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Base44 pricing: plans, credits and what the free tier builds

Base44 is free with 25 message credits a month; paid plans run $16 to $160 a month billed yearly, or $20 to $200 monthly. What each plan's credits buy.

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Base44 has a free plan and four self-serve paid plans as of October 2026: Starter, Builder, Pro and Elite cost $16, $40, $80 and $160 a month billed yearly, or $20, $50, $100 and $200 billed month to month. The free plan gives 25 message credits a month (no more than 5 a day) and 100 integration credits, for up to 5 apps. What you really pay depends on two separate credit pools: message credits for building with the AI, and integration credits for what your live app does for its users.

We haven’t built apps on Base44. The figures below come from Base44’s pricing page, its billing, credits, domain and data docs, and its own pricing blog post, all read on October 29, 2026, plus AskGPU’s price data where noted, with its check date. This guide is about cost and limits, not the quality of the apps Base44 builds.

How much does Base44 cost per month?

Plan Billed yearly Billed monthly Message credits a month Integration credits a month Apps
Free $0 $0 25 (max 5 a day) 100 Up to 5
Starter $16/month $20/month 100 2,000 Unlimited
Builder $40/month $50/month 250 10,000 Unlimited
Pro $80/month $100/month 500 20,000 Unlimited
Elite $160/month $200/month 1,200 50,000 Unlimited
Business Not published Not published 2,400 to 5,400 96,000 to 216,000 Not stated
Enterprise Custom Custom Tailored Tailored Not stated

Sources: yearly prices and credits from Base44’s pricing page; monthly prices from Base44’s post “How much does Base44 cost?”, which says “All prices were correct as of July 26, 2026”; Business and Enterprise from Base44’s billing docs. All read October 29, 2026. AskGPU’s own data lists Starter at $16 a month billed yearly (checked October 25, 2026), which matches.

The pricing page shows the yearly prices by default and says “Annual billing saves 20%.” The monthly prices on Base44’s blog fit that: $20 less 20% is $16, $50 less 20% is $40, and so on up to $200 less 20% for $160.

Base44’s billing docs say Elite comes in six sizes, from 1,200 to 8,200 message credits and from 50,000 to 300,000 integration credits a month. The pricing page and the blog price only the smallest size, at $160 billed yearly; Base44 doesn’t publish prices for the larger Elite sizes on the pages we read. Business, which the docs list with SSO, data residency, 30-day backup and restore, IP allowlisting, role-based permissions and per-member credit limits, also has no public price.

What each plan adds besides credits

  • Every plan, including Free: the pricing page lists AI app building, a built-in backend and database, a visual editor, an analytics dashboard, multi-user collaboration, cloud storage, authentication and user management, marketing tools and debugging tools.
  • Starter: unlimited apps, in-app code edits, a custom domain, and removal of the Base44 badge (per the billing docs).
  • Builder: adds backend functions, GitHub integration and choosing the AI model.
  • Pro: adds early access to new features.
  • Elite: adds premium (priority) support.
  • Yearly plans only: a free domain for the first year on Starter and up, and “25 credits to share with a friend” on Builder, Pro and Elite.

What are message credits and integration credits?

Base44 meters two different things, and they run out separately.

Message credits pay for building. Base44’s credits doc says they are used “when you interact with Base44’s AI while building apps.” It gives these approximate costs per message:

What you ask the AI to do Approximate message credits
Simple visual or text change ~0.5
Improve a small feature ~1
Add a complex module ~2
Large or app-wide change ~3 to 4
A message in Discuss mode ~0.3

Manual edits in the visual editor, such as dragging elements or editing text directly, use no credits. The doc recommends leaving the AI model on Automatic, because “Manually choosing a model is less predictable and can use more credits, especially for complex work.”

Integration credits pay for what your published app does with Base44’s built-in services. The approximate costs Base44 lists include:

Action in your live app Approximate integration credits
Send an email ~1 (~2 from a custom domain)
Push notification ~1
File upload ~1
Extract data from a file ~1 per call
Generate an image ~1 per image
Generate video ~5 per second
Text to speech ~1 per 50 characters (up to ~100 per call)
AI call (invokeLLM) on Automatic ~1 per call
AI call on another model from ~3 per call
In-app agent message on Automatic from ~3 per message
Workflows ~1 per 10 steps, plus each step’s own cost
Backend functions ~1 per 100 invocations, plus services they call

Two things don’t use integration credits: database reads and writes, and calls to an outside service made with your own API key. Base44 says “Integration credits are not used when you call an external service with your own API key,” and failed emails aren’t charged.

What does the free plan let you build?

The free plan gives your personal workspace up to 5 message credits a day and 25 a month, plus 100 integration credits a month, for up to 5 apps. Base44’s docs say other workspaces on the Free plan get no free message credits, only integration credits. Daily credits reset at midnight in the owner’s time zone (or midnight UTC if none is recorded).

At the rates above, 5 credits a day is about 10 simple text or color changes, or about 5 small-feature improvements, or one or two large changes. Over a month, 25 credits is roughly 50 simple changes or 25 small features, if you never hit the daily cap first.

What you can’t do on Free:

  • Use your own domain. Base44’s domain docs say “Custom domains are available on the Starter plan and higher.”
  • Edit the code inside Base44. In-app code edits start at Starter.
  • Store much data. Apps created from October 18, 2026 get 200 MB of database per app on Free, against 2 GB on Starter.
  • Send many emails or AI calls from the live app. 100 integration credits is about 100 plain emails, or 50 sent from a custom domain, or 100 AI calls on Automatic.

When the daily cap is hit, Base44 says “features that use credits pause until your daily balance resets,” as long as monthly credits remain. Base44 also gives 20 message credits once per account for sharing a project on LinkedIn or X.

For the free plans of other app builders side by side, see AskGPU’s list of free plans.

How far do the credits go? A worked example

Base44’s per-credit price is close to flat from Starter to Pro. On monthly billing, each plan works out to $0.20 per message credit:

  • Starter: $20 ÷ 100 = $0.20
  • Builder: $50 ÷ 250 = $0.20
  • Pro: $100 ÷ 500 = $0.20
  • Elite: $200 ÷ 1,200 = about $0.167

On yearly billing it’s $0.16 per credit for Starter, Builder and Pro, and about $0.133 for Elite ($160 ÷ 1,200). So moving up a plan mostly buys more credits and features, not cheaper credits, until Elite.

Integration credits are where the bigger plans pay off. Per dollar on monthly billing, Starter gives 100 integration credits (2,000 ÷ $20), Builder and Pro 200 (10,000 ÷ $50 and 20,000 ÷ $100), and Elite 250 (50,000 ÷ $200).

Example: a small booking app with an AI helper. Say an app has 1,000 users. The numbers below are our assumptions for the example, not Base44 figures; the credit costs are Base44’s approximate rates.

  • 300 new sign-ups a month, each sent one welcome email from your custom domain: 300 × 2 = 600 credits
  • 200 file uploads a month: 200 × 1 = 200 credits
  • An AI helper on Automatic, used 1,000 times a month: 1,000 × 1 = 1,000 credits

Total: 600 + 200 + 1,000 = 1,800 integration credits a month. That fits in Starter’s 2,000.

Now say the AI helper is popular and each of the 1,000 users asks it 5 questions a month: 5,000 calls × 1 = 5,000 credits. The total becomes 5,000 + 600 + 200 = 5,800 credits. That’s beyond Starter and inside Builder’s 10,000, which takes the bill from $20 to $50 a month on monthly billing ($480 a year on yearly billing, against $192 for Starter).

If you also switch the helper to a non-Automatic model at “from ~3” credits a call, the AI line alone is 5,000 × 3 = 15,000 credits, and the total of 15,800 needs Pro’s 20,000 ($100 a month, or $80 billed yearly).

The own-key route. Calls made with your own API key don’t use integration credits, but the AI company bills you. AskGPU’s data lists OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 mini at $0.75 per million input tokens and $4.50 per million output tokens (checked October 25, 2026). If each of those 5,000 calls used 1,000 input tokens and 300 output tokens (again our assumption):

  • Input: 5,000 × 1,000 = 5,000,000 tokens × $0.75 per million = $3.75
  • Output: 5,000 × 300 = 1,500,000 tokens × $4.50 per million = $6.75
  • Total: $10.50 a month to OpenAI

Against the jump from Starter to Builder ($30 a month more on monthly billing), that’s cheaper at this volume. Base44’s billing docs list backend functions from Builder up, so check whether the way you plan to call the outside service needs them before you count on staying on Starter. Try your own token counts in the AI token cost calculator.

What does a year on Base44 cost?

Plan 12 months billed monthly 1 year billed yearly You save on yearly
Starter $20 × 12 = $240 $16 × 12 = $192 $48
Builder $50 × 12 = $600 $40 × 12 = $480 $120
Pro $100 × 12 = $1,200 $80 × 12 = $960 $240
Elite (smallest size) $200 × 12 = $2,400 $160 × 12 = $1,920 $480

Yearly billing also adds the free first-year domain. Base44 says the voucher covers one domain, once, for a one-year registration with public registration only (privacy options cost extra), must be claimed “within 60 days of starting your yearly plan,” and excludes “Yearly Starter plans bought before October 4, 2026.” The domain is registered through Wix, which names Tucows as its registrar. Base44 doesn’t state the renewal price for year two; it says domains “renew automatically each year unless you cancel.” For what a domain normally costs each year, see how much a domain costs.

Base44 offers an academic discount of 50% off Starter or Builder, claimable once per account, and says founders can apply to its startup program for a free annual license and credits.

Base44 vs Lovable and Replit on price

Base44 Lovable Replit
Cheapest paid plan Starter: $20/month, or $16/month billed yearly Pro: $25/month Core: $20/month, or $18/month billed yearly
Build allowance 100 message credits a month 100 monthly credits “$20 towards more powerful models”
Free plan 25 message credits a month (5 a day), 100 integration credits, 5 apps 5 build credits a day (up to 30 a month) plus 20 Cloud credits a month Not described on the pricing page we read
Custom domain on free plan No (Starter and up) No (5 lovable.app domains) Not stated
Unused credits Expire at each monthly reset Monthly-plan credits expire two months after they’re issued Not stated

Sources: Base44 and Replit pricing pages, read October 29, 2026; Lovable from AskGPU data (checked October 17, 2026) and Lovable’s pricing FAQ, read October 29, 2026.

The plans don’t count the same thing, so the table can’t tell you which builds more for the money. A Base44 message credit, a Lovable credit and a Replit dollar of usage each buy a different amount of work, and none of the three publishes a conversion. Two differences are clear from the pages, though:

  • Lovable lets credits linger; Base44 doesn’t. Lovable’s FAQ says monthly-plan credits “expire two (2) months after they’re issued” and top-up credits “last twelve (12) months from purchase.” Base44’s credits doc says unused credits “expire when they reset,” with one exception below.
  • Base44 bundles the live app’s services into the plan. Its integration credits cover email, file storage, AI calls and more from the same subscription. On Lovable, Cloud usage comes from a separate monthly Cloud grant, and Lovable has added a free daily chat allowance.

For the full set of alternatives, including Bolt and v0, see Lovable alternatives and the Replit page. For a full monthly bill including domain, email and AI costs, see what vibe coding tools really cost.

What to watch for

  • Credits don’t roll over. Paid credits reset monthly on the day you subscribed, at your subscription time in UTC, and unused credits expire. The one exception: moving from a monthly plan to a higher monthly plan carries unused credits over for one more cycle, up to one month of your plan’s credits. Any upgrade involving a yearly plan doesn’t carry them over, and bonus credits never do.
  • No top-ups. Base44’s credits doc doesn’t describe buying extra credit packs. Its options for more credits are upgrading, coupon codes and the one-time sharing bonus. If you run out mid-month, the realistic choice is upgrade or wait.
  • Running out of integration credits breaks features, quietly. Actions that need them fail. Base44 emails you, but end users get a generic error message with no reference to integration credits. The docs don’t say the whole app goes offline; the features that use credits stop.
  • Upgrades are instant and charge your card. Base44 says upgrades take effect immediately with no checkout page. Monthly-to-higher-monthly upgrades charge the full price difference; upgrades involving a yearly plan are prorated.
  • No refunds. Base44’s billing docs say its services are non-refundable under its Terms of Use. Canceling stops renewal and gives full access until the end of the period, with no refund for that period. You can’t switch from yearly to monthly.
  • After canceling, you’re on Free. At the end of the billing period your workspace moves to the Free plan, which allows 5 apps. Base44’s billing docs say that if you have more than 5, you choose which 5 stay published “and the others are unpublished when your plan ends.” The pricing page FAQ says “Your apps stay live, your data stays in your workspace,” which on Free means those 5.
  • Database caps (for apps created from October 18, 2026). 200 MB per app on Free, 2 GB on Starter, 5 GB on Builder, 10 GB on Pro, 25 GB on Elite and 50 GB on Business. At the cap, the app can’t add records, but you can still edit and delete. Older apps don’t have these limits.
  • Bank disputes. Base44 says opening a card dispute moves the workspace to Free and disables custom domains while it’s open.
  • Payment methods. Major credit and debit cards only; Base44 doesn’t accept PayPal, bank transfers, virtual cards or crypto. Plans bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play are billed by those stores.
  • Owning your code. Base44’s FAQ says you own your code, data and users, and two-way GitHub sync exports the source to your own repository. GitHub integration starts at Builder.

Which Base44 plan should you choose?

  • Trying an idea: Free. 5 message credits a day is enough to see whether Base44 can build the kind of app you have in mind, but not to finish a real one.
  • One personal app or a first project on your own domain: Starter, $16 a month billed yearly ($192 a year) or $20 month to month. Pay yearly only once you’re sure; there are no refunds and no switch back to monthly. Yearly also adds the first-year domain.
  • An app with a backend that calls outside services, or one you want in GitHub: Builder, $40 a month billed yearly or $50 monthly. It’s the first plan with backend functions, GitHub integration and model choice, and its 10,000 integration credits cover a busier live app.
  • A team or a heavier app: Pro, $80 a month billed yearly or $100 monthly. Same price per message credit as Starter and Builder, with 500 of them and 20,000 integration credits.
  • A business running mainly on Base44: Elite, from $160 a month billed yearly, or ask Base44 about Business if you need SSO, backups or per-member limits. Neither the larger Elite sizes nor Business have public prices.
  • Students: check the academic discount first; it’s 50% off Starter or Builder, once per account.

If you’re still choosing a builder, compare the field on the AI app builders page.

Sources