Base44 Tutorial for Beginners: How We Built 3 Apps, Step by Step

By the PrototypeVerdict Test Team · Built and tested: Oct 29, 2026 · Prices checked: Oct 29, 2026

This is exactly how we built three working apps in Base44 on the Builder plan on Oct 29, 2026: a client intake portal, an invoice tracker and a landing page. For each one you get the idea, the written spec we pasted as the prompt, what Base44 produced, every follow-up message we have on record, how we tested it, and the time and credits it took. Where our log has no record of something, we say so.

Only want the client portal? Our client portal guide compares the same build across four tools. This page follows one tool, Base44, from idea to finished app.

At a glance

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Step 1: Start with the idea and write it as a spec

Each app started as a one-line idea that a small accounting firm or freelancer might actually need:

1. A client intake portal for an accounting firm, so clients can send their details and documents in one place.
2. An invoice tracker for a freelancer that knows what’s paid, what’s owed and what’s late.
3. A one-page landing page for a made-up bookkeeping service called LedgerLight, with a contact form that saves leads.

Before opening the tool, we turned each idea into a written spec: who uses the app, every field, every status and every screen, plus “works on mobile”. That spec is the prompt. We paste exactly the same text into every AI app builder we test, so the prompts below are word for word what we sent. You can copy all three from our prompt library.

Our rules for the test: one first prompt per app, then only fix messages if something is broken, with at most five fixes per app. We logged the time to first preview, the time to a fully working app, the credits used and the messages we sent.

First time using an AI app builder? Start with what vibe coding is and how a first build goes, then see what worked in our three prompts, line by line.

Step 2: Pick a plan and start a new app

We bought Base44 Builder ($50/month billed monthly). Base44’s pricing page and docs put code export (Step 7) on Builder and higher. We didn’t build on any other plan.

Account sign-up and the new-app screen: Not logged. We started each app fresh and pasted the prompt into Base44’s chat. Any setup questions Base44 asked before building: Not logged.

Step 3: Build the client intake portal

3a. Paste the prompt

Build a client intake portal for a small accounting firm. Clients can sign up and log in with email and password. After logging in, a client fills out an intake form (full name, business name, entity type dropdown: Sole proprietor / LLC / S corp / C corp / Partnership, tax year, a notes field) and uploads up to 3 documents (PDF or image). Clients can see their own past submissions and their status. A separate admin view lists all submissions in a table with a status dropdown (New, In review, Complete) that the admin can change. Clean, professional design that works on mobile.

3b. What Base44 produced

A first preview appeared in about 1.4 minutes, and the whole app worked at about 4.5 minutes, with no fix messages. The data went into Base44’s built-in database and uploaded files into private file storage. Base44 invented an accounting firm name, “Marlowe & Finch”, and the app was named “TaxPortal”.

3c. Test it

Base44’s preview runs as the app owner, who already has the admin role, so there was no first-admin problem to fix. We checked every feature:

• Intake form with the entity-type dropdown: passed.
• PNG upload, saved to private file storage: passed.
• “My Submissions” list: passed.
• Admin table, and a status change from New to In review still there after a refresh: passed.
• Mobile layout in Base44’s phone preview (about 373px wide): no problems logged.
• The “up to 3 documents” limit: Not tested.

The access check. Base44’s “Act as a user” option only offered the owner and an anonymous guest, and the guest was sent to the login page from /admin. To test a real client we signed up through the app itself. Base44 rejected a disposable email address (“Disposable email detected”) and emailed a 6-digit code, so use a real inbox you control. Signed in as that client: no Admin link, /admin showed “Firm staff only”, and My Submissions showed only that client’s own intake. Passed.

One setting to check: new Base44 apps defaulted to “Public” visibility. Look at the app’s visibility before you share the link.

Time and credits: about 1.4 minutes to first preview and 4.5 to fully working. About 1.65 message credits.

Step 4: Build the invoice tracker

4a. Paste the prompt

Build an invoice tracker for a freelancer. I can add clients (name, email) and create invoices with an invoice number, client, issue date, due date, line items (description, quantity, rate), and an automatic total. Each invoice has a status: Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue (Overdue is automatic when the due date has passed and it isn't paid). A dashboard shows total outstanding, total paid this month, and a list of overdue invoices. Data must be saved so it's still there after a page refresh. Works on mobile.

4b. What Base44 produced, and the one extra message

A first preview with sample data appeared in about 2.5 minutes. Then the build slowed down: partway through, Base44 paused at a “processing checkpoint” and asked us to approve deleting a test record it had created itself. We sent one word:

continue

Extra message 1 of 1. This wasn’t a bug fix, and our log marks it as redundant, so we can’t say it was what got the build moving again. The build did finish after it.

It was fully working at about 12.5 minutes. The app was named “FreelanceFlow” (its own header, in the screenshot below, says “Margin”), and the invoices and clients were stored in real database tables (Client and Invoice, visible under Dashboard, then Data).

4c. Test it

• Two clients, and invoices with line items and automatic totals ($450 and $740): passed.
• Marking an invoice Paid: passed.
• Automatic Overdue: passed, with a quirk. Base44 only marks invoices Overdue when their status is Sent, so a Draft past its due date stays Draft.
• Dashboard: $740 outstanding, $450 paid this month and 1 overdue, matching our test data: passed.
• Data still there after a refresh: passed.

Time and credits: about 2.5 minutes to first preview and 12.5 to fully working. About 5.45 message credits, the most of the three apps.

Step 5: Build the landing page

5a. Paste the prompt

Build a one-page marketing landing page for a fictional bookkeeping service called "LedgerLight" for small businesses. Include a hero with headline and call-to-action button, three feature blocks, a three-tier pricing table ($49, $99, $199 per month), three testimonials clearly labeled as sample placeholders, an FAQ with five questions, and a contact form that saves submissions. Fast, modern, mobile-friendly.

5b. What Base44 produced, and how we tested it

A first preview in about 4 minutes, working at about 5, with no fix messages.

• Hero with a call-to-action, three feature blocks and $49 / $99 / $199 pricing: passed.
• Three testimonials labeled SAMPLE, and five FAQs: passed.
• Contact form saving to a ContactSubmission database table: passed.

Before you publish anything like this: Base44 used a placeholder contact email (hello@ledgerlight.example), and the hero in our screenshot shows made-up numbers such as “480+ small businesses kept current”. Replace every placeholder and claim with real ones.

Time and credits: about 4 minutes to first preview and 5 to working. About 1.65 message credits.

Step 6: Add a feature: CSV export

Later the same day we asked Base44 to add a CSV export to the invoice tracker. It took 1 message and 1.81 message credits (the total went from 8.75 to 10.56 of 250). The exact wording of that message: Not logged, so we won’t guess at it.

Test: the Export CSV button downloaded both invoices with headers Invoice number, Client, Client email, Issue date, Due date, Status, Total, Paid date and Notes. Passed.

Step 7: Check security, users and your code

• Security: the free “Check Security” scan on the client portal ran 5 checks in about a minute and used no credits. It found 7 dependency vulnerabilities rated High (zod 3.25.76 with 1, vite 8.2.0 with 6) and offered a “Fix all” button. We haven’t tested “Fix all”.

• Users (Dashboard, then App Users): invite users by email or CSV with a role, change a user between admin and user, see pending requests and export the list. There’s no single “disable sign-up” switch, but app visibility (Public, Private or Workspace) and each sign-in method can be changed.
• Your code: the ⋯ menu’s “Export project as ZIP” downloaded 108 files. Base44’s docs say exported code still relies on Base44’s backend, so it isn’t a way to leave Base44. A GitHub connection is offered; we didn’t connect it, and running the export elsewhere is not tested.

How the other builders handled the same portal: logins, admins and databases in Lovable, Bolt and Base44.

Step 8: The final product, and what’s left

After about 22 minutes of building, no bug-fix messages and 10.56 of 250 message credits (including the CSV export), we had three working apps in Base44’s preview, each saving its data in a real database, with a portal that keeps clients apart.

What we haven’t done, so we can’t walk you through it from experience:

• Publishing an app or connecting a custom domain: Not tested.
• The Starter or free plans: Not tested. We built on Builder.
• How fast a real integration (AI features, email) uses integration credits: Not tested.
• The GitHub connection, “Fix all” and the 3-document upload limit: Not tested.

What we’d add to the prompts next time

These lines target what we saw. We haven’t tested them yet:

• “Mark any unpaid invoice past its due date as Overdue, whatever its status.” (For the Sent-only quirk.)
• “Make the app private until I publish it.” (For the Public default.)

For the full results and score, read our Base44 review. Weighing it against Lovable? See Base44 vs Lovable, or the same walkthrough for Lovable. All three prompts are in our prompt library.

Open Base44 →

Sources

• Our test log, Base44 Builder, Oct 29, 2026: prompts, messages, times, credits and checks, plus the follow-up tests and the recheck the same day.
• Our screenshots from the same tests.
• Base44 Builder price and credits as bought on Oct 29, 2026; Base44 docs on code export, as summarized in our Base44 review.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to build an app with Base44?

In our Oct 29, 2026 test on the Builder plan, a client intake portal took about 4.5 minutes to fully work, an invoice tracker about 12.5 and a landing page about 5.

How many Base44 credits does an app use?

Our three apps used about 8.75 of the 250 monthly message credits on Builder: about 1.65 for the portal, 5.45 for the invoice tracker and 1.65 for the landing page. Adding a CSV export later cost 1.81 more.

Do I need to know how to code to use Base44?

Not for these three apps. We pasted one plain-English prompt per app and sent no bug-fix messages. The only extra message was “continue” when Base44 paused for approval.

Can I take my Base44 app’s code elsewhere?

You can download it: our export was a ZIP of 108 files. But Base44’s docs say exported code still relies on Base44’s backend, and we haven’t tested running it elsewhere.

Update history

• October 29, 2026: First published. Our test results are from the Oct 29, 2026 round (Lovable Pro, Base44 Builder, Bolt Free, Softr Basic). Vendor docs and prices checked Oct 29, 2026.