People leave Base44 when they try to take the app with them. Code export starts at the $50 Builder plan, and the exported project still depends on Base44's SDK and backend, logins included. The smaller reasons: since 6 February 2026 a free app can only be public, and every prompt spent chasing a bug comes out of the month's credits.
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Stay on Base44 if the app is an internal tool your team already logs in to, nobody on it reads code, and you are fine with it living on Base44 for good, because database, logins, email and hosting from one prompt is the part Base44 does best.
checked 2026-10-13 · Base44 is Free tier; Starter is $20/mo billed monthly ($16/mo billed annually) for 100 message credits and 2,000 integration credits. GitHub sync, ZIP export and backend functions start at Builder, $50/mo ($40 annually). · by dan scutaru
better: Code syncs to GitHub on every plan, the free one included, and the built-in backend runs on Supabase's open-source foundation with a documented move to a Supabase project of your own, managed or self-hosted. Pro is $25 a month for 100 credits.
you give up: The move is not one click. Database rows, stored files, users and edge functions are exported separately from the code. It bills in credits too, and the free plan stops at 30 a month.
better: The Agent builds on a standard PostgreSQL database, and any project downloads as a zip from the file tree. Core is $20 a month, the same as Base44 Starter, and Replit asks for confirmation before paid Agent work starts.
you give up: Agent work is priced by effort, per checkpoint, so one large request can cost as much as many small ones; set a hard budget cap. Secrets and the database move separately from the files. On the free plan a published app goes down after 30 days.
better: Free to use, and apps made in Build mode are private by default. It sets up a Firestore database and Sign in with Google for you, exports the code as a ZIP and syncs both ways with GitHub.
you give up: Hosting is on you: you deploy to Google Cloud Run, where usage pricing may apply, and paid Gemini models in the app cost money. Anyone you share an app with can read its code and fork it.
better: Included in ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month: hosting, storage, database support and access controls, so a site can be open to just you, to named people, or to anyone on the internet.
you give up: A public beta, not on Free or Go, with usage capped by plan limits that may change. OpenAI aims it at focused sites and lightweight apps, and a site cannot connect directly to live data yet.
better: Works on real files in a folder or repo you own, so each change is a diff you can read, test and undo. It comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month, with usage limits on a rolling five-hour window instead of a credit per prompt.
you give up: It hosts nothing. The database, logins and hosting are yours to choose and set up, and you need to read enough code to notice when it is wrong. Not included in the free Claude plan.
better: An editor with the agent built in, so you watch each change land and fix the small ones by hand. There is a free plan with limited agent requests, and Plus is $8 a month.
you give up: It is now sold inside the X Subscription with Grok. The $8 plan runs Grok models only, and third-party models such as Claude and GPT start at Premium, $30, billed at API list price on top. No hosting or database either.
better: Builds the app on data where it already is: Airtable, Google Sheets, Excel, Notion, HubSpot, PostgreSQL or its own database, through real-time integrations. Free for up to 5 app users and 5,000 records.
you give up: Priced by who logs in. Basic is $19 a month billed yearly for 5 team and 5 client users, and removing Softr branding takes Pro at $99. AI building is rationed to 5 credits a month free, 10 on Basic.
better: Included in most paid Google Workspace plans, reads Google Sheets, Forms, Drive and Excel directly, and is free to prototype with up to 10 test users.
you give up: Once it is live you pay per user, $5 to $20 a month each, which adds up fast for anything customer-facing. Building with AI needs a paid Google Workspace licence.
better: Made for internal business apps built from a spreadsheet, a prompt or a file. Basic is $25 a month for 100 credits, 2 published apps and 1 automated workflow.
you give up: The free plan publishes nothing, 0 apps, so it is only for trying. Credits meter it the way they meter Base44, and extra credits are sold on paid plans only.
Replit is the move if you want the whole app, not only the front end. Both start at $20 a month. On Replit that buys an app on a PostgreSQL database that you can download as a zip. On Base44 the zip and GitHub sync wait for Builder at $50, and the exported project still runs against Base44's backend.
Base44 is easier on day one. Logins, email and the database come wired from one prompt, and the monthly credits cap what you can spend. Replit prices each Agent checkpoint by effort, shows what each one cost, and asks before paid work starts, so set a hard budget cap before a long session.
They are different kinds of tool. Base44 is the builder and the host: you describe the app and it runs on Base44's servers. Claude Code is a coding agent that edits files in a folder you own and hosts nothing, so you pick a database, a sign-in service and a host yourself.
That trade pays off when the app matters more than the speed. A bug fix becomes a change you can read, test and revert, and the cost is a $20 Claude Pro plan with rolling five-hour limits rather than credits per prompt. If you cannot yet tell good code from bad, stay on a builder a while longer.
Base44's free plan still works: 25 message credits a month, 5 a day, up to 5 apps. Since 6 February 2026 every new app on it is public, and making one private takes Starter at $20.
Google AI Studio is the free option that starts private and lets you take the code. Lovable's free plan keeps projects private to your workspace and syncs to GitHub, but stops at 30 credits a month. A published app on Replit's free plan goes down after 30 days, and Glide's free plan publishes nothing.
Every app like Base44 meters something, and the meter decides what a bad week costs. Base44 runs two: message credits for building and integration credits for what the live app does, and unused credits expire at each reset. Lovable and Glide sell credits. Replit charges by effort per checkpoint. Softr and AppSheet charge per user, which is cheap for a team of five and expensive for a customer portal.
Claude Code and ChatGPT Sites sit inside a flat subscription with usage limits, and Cursor does too until you pick a model that is not Grok. Google AI Studio is free to build in, and Google Cloud bills the hosting once you deploy.
Yes, with 25 message credits a month, no more than 5 a day, and up to 5 apps. Since 6 February 2026 new apps on the free plan can only be public. The full answer →
For an app you might move or hand to a developer, yes: GitHub sync is on every Lovable plan and its backend has a documented exit to your own Supabase. For a non-developer who wants logins, data and email wired with the fewest decisions, Base44 is simpler and $5 a month cheaper to start.
Yes. Wix bought Base44 on 18 June 2025 for about $80 million plus earn-outs paid through 2029, and the footer on base44.com reads Wix.com Ltd. Wix says Base44 runs as a distinct product and business, separate from its website builder.
On getting code out, it is cheaper: GitHub integration comes with Standard at $20 a month, where Base44 asks $50. The free plan is thinner, 10 credits a month against Base44's 25, and Emergent's own pages do not name the stack it writes, so open the repo before you commit.
For native phone apps, yes: on paid plans Bubble publishes React Native apps to the App Store and Google Play. On lock-in it is worse. Bubble's manual says its apps run only on Bubble and cannot be exported as code, though your data exports as CSV.