Base44 pricing explained: what the credits actually buy in 2026

How Base44 pricing actually works

Base44 doesn't charge for apps, seats or traffic. It charges for two things at once, and mixing them up is why people get surprised:

• Message credits — one prompt to the AI. Every time you describe a feature, report a bug, or ask for a tweak, that's a credit. This is the currency of building.

• Integration credits — calls your live app makes through Base44's built-in integrations: sending email, storing files, processing payments, running AI features for your users. This is the currency of running.

The plans scale both together, which is convenient right up until your usage isn't balanced. Someone still building burns message credits and barely touches integrations. Someone with a finished app that real people use does the opposite — and gets pushed up a tier by the currency they aren't choosing.

Base44 plans in 2026 (official)

Prices below are taken from the Base44 pricing page and verified in August 2026, at monthly billing. Annual billing saves 20%.

• Free — $0. 25 message credits/month · 100 integration credits/month · up to 5 apps · core features: authentication, database, analytics.

• Starter — $20/month. 100 message credits · 2,000 integration credits · unlimited apps · in-app code edits.

• Builder — $50/month. 250 message credits · 10,000 integration credits · backend functions · AI model selection · connect a domain · GitHub integration.

• Pro — $100/month. 500 message credits · 20,000 integration credits · early access to beta features.

• Elite — $200/month. 1,200 message credits · 50,000 integration credits · premium support.

• Enterprise — contact sales. Custom credits, a dedicated architect, SSO, advanced security controls, an account team.

Every plan includes the same core product: AI app building, the integrated backend and database, the visual editor, analytics, multi-user editing, cloud storage, auth, payment processing and email tools. You are buying credits, not features — with the exception of the Builder tier, which is where connecting a domain, GitHub integration and AI model selection appear.

What a message credit really costs you

Here's the part the pricing page can't tell you: a credit is spent on the attempt, not on the result.

Building a feature that works first time costs one credit. Building a feature that needs "no, the button should be on the left", then "it broke the mobile layout", then "revert that" costs four. The AI doesn't charge less for misunderstanding you.

Which reframes the tiers:

• 25 credits (Free) — roughly one evening. Enough to find out whether Base44 suits your idea, not enough to finish anything real.

• 100 credits (Starter) — a few focused sessions a month. Fine for a small app you poke at occasionally.

• 250–500 credits (Builder/Pro) — the realistic range while an app is actively being built and changed.

• 1,200 credits (Elite) — building most days, or several apps at once.

A useful rule: estimate the credits you think a feature needs, then double it. Everyone underestimates iteration, and the first month is always the most expensive because that's when you're learning what the model responds to.

The second bill: integration credits

Integration credits are the quieter line, because they're spent by your users, not by you. Every email your app sends, every file it stores, every AI feature a visitor triggers draws down the same monthly pool.

The allowances are generous relative to the price — 2,000 on Starter, 10,000 on Builder, 50,000 on Elite — and for an internal tool with a handful of users you will never see the ceiling. The moment it matters is when an app succeeds: a form that emails a confirmation, used by a few hundred people a week, is a few thousand integration credits a month on its own. Growth in users, not growth in features, is what moves you up this axis.

The real question: are you still building?

Base44 is a builder. The subscription buys you the ability to change the app. That's excellent value while the app is changing — and a strange deal once it isn't.

Think about what you're paying for in month six of a finished internal tool. You're not generating code any more. You might spend five message credits in a month. But you keep the $50 subscription, because that's what keeps the thing online and reachable. You've stopped paying for a builder and started paying rent on a finished app.

There is a specific fork at that point, and both branches are legitimate:

• Stay on Base44. Right if you still want the visual editor, the managed backend and the ability to change things by asking. Drop to the lowest tier your integration usage tolerates.

• Take the code and host it yourself. Right if the app is done. GitHub integration on Builder and above means the code is yours to move. On a flat-priced host there is no credit meter at all — on livemy.app that's $10/month with a custom domain, free SSL and no per-message billing, whether the app serves ten people or ten thousand.

What you give up by moving is the thing that made Base44 worth it in the first place: describing a change in plain English and having it appear. If you expect to keep doing that, don't move. If you haven't done it in two months, you're paying for a feature you stopped using.

Three scenarios with numbers

Trying an idea out

A weekend project, still deciding whether it's worth building. Free ($0) gets you 25 credits — realistically one session. If the idea survives, Starter at $20 is the honest starting point. Total for the first month: $0–20.

Actively building a real app

Working on it most weeks, a domain attached, a few dozen users. Builder at $50 — you need connecting a domain and the GitHub integration, and 250 credits matches a real build pace. Expect to want Pro during heavy weeks. Total: $50–100/month while the app is in motion.

Finished app, real users, few changes

The app works. You change it twice a quarter. A few hundred people use it, so integration credits keep ticking. On Base44 you're paying $50–100/month to host something you're no longer building. Exported to a flat host it's $10/month with no meters — and you can always come back to a builder for the next project.

FAQ

Is Base44 free?

There's a permanent free plan: $0, 25 message credits and 100 integration credits per month, up to 5 apps, with the core features including authentication, database and analytics. It's a trial in practice — 25 credits covers about one building session.

How much does Base44 cost per month?

At monthly billing: Free $0, Starter $20, Builder $50, Pro $100, Elite $200. Annual billing saves 20%. Enterprise is custom. Verified August 2026.

What is a message credit in Base44?

One prompt to the AI — anything you ask it to plan, generate, edit or fix. It's charged per attempt, so an instruction the AI misreads still costs a credit. Iteration, not output, is what consumes them.

What are integration credits used for?

Calls your published app makes through Base44's built-in integrations — sending email, storing files, processing payments, running AI features for your users. Your visitors spend these, not you, so they scale with usage rather than with development.

What happens when I run out of credits?

You stop being able to build until the next monthly reset or until you upgrade. Published apps stay reachable; it's the ability to make changes that pauses.

Can I export my Base44 app and host it elsewhere?

Yes — GitHub integration is available from the Builder tier, which puts the code in a repository you control. From there any standard host will run it. You lose the visual editor and the managed backend conveniences, and you gain a flat, predictable bill with no credit meter.

Is Base44 cheaper than Lovable or Bolt?

They're priced on different units, so the honest answer is "it depends what you do". Base44 counts prompts and integration calls; others count credits or tokens. For a like-for-like read on which suits your build style, see our comparison of Base44 vs Lovable and the wider roundup of AI app builders.

Price the phase, not the app

Base44's pricing is fair for what it is: a meter on how much you ask an AI to work. The mistake is treating it as a hosting bill. Before you pick a tier, answer one question — how many times this month will you actually change the app? If the answer is "a lot", buy the credits and don't think about it. If the answer is "almost never", you're on a builder's price plan for a finished product, and that's a different problem with a different fix.

→ Host your finished app on livemy.app · Flat $10/month · No credit meter · Custom domain and SSL included.