How to Build Your First App with Base44: Prompt, Data, Login, Publish (and How Credits Are Counted)

Base44 turns a plain-language description into a working web app with its own database, user login and hosting. The hard part is not getting a first version, which arrives quickly, but shaping it without spending your credits on vague requests. This walkthrough follows the steps and feature names in Base44's official documentation, explains how message credits are counted, and helps you pick a plan. Prices were re-checked on base44.com on 31 October 2026.

Step 1: describe the app, or plan it first

Sign up at base44.com before you start, because Base44 only saves your work to an account. On the home prompt you can describe the app in plain language, or open the mode drop-down, which shows Build by default, and choose Plan. You can also attach files from the + menu: Base44 says images and PDFs inform the visual design, while spreadsheets and CSVs inform the data structure. Other starting points are an existing website URL, a Figma design, or connectors such as Google Workspace, Slack and GitHub.

A useful first prompt names who uses the app, what they need to do and what information it stores. For example: a booking tool where clients pick a time slot, staff confirm bookings and an admin sees all bookings in a table. If details are missing, the AI asks one question at a time, and you can answer, click Skip question, or choose Use a placeholder for things like a business name.

Plan mode is worth using for anything with more than one type of user. The conversation works through intent and goal, audience and roles, core flows and design, then you review the plan and click Start Building. Base44 says plan messages cost a fraction of a credit each, and the first build uses about 1 credit however long your prompt is, so detail at this stage is cheap.

Step 2: review the pages, data and login it built

Watch the app appear in the preview and click through every page before asking for changes. Clicking around in the preview is free. Make a short list of what is wrong or missing so you can fix it in a few precise requests rather than many small ones.

Then open Dashboard and go to Data. Base44 stores information in tables, with fields such as Text, Number, Date/Time, File and Reference. Check that the tables match your idea: a booking app should have something like bookings and clients, with the fields you expect. You can add, edit and delete records here, import a CSV, and export any table as CSV. Each table has read and write permissions under Permissions, which decide who can see or change its data.

Login is built in. Base44 says new apps come with login, register, forgot password and reset password pages. Under Dashboard, Settings, Authentication you can turn on email and password, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple sign-in. App visibility, custom roles and access rules are set in the dashboard too.

Step 3: change it by chat, Discuss or Edit mode

There are three ways to make changes, and they cost different amounts. In Build mode, the default in the AI chat, Base44 acts on your request straight away and charges message credits based on how complex the change is and which model runs it. Discuss mode is for questions and planning: it proposes changes and builds nothing until you click Approve, and Base44 puts it at about 0.3 message credits per message.

Edit mode is switched on with the Edit button at the top of the editor. You click an element and change its colour, text, font, spacing, corners or opacity from a toolbar. Base44 says these manual edits use no credits, so use Edit mode for wording and styling, and save the chat for changes to features, data or logic. AI edits started from Edit mode, through Edit Element, do use message credits.

If the preview shows an error, Resolve with AI does not count towards message credits, according to the chat documentation.

Step 4: test before you publish

Use the preview as an end user would: fill in every form, create a record, then check it appears in Data. Base44's quick start suggests the Act as a user option in the More actions menu to see the app as a specific person or role, test profiles with different roles, and an incognito window to see what a first-time visitor sees. Check the layout on mobile as well as desktop.

On the Builder plan and higher you can switch on Test Data under Settings, Advanced Capabilities. This gives you a separate, empty database, so test bookings or fake users do not mix with real ones. A testing link from the Publish panel lets other people try unpublished changes against test data only.

Step 5: publish and add a custom domain

Click Publish in the top bar. Every app gets a free address ending in .base44.app, and you can change the part before it. The Publish panel also has Share your app, App visibility and a Security status check; Base44 says the security scan warns about risks but does not block publishing. After later edits, click Publish again to push them live.

To use your own address, click Get domain in the Publish panel, or go to Dashboard, Domains, where you can buy a domain through Base44 or connect one you already own. Custom domains need the Starter plan or higher, and the pricing page lists a free domain for one year on Starter, Builder, Pro and Elite.

How credits are used, and how not to waste them

Base44 uses two kinds of credit. Message credits pay for your AI chat requests. Integration credits pay for built-in services your app calls, such as sending email, uploading files or generating images; Base44 says database reads and writes do not use them. Its credits page estimates about 0.5 message credits for a simple text or visual change, about 1 for a small feature, about 2 for a complex module and about 3 to 4 for a large app-wide change. You can see what each message cost under More actions, Credits Used.

On the Free plan you get 25 message credits a month with a limit of 5 per day, and AI features pause when the daily limit is reached. On paid plans credits reset monthly and unused credits expire, and Base44 does not refund credits for AI mistakes.

To get more from them: plan first in Plan or Discuss mode, group related changes into one clear request, make text and colour fixes in Edit mode, and change one feature at a time so a bad result is easy to spot. Choosing a pricier model or Compare models, which builds your message twice, spends credits faster.

Which plan to choose

On 31 October 2026 base44.com listed these prices billed annually: Starter $16 a month with 100 message credits and 2,000 integration credits, Builder $40 with 250 and 10,000, Pro $80 with 500 and 20,000, and Elite $160 with 1,200 and 50,000. Base44 says annual billing saves 20%; monthly billing is $20, $50, $100 and $200. The Free plan has 25 message credits, 100 integration credits and up to 5 apps.

Start on Free to see whether Base44 suits your idea. Starter is the cheapest way to publish on your own domain. Builder adds choosing the AI model, GitHub and the Test Data option, and fits anyone building something they will keep changing. Pro and Elite are for heavy monthly use. Students and educators can apply for discounted pricing.

Base44, Lovable or MeDo?

All three build apps from a prompt. Base44's strength is that the database, login and hosting are part of the platform, which suits non-technical builders, though apps built on its backend are harder to move elsewhere, even with the GitHub option on Builder and higher. Lovable is friendlier to developers, with GitHub sync and code export, and suits people who expect to work on the code later. MeDo, presented as Baidu’s international AI app builder, takes a similar prompt-to-app approach.

Originally published at kuponaut.com, where prices and plan details are kept up to date. Official pricing: base44.com/pricing.