Base44 Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits and Real Total Cost

Base44 costs $0 to start, and paid plans run from about $20 to $200 a month. For most business apps that need a custom domain or an App Store listing, the plan that matters is Builder, at roughly $50 a month or $40 a month billed yearly.

We are a Base44 Legend Partner and pay for these plans ourselves to build client apps, so this is the breakdown we give clients before they start. Base44 adjusts its plans from time to time, so confirm the current numbers on the official Base44 pricing page before you buy.

What are the Base44 plans?

There are five tiers: Free, Starter, Builder, Pro and Elite. Each step up mostly gives you more AI credits, and Builder is where the important features start.

These figures match independent breakdowns from NoCode MBA and Jet Admin, both updated in 2026. NoCode MBA also notes that yearly billing saves about 20% and that unused credits do not roll over to the next month.

What do Base44 credits actually mean?

Message credits are your AI building budget. Each time you ask the builder to make or change something, it uses credits. Integration credits are used by your live app when it does things like send emails, call AI models or handle file uploads.

• Message credits get used while you build. A focused request ("add a phone field to the signup form") goes further than a vague one ("make it better").
• Integration credits get used while people use your app. An app that emails every user or runs AI on every form submission will burn more.
• Credits reset monthly. A slow month does not bank anything for a busy one.

Which Base44 plan do you need?

Pick the lowest plan that includes the features you need, then move up only if you run out of credits. For most businesses with a real launch planned, that means Builder.

• Free: kicking the tires. Good for testing whether Base44 understands your idea.
• Starter: personal projects and internal experiments that can live on a base44.app web address.
• Builder: the realistic starting point for a business. Independent breakdowns list a custom domain, GitHub integration and backend functions here, and Base44's own docs say downloading App Store and Google Play files requires Builder or higher.
• Pro and Elite: the same features with more credits and better support. Worth it when you are building every day or running several apps.

Base44's App Store documentation is clear on the mobile point. The readiness scan works on the free plan, but you need Builder or above to download the files you submit to Apple and Google.

What does a Base44 app really cost in the first year?

The plan is only one line. A typical business app that goes on both app stores costs the Base44 plan plus about $124 in store fees in year one, plus a domain and any paid services your app connects to.

The store fees come straight from the source. Apple says "The Apple Developer Program annual fee is 99 USD," per Apple's enrollment help page, and Google says "There is a US$25 one-time registration fee" on its Play Console help page.

Outside services are the line that surprises people. If your app sends texts through Twilio, takes payments through Stripe or runs an AI phone agent, those companies bill you separately based on use. Base44 doesn't cover them.

Is Base44 cheaper than hiring a developer?

For the software itself, almost always. A year of Builder costs less than a few hours of senior developer time. The real question is how much of your own time it takes to get from a working prototype to something you trust with customers.

Base44 gets you to a working app very quickly. The time goes into the last stretch: data permissions so customers only see their own records, integrations with your CRM or phone system, edge cases, and app store approval. If you want the bigger picture on budgets, we wrote How much does it cost to build an app?.

When does hiring Base44 help make sense?

Bring in help when a mistake would cost more than the help. In our experience that usually means one of these:

• The app handles customer data, payments or anything private.
• It needs to talk to other systems, like GoHighLevel, a calendar, Stripe or a phone line. See our CRM and automation work.
• You want it on the App Store and Google Play and don't want to learn certificates, screenshots and review guidelines. See mobile apps.
• You have burned through credits going in circles on the same bug.
• Your time is worth more running the business than learning to build software.

As a Base44 Legend Partner, that is exactly the work we do. We also make App Native, which wraps Base44 apps as native iOS and Android apps for store distribution. Our Base44 developers page covers how we work with teams that already started building.

How to keep your Base44 bill low

Plan before you prompt, and bill yearly once you are sure. Those two habits save the most.

1. 1Write a one-page outline of screens, data and rules before you start building.
2. 2Start on a monthly plan, then switch to yearly once you know the tier you need, for roughly 20% off.
3. 3Batch related changes into one clear request instead of many small ones.
4. 4Watch integration credits if your app sends a lot of emails or AI calls, and cache or limit where you can.
5. 5Get stuck? Stop prompting and ask for help before a bug eats a month of credits.

New to the platform? Start with What is Base44? and our honest Base44 review.

Roenic Natarelli

Founder, Virtual Horizons

Roenic runs Virtual Horizons and is a Base44 Legend Partner, Ambassador and Community Pillar, Base44 Shark Tank winner and multiple-time Vibe Sprint winner. The studio builds web and mobile apps, AI voice agents and automations, with more than 10 apps live on the App Store and Google Play. More about us