Best for
Best for non-technical founders who want the fastest path from prompt to a working app.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
AI App Builders Comparison
Base44 vs. Mendix
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for enterprise IT organisations that want AI-generated applications as governed visual models and the freedom to run them on their own cloud or servers.
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Base44 | Mendix |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free tier; paid from $16 / month Prices are the annual-billing rate, monthly billing costs more. Plans are metered in message and integration credits. | lower value Free tier; Standard from $1,090 / month The Standard tier is $1,090 / month for a One App plan and $2,725 / month for Unlimited Apps. Cloud resources are charged on top of the subscription in both cases. Premium is quoted by the vendor. |
| Free trial | Free tier | Free tier with no commitment and no credit card required |
| Commercial use | Yes | Not stated |
| Output | Working app with database, auth and hosting handled automatically | Enterprise web and mobile applications and AI agents, built as visual models executed by the Mendix Runtime |
| API | Not stated | Yes, apps publish REST services with OpenAPI documentation and OData or GraphQL services |
| Hosting | Not stated | Mendix Cloud on AWS, Mendix on Kubernetes, Mendix on Azure, SAP Business Technology Platform, private cloud or on-premise |
| What it generates | Full-stack web apps, plus websites and AI agents, from a chat brief | Enterprise web and mobile applications, AI agents and orchestrated processes. Maia is the agentic AI built into the platform, and Maia Make executes multi-step development autonomously from requirements to working software, generating into visual models rather than raw code |
| Stack and frameworks | React with React Router, Vite, Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui; serverless backend functions on the Deno runtime | An application model built in Studio Pro and executed by the Mendix Runtime, not a generated source tree. Custom logic is added through Java Actions and JavaScript Actions |
| Auth and database | Yes, a managed NoSQL database and built-in user authentication | Apps deployed to Mendix Cloud run on PostgreSQL and cannot be configured to use another database; self-managed deployments support MySQL and MariaDB, Oracle, SAP HANA and SQL Server |
| Hosting and deploy | Yes, built-in hosting; publishes to a Base44 address or a connected custom domain | Mendix Cloud on AWS in multiple regions, with at least an acceptance and a production environment per licensed node and daily backups kept up to a year depending on the plan. Also Mendix on Kubernetes, Mendix on Azure, SAP BTP, private cloud and on-premise. Free apps sleep after roughly an hour of inactivity, run a single instance and get 0.5 GiB of database storage |
| Payments | Yes, Stripe set up from the AI chat: cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and multiple currencies | No payment handling in the platform itself. A provider is added from the Marketplace, where Mendix publishes a Stripe Checkout Connector and partners publish further Stripe and Adyen integrations |
| Access to the code | Yes, editable in the Code tab, two-way GitHub sync, and a CLI eject into a standalone local project | The artefact is a visual application model rather than a repository of hand-written source; custom Java and JavaScript enter as Java Actions and JavaScript Actions |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Community forum | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Live online demos and webinars, On-site training |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Enterprise |
| Integrations | more entries Stripe, Google Calendar, Gmail, Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, GitHub | AWS, SAP, Siemens Teamcenter, Stripe |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Base44 Free tier; paid from $16 / month Mendix Free tier; Standard from $1,090 / month
- Free trial Base44 Free tier Mendix Free tier with no commitment and no credit card required
- Deployment Base44 Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Mendix Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Company size Base44 Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Mendix Enterprise
- Support Base44 Email helpdesk, Community forum Mendix Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Base44
Strengths
- Zero configuration, database, auth and hosting are handled
- Fastest path for non-technical founders
- Generates real code, with two-way GitHub sync and a CLI eject
- Stripe payments wired up from the chat
Limitations
- Less control and flexibility than code-first tools
- GitHub sync is permanent, a project cannot be transferred back to Base44
- An ejected project carries the entity schemas but starts with an empty database
- Now part of the Wix ecosystem
- Newer platform
Mendix
Strengths
- Free tier with unlimited users and one environment per app, no credit card and no commitment
- Runs on public cloud, private cloud, Kubernetes or on-premise, unlike most tools in this category
- Bring your own LLM, whether frontier, open-source or private, and connect existing data without migrating it
- Apps publish REST with OpenAPI documentation as well as OData and GraphQL services
- Backed by Siemens and named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for enterprise low-code nine years running
Limitations
- The step from the free tier to Standard is $1,090 / month, with no small paid plan in between
- Cloud resources are billed on top of the subscription, so the listed price is not the total
- Standard support runs 9 AM to 5 PM with a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee; 24/7 support, high availability and multi-region failover need the quoted Premium tier
- Free apps sleep after about an hour of inactivity and are capped at 0.5 GiB of database storage
- Apps deployed to Mendix Cloud are locked to PostgreSQL
Plans
Pricing
Base44
- Free $0 25 message credits and 100 integration credits per month, up to 5 apps.
- Starter $16 / month Billed annually. 100 message credits and 2,000 integration credits per month, unlimited apps, in-app code edits, custom domain, GitHub integration.
- Builder $40 / month Billed annually. 250 message credits and 10,000 integration credits per month, AI model selection, one year of a free domain.
- Pro $80 / month Billed annually. 500 message credits and 20,000 integration credits per month, premium support.
- Elite $160 / month Billed annually. 1,200 message credits and 50,000 integration credits per month.
Mendix
- Free $0 No hidden fees, no commitment, no credit card. Full platform access for exploration, prototypes and small applications, unlimited users, one deployment environment per app.
- Standard, One App $1,090 Per month, starting price, cloud resources extra. Agile project management, collaborative multi-user development, up to 3 environments per app, operations dashboard, identity provider integration, vertical scalability, support 9 AM to 5 PM and a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee.
- Standard, Unlimited Apps $2,725 Per month, starting price, cloud resources extra. The same platform capabilities as the One App plan; the difference is scope, not features.
- Premium Custom Quoted by the vendor, cloud resources extra. Adds a private marketplace, flexible environments, horizontal scalability, high availability and fallback, multi-region failover, 24/7 premium support and a 99.95 percent uptime guarantee.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Base44
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Mendix
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Base44 https://base44.com · no check date recorded yet
Mendix https://www.mendix.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-06
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.