Base44 vs Lovable: prices, credits and which AI builder fits your project

Base44, which Wix owns, hides the backend and splits its allowance into message and integration credits. Lovable charges one credit pool per workspace and pushes your code to GitHub on every plan, free included.

Base44 or Lovable: the short version

Base44 vs Lovable in one line: choose Base44 if you want the cheapest paid start and a backend that is fully handled for you, and choose Lovable if you want code you can take to GitHub on any plan and a team that shares one credit pool. Both build working apps from a chat, so the deciding factors are price, control over the code and who will maintain the app.

Base44 suits someone who wants login, a database and analytics switched on from the first prompt and never wants to think about where they live. Its pricing page lists those as core features on every plan, including the free one. Lovable suits someone who expects to hand the code to a developer later, because its Git sync runs on all plans and keeps the repository updated in both directions.

At the cheapest paid level, Base44 Starter costs $16 a month on yearly billing for 100 message credits and 2,000 integration credits. Base44 says monthly billing costs 20% more. Lovable Pro is $25 a month for 100 monthly credits, with yearly billing giving two months free. The credit counts look equal, but each vendor measures a credit differently, so compare them on a real task rather than on the number.

If neither app builder is quite what you need because the project is a business website, We.Inc builds that from a written description and lets you edit it by clicking, chatting or opening the code. AI building starts at $20 a month.

Base44 and Lovable plan by plan

	Base44	Lovable	We.Inc
Free plan	25 message and 100 integration credits a month, up to 5 apps	5 build credits a day up to 30 a month, plus a 20-credit Cloud grant	Templates only, up to 3 sites
Entry paid plan	Starter $16/mo yearly: 100 message, 2,000 integration credits	Pro $25/mo: 100 credits, unlimited users	Starter $20/mo, 250 credits
Higher plans	Builder $40, Pro $80, Elite $160 a month yearly	Business $50/mo; Enterprise priced by volume	Pro $49/mo, Max $99/mo
GitHub	Listed from Builder upward; two-way sync	Two-way sync on every plan; always creates a new repo	Any plan downloads a ZIP; Max adds GitHub push
Custom domain	From Starter, with a free domain for a year	From Pro	From Starter, one CNAME record
Backend	Built-in database, auth and analytics on all plans	Lovable Cloud, billed from Cloud credits	Cloud panel: database, sign-up, storage, edge functions

Prices as of October 2026 in US dollars per month from base44.com/pricing and lovable.dev/pricing (linked in sources); Base44 figures are yearly billing, Lovable figures are monthly billing.

Pros and cons

Base44

Best for: Teams building internal tools or portals who want the database, sign-in and integrations handled for them

Price: Free (25 message credits a month); Starter $16, Builder $40, Pro $80, Elite $160 a month billed yearly; monthly billing costs 20% more (October 2026)

Pros: Database, authentication and an analytics dashboard are part of every plan; A separate integration-credit pool covers calls to connected services; Starter includes a free domain for one year

Cons: GitHub integration only appears in plan highlights from Builder ($40) up; The free plan stops at five apps

Lovable

Best for: Founders who want a chat builder now and a normal Git repository a developer can take over later

Price: Free tier; Pro $25/mo; Business $50/mo; yearly billing gives two months free; Enterprise priced by volume (October 2026)

Pros: Git sync with GitHub works on the free plan as well as paid ones; Workspaces allow unlimited users without seat fees; Unused monthly credits roll over while the subscription stays active

Cons: Download codebase is a paid-plan feature; Git sync cannot attach to a repository that already exists

We.Inc

Best for: People weighing two app builders whose real project is a site for their business, with forms, posts and search settings

Price: Free plan: up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, no AI. AI building from $20/mo (Starter, 250 credits). Pro $49/mo, Max $99/mo.

Pros: Contact form entries land in a Contacts list, and blog posts are edited in a CMS panel without spending AI credits; Edit by clicking the page, asking in chat, or changing the React and TypeScript code

Cons: The free plan offers templates only, with no AI building; Fewer add-ons in its marketplace than long-established platforms

Two kinds of credit at Base44, one pool at Lovable

Base44 splits usage in two. Message credits pay for the conversation that builds and edits your app, and integration credits pay for the work your app does once it runs, such as calling a connected service. Starter has 100 message credits and 2,000 integration credits a month, Builder 250 and 10,000, Pro 500 and 20,000, and Elite 1,200 and 50,000. Base44 states there are no hidden fees beyond the plan, but tools you connect, such as Stripe or SendGrid, bill you on their own terms.

Lovable keeps one credit balance per workspace and adds a few side allowances. Its plans-and-credits documentation lists a daily chat allowance, daily build credits, and monthly Cloud, AI and connector grants, and it calls those grants temporary and subject to change. Monthly plan credits roll over while you stay subscribed but still expire two months after issue on monthly billing, and top-up credits last twelve months.

Base44 vs Lovable pricing, step by step

Base44 has five tiers, priced per month on yearly billing: Free with 25 message credits, Starter at $16 with 100, Builder at $40 with 250, Pro at $80 with 500 and Elite at $160 with 1,200. Each paid tier also carries a separate integration-credit allowance, from 2,000 on Starter to 50,000 on Elite.

Lovable has three self-serve plans: Free with 5 build credits a day up to 30 a month, Pro from $25 a month and Business from $50 a month, each starting at 100 credits on monthly billing. Instead of new plan names, Lovable lets you raise the credit tier inside Pro or Business, up to 10,000 credits a month ($2,250 on Pro, $4,300 on Business).

So at the small end Base44 costs less per month, and at the heavy-use end both get expensive. Because a Base44 message credit and a Lovable credit do not buy the same amount of work, run one real task on each free plan and count the credits before choosing a tier.

Who each one is built around

Base44's own description is a no-code platform that builds the frontend, backend, database, user auth and payments from plain language, and its FAQ names Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, HubSpot and Salesforce as tools you can connect. That makes it a natural fit for back-office tools, customer portals and team apps where the person building is not a developer and does not want to become one.

Lovable leans toward product teams. Its Pro plan lists user roles, per-member credit limits, design systems and badge removal, and Business adds SSO, a security center and internal publishing. The repository it keeps in GitHub means an engineer can review pull requests, test on branches and deploy outside Lovable if the project outgrows it.

When Base44 is the better buy

Choose Base44 when the cost of the first paid month matters most and you do not need GitHub yet: $16 a month on a yearly plan is the lowest paid entry of the two, and it already includes a custom domain with one free year of registration. It is also the better fit if your app mostly glues together services you already use, since integration usage has its own large allowance instead of eating the credits you spend on building.

When Lovable is the better buy

Choose Lovable when code ownership is part of the plan from day one. Free users can already sync to GitHub, and paid users can download the codebase from project settings or the code editor. It is also cheaper for a group: workspaces allow unlimited users, so a team of five on Pro pays the same $25 a month as one person, though they share the credits.

Taking a project from Base44 to Lovable, or the other way

Base44's pricing FAQ says two-way GitHub sync exports the full source code to your own repository, and its plan highlights list GitHub integration from Builder upward. Lovable's GitHub documentation says Git sync always creates a new repository, so you cannot point it at the one Base44 filled. Its suggested route is to download that repository as a ZIP, import it as a new Lovable project, and then connect Git sync.

Going the other way, Lovable gives you the repository through Git sync on any plan, or a direct download on paid plans. Importing that code into Base44 is not described on the pages we read, so plan on rebuilding the app there from a prompt and using the old code as reference.

Neither move carries your live data or users by itself. Records in Base44's database or Lovable Cloud need their own export, sign-in accounts have to be recreated or migrated, and any API keys must be entered again. Repoint your domain only after the new version works.

Where We.Inc fits for a business site

Both of these tools are aimed at apps. If what you are planning is a site for a practice, shop or service company, We.Inc builds it from a description, can rebuild an existing site you own from its URL, and includes an SEO panel, a store panel that connects your own Stripe account, and built-in visitor analytics with no tag to install.

Start from a template

Sources

Base44: Pricing and plan FAQ (2026-10-24)
Lovable: Pricing (2026-10-19)
Lovable docs: Plans and credits (2026-10-19)
Lovable docs: Subscription plans (2026-10-24)
Lovable docs: GitHub integration (2026-10-19)
We.Inc: Pricing (2026-10-19)

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Base44 or Lovable?

Neither wins outright. Base44 is better for non-developers building internal tools or portals who want login and a database with no setup and the lowest paid entry price. Lovable is better for founders and teams who want code they can sync to GitHub on any plan and unlimited teammates on one credit pool.

Is Base44 cheaper than Lovable?

At list price, yes, for the first paid step. Base44 Starter is $16 a month when billed yearly, against $25 a month for Lovable Pro on monthly billing. Lovable's yearly option gives two months free, which brings Pro to the equivalent of about $20.83 a month. What each credit buys differs, so the cheaper plan for you depends on how many changes your app needs.

Can I export my code from Base44?

Base44's pricing FAQ says you own the code, data and users, and that two-way GitHub sync exports the full source to your own repository at any time. On the plan cards, GitHub integration is listed for Builder, Pro and Elite, not for Free or Starter. Your app's stored data needs a separate export.

Does Lovable charge per user?

No. Lovable's pricing page lists unlimited users on Free, Pro and Business, and the workspace shares one credit balance. Pro adds per-member credit limits so one person cannot use the whole month's allowance, and Business adds SSO and role-based access. Enterprise is priced by volume with a platform fee.

Who owns Base44?

The footer of Base44's pricing page carries a Wix.com Ltd copyright, so Base44 sits inside Wix. It is sold and run as its own product with its own plans, separate from Wix's website builder subscriptions, and its pricing page links to its own docs, community and status page.

Which handles login and databases with less setup?

Base44 lists authentication, a database and an analytics dashboard as core features of every plan, including free, so there is nothing to connect. Lovable provides a backend through Lovable Cloud, which draws on a monthly Cloud grant and then on credits, and its docs note that bigger database instances use more credits.

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