 million within six months.

Replit's recent funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz and other notable investors, raised $97.4 million at a $1.1 post-money valuation. The startup claims to have over 500,000 business users on its platform. It competes with fast-growing startups like European darling Lovable and Bolt, which have also reached significant annual recurring revenue milestones.

While Google Cloud has been hosting Replit-built and run apps, this partnership with Microsoft does not exclude Google Cloud. Replit confirmed that the deal is non-exclusive, meaning the startup will continue to support Google Cloud while expanding its reach to Microsoft shops. This opens the door for other popular vibe coders to potentially strike similar deals with Microsoft.