Base44 is not free beyond a trial-sized plan, and its bill has two meters. The Free plan gives 25 message credits and 100 integration credits a month. Paid plans are Starter at $20 a month, Builder at $50, Pro at $100 and Elite at $200 when billed monthly, or 20% less when billed yearly. Message credits pay for building the app; integration credits pay for what the live app does, such as sending emails, storing files and calling an AI model.
This guide lists every plan, explains both credit types with the costs Base44 documents, shows which plan adds GitHub, backend functions and a free domain, and works through three budgets. Figures come from Base44's pricing page and credits documentation, checked in November 2026. Prices are in US dollars.
Base44 plans at a glance
Base44 has five self-serve plans, and every one of them includes the built-in backend, database, authentication and hosting. What changes from one plan to the next is the credit allowance and a few features. The pricing page shows the yearly price by default, so the numbers you see there are the lower ones.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Message credits | Integration credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 25 (5 a day at most) | 100 |
| Starter | $20 | $16 | 100 | 2,000 |
| Builder | $50 | $40 | 250 | 10,000 |
| Pro | $100 | $80 | 500 | 20,000 |
| Elite | $200 | $160 | 1,200 | 50,000 |
Base44's billing documentation also lists Business and Enterprise plans for organizations, with SSO and data residency. Those are priced through sales and not covered here. The pricing page itself shows only the yearly figures, and the monthly prices above come from Base44's own cost guide, so confirm them at checkout.
Message credits and integration credits
Message credits are spent while you build, and integration credits are spent while the finished app runs. They are two separate pools with separate limits, and running out of one does not touch the other.
Message credits: the cost of changing the app
Every prompt that plans, updates or fixes the app uses message credits. Base44 documents typical costs: about 0.5 credit for a simple visual or text change, about 1 for improving a small feature, about 2 for a complex module, and 3 to 4 for an app-wide change. A message in Discuss mode costs about 0.3. These are estimates; the real cost appears under "Credits Used" on each message. On a paid plan, automatic AI fixes are free, but on the Free plan they use message credits.
Integration credits: the cost of the live app
Integration credits are spent every time your running app uses one of Base44's built-in services. Calling an external service with your own API key costs nothing here, and database reads and writes are free. The documented approximate costs are:
| What the app does | Approximate integration credits |
|---|---|
| Send an email | About 1 per email, about 2 with a custom email domain |
| Upload a file | About 1 per upload |
| Generate an image | About 1 per image |
| AI call with the automatic model | About 1 per call |
| AI call with another model | From about 3 per call, depending on model and length |
| In-app agent message | From about 3 per message, more with stronger models |
| Backend function | About 1 per 100 invocations, plus whatever it calls |
| Video generation | About 5 per second of video |
Credits reset on your subscription day and unused ones expire. The one exception is moving up from one monthly plan to a higher monthly plan, where unused credits carry over for one more cycle, up to one month's worth of the plan. The credits page describes no top-up purchase: to get more, you change plan.
Which plan adds GitHub, a domain and backend functions
GitHub integration and backend functions start at Builder, and a custom domain starts at Starter. That follows Base44's billing documentation and its pricing page, which lists GitHub on Builder, Pro and Elite but not on Starter or Free.
| Feature | Free | Starter | Builder and above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Up to 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Connect a custom domain | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| GitHub integration | No | No | Yes |
| Backend functions | No | No | Yes |
The Free plan can only build public apps, and the pricing page does not list a custom domain for it. The practical consequence is that anyone who needs server-side logic, for example a webhook or a payment callback, needs Builder at $50 a month billed monthly, not Starter.
Monthly or yearly billing
Yearly billing saves about 20%, and it is the only way to get the free domain. Base44 includes a free domain for one year on yearly plans from Starter up; monthly plans do not include it. Builder and above also add 25 credits to share with a friend.
- You can switch from monthly to yearly at any time. The unused part of the current month is credited toward the yearly price.
- You cannot switch from yearly back to monthly.
- Plans are non-refundable under the terms of use. Cancelling keeps access until the end of the period, then the workspace falls back to Free, and if you have more than 5 apps you pick which 5 stay published.
The practical advice: start monthly while you learn how fast you use credits, and move to yearly once the usage is stable.
Three realistic monthly budgets
These are calculations from the approximate costs above, for one workspace, before taxes. Real usage varies with the model you pick and the number of corrections.
| Scenario | Integration credits a month | Plan that fits | Cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small internal tool: 300 emails, 200 uploads, 300 AI calls on the automatic model | About 800 | Starter | $20 ($16 yearly) |
| Customer-facing app with a webhook: 1,000 emails, 500 uploads, 3,000 AI calls | About 4,500 | Builder (backend functions needed) | $50 ($40 yearly) |
| App with an in-app AI assistant: 3,000 agent messages, 1,000 emails, 3,000 AI calls | About 13,000 | Pro (Builder's 10,000 is not enough) | $100 ($80 yearly) |
The pattern: the plan is often chosen by the live app's usage, not by how much you build. The agent-message line is the one to watch, because at about 3 credits a message a modest chat feature can use more than a whole Builder allowance. Choosing a lighter model for the assistant lowers the bill; choosing a stronger one raises it, by Base44's own description, several times over.
How Cadrant prices the same job
Cadrant, our builder, uses one credit type and charges nothing for what the published app does. Starter is $20 a month with 300 credits and up to 5 projects. Pro is $40 a month with 1,000 credits, unlimited projects, GitHub integration and code export. Max is $100 a month with 2,000 credits. Roughly 10 credits create or modify an app, and a published app does not consume credits. HTTPS hosting and a custom domain are included in every paid plan.
The difference is where runtime costs land. Cadrant apps use a Supabase project in your own account, with edge functions for secret keys, so email, storage and database usage are billed by the providers you connect, not in Cadrant credits. That can be cheaper at high volume and costlier to manage, since you handle those accounts. If you want everything under one bill and no external accounts, Base44's all-in-one model is simpler. For the broader comparison, see our Base44 alternatives guide and the AI app cost breakdown.
In short: Base44 prices look simple, but two meters decide the bill. Estimate your emails, uploads and AI calls first, pick the plan whose integration credits cover them with margin, and check the pricing page again on the day you subscribe, since the figures change often.