Why you want out decides which exit fits
The usual reasons for leaving Base44 don’t all point to the same door. Match yours first:
| Your reason | Exit that solves it |
|---|---|
| IT won’t approve an app whose data sits in a vendor’s cloud | Hybrid model, or a one-time migration to your own servers |
| Credits run out as usage grows | Hybrid model or one-time migration: neither spends credits in production |
| The AI training license covers your users’ data | Hybrid model or one-time migration: real data leaves Base44 |
| You don’t want your code and prompts on Base44 at all | One-time migration only |
| One slow screen or one broken integration | Stay and fix it first |
On the AI point: since the June 2026 terms update, every plan except Enterprise lets Base44 use content to train AI models. Separate what worries you. If it’s your customers’ data, moving production out is enough. If it’s your own code and prompts, only a full exit helps.
What a code export actually gives you
A recurring question in the Base44 community is whether the exported code runs on its own. On its own, it doesn’t. Here’s what happens to each piece when you leave:
- The frontend. Yes. On the Builder plan or higher you can sync the code to GitHub in both directions or download a ZIP.
- Backend functions. You get the source, but it needs somewhere new to run.
- Data. Not in the export. You download it table by table as CSV, or through the API, which returns at most 5,000 items per request since November 27, 2025.
- Sign-in. Stays on Base44. Moving users to a new system means a password reset for every one of them.
- The SDK calls. Every read, write and login in the code goes through the Base44 SDK. Each one has to be pointed at the new backend.
- The eject command. Despite the name, it creates a new backend on Base44 with an empty database. You’re still on the platform.
That’s why a deployed export “works” on day one: Base44 is still doing the invisible half behind it.
On your servers, that invisible half is a database, sign-in and functions your team can see and back up.
What a one-time migration costs, before and after
Public prices for leaving Base44 run from free automated tools to fixed quotes of $6,000 for a small app, $12,000 for a medium one and $25,000 or more for large ones (base44devs, as collected by Axonbuild on August 15, 2026). On Upwork, fixed-price migration jobs around $4,000 were open in October 2026. Answers in the community go from “a few hundred dollars” to “six figures”, and the honest one is that nobody can price it without looking at the app.
The quote covers moving out. After that, the person who built the app in Base44 can’t change it anymore. A new field, a new screen or a fix to a form becomes a ticket for a developer, for as long as the app lives.
Keep44’s view: if the app is finished and barely changes, a one-time migration is the simplest exit. If the team asks for changes every week, that developer queue costs more within a few months than keeping the editor.
The exit that keeps the editor: the hybrid model
Keep44 moves the app’s backend to a Windows server you control (IIS, SQL Server and Node.js), with your real data. The builder keeps working in Base44 with test data. Each change goes through the GitHub repository to the server, with a backup first and a way back.
Against a one-time migration, piece by piece:
- The builder keeps building: a new field or screen made in Base44 reaches the server without a developer ticket.
- No credits in production: people using the app don’t spend Base44 credits. The plan is only for editing.
- No password reset: people sign in with their Entra ID work account, with roles taken from it. Details in the guide to Base44 SSO with Microsoft Entra ID.
- A way back: every sync takes a backup first, and if a change breaks something, the server returns to the previous version.
- Real data stays out of Base44: the editor only ever sees test data.
Tested in the lab on October 6 to 8, 2026: Windows Server 2025, IIS, SQL Server, Node.js and a free Entra ID tenant, with a demo app built in Base44. Changes made in the editor, new fields included, reached the server with a backup first, and rolling back took 12 seconds. Whether it fits your app is confirmed in the Diagnosis.
When the hybrid model is the wrong exit
If what you want to protect is your own code, prompts and logic, the hybrid model doesn’t help: the app is still built in Base44, so those stay there. Go for a one-time migration. The same applies if the app is finished, barely changes and you have a developer to own the code.
If the app leans on Base44’s built-in AI or on outside services wired through the platform, those pieces need a replacement on the server, and the Diagnosis says which. And if your only problem is one slow screen, fix that before leaving anything.
What IT needs to know
- Where data lives: in the hybrid model, production data is in SQL Server on your server, in your backup plan.
- What stays at Base44: the app’s design and test data. Never real data.
- Network: no inbound ports. The server only needs outbound access to the repository when there are changes.
- Sign-in: company accounts through Entra ID, with MFA; someone disabled there loses access.
- Who maintains what: IT owns the server and database; the app and the sync belong to the vendor or your dev team.
- Change control: every change arrives as a commit in your repository, with a backup and a rollback.
If you’re the one who built the app
Leaving Base44 usually means handing your app to someone else. The hybrid model is the one exit where you keep it: you keep changing it in Base44, and IT gets a server they can approve. If your company is pushing to move it, send them this guide. For the full list of what IT usually asks, see the Base44 security review checklist, and for the move itself, running a Base44 app on-premise.
Sources
- Base44: Pricing (Builder plan, code export, two-way GitHub sync). Accessed 10/13/2026.
- Base44: GitHub Integration (two-way sync, Builder plan). Accessed 10/11/2026.
- Base44: Terms of Service update, June 2026 (license for training AI models). Accessed 10/8/2026.
- 13Labs: How to migrate a Base44 app onto infrastructure you actually own (password reset, eject, 5,000 items per request). Published 7/29/2026, accessed 10/14/2026.
- Axonbuild: Migrate off Base44 (public migration prices, checked 8/15/2026). Accessed 10/14/2026.