The Base44 alternative
where the plan is not a chat
Base44 plans in a thread and meters every message. Here the plan is boards you move, and a change of mind is free.
Base44’s prices, chat modes and GitHub sync read on base44.com and docs.base44.com, 17 September 2026.
Their plan is a conversation.
Ours is the page.
Discuss mode is real and it waits for your approval. It is still prose you have to picture.
The plan is a thread
A booking tool for a three-person physio clinic.
Plan: 1. Booking page with open slots per therapist 2. A confirm step 3. Reminder the day before Approve?
0.3 creditsDoes a patient pick the slot before or after signing up?
0.3 credits“A confirm step.” On which page, next to what?
The plan is drawn
Book a slot
ConfirmOpen on Thursday
A patient picks a slot before they make an account, never after.
The answer is on the board. An imaginary clinic.
Every message is a credit.
Every drag is free.
The free plan is 25 message credits a month. A question in Discuss mode is 0.3 of one.
Base44 meters the thinking
Build messages cost more, and the amount depends on the model you picked.
We meter nothing
Ask Nadia as many times as it takes. Move the boards yourself. We do not meter the runs.
Every Base44 fact here
was read off Base44
Read on their own site, and dated.
base44.com/pricing
Free with 25 message credits a month. Starter $16, Builder $40, Pro $80, Elite $160. A Wix company.
docs.base44.com, AI chat modes
Discuss plans the next change with no code changes until you approve. 0.3 credits a message.
docs.base44.com, GitHub
Connect a repo and it stays the source of truth. Changes sync both ways.
Every seat on a product team,
and you are in all of them.
Seven specialists. You direct all of them. Nadia and Devi are on every project.
Who this is for
Primary persona: Maria and Tom. Two people sharing one pipeline at a twelve-person company. Maria closes, Tom follows up. Neither has ever opened a CRM they liked.
What they are actually buying
- One list both of them trust, instead of two spreadsheets
- Knowing what to do next without a standup to decide it
- Something that survives one of them being on leave
Pain to mirror in the copy
- “Every CRM is built for a sales team of nine”
- Data entry that costs more than the deal is worth
- Reports nobody on a two-person team reads
Competitive frame
Not competing with Pipedrive on features. Competing on the half hour a week it takes to keep it true. The wedge is two people, one list, not “also works for small teams”.
Objections to answer before the fold
- “We already have a spreadsheet” → show the two-column import
- “What happens when we hire a third?” → seats, not tiers
Pipeline
New dealSorted by last touched. Nothing here is a stage nobody uses.
Visual direction for Anouk
- Mode: light, paper-first. This gets read at a desk, not on a phone
- Accent: one colour, used for state and nothing else
- Type: one humanist sans. Numbers tabular, so columns line up
- Density: eight deals on screen without scrolling
Reference
- Linear’s list density, Stripe’s number formatting
- Nothing that needs a second click to read a deal
Open questions before build
- Does a deal belong to a person or to the team?
- Is “won” a stage or a date?
- Do we show currency on every row, or once in the header?
Billing
Invoices
Plan table and invoice list stay two boards, not one.
keep them apart
Four screens to start: Pipeline, Deal detail, Pricing page, Schema. I have put the words on them, so read them before Devi sees any of it.
added 4 boardsBilling wants a plan table and an invoice list, so that is two boards, not one. Drawing both.
added Billing, InvoicesNadiaincluded
Jonah
Deviincluded
Theo
Anouk
Rosa
KitBase44 against
HuntingHydra.
Their column comes from their own site.
| Base44 | HuntingHydra | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A chat app builder | A product team on a canvas |
| What the plan is | A Discuss thread | Boards on a canvas |
| Can you drag the plan around | No, it is prose | Yes, that is the product |
| What a planning message costs | 0.3 credits | Nothing, not metered |
| Who does the work | One AI, in one chat | Seven specialists |
| Backend, auth, hosting | Built in | Postgres, accounts, a live URL |
| Free tier | Yes, 25 messages a month | Three days free, every agent on |
| Cheapest paid plan | $16 | $20 |
| GitHub | Two-way sync | A repo you own |
| Behind it | Wix | Two founders |
Where Base44 fits,
and where we take over
The honest split, and our answer to each.
A real free tier
25 messages and five apps a month cost nothing. Three days here, and no message is counted.
It is cheaper to start
Starter is $16. $20 here runs on the model you already pay for, with nothing metered on top.
Payments are built in
You get paid through Base44 on day one. If the store is one page of a bigger product, that page is a board here.
A backend on day one
Storage, auth and hosting are in the box. Ours arrive with the build, from a schema you saw drawn first.
Wix is behind it
A public company with a support desk. Here, two founders read the inbox themselves.
Still not sure?
Three days free, every agent on. Draw the boards, watch the build, then decide.
What people ask
before they switch.
What is the best Base44 alternative?
One where the plan is boards you can move, and changing your mind costs nothing. Base44 plans in a chat and meters each message.
Is Base44 free?
Yes, with 25 message credits a month and up to five apps. Starter is $16 a month. Checked 17 September 2026.
Does Base44 have a plan mode?
Yes, Discuss mode. It plans the next change in chat, waits for your approval, and each message costs 0.3 credits.
Who owns Base44?
Wix. The pricing page footer reads © 2026 Wix.com Ltd.
What does HuntingHydra cost?
Three days free, then $20 a month on the model you already pay for. We do not meter the runs.
Base44 plans in a chat.
This plans on a canvas, then builds it.
Three days free.