Lovable or Base44: which AI app builder fits a US small business?
Go with Lovable when you start from a design or a developer will take the code further: it imports Figma and screenshots, builds on a Supabase database and includes your own domain on every paid plan. Go with Base44 when the app must plug into Gmail, Slack, HubSpot or Stripe and your operations team will own it; it includes your own domain on every paid plan as well.
Both build an application rather than a brochure site, both price as a base plan plus metered AI credits, and both publish a native US dollar rate card. The difference is the workflow around the AI: designer-and-developer on one side, business tools on the other. If you need a storefront or a brochure site rather than an app, Wix vs Squarespace is the closer read.
Plans and pricing checked October 2026, and every figure below is read live from our pricing database and checked against each vendor's own pricing page. The table and calculator rank on published prices only, and we may earn a commission if you buy through our links, which never affects that order.
Lovable vs Base44 pricing: the plan is a floor, not a total
Lovable's entry paid plan is $25/mo (Pro) and Base44's is $20/mo (Starter). Neither locks you in: the billing basis row reads True monthly for Lovable and True monthly for Base44, and the contract row reads None and None.
The meter is the difference. Lovable's AI usage row reads 100/mo on Pro and on Business. Base44's reads 25 message credits/mo (Free) to 1,200 (Elite), and on Base44 the monthly message allowance is the real constraint. Custom domain is not the row that separates them: Base44's reads Starter plan and above and Lovable's reads Paid plans only, so with either vendor an app on your own domain runs on a paid plan starting with the first one. What Base44 does save for its Builder plan and above is the model selector and the GitHub sync.
The calculator takes Websites (set it to the number of apps you plan to run), Users, Own domain and Sell online?. Leave Own domain on Yes and each estimate skips the free plan and selects the first paid plan that covers your other inputs; the Custom domain rows carry each vendor's wording. Treat both estimates as a floor: the AI is metered on top, building is iterative, and the plan you need depends on how often you rebuild.
What each one builds
Both belong to the application half of this category. In the vendors' own words the AI does Builds custom websites and web apps by chat (Lovable) and Builds full-stack apps and websites by chat (Base44). Backend and database: Full-stack: Supabase (Postgres) + auth for Lovable, Yes, full-stack (database + auth + payments) for Base44.
They part at the first prompt. Lovable offers no templates (None, output is generated) but accepts a design (design import: Figma + image import). Base44 starts you from Community app templates gallery, and its design import row reads No. A business with brand guidelines and a designer feels that on the first morning; one that needs an inventory tracker by Friday may be glad of the template.
- Online store: Lovable Buildable, including payments, Base44 Buildable, payments included
- Team members: Lovable Unlimited on every plan, Base44 Multi-user editing on every plan
- Storage: Lovable Included in the credit grant, Base44 Cloud storage included
Buildable is the right word: neither hands you a finished checkout, and a checkout means order state, refunds and failed payments.
Who is each one built for
Lovable's integrations (Stripe, Supabase, GitHub, custom APIs) are a developer's list: a payment processor, a database, a code host and any API you point it at. That suits a founder with a technical co-founder, or a contractor lined up to take over.
Base44's integrations (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe) are an operations list: inbox, chat, notes, file store, CRMs and a payment processor. That suits an internal tool, a client portal or a booking flow that writes a record into HubSpot or posts to a Slack channel.
Support splits the same way: Community and email for Lovable, Premium support on Elite for Base44. Community and email suits a founder who can read a stack trace. A business whose client portal collects the payments wants to know which plan carries a faster answer.
The AI model, and whether you can change it
Lovable runs on Anthropic Claude and lets you move between tiers (Choose your AI: Yes, Claude tiers (Sonnet/Opus)), but not to another vendor's model. Base44 treats the model as a plan feature (AI model: Selectable (model select on Builder+); Choose your AI: Yes, model selector (Builder+)).
The row earns its place when the generator sticks on the one feature you needed. A different model is a lever where your plan offers one; check what it does to your credit use before you rely on it.
Custom domain, export and what you keep
Neither free plan reaches your own domain: Lovable's free plan row reads Yes, 5 lovable.app domains, no custom domain and Base44's reads Yes, up to 5 apps, no custom domain. An app on a vendor subdomain does not belong on an invoice or a business card, so treat both as a test. Every paid plan from either vendor carries your own domain, so Export is the row that separates them, not Custom domain.
- Sites per plan: Lovable Unlimited on paid plans, Base44 Unlimited apps on paid plans (5 on Free)
- Export: Lovable Yes, GitHub sync, Base44 Yes, two-way GitHub sync (Builder+)
- Hosting: Lovable Yes, covered by the credit grant, Base44 Yes, production infrastructure
Both export to GitHub, and Base44's two-way sync kicks in at its Builder plan, so neither holds the code hostage; what differs is what the code needs to run. Lovable's database is Supabase (Postgres), and its hosting row says running the app draws on the same credit grant as building it. Base44's backend is integrated into its platform, so an exported app takes more work to re-home. If the app is the business, Export and Backend matter more than the price.
Sales tax, payments and the customer data your app will hold
Both publish their own US dollar prices (local pricing: Yes, native USD for Lovable, Yes, native USD for Base44), so the figures in the table are the vendors' own and nothing moves with an exchange rate. Whether sales tax is added depends on your state, since states differ on whether software as a service is taxable, so check the first invoice. If the app takes money, card data passes through the payment processor rather than your database, which keeps your PCI scope small; orders, refunds and disputes are still yours to run.
The weightier question is the customer data. An app holds customer records, logins and perhaps payment history, and every state has a breach notification law that applies the day one of those records leaks. Whether a state privacy statute such as California's also reaches you depends on your revenue and how many people's data you hold; many small businesses sit under those thresholds, but the duty to tell customers about a breach does not. Ask both vendors where the database is hosted before the first customer signs up: Lovable's sits in Supabase (Postgres), so ask which region; Base44's is integrated, so ask Base44. Write the answer into your privacy policy.
The verdict
Settle it with one question: once the app is live, who looks after it? If a developer, take Lovable. The code sits in GitHub, the database is Postgres on Supabase, and your own domain comes with the first paid plan. If your operations team, take Base44. Its integrations are the tools they already open, a community template shortens the first week, your own domain comes with every paid plan here as well, and the model selector and GitHub sync kick in at its Builder plan. Set Websites to the number of apps you plan to run, leave Own domain on Yes, and compare the plans the calculator selects. Neither figure is a total: the AI meter sits on top of both, and the customer data is your responsibility the day someone signs up.