Base44 migration
Base44 migration: the export is only half your app
The frontend exports. Your database, logins and files don't.
Base44's export gives you the frontend code only. The screens come with you. The database, the login system and your users' files stay on Base44's servers. You get a fixed price and a fixed date in writing before any work starts, and your app keeps running on Base44 until the new one passes your own tests.
The assessment is free. Nothing changes on your app until you say so.
What the export actually gives you
Think of your app as a restaurant. Base44's export hands you the dining room — tables, menus, decor. The kitchen stays behind.
The screens your users see and click. This is real code, and the export includes it.
Every record your app has ever saved — customers, orders, content. It lives on Base44's servers and is not in the export.
The system that knows who your users are and lets them in. It has to be rebuilt on infrastructure you own.
Anything your users uploaded — photos, documents, attachments. Stored by Base44, not exported.
None of this means you're trapped. It means the migration is a rebuild-and-move job, not a copy-paste job. That's exactly the work I do.
Why do founders move off Base44?
Base44 is a fast way to build. These are the four walls people hit after the build.
Platform pricing moves, and you have no counter-move — leaving looks impossible, so you pay. Owning your own infrastructure ends that conversation.
More users, more data, and things slow down or break. You can't tune a backend you can't touch.
A connection your app depends on stops being supported, and there's nothing you can do from your side of the platform.
Due diligence asks where the code, data and infrastructure live. "A subscription" is not the answer they want to hear.
What a migration actually involves
Six stages, in order. Your app on Base44 keeps running through all of them.
I've done this move for real client apps. The work is covered by NDAs, which is also the deal you'd get.
Where your app can live
Three good answers. The assessment tells you which one is yours.
Amazon's cloud. The default for most apps: you pay for what you use, it grows with you, and any engineer you hire later will know it.
Google's cloud. Same idea as AWS — often the better fit if you already run on Google Workspace or want Google's data tools nearby.
A machine that's entirely yours, at a fixed monthly cost. Predictable and simple, and a good fit when your load is steady.
Not sure which? That's part of the assessment. I recommend one and tell you why in plain words.
What it costs
My engagements run USD 5,000 to 25,000 a month, depending on the complexity of the work and the length of the contract. A migration is usually scoped as a project: after the free assessment you get a written quote with a fixed price and timeline. Hourly, weekly and monthly retainer models are also available if one of those fits better.
The floor is here rather than behind a form so you can rule me out in ten seconds if it doesn't fit. If USD 5,000 is out of range right now, keep building on Base44 — it's a fine tool until you outgrow it.
Book a migration assessment →The operational questions, answered
The things people check before hiring a consultant overseas.
More on rates, engagement models and how I work day to day: work with me.
Questions founders ask about leaving Base44
No. The new version is built alongside the old one, and the switch happens once, at the end, after the new app passes your acceptance test. Until then, nothing changes for your users.
Your data is copied to the new database and checked against the original. Nothing is deleted from Base44 during the migration, and your Base44 account stays untouched until you choose to close it.
Yes. Changes you make get carried across. We agree a short freeze just before the switch, so the two versions match on cutover day.
They get rebuilt to talk to the real services directly instead of going through Base44. After that, no platform can switch them off from under you again.
You can host the frontend anywhere. But without a database, logins or file storage behind it, it's a shopfront with nothing inside. If you have an engineer who can build a backend, they can do this work. If you don't, that's the job you'd hire me for.
Yes, after the NDA is signed — I need to see how the app is built and how the data is structured. The account stays yours throughout, and you change the password the day we're done.
Book a migration assessment
30 minutes on a call. You'll leave knowing whether the move is worth making now.
If migrating isn't worth it for your app yet, I'll say so on the call.