Can I Export My Base44 App and Host It Myself?

Yes. On Builder or higher, you can export your Base44 app's code as a ZIP or connect it to GitHub. You can host its front end elsewhere while keeping its existing Base44 services. Moving the website files does not require moving all of your data or replacing login. Leaving Base44 entirely is a separate project. This guide explains the export steps and the checks to make before changing your live domain. Base44 documents external frontend hosting; Figment-specific compatibility is still being tested.

What is Base44?

Base44 is an AI app builder: you describe an app in a prompt, and it generates a working full-stack application — a React frontend plus backend functions and data entities — that you keep refining through more prompts inside its own editor. It's a different category from a website builder like Squarespace or Wix; the thing it produces is closer to a small web application with a database behind it than a marketing page. If you've used Lovable instead, the shape of the question is the same but the mechanics differ — see moving a Lovable project to your own hosting for that platform's specific export path.

What plan do I need to export anything?

Base44's documentation is direct about the gate: "Downloading a ZIP file and connecting to GitHub both require a Builder plan or higher" (Base44 docs, "Developer tools"). The Free and Starter plans sit below that line. Check Base44's pricing page for current plan prices. Data export as CSV is a separate feature, covered in its own section below, and isn't gated the same way in the documentation.

How do I export my app's code as a ZIP?

In the app editor, open Code and click the Export project as ZIP icon at the top right of the code view (Base44 docs). You get a zip archive of your app's code.

Base44 also documents an API route to the same export: a GET request to /api/apps/{app_id}/coding/export-to-zip on app.base44.com, authenticated with an API key, which "downloads the app's source code as a zip archive" reflecting "the app's current saved code" (Base44 API reference). Base44 flags this endpoint as beta: "This API is in beta. Endpoints, fields, and behavior may still change, so avoid depending on it in production." Use the in-editor button for a one-off export; reach for the API only if you're automating exports and can tolerate that instability warning.

Once you have the zip, unzip it and confirm it runs on its own before you plan anything around it — that's the same first check that applies to any AI builder's export, and it's the fastest way to find a Base44-specific dependency before you're relying on it in production.

How does Base44's GitHub sync work?

This is a different mechanism from the ZIP download, and it requires the same Builder plan or higher: "GitHub 2 way sync requires the Builder plan or higher," and only app owners can make the first connection (Base44 docs, "GitHub Integration"). The setup:

1. From the Dashboard, click the GitHub icon and select Connect to GitHub.
2. Authorize the Base44 GitHub app and choose the organization and repositories it can access.
3. Create a new repository for your app, or connect an existing one.
4. Clone the repository locally, run npm install and npm install -g base44@latest, then authenticate with base44 login.
5. Run base44 link to connect your local clone to the app, then base44 dev to start local development against the hosted backend.
6. Push your local changes to the connected repository; Base44 describes the connection as 2-way sync, so they flow back into the app.

Base44 describes this as two-way: "When you connect your app to GitHub, your changes are synced to the connected repository automatically." There's a real limitation worth flagging before you connect it, though: Base44's documentation adds "there's no option to manually push updates from your Base44 app to GitHub" — sync happens automatically on Base44's own timing, not on a button you control. It also has an irreversible side effect: "After you connect GitHub to your app, you cannot use Version History to revert to versions from before the GitHub integration." Don't connect GitHub until you're past the experimental, prompt-and-discard phase of building the app, or you'll lose your Base44-native undo history for anything that came before.

Base44's own pricing page frames the ceiling plainly, separate from the mechanics above: "Two-way GitHub sync exports the full source code to your own repo at any time," alongside the broader claim "You own everything you build on Base44: your code, your data, your users" (base44.com/pricing). Treat "at any time" as describing the sync's automatic, ongoing nature rather than a manual export button — the documentation above is specific that there's no manual push.

How do I export my app's data?

Data lives separately from code, and it exports separately too: click Dashboard in your app editor, then Data, select a table, click the More actions icon, and click Export. "Your data downloads as a CSV file you can open in spreadsheet software such as Excel or Google Sheets" (Base44 docs, "Managing your app data"). The documented steps work on one table at a time, so repeat them for every table your app uses. Base44 frames this as useful "for backup, analysis, or to use in other tools," such as handing data to an accountant or building a custom report outside the app.

What can't I take with me?

• An independent copy of every hosted service. A code export is not a transfer of Base44's running infrastructure. You can keep those services connected to an externally hosted front end. Replace them only if you also want to leave Base44's services.
• A verified connection on a new domain. External frontend hosting is documented, but each destination still needs a working build, permitted API access, and tested login redirects. Do not assume an uploaded ZIP is already a working deployment.
• Version history predating a GitHub connection. Connecting GitHub is a one-way door for Base44's own revert feature, as noted above.

How do I set up a custom domain?

Base44's documentation states custom domains are "available on the Starter, Builder, Pro, and Elite plans" — not Free (Base44 docs). You can connect a domain you already own by configuring DNS records Base44 provides, or buy a new domain through a Base44-integrated registrar. Base44 states it issues and renews the SSL certificate automatically once a domain connects. Documented limits: "up to 150 domains and subdomains to a single app, and up to 350 domains in total across your account."

A step list for moving hosting

1. Confirm your plan. Builder or higher for code export; Starter or higher for a custom domain.
2. Export the code. Use the in-editor Export project as ZIP, or connect GitHub if you want ongoing sync while you're still iterating inside Base44.
3. Keep the existing app and services active. A CSV backup is useful, but moving hosting alone does not require a database migration.
4. Build the exported code before uploading browser files to a static host. A source ZIP and a built folder are different things.
5. Test a temporary deployment. Check login, logout, saved data, user permissions, internal links, and direct page reloads. Keep server secrets out of browser files. If you also want to replace Base44's services, complete and test that separate migration first.
6. Move the domain last. Update DNS only after the independent copy is verified working on its own temporary URL, so there's no window where your live domain points at something broken. If your domain itself was registered through Base44 rather than connected from elsewhere, check transferring a domain away from your website builder first — the general steps and DNS-record risks it covers apply regardless of which builder issued the domain.
7. Keep the Base44 app running until the standalone version is confirmed working end to end — nothing about exporting deletes the original.

Bottom line

Export your code, build it, and test it on the new host before changing your domain. Keeping your existing Base44 services is a supported option; a complete move away from Base44 is a different task. For other builders, see moving an AI builder's project to your own codebase.

Figment hosting note: Figment accepts built HTML and JavaScript app files. Base44 login, data access, and a complete export-to-Figment flow are not yet verified. Apps that use Base44's hosted backend still need that service and may retain its charges. Do not cancel the original account until the features you need work on the new URL.