Good for / not for
- Non-technical founders who want a working app without making a single configuration decision.
- Anyone who needs login, a database and hosting included rather than assembled from three services.
- Trying an idea before paying: 25 message credits a month and up to five apps cost nothing.
- People who want the source out: from the Builder plan ($50 a month), two-way GitHub sync pushes the full app into a repository you own.
- Teams needing deep customisation: Base44 is proprietary, and in-app code edits start at the $20 Starter plan.
- Anyone who wants predictable AI reliability; Trustpilot reviewers say it takes more fixing than it used to.
- People who need to know exactly what a month costs, because prompts and integrations draw on separate credit pools.
What it actually does
You type a description of the app you want — a client portal, an internal tracker, a booking form — and Base44 builds the whole thing: the interface, a database behind it, user authentication, cloud storage and hosting, without asking you to choose any of them. That bundling is the product. Where other builders generate a front end and leave you to connect a backend service, Base44 lists the integrated backend and database, authentication and user management, cloud storage and an analytics dashboard as standard on every tier, the free one included. You keep working in chat: describe a change, watch it appear, describe the next one. Each of those messages spends a message credit, and the free plan has 25 a month. Connecting to outside services spends a different currency, integration credits, of which the free plan has 100. Paid tiers raise both pools and remove the five-app cap, and add in-app code edits, a connected domain, model selection and GitHub integration as you go up. From the Builder plan ($50 a month), two-way GitHub sync pushes the full source into a repository you control.
Sign up on the free plan and describe an app.
25 message credits a month, 100 integration credits and up to five apps, with authentication, database and analytics on every tier. Every paid tier removes the app cap.
From the vendor's docsPricing and free-plan limits
Free tier: $0 with 25 message credits and 100 integration credits a month, and up to five apps.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free |
Limits: 25 message credits/month · 100 integration credits/month · Up to 5 apps The only tier with an app cap. Every paid tier says unlimited apps. |
| Starter | $20/month |
$16 a month billed annually — the yearly toggle takes 20% off every paid plan. |
| Builder | $50/month |
$40 a month billed annually. Base44 marks this plan popular. |
| Pro | $100/month |
$80 a month billed annually. |
| Elite | $200/month |
$160 a month billed annually. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing |
Contact sales; no figure is published. Education and non-profit pricing is handled case by case. |
Prices checked on Sep 6, 2026 against the vendor's pricing page. Plans change often — confirm before you pay.
Three honest limitations
- Reviewers on Trustpilot report being charged after cancelling their subscription.
- The same reviews describe a reliability regression — "the AI doesn't feel reliable anymore" — with more time spent fixing what a single prompt used to get right.
- Two separate credit pools: message credits for prompts, integration credits for connections to outside services, so one number does not describe your usage.
Alternatives
- Lovable — Choose Lovable instead if you want a React and Supabase app that a developer will take over later.
- Bolt.new — Choose Bolt.new instead if you write JavaScript and want the code and the runtime in your browser rather than a managed backend.
- v0 by Vercel — Choose v0 instead if you only need a React front end and you already deploy on Vercel.
Getting started in 5 minutes
- Sign up at base44.com and start on the free plan.
- Describe the app in a paragraph: who signs in, what they see, what they are allowed to change.
- Spend the first credits on corrections rather than new features — the free plan has 25 messages a month, not 25 a day.
- From the Builder plan ($50 a month), connect GitHub; the sync is two-way and the repository stays yours.
- Move to Starter ($20 a month, $16 annually) when five apps or 25 credits stop being enough.
Base44 questions
- Is Base44 free?
- There is a free plan: 25 message credits a month, 100 integration credits and up to five apps. Paid plans start at $20 a month, or $16 billed annually.
- What is the difference between message credits and integration credits?
- Message credits are spent when you prompt the builder. Integration credits are spent connecting to outside services. The free plan gives you 25 and 100 of them a month respectively.
- Do I own the code?
- Base44's FAQ says you own everything you build — your code, your data, your users. From the Builder plan ($50 a month), two-way GitHub sync pushes the full source into a repository you control.
- Who owns Base44?
- Wix, which acquired it for $80M in June 2025 when it was at around $3M ARR. It reached $100M ARR nine months after the acquisition and roughly $150M by mid-2026.
- Base44 or Lovable?
- Base44 if you want the database, login and hosting bundled and a free plan whose numbers are published. Lovable if you want React and Supabase and expect to edit the code.
Sources
- Base44 pricing (free tier, five paid plans, 20% annual discount)
- Trustpilot reviews (billing after cancellation, reliability complaints)
- Wix acquires Base44 for $80M (June 2025)
- Base44 revenue estimates (~$150M ARR by mid-2026)
Research-compiled, not hands-on tested. Compiled from official docs, the vendor's pricing page and community reviews as of Sep 6, 2026. We haven't tested it hands-on yet.