How do I leave Base44 and take my app and my data with me?
You can leave Base44 with your code, your table structure and your table data, but not in one click and not all of it. The code exports to GitHub or a zip. Table records come out as CSV. Uploaded files, your users' login records, automations and the backend that runs it all stay on Base44 until you rebuild them somewhere else.
That makes leaving a move, not an export. The app you download still calls Base44's servers for every login and every database read, so the real work is giving it a new database, a new login system and new file storage, then pointing the code at them.
Before you decide anything, get a full export now while your plan allows it, and run it once somewhere else. Whether you stay, pay for a higher plan, or move depends on what the terms say about your data and on what your customers are asking you.
In founders’ words
“I'm not looking to rebuild from scratch if I can avoid it. The application is already fairly developed, so I'm trying to understand whether Enterprise, a hybrid approach, or migrating the backend/hosting is the most practical path.”
“I was not aware this had changed and only discovered it later by chance.”
What comes out of a Base44 export
There are three routes. GitHub sync keeps a repository in your own GitHub account in step with the app both ways, and needs the Builder plan or higher. The zip download gives you the same files once. The command-line tool's eject command clones the app into a separate local project with its own app ID; Base44's docs say 'your entity schemas are copied, but not your data'.
All three give you the frontend (a standard React project), the backend function files, and the entity schemas, which are the definitions of your tables. None of them includes the records in those tables, the files your users uploaded, your users' accounts, or your automations and agents.
Records come out separately as CSV. On the Elite and Enterprise plans the Backup & Restore tab lets you download a snapshot of each table; Elite keeps seven days of snapshots and Enterprise thirty. Those backups keep only the addresses of uploaded files, not the files, and app users are not in them. Check what your own plan's Data tab offers before you count on it.
What stays on Base44 after you export
The exported code is wired to Base44. It needs your Base44 app ID and server address to start, and every login, every database read, every email send and every AI call goes through Base44's software development kit to Base44's servers. The backend functions are real files, but they import that kit and query Base44's database.
So after an export you own a copy of the screens and the logic, and Base44 still runs the login, the data, the file storage, the secrets and the permission rules. Each of those needs a replacement before the app runs anywhere else.
Two things to know about timing. A deleted app can be recovered for 30 days and is then gone. And because user accounts do not export, your users will create a new account or reset their password on whatever you move to. Plan to tell them.
What to read and ask before you decide
Base44 updated its terms effective June 21, 2026. Its own summary says the license changed 'to better support our ability to provide our service to you, including by using and training AI models'. Its privacy page says data on non-Enterprise plans may be used for AI training and that on Enterprise plans it is not. Servers are in the United States by default; Enterprise and Elite workspaces can choose EU or UK storage for apps created after April 16, 2026. Base44 names Anthropic, Google and OpenAI as its AI providers and points you to their terms.
We are not lawyers; what those words mean for your business is a question for one. What we can say is what to ask Base44 in writing: Does the license to my content end when I leave? Which plan excludes my content from training, and from what date? Where are my database, files, backups and logs stored? What does each AI call send, to whom, and for how long is it kept? A sales call saying Enterprise covers it will not get through a customer's privacy review.
The order to move in
Move one piece at a time, with the Base44 app still live until the new one has run clean for a while.
- Export everything today: GitHub or zip for the code, CSV for every table, a list of uploaded files, and a copy of the terms you signed up under.
- Try running the exported code on your own machine. An export you have not run is a guess.
- Create the new database in an account you own, recreate the tables from the entity schemas, and import the CSVs.
- Set up a managed login service. Users will register again or reset a password; write the email now.
- Move the uploaded files to your own storage and update the addresses in the data.
- Rewrite the backend functions and the frontend's data calls to use the new database and login instead of the Base44 kit. This is the largest step, and it is where a coding agent earns its keep if someone reviews what it writes.
- Run both apps side by side on a copy of the data, move a few users, then switch the domain.
When staying is the right call
If no customer is asking where their data lives or whether it trains a model, the app works, and you are not putting trade secrets into prompts, an export in hand may be all you need this month. Base44 is doing several jobs for you (hosting, database, login, files, backups on the higher plans), and each one becomes your job the day you leave.
The reasons to move anyway: a pilot customer with a privacy review, a residency requirement the plan cannot meet, terms you are not comfortable with, or a product that has outgrown what the platform lets you change. In that case the export is step one, and the move above is a few weeks of careful work, not a rewrite.
| Part of your app | Comes out? | How, and what to know |
|---|---|---|
| Screens and frontend code | Yes | GitHub sync (Builder plan or higher), zip download, or the eject command |
| Backend function files | Yes, as files | They still import the Base44 kit and call Base44's database |
| Table definitions (entity schemas) | Yes | Included with the code, as JSON Schema |
| Table records | Separately | CSV per table; Backup & Restore tab on Elite and Enterprise |
| Uploaded files and images | No | Backups keep the file addresses only; download the files yourself |
| User accounts and passwords | No | Users register again or reset a password on the new system |
| Automations and agents | No | Rebuild them where you land |
| Secrets and integrations | No | Re-enter keys in the new host's settings |
Questions
Can I export my Base44 app to GitHub?
Yes, on the Builder plan or higher. Base44 keeps the repository in sync with the app in both directions. Once GitHub is connected you can no longer use Version History to go back to versions from before the connection, so export first and connect second.
Does the exported app run without Base44?
Not as exported. It needs a Base44 app ID and server address, and every login and database call goes to Base44. It runs on its own only after you replace the database, the login and the file storage and rewrite the calls that use the Base44 kit.
Does Base44 train AI on my app?
Base44's privacy page says data on non-Enterprise plans may be used for AI training and that Enterprise workspaces are excluded. Read the current terms and that page yourself, ask Base44 to confirm in writing which plan you are on and what that means for content you already uploaded, and ask a lawyer what the wording means for you.
Do my users have to sign up again?
Yes. User accounts and passwords are not part of any export or backup. On the new system they register again or use a reset-password link you send. Keep their email addresses and roles in your table export so you can match them up.
Can I keep the Base44 frontend and move only the data?
Partly. The frontend talks to Base44 through its kit, so every data call has to be rewritten to talk to the new database. You can do that in stages, one table at a time, with both running, which is often the safest route for an app that already has users.
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