Base44 is one of the most searched AI app builders of 2026. Search interest in it has nearly doubled in a year, and it now sits alongside Lovable and Replit on most shortlists. This review covers what it costs, what the free plan gives you, what it builds and where it struggles, so you can decide whether it fits your project.
How we wrote this. Every price and limit below comes from Base44's own pricing page, changelog and developer docs, checked on October 26, 2026. Base44 ships changes weekly, so confirm anything that matters to you on their site. Vibely competes with Base44. We have tried to describe it fairly and to say plainly where it is the better choice.
Base44 in one paragraph
Base44 turns a prompt into a working web app. It generates a React frontend (React Router, Vite, Tailwind and shadcn/ui) and runs everything behind it for you: a managed database, built-in authentication, serverless backend functions and hosting. You never set up a server or a database account. Founder Maor Shlomo built it as a bootstrapped company, and Wix bought it in June 2025 for $80 million up front plus earn-out payments.
Base44 pricing in 2026
Base44 sells plans by message credits, which the AI builder uses, and integration credits, which your running app uses when it calls built-in services like the AI model, email or file uploads. The pricing page quotes yearly billing, which it says saves 20%.
| Plan | Price (billed yearly) | Message credits / month | Integration credits / month | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 25 | 100 | Up to 5 apps, auth, database, analytics |
| Starter | $16/mo | 100 | 2,000 | Unlimited apps, in-app code edits, custom domain, free domain for a year |
| Builder | $40/mo | 250 | 10,000 | Choose the AI model, GitHub integration |
| Pro | $80/mo | 500 | 20,000 | Early beta access |
| Elite | $160/mo | 1,200 | 50,000 | Premium support |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | SSO, a dedicated architect |
Third-party pricing trackers list monthly-billing prices of $20, $50, $100 and $200 for Starter through Elite, which matches the advertised 20% yearly discount. We could not confirm those on Base44's own page. Since October 2026, every yearly plan, Starter included, comes with a free domain for the first year, which you have to claim within 60 days.
Is Base44 free?
Yes. Base44 has a free plan with no credit card, and it is a real way to try the product. Here is what it includes and where it stops:
- 25 message credits a month. That is enough for a small app or a handful of iterations on a bigger one. Users report that a single complex request can use more than one credit, so the free credits go faster on ambitious builds.
- 100 integration credits a month for your app's own use of built-in AI, email and similar services.
- Up to 5 apps, with authentication, the database and analytics included.
- No custom domain (Starter and up), no GitHub export (Builder and up, see below) and no downloadable app-store files (Builder and up).
When the credits run out you wait for next month or upgrade. Base44 does not advertise overage billing on the free plan.
The search "base44 promo code" gets about 1,000 searches a month. We know of no official public discount beyond the 20% for paying yearly, and we would be wary of code sites that ask for your account login.
What Base44 builds, and how
- Web apps, end to end. The generated frontend is standard React and Tailwind, so it is familiar to any developer who later reads the code.
- A managed, MongoDB-style database. It has no enforced schema, with row-level and field-level security rules. It is quick to start with. If you want plain Postgres you can query directly, this is the biggest architectural difference from Supabase-based builders.
- Backend functions in Deno TypeScript, with a maximum run time of 5 minutes, for webhooks, scheduled work and third-party API calls.
- Hosting is included, so publishing is one click.
- Code export through GitHub. Two-way sync exports the full source. On shared workspaces it is a one-way export. Base44's own pages disagree on the minimum plan: the pricing page says Builder, and one developer doc says Starter. Since August 2026 you can also import an existing repository and send changes back as a pull request.
Can Base44 build mobile apps?
Partly. Since February 2026 Base44 can prepare an app for the App Store and Google Play. It scans the app against store guidelines and generates the submission files (download on Builder and up, with your own Apple and Google developer accounts). Its FAQ says the store app loads your live site in a web view, which makes it a wrapper around the web app rather than a native app, and its mobile docs say push notifications are not supported yet. That is fine for many internal tools. It is a real limitation for a consumer app whose users expect native performance and notifications.
Is Base44 legit?
Yes. It is a real product, owned by a public company (Wix), with a large user base and a public changelog that shows steady releases through 2026. "Legit" usually hides a more useful question, though: will it hold up for my app? The recurring complaints in public reviews (on Trustpilot, spring 2026) are:
- Credits drain faster than expected, with some users reporting 3–4 credits used by a single message.
- Edit loops, where the AI reports a change it did not actually make.
- Slow support and refused refunds.
Base44's public replies point users to Discuss mode (which costs 0.3 credits a turn) for planning without editing, and to version history for undoing a bad change. Both are worth learning early whichever builder you choose, because edit loops are a weakness of every prompt-to-app tool, not just Base44.
Base44 pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Everything is managed: database, auth, functions and hosting with zero setup | The database is not Postgres, so it is harder to take your data elsewhere or query it with standard tools |
| Real free plan; low entry price ($16/mo yearly) | Two kinds of credit to track, and users report message credits draining quickly |
| Standard React and Tailwind output, with GitHub sync on paid plans | GitHub export is not on the free plan |
| Owned by Wix, with steady, visible development | Store apps are web-view wrappers with no push notifications |
Base44 vs Lovable vs Vibely
People who search for Base44 usually compare it with Lovable. The main differences:
- Base44 gives you the most all-in-one managed backend, with nothing to connect. It suits internal tools and web apps where you never want to think about infrastructure.
- Lovable builds web apps on a Supabase-based backend that it manages for you. It is a smooth on-ramp for web projects and does not build native mobile apps.
- Vibely builds full-stack web apps and native iOS and Android apps (Expo / React Native, not a web view) in the same workspace, on every plan. It uses a real Supabase Postgres database with row-level security, and it syncs your code to GitHub, so the app and the data stay portable. Store uploads, custom domains and the GitHub and Supabase integrations are on paid plans.
For a full six-way comparison, with Bolt, Replit and Emergent included, see Lovable, Replit, Bolt, Emergent, Base44 and Vibely tested, or the Vibely vs Base44 comparison.
Who should choose Base44, and who should not
Choose Base44 if you want a web app or internal tool with the least possible setup, you are happy on a managed, non-Postgres database, and a web-view mobile app is good enough.
Look elsewhere if you need a native mobile app with push notifications, want your data in standard Postgres from day one, or want code export on a free plan. In those cases a builder like Vibely that generates native Expo apps and a Supabase backend is the better fit.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Base44 cost?
Base44 is free to start. Paid plans run from $16 a month (Starter, billed yearly) to $160 a month (Elite), with custom Enterprise pricing. Third-party trackers list monthly billing at $20 to $200.
What are integration credits in Base44?
Integration credits pay for what your published app does with Base44's built-in services, such as calling the AI model, sending email or uploading files. They are separate from the message credits you spend building the app. The Free plan includes 100 a month and Starter includes 2,000.
Can I export my code from Base44?
Yes, through GitHub sync on paid plans. Base44's pricing page lists it from Builder and up. The generated code is React, Vite and Tailwind, but the backend depends on Base44's own services, so moving the app off the platform takes some work.
Is Base44 good for beginners?
Yes. It is one of the easiest builders to start with because there is nothing to configure. Use Discuss mode to plan before you ask for edits, and check version history if a change goes wrong. Both save credits.
The bottom line
Base44 is a capable, legitimate AI app builder with a real free plan and the most hands-off backend in its class. Its trade-offs are a proprietary database, credits that can go quickly, and mobile apps that wrap the web app. If those do not bother you, it is a strong pick. If you need native mobile or portable Postgres, try Vibely free. You can build web and mobile apps from the same prompt.