Base44 gets you from one sentence to a working app with a login and a database in a few minutes. For a stock list, a small CRM or an orders app, that first hour is hard to beat.
The trouble tends to start a few weeks in. One fix breaks another part, often around login, permissions and who can see which records. Each repair you ask for is another prompt, prompts use message credits, and Base44's own docs say credits "are non-refundable for tool behavior and AI mistakes".
If that sounds familiar, the right next tool depends on why you are leaving. This guide is for business record apps: stock, orders, customers, jobs. For a public website or a consumer app, look elsewhere.
Where to look, by the reason you're leaving
| Why you're leaving | Look at first |
|---|---|
| Every fix breaks something else | Softr, if a no-code builder covers your app |
| An update changed or wiped data | Airtable or Grist, where the data sits in plain tables you can see |
| Staff can see records they shouldn't | Grist, whose access rules work down to rows and columns |
| The app is down whenever their servers are | Grist, self-hosted or on the desktop |
| You like Base44's way of working and want a business-app focus | Glide |
| You want to keep building by prompting, with the code | Lovable or Replit, if you or someone near you can read code |
Before you switch: get your data out
Base44 exports your data one table at a time: open the data view, pick a table and click Export to get a CSV file. Do it for every table. Code export, through GitHub or a ZIP file, needs the Builder plan ($40 a month billed yearly) or higher, and Base44's docs warn that "the exported code still relies on Base44 to run". So treat the code as a reference, and the CSV files as what you actually take with you.
Then write down the rules your app follows as plain examples, such as "When stock of an item drops below 10, it appears on the reorder list" or "A customer more than 30 days late can't get a new order on credit." Those examples are the real specification of your app, and any replacement, built by you, a tool or a developer, needs them.
Softr
Softr puts screens, logins and permissions on top of your data, and has its own database, Softr Databases, on every plan. You build by arranging blocks and settings rather than by prompting, so a change to one page rarely breaks another. It fits client portals and internal tools where different people should see different records.
Price: Free holds 5,000 records across your databases. Basic is $19 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) with 50,000 records and automatic database backups.
Watch for: complex rules, such as stock that moves between two warehouses, take real work to set up with blocks.
Airtable
If your Base44 app is really a few connected tables with forms and views, Airtable may be all you need. The data stays visible as tables, and Interfaces give staff simpler screens on top.
Price: Free for up to 5 editors and 1,000 records per base. Team is $20 per seat a month billed yearly ($24 monthly), with 50,000 records per base.
Watch for: the price is per seat, and it grows with every person who edits. Airtable has belonged to Bending Spoons since 4 September 2026.
Grist
Grist looks like a spreadsheet but stores data as linked tables, with formulas in Python. Its access rules can hide rows and columns by person, which answers the "staff see each other's data" problem directly. Grist is open source under Apache-2.0: you can use the hosted service, run it on your own server, or use Grist Desktop on one computer.
Price: The cloud Free plan holds 5,000 records per document. Pro is $8 per user a month billed yearly, or $10 monthly. Self-hosting the Community edition is free.
Watch for: you build the structure yourself. Grist's AI Assistant can create and change records and help with formulas, but nothing checks a change against your rules before it is kept.
Glide
Glide has made internal business apps for years, and its current product, GlideOS, builds them with an AI agent, much as Base44 does. Recent additions include PDF generation and buttons that start a workflow, such as "Send for approval".
Price: Basic is $25 a month for 100 credits, Plus from $50 and Pro from $125, billed monthly only. The free plan's credits don't renew.
Watch for: it is still an AI builder, so test changes before staff rely on them. Data backups start on Pro, which keeps 24 hours, and the audit log is Enterprise only.
Lovable or Replit
If you like building by prompting and the problem was Base44 itself, Lovable and Replit give you the code and more control over the database. Lovable refuses, by default, database changes that would break a published app, such as dropping or renaming a column, and backs up each project's database daily for about 14 days. Replit can restore a production database to any point in the last 7 days on Core.
Both are still prompt-driven, so the "fix breaks something else" loop can follow you. Note that Lovable's drafts share your live data, and a Lovable restore can't be undone.
Price: Lovable Pro is $25 a month for 100 credits. Replit Core is $20 a month, or $18 billed yearly.
What to check before you move anything
Whichever tool you try, put your real data and your three most common daily tasks through it before staff depend on it. Then ask:
- Can I undo a change, and does undo bring the data back too?
- Who can see which records, and can I test that by logging in as a staff member?
- Can anything write to my records without a person confirming it?
- Can I export every table, not just one view at a time?
- What will it cost with all my staff on it, a year from now?
- What happens to my app when the vendor's servers are down?