The AI app platform that publishes its whole plan table, credits every tier, and hands you the code
Base44 is a no-code AI platform owned by Wix that builds complete applications from a description in plain language - frontend, backend, database, user auth and payments - and runs them on real production infrastructure. Its pricing page publishes five tiers with both billing rates side by side: Free, Starter at $16/mo billed annually ($20 monthly), Builder at $40 ($50), Pro at $80 ($100), Elite at $160 ($200), and Enterprise on a custom quote. Two gates sit behind the free plan. First, a custom domain is a paid feature - the Free tier's published highlights carry neither Connect a domain nor Free domain for 1 year, both of which appear only on the paid tiers - so the first real step is Starter. Second, every tier is metered by monthly AI message and integration credits: 25 a month on Free, 100 on Starter, up to 1,200 on Elite, with the published note that exact usage varies by action and by the AI model you pick. The renewal itself is clean, a flat 1.0x with a 20% discount for paying annually rather than a year-two step-up, and cancelling leaves the apps live. Base44 also answers the ownership question better than most of this band, promising that you own your code and that two-way GitHub sync exports the full source to your own repo at any time, which means lock-in is not a point we can make against them. What separates the two products is shape. Base44 ships a runtime, a database, user auth and payments through Base44 Payments (powered by Wix), backed by SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. This platform ships pre-compiled static pages on an anycast edge, under a strict 1.0x renewal guarantee, with at-cost domain registration and renewal, mail records on every plan, no usage meter, and a local-search layer that is generated rather than configured.
Substrate
own platform (Wix enterprise infrastructure)
Lane
prompt (vibe coding — frontend, backend, database, auth and payments)
Target Audience
creator / small business
Editing Model
prompt
Renewal Jump
1×
Official Link
VisitKey Differences at a Glance
How architectural choices impact your website long term
What the product is
An application platform. One prompt produces the frontend, the backend, the database, user authentication and the payment flow, and the result runs on Base44's own production infrastructure inside the Wix stack.
A static site and its hosting. Pages are pre-compiled and served from an anycast edge with no server runtime behind them - there is no database, no user auth and no application backend to run or break.
Why it matters: For a business that needs accounts, a database and a login, Base44 is the product and this platform is not. For a business that needs to be found, quoted and contacted, a static page that cannot fall over is the cheaper and faster answer.
How the price grows
Five published tiers from $0 to $200/mo, and every one of them metered by monthly AI message and integration credits. The price is predictable, but the amount of work the buyer can do is capped by the allowance - 25 messages a month on Free, 100 on Starter, 500 on Pro.
Two hosting tiers and no usage meter. Static hosting is metered by pages rather than by AI messages or traffic, App Hosting is a flat $15/mo billed annually, and a one-page static site is free forever with a domain registered at cost.
Why it matters: A buyer who edits heavily pays Base44 more as they work. A buyer who publishes and maintains pays here the same in year five as in year one, with no ceiling to watch.
The renewal
Flat and disclosed. Annual billing saves 20% on every paid plan, and the discount applies to the monthly price multiplied by twelve, charged once a year. Plans can be upgraded, downgraded or cancelled at any time, with changes taking effect at the next billing cycle.
A strict 1.0x renewal guarantee. App Hosting is $15/mo flat, billed annually, with no year-two price hike, and registry domain renewals stay strictly at cost.
Why it matters: Both are honest renewals, and this page does not pretend otherwise. The difference is that Base44's headline price is a tier a buyer must choose and re-choose, while ours is one flat number that does not move.
The domain in year two
A free domain for one year, and only on the yearly billing lists - the month-to-month tier highlights do not carry it at all. What the domain costs to renew in year two is not published on the pricing page.
At-cost registration and at-cost renewal - $14.99/yr for .com, tracking Verisign wholesale - with automated DNS connection and no retail markup, and the escalation schedule published with a date on it.
Why it matters: A free first year is a gift that has to be paid back at an unknown price. Here the year-two price is the number we print today, because it is derived from the registry's cost rather than set by hand.
Code and ownership
Unusually plain about it: you own everything you build, and two-way GitHub sync exports the full source code to your own repo at any time, with nothing locked to the platform.
Open JSON SiteSpec, with live content readable over a public API and no export fee or export tier to unlock — no vendor runtime in the path.
Why it matters: This is the axis where Base44 is stronger than the rest of the AI-native band, and we say so. The difference is not ownership - it is what a page is: a static asset with no runtime, versus a generated application that still needs one to run.
Payments, database and auth
All three are inside the product, including Base44 Payments (powered by Wix), so an app built there can take money in the marketplace without a third-party integration.
Not offered. This deployment is not connected to a payment provider, and a static site has no session store, no user table and no server to run the checkout on.
Why it matters: If the site has to take money, Base44 answers that question and this platform does not. Recorded plainly, because a comparison page that hides this is not worth reading.
Terms used on this page
- Lexicon & Q&A
Anycast
Anycast routing allows multiple physical servers worldwide to share a single IP address, routing website visitors to the nearest datacenter automatically.
- Documentation
free tier
A free tier is not a discount. Every builder we have audited, what each free plan grants, and the three things it withholds — your domain, your search results, or the price of year two.
- Lexicon & Q&A
llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed Markdown index at your site root that points agents at the pages worth reading. Here is the format, what version 2 changed, and what two large studies found about whether it earns citations.
- Lexicon & Q&A
LocalBusiness
Schema.org LocalBusiness structured data states your address, geo-coordinates, hours and certifications in a form a machine can lift, built from the same details the page already shows.
- Lexicon & Q&A
SiteSpec
A SiteSpec is the declarative JSON a site compiles from: pages, theme, sections, collections, locales. One document, every renderer, and portability that is a compile rather than a rescue.
- Lexicon & Q&A
TTFB
Time to First Byte measures the latency from a browser's initial request to the arrival of the first byte of HTML. Why sub-50ms TTFB is essential for search rankings and AI crawler indexing.
Total Cost of Ownership & Renewal Analysis
Headline prices vs what you actually pay over 5 years
| Aspect | Base44 | Zeso.net |
|---|---|---|
| Introductory Rate | $0/mo (Free - 25 message credits/mo, up to 5 apps, no custom domain) / $16.00/mo (Starter, billed annually - $192/yr) / $20.00/mo (Starter, billed monthly) | $0 (1-page) / $15/mo (App) |
| Renewal Rate (Yr 2+) | $16.00/mo (Starter, billed annually) or $20.00/mo (Starter, billed monthly); Builder $40.00/$50.00, Pro $80.00/$100.00, Elite $160.00/$200.00; Enterprise is a custom quote | $0 / $15/mo (Flat 1.0×) |
| Renewal Price Jump | 1× | 1.0× (Guaranteed flat) |
| 5-Year Total Cost | $960.00 on Starter billed annually (5 yr x $192.00); $1,200.00 on Starter billed monthly (60 mo x $20.00) [excluding the domain, third-party service bills and any credit overage] | $0 (1-page site) + domain at-cost |
| Year-1 Domain | Free domain for 1 year on Starter and above - yearly billing only. The month-to-month tier lists carry no free domain | Free with qualifying annual hosting |
| Year-2 Domain Renewal | Not included, and not priced on the pricing page - the domain renews at the registrar's own rate | At-cost wholesale ($14.99/yr for .com) |
| Hidden Costs / Upsells |
| |
Flat 1.0x — the yearly plan renews at the rate it was bought at. The 20% annual discount is a billing-term discount (annual $16/mo against monthly $20/mo on Starter = 1.25x), not a year-two step-up. The Free tier is $0 but publishes neither a custom domain nor a free domain, so the first real step is Starter.
The 7-Part Website Delivery Framework
Can each platform deliver a production-ready website out of the box?
| Job to be Done | Base44 | Zeso.net |
|---|---|---|
| Domain registration | Native Starter and above can connect a domain and carry a free domain for the first year on yearly billing. The Free plan publishes neither, so the first paid tier is really the first step to a real address. | Native Native at-cost domain registration ($14.99/yr for .com, tracking Verisign wholesale) with automated DNS connection and the renewal rate published with its escalation schedule. |
| DNS & CDN hosting | Native Apps run on real production infrastructure on Wix's enterprise stack, with global data-residency options on Elite and Enterprise workspaces. | Native Pre-compiled static HTML served across global anycast edge nodes, with a sub-50ms median TTFB and no origin server in the request path. |
| SSL certificate | Native HTTPS is enforced on every domain and certificates are issued and renewed automatically as part of the platform. | Native Zero-touch automated edge SSL certificates provisioned on domain connection and auto-renewed indefinitely, with HTTPS enforced across the site. |
| Business email | None No business email is published on any tier - neither the plan highlights nor the pricing FAQ mention a mailbox, a mail server or SPF/MX records. | Native Forwarding plus the mail records (SPF, MX, DKIM, DMARC) on the customer's domain on every plan, uncoupled from the website tier, with one-click DNS presets for Google Workspace, iCloud or Fastmail. |
| Form capture & leads | Native Forms and data capture are part of the generated application, on its own database and its own auth, with lead flow to a CRM through the included HubSpot and Salesforce integrations. | Native Native edge form processing with instant lead forwarding, automated spam defense and direct webhook dispatch to any CRM or endpoint - no application backend has to be built first. |
| Maintenance & updates | Native The runtime, the database and the platform are maintained by the vendor; cancelling leaves the apps live and the data in the workspace. | Native Zero-maintenance static edge architecture - with no server to patch, no runtime to crash and no database to secure, there is nothing on the site to maintain. |
| Transparent renewal pricing | Native Both billing rates are published side by side on the same page, the 20% annual discount is explained in the FAQ, and plans can be cancelled at any time with changes applied at the next billing cycle. | Native Strict 1.0x renewal guarantee: App Hosting is $15/mo flat billed annually with no year-two hike, one-page static sites are free forever, and registry renewals stay strictly at cost. |
Detailed Feature Comparison
| Capability | Base44 | Zeso.net |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership & PortabilityCode export & ownership | Two-way GitHub sync exports the full source to your own repo at any time; nothing is locked to the platform | Open JSON SiteSpec, live content over a public API, and no export fee or export tier to unlock |
| Editing & DesignApplication backend | Generated backend, database, user authentication and payments, hosted and run by the vendor | No server runtime - pre-compiled static pages, with no database, session store or auth service to operate |
| Pricing & TermsUsage metering | Monthly AI message and integration credits on every tier, including the free one (25 to 1,200 messages/mo) | No usage meter - static hosting is metered by pages, not by AI messages or by traffic |
| Pricing & TermsRenewal price | Flat 1.0x; 20% off for paying annually, applied to the monthly price x 12 and charged once a year | Strict 1.0x guarantee - App Hosting flat $15/mo billed annually, one-page static sites free forever |
| Domain & EmailDomain cost after year one | Free for year one on yearly billing only; the renewal price is not published on the pricing page | At-cost registration and renewal - $14.99/yr for .com, tracking Verisign wholesale, with no retail markup |
| Domain & EmailBusiness email | Not published on any tier | Forwarding plus SPF, MX, DKIM and DMARC on every plan, with one-click DNS presets for any mailbox provider |
| Hosting & SpeedLocal search & AI answer surfaces | No LocalBusiness schema, no llms.txt and no AI-visibility tooling published on the pricing page | Automated LocalBusiness JSON-LD, native llms.txt generation and semantic HTML, derived from the business profile |
Balanced Evaluation
Where They Excel
- •One prompt produces a working application - frontend, backend, database, auth and payments - rather than a set of pages
- •Built-in payments through Base44 Payments (powered by Wix), so an app can take money without wiring a payment provider
- •An enterprise security posture above ours: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit, KMS key rotation, training opt-out, data residency and enterprise SSO
- •Ownership answered without hedging - two-way GitHub sync exports the full source code to your own repo at any time
- •The monthly bill is predictable, because the allowance that caps the work is published up front
- •One-click integrations with Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, HubSpot and Salesforce
Trade-offs & Limitations
- •A custom domain is a paid feature - the Free plan publishes neither Connect a domain nor a free domain
- •The credit meter caps the work rather than the bill - 25 AI messages a month on the free tier, and AI model select starts at Builder
- •The free domain covers year one and only on yearly billing, and the year-two renewal price is not published
- •Month-to-month billing costs 25% more than yearly for the identical tier, so the 20% discount is only captured by paying annually
- •Third-party services bill you separately, so the plan price is not the total cost of running the app
- •It is owned by Wix, which means its pricing and roadmap sit inside a much larger product's priorities
The Verdict: Which Should You Choose?
Choose Base44 if:
- →You need a working application - user accounts, a database, a login - rather than a site to be found and contacted
- →You need the app to take money and you want the payment provider already wired in
- →You want SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and enterprise SSO available on day one
- →You want one prompt to produce the frontend, the backend, the auth and the integrations together
- →You are comfortable working inside a monthly AI credit allowance and scaling the tier as you go
Choose Zeso if...
- ✓You want the price you sign at to be the price you renew at - a strict 1.0x guarantee, with no annual discount to chase and no tier ladder to climb
- ✓You want the domain at cost in year two as well ($14.99/yr for .com, tracking Verisign wholesale), not a free first year followed by an unpublished renewal
- ✓You want mail on every plan - forwarding and SPF, MX, DKIM and DMARC with no tier gate
- ✓You want the local-search layer generated rather than configured: LocalBusiness JSON-LD, llms.txt and semantic HTML
- ✓You want a site with no runtime to break, no database to secure and no usage meter to watch
Tailored solutions
Explore dedicated solutions for your business
Rather than wrestling with complex general-purpose builders, see how Zeso serves your specific vertical.
Be the business they call when someone nearby needs you now
Local SEO for small businesses — what the work actually is
Website maintenance services — what is included, every month
The general contractor website that turns six-figure bids into signed renovation contracts
The plumbing website that answers emergency calls before the competitor
A dental website that turns emergency searchers into booked appointments
An auto repair website that answers emergency breakdown calls before the tow truck arrives
A landscaping website that books lucrative recurring seasonal maintenance contracts
A fitness studio website that converts trial passes into committed monthly memberships
A therapy website that creates safe, confidential client connections and builds trust
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Base44 cost per month?
Base44 publishes five tiers with both billing rates side by side: Free at $0, Starter at $16/mo billed annually or $20/mo monthly, Builder at $40 or $50, Pro at $80 or $100, and Elite at $160 or $200. Enterprise is a custom quote. Paying annually saves 20% on every paid plan.
Do I own the site and the code if I use Base44?
Yes. Base44 states that you own your code, your data and your users, and that two-way GitHub sync exports the full source code to your own repo at any time, with nothing locked to the platform. This is a stronger answer than most of the AI-builder band gives, and it is why this comparison does not lean on lock-in. Zeso's version is an open JSON SiteSpec whose live content is readable over a public API without a key, with no export fee and no export tier to unlock.
Is the free plan enough for a real business site?
Not on its own. The Free plan is $0 with 25 AI message credits and 100 integration credits a month, up to 5 apps, and its published feature list carries neither Connect a domain nor a free domain - both appear only on the paid tiers. A site on your own address starts at Starter, $16/mo billed annually.
Does the Base44 price go up when I renew?
No. The renewal is a flat 1.0x - the yearly plan renews at the rate it was bought at. The 20% annual discount is a billing-term discount rather than a year-two step-up: on Starter the annual rate is $16/mo and the monthly rate is $20/mo, so paying month to month is 1.25x the same plan. Plans can be cancelled at any time, changes apply at the next billing cycle, and the apps stay live.
What happens when I run out of Base44 credits?
Credits are the published monthly allowance for AI messages and integration actions, and the vendor states that exact usage varies with the action and the selected AI model. The pricing page does not publish what happens at the limit - whether it stops, overbills or prompts an upgrade - so this comparison does not claim one. The practical answer is that the allowance is what caps the work on a tier: 25 messages a month on Free, 100 on Starter, 250 on Builder, 500 on Pro and 1,200 on Elite.
Can Base44 take payments for me?
Yes. Base44 builds the payment flow into the app and offers Base44 Payments, powered by Wix, so an app built there can take money in the marketplace without a third-party integration. This platform is different and we would rather say so: this deployment is not connected to a payment provider, and a static site has no session store to run a checkout on. If taking money in the app is the requirement, that is the argument for Base44.
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