Freebuff vs Base44: build every day for free vs 25 credits a month
Base44’s free plan stops at 25 message credits a month, its automatic fixes spend them, and exporting your code needs a $40 plan. Freebuff is free, every day.
In short
- Our verdict: Freebuff. We make Freebuff, so weigh that, but every claim below links to a source you can check.
- Base44’s free plan is 25 message credits a month, at most 5 a day. On Free, even its automatic error fixes spend those credits.
- Leaving is hard. Exporting your code needs the $40-a-month Builder plan, and Base44 says the export "still relies on Base44 to run".
- Base44 scores 2.7 on Trustpilot, with 54% one-star reviews, many about credits, lockouts and refunds.
- Freebuff is free for a full day of building, every day. Unlimited messages in every hour-long session, a daily allowance with no monthly cap, and sign-in, a database and free publishing built in.
Base44 makes a good first impression: describe an app, and it builds one with a database and logins already wired up. Wix bought it in 2025, and it has grown fast. But it meters every message, charges for the fixes to its own mistakes, and keeps your app on its servers. If you want to build without rationing credits, Freebuff is the better choice.
At a glance
| Feature | Freebuff | Base44 |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | A full day of building, every day | 5 message credits a day, 25 a month |
| How usage is counted | Hour-long sessions with unlimited messages | Message credits for building, integration credits for your running app |
| Monthly cap | None: the allowance refills every day | 25 message credits on Free |
| Cost of an automatic fix | Nothing extra | Message credits on Free |
| Code export | Any time | Builder plan ($40/mo) and up; the export still needs Base44 to run |
| Free publishing | Live on a .freebuff.app address at no cost | Yes; custom domains from Starter |
| Refunds | Nothing to refund | "Base44 plans are non-refundable" |
What Base44 costs
Per Base44’s pricing, billed annually, Free is $0 with 25 message credits a month, Starter is $16 a month, Builder $40, Pro $80 and Elite $160. Custom domains start on Starter, and GitHub on Builder.
Its credits docs say a free workspace "can use up to 5 message credits a day, up to 25 a month", and that on Free, "Resolve with AI and automatic error fix messages consume message credits". When a running app runs out of integration credits, "Backend functions stop running" until the reset. The developer tools docs say you need "a Builder plan or higher to export a ZIP", and that "a ZIP is a copy of your code, not a way to move your app off Base44". And per its billing docs, "Base44 plans are non-refundable".
What Freebuff gives you for free
- Unlimited messages in every session. A session lasts an hour, and you can keep refining your app as much as you like inside it. A bug that takes ten tries costs the same as one message.
- A big daily allowance with no monthly cap. Up to 30 hours a day in the US, and 21 in countries such as Canada, the UK and Germany, refilled every day, every day of the month. Right now, Solar Mini 4 and Solar Pro 4 do not use it at all.
- Sign-in, a database and publishing built in. The Website Builder turns an idea into a full-stack site and puts it live on a .freebuff.app address at no cost, and you can export the code any time.
- A real coding agent too. The same account works in the CLI, the desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, and apps for iOS and Android.
What Base44 users are saying
Base44’s Trustpilot page scores 2.7 out of 5 from about 936 reviews, 54% of them one star. The one-star reviews from November 2026 alone cover most of the problems:
- Locked out after paying. A user who paid about £400 said that "Within days, I was locked out of both the AI Builder" and their agent chat, with 22 days to go before the reset, and support suggested posting about Base44 on social media for 20 bonus credits.
- Apps that do not work. Another November reviewer said Base44 "repeatedly and confidently built me non-functioning apps."
- Paying again to leave. "You pay premium and once you want to export you need to pay even more"
- Accounts disabled. A builder of almost a year said "my apps have thousands of daily users" and their account was disabled with "no warning".
- No refunds. Several annual subscribers asked for the unused months back, one after eight months unused on a $480 plan, and were refused: "They do not offer refunds".
- A past security flaw. In July 2025, Wiz found that anyone with an app’s public id could register into private Base44 apps, including SSO-protected ones. Base44 fixed it within 24 hours and said it found no sign of abuse.
What Freebuff users are saying
I’ve tried Bolt, [...] and a handful of other builders over the years, but none of them come close to the speed, clarity, and overall polish Freebuff delivers.
I just wanted to say thank ya’ll for making this amazing app. It allows people that aren’t made of money to use LLM in ways to create.
Where Base44 is strong
Base44 sets up a backend, a database and logins with no wiring, has a cheap Discuss mode for planning, and can package apps for the App Store and Google Play on its paid plans. With Wix behind it, it is not going anywhere. If you have a budget and want an all-in-one host, it is a capable one.
Our verdict
Pick Freebuff. Base44’s free plan runs out after five days of building a month, its fixes spend the same credits, and your code only leaves on a $40 plan, still tied to Base44. Freebuff gives you unlimited messages in every session, an allowance that refills every day, and free publishing with sign-in and a database built in.
Build your app for free
Describe it, refine it, publish it. No card needed.