Base44 vs Lovable: Which Vibe Coding Platform Is Better?

While both Base44 and Lovable are great entry-level vibe coding platforms, Base44 slightly edges Lovable in a competition between the two.

Both platforms are equally feature-rich. However, Base44’s all-in-one approach, connecting both the backend and frontend, makes it easier to use. Plus, Base44 is better value for money than Lovable, with a cheaper entry-level paid plan and a better distribution system of monthly credits on the free plan.

Of course, we’d all love to design a website or an app ourselves, and there are now plenty of vibe coding tools out there to help you do just that. Lovable and Base44 are two major players in the field right now, and below, I break down everything you need to know if you’re stuck deciding between the two.

In this guide:

• Is Base44 or Lovable Better Value for Money?
• Who Should Use Base44 and Lovable?
• Getting Started With Base44 vs Lovable
• Is Base44 or Lovable Easier to Use?
• What to Look for in a Vibe Coding App
• How Do Base44 and Lovable Compare With the Competition?
• Verdict: Which Is Better, Base44 or Lovable?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who Should Use Base44 and Lovable?

For users new to vibe coding, I’d lean more towards Base44. I found it the easier platform to use, and its integrated functionality means you can easily access any additional tools you might need straight from the platform.

Lovable is for more advanced users, but only slightly. I’d recommend it for semi-beginners that want to make use of more features. I found Lovable easy to use, like Base44, however additional features for more advanced users make it better for beginners that want to scale their website in the future.

Lovable is best for…

• Users that have a basic understanding of coding
• Businesses who need more flexibility with other systems
• People that want to grow their app in the future

Base44 is best for…

• Users with no coding experience
• Businesses that need to build an app fast
• Frequent Wix users

How Much Do Base44 and Lovable Cost?

The starting price for Base44 is $20 per month, while the starting price for Lovable is $21 per month. Additionally, you get approximately the same number of credits to get started, with 25 credits with Base44 and 30 credits with Lovable.

The platforms are around the same price as competitors such as Bolt.new ($18 per month), with Base44 being slightly cheaper. More advanced tools such as FlutterFlow are more expensive ($29.25 per month), making both Lovable and Base44’s pricing favorable for a simple setup.

How much do Base44 plans cost?

Base44 offers four different pricing plans, with set credit and integration limits on each plan that you cannot change. Here’s how much they cost:

Message credits are the total number of AI message and integration actions you can use each month. Each request costs 1 credit.

Integration credits are for the users of your app to access Base44’s integrations, such as LLMs and image generation. East request costs 1 credit.

How much do Lovable plans cost?

Lovable offers three different pricing plans, each with flexible price points depending on how long your contract is and how many credits you want. The prices listed below are for users that want 100 credits.

With Lovable, you can choose how many monthly credits you get on your plan, and the platform’s price will change accordingly. Unlike Base44, Lovable charges credits based on the complexity of the task you give to the AI. 

For example, changing the color of a button only costs 0.50 credits, whereas building a whole landing page costs 1.70 credits.

Do Base44 and Lovable have free plans?

Yes, both Base44 and Lovable offer free plans with no time limit, so you can generate apps at no cost forever.

However, these plans are fairly limited when it comes to general functionality. For example, the Base44 free plan does not generate editable code, and the Lovable free plan doesn’t have custom branding capabilities.

On top of that, the free plans with Lovable and Base44 have strict usage limits. With the Lovable free plan, you only get 5 credits per day, with a total limit of 30 credits per month. For Base44, you get 25 message credits per month and 100 integration credits per month with the free plan.

Getting Started With Base44 vs Lovable

Base44 and Lovable were both easy to use, but there were some key differences during important steps of the app generating process that made them stand out.

• Setting up – Both Lovable and Base44 had a quick set up process, allowing us to create a functioning app in under five minutes.
• Prompting – Base44 allowed us to choose which AI model we wanted to prompt, which Lovable did not provide. Base44 also has an integrated backed and database, while Lovable provided us with a separate database through Supabase.
• Designing – Base44 provided ready-made templates with different themes for different apps, while Lovable offered more general use templates.
• Fixing errors – Both Base44 and Lovable made it easy to fix errors with natural language prompts.
• Deployment – Both Base44 and Lovable provide a simple button to get your app live on the web instantaneously and you can edit your app anytime after its launched.
• Hosting – Base44 is fully built-in and managed by Wix, while Lovable hosting is built in just for the initial stage site, but for larger apps, you’ll want to integrate with a third party service like GitHub, which incurs its own hosting costs.
• Code ownership – Lovable allows you to completely own your code, while Base44 only licenses it to you. This means you won’t be able to download your source code for other projects with Base44.

Base44 allows you to access analytics immediately after generating your app. Source: Tech.co testing

Is Base44 or Lovable Easier to Use?

Overall, Base44 the easier platform to use. While Base44 and Lovable are designed with beginners in mind and require very little coding experience, it was Base44’s integrated functionality that made it the easiest to use out of the two.

While Lovable’s external connection to Supabase is great for more advanced users, it may not be as beginner-friendly as Base44’s setup.

For example, I wanted to integrate an LLM into my app for my customers to talk to if they had any questions/queries. Base44 had this functionality built in, but, with Lovable, I had to investigate how I would connect an LLM to my app externally.

We created a simple flashlight app using Lovable. Source: Tech.co Testing

However, based on the other AI app builders I’ve tested, Lovable and Base44 were probably two of the easiest to use overall. Neither of them have a convoluted interface with plenty of options, like FlutterFlow, and their simple, intuitive designs meant I could find everything I needed, such as the option to view my app in both mobile and desktop formats. 

Base44 and Lovable are both browser-based, meaning you can access them by going on to each website, and both begin by simply taking in your prompt. While you do have the option to use code on both Lovable and Base44, you can definitely get by on both without it.

Ultimately, Base44 clinches this round because of the way it’s set up, but there isn’t much separating these two platforms when it comes to ease of use. If you want a more detailed look at what Base44 is like to use, check out our Base44 review.

What to Look for in a Vibe Coding App

Understanding the pros and cons of vibe coding platforms is one thing, but it’s also important to know exactly what should go into the decision. That’s why we’ve provided a few helpful tips on what you should consider before picking your platform.

• Coding proficiency: Some platforms truly require no coding knowledge whatsoever, while others operate as assistants to improve your coding, so you’ll want to decide which is a better fit for your business.
• Business size: Scalability is built into some platforms, while others are geared exclusively towards smaller businesses in both price and functionality. Make sure to consider where you are now and where you want to end up.
• Budget: Despite most of them having a free plan and a $20-$30 starting plan, the price of vibe coding platforms varies substantially due to the different credit/token allotments for each.
• Device storage: Some platforms are browser-based, but others require you to download an app. This can be demanding on the performance and storage of your device, although it does often provide better results.
• Integrations: Various third-party integrations are available with different vibe coding platforms, so make sure your systems work with the particular option you’re looking for.

More importantly, you should make sure that vibe coding is what you’re looking for in the first place. There is a wide range of different AI tools for different purposes.

How Do Base44 and Lovable Compare With the Competition?

Base44 and Lovable are browser-based solutions designed for beginners and for those with no experience coding. While they are some of the most popular and highly-rated options, there are still plenty of other choices out there.

If you can already code and are looking for a platform that can handle more advanced actions, then Cursor is a great option. Unlike Base44 and Lovable, Cursor is app-based and downloadable for free on your desktop. Cursor will integrate itself into existing coding applications and offer assistance, such as line-by-line improvements.

Cursor has an advanced set of settings, making it more capable of handling complex tasks compared to Base44 and Lovable. Source: Tech.co testing

Bolt.new is another great option, if you want a slight step up from the likes of Lovable and Base44, but don’t want to go as far as Cursor.

The platform provides full-stack app generation, integrations with GitHub, and the option to use Claude Code, the AI coding tool. Better yet, prices start at only $18 per month, which is cheaper than both Base44 and Lovable.

You’ll be able to closely edit your app or website with Bolt.new through direct interaction with code. Source: Tech.co testing

There are a lot of Base44 and Lovable alternatives out there, and we’ve done in-depth research on a lot of them. Check out the comparison table below to see how they match up on price, features, and more.

How We Evaluate Vibe Coding Platforms

At Tech.co, research is an integral part of the reviewing and ranking process for business software. After all, how you can trust our judgement when it comes to platform recommendations if we aren’t making a comprehensive effort to evaluate them in a real way?

Below, we’ve outlined the criteria by which we evaluate vibe coding platforms like Base44 and Lovable.

• Full-stack capabilities: Full-stack describes a platform’s ability to generate and customize apps on the frontend and backend. Not all platforms can do both, which is why we took this into consideration when evaluating vibe coding options.
• Customization: Platforms have varying levels of customizability, allowing you to change how apps look with specific tools, like drag-and-drop editors, so you can understand what kind of control you have over your generated apps.
• Integrations: Vibe coding platforms, like most business software, can integrate with other services, like GitHub, Stripe, and Slack, so we make sure to evaluate how extensive these kinds of integrations are for each platform.
• Ease of use: Vibe coding platforms can get confusing fast, which is why we analyzed how easy it is to actually use the platform and navigate its features.
• Coding importance: Some of the options reviewed are true no-code platforms, while others are very code-heavy, which is why we look at this metric to understand exactly how technical you need to be to use it.

To learn more about how Tech.co investigates business software like vibe coding platforms, make sure to check out our research and analysis guide to get a peek at our process.

Frequently Asked Questions