# Base44 Website Builder: Domains, SEO and Launch Steps (2026)

> How to build and launch a site on Base44: free base44.app publishing, custom domains from Starter, SEO and GEO tools, analytics, and what it will not do.

_Source: https://professionalstoolkit.com/articles/base44-website-builder — The Professional's Toolkit · updated November 2026_

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Yes, Base44 can build a working website from a plain-language description and publish it on a free base44.app address with hosting and SSL included. The real question is the address. Base44's own help center says search engines treat base44.app subdomains as staging or test sites, so a custom domain is the biggest SEO fix [1]. A custom domain starts on the Starter plan at $16 per month billed annually or $20 per month billed monthly [2]. Checkout starts on the Builder plan at $40 per month billed annually or $50 per month billed monthly. Our read: Base44 suits landing pages, small business sites and portfolios that may later grow into apps. It fits poorly if you need a booking engine, a CRM or split testing.


**$16** — Starter per month billed annually ($20 billed monthly): the lowest Base44 plan that connects a custom domain.



- **~30 min** — Usual time for a connected domain to go live with automatic DNS setup
- **0 credits** — Cost of running Base44's SEO and GEO scan, on every plan
- **2.9% + $0.30** — Base44 Payments fee for most US card sales, according to Base44's product pages (American Express differs; checkout needs Builder or higher)


## From a prompt to a page on base44.app

You can start a site four ways. Describe it in the AI chat; paste a public URL so Start from URL copies its look; upload a mockup; or import a Figma frame, which needs a Full or Dev Figma seat. Start from URL works on every plan, Free included, but copies only the visible design, never backend code, hidden data or integrations. Moving an existing site is a separate route: the migration tool connects to your real WordPress or Shopify account and brings data across, although WordPress custom fields are not imported yet.

Credits decide how fast you can iterate. On Free you get 25 message credits a month, at most 5 a day, and only in your personal workspace. The first build of a site uses about 1 message credit however detailed the prompt, and later changes cost more or less depending on the work and the model. Previewing your pages costs nothing. Discuss mode, where you plan with the AI before it touches anything, runs at about 0.3 credit a message, so it is the cheap place to settle copy and layout. Credits reset monthly and are not refunded when the AI gets a change wrong; the [pricing breakdown](/articles/base44-pricing) covers the full credit rules.

Nothing goes public until you press Publish. Before that, the preview is visible only to you and your collaborators. Once published on Free, the site sits on a base44.app address served through Cloudflare's CDN, and layouts adapt to phones and tablets on their own. Unpublishing takes the site offline but keeps every page, record and setting. **The Free badge is the other giveaway**: public Free sites show an Edit with Base44 badge that also lets anyone copy the app into their own account.


> 💡 **Settle copy in Discuss mode:** Discuss mode costs about 0.3 message credit per message, so plan wording and layout there before asking the AI to build changes.


## Putting the site on your own domain

There are two routes, and both start on Starter. You can buy a domain inside Base44, where registration has run through Wix since September 2026 and DNS and SSL are handled for you. Or you connect a domain you already own: Base44 sets the DNS records at your provider automatically, the site is usually live within 30 minutes, and manual DNS changes can take up to 48 hours. Connecting an outside domain adds no Base44 charge, and the SSL certificate is issued and renewed for you.

A few technical rules trip people up. Base44 serves sites over IPv4 only, so AAAA records must go or the domain may stay pending. Cloudflare's proxy has to stay off, because a proxied record makes newly added pages return 404 errors. Wildcard subdomains are not supported, and the www-to-root redirect cannot be switched off. You do get 301 redirects for single pages or a whole domain, with up to 50 path redirects per app. Check these before you change records.

**The free domain is a yearly-plan perk only.** Yearly Starter plans bought from October 2026, plus yearly Builder, Pro and Elite, include one standard domain for one year of public registration, claimed within 60 days [3]. Premium names are excluded, and private registration or DNSSEC costs extra. After that year the domain renews automatically, billed apart from the plan, and domain fees are non-refundable. You remain the legal owner and can transfer it away after a 60-day lock.

| Plan | What it adds for a website |
|---|---|
| Free | Publishing on base44.app with hosting and SSL, the SEO and GEO scan, analytics for the last 7 days, 3 custom events, badge shown |
| Starter | Custom domain and 301 redirects, badge removal, private visibility, app email sent from your domain, 30-day, 90-day and custom analytics ranges, unlimited custom events |
| Builder | Checkout and subscriptions, connectors, session recordings, code export and GitHub sync |
| Pro | AI Visibility tab showing how AI assistants read and refer to the site |

The domain decision usually settles the billing term too. By our arithmetic, Starter costs $192 a year billed annually against $240 a year billed monthly. Nine months of monthly billing comes to $180 and ten months to $200, so paying monthly saves money only if the site comes down within nine months. Keep it longer and the yearly term costs less and adds the free domain. The yearly fee is charged once up front, and plans are non-refundable under Base44's Terms, although Customer Care may approve a prorated refund, minus processing fees, for a mistaken purchase or special circumstances.

## Search and AI visibility, built in

Base44 sites run in the browser, so for crawlers Base44 serves a prerendered copy of each page with meta tags, structured data and the page text already in the HTML [4]. Those copies refresh in the background after each publish, but only on domains that point straight at Base44. Every app gets a robots.txt file, and a sitemap at /sitemap.xml lists public, indexable pages. A per-page toggle drops a page from the sitemap and adds a noindex tag.

Some of the work stays manual. Base44 does not write a custom meta description for each page by default, so you set them on the SEO and GEO page; titles take up to 60 characters and descriptions up to 160. BreadcrumbList markup is automatic. WebSite, Organization and FAQPage schemas come from the scan's Fix with AI button, while Article or Product markup needs a prompt or code. The llms.txt file for AI crawlers stays off until you turn on AI assistant discovery. One trap: renaming the home page title also renames the public URL. Old links break.

The SEO and GEO scan gives a score and a prioritized fix list without spending credits. A one-click Google Search Console connection verifies the site and submits the sitemap, though it is still rolling out, with manual verification as the fallback. Bing needs its own Webmaster Tools setup. Indexing a new domain can take days to weeks, and Base44 says it cannot guarantee rankings or AI answers. On Pro and up, the AI Visibility tab shows reads by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Meta AI over the last 7 days.


> ⚠ **base44.app is a staging address:** Base44 says search engines treat base44.app subdomains as staging or test sites, so a site meant to rank needs a custom domain (Starter plan or higher).


## Analytics, forms and checkout after launch

Every published site has an analytics dashboard with visits, unique visitors, referrers and pages read. History goes back 60 days on every plan, yet Free shows only the last 7 days; Starter and up add longer ranges and unlimited custom events against three on Free. Session recordings start on Builder. Visitor tracking is on by default, a cookie-banner mode can delay it until a visitor accepts, and consent compliance is your job. For campaign reporting, add Google Analytics by asking the AI chat to place its script in index.html.

Forms are stronger than they look. Contact, quote and sign-up submissions land as records in the site's own database, where you can filter them and export them to CSV, and Base44 can email you the details. What is missing is follow-up: there is no automated email sequence after someone signs up. Mailchimp and Calendly plug in as connectors for mailing lists and booked calls, and connectors start on Builder.

Selling needs Builder or higher. Base44 Payments, powered by Wix, takes cards and wallets once the site is published and you have a registered business and a bank account in a supported country. According to Base44's product pages, Base44 Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 per US card sale, with American Express and other countries priced differently. Your own Stripe account is the alternative and starts in test mode. Google Ads campaigns launch from the dashboard, with ad spend billed separately plus a 15% Base44 service fee. Visitors also draw on your integration credits whenever the site sends email or calls AI; the [Free plan guide](/articles/is-base44-free) explains both credit pools.


> 💡 **Write your own meta descriptions:** Base44 does not set a custom meta description per page by default; add them on the SEO and GEO page, up to 160 characters each.


## What a Base44 site will not handle

Base44's own pages are frank about the gaps. It runs no A/B or multivariate tests and has no traffic splitter. A booking form writes a request to the database; it is not a live booking engine with capacity, waitlists or card capture. The enquiry list is not a CRM with automated follow-up, restaurants still need a POS, and Base44 does not manage your Google Business Profile. Accessibility stays your job too. Base44 says no builder can guarantee ADA or WCAG conformance.

Choose the plan by what the site must do. A brochure site, portfolio or landing page needs Starter for the domain and nothing more. Builder earns its extra $24 per month billed annually over Starter if you sell, need connectors, workflows, backend functions, code export or session recordings. Pro adds $40 per month billed annually over Builder, and for a website its main extra is the AI Visibility tab. That is hard to justify on traffic data alone.

Two longer-term points matter before you commit. Code export to GitHub or a ZIP needs Builder, and the exported code still calls Base44's backend through its SDK, which Base44 does not let you self-host; the [small business guide](/articles/base44-for-small-business) weighs what that means for a company site. Under Base44's Terms, paid accounts are for business or professional use only, so a hobby site belongs on Free.


## FAQ

**Does Base44 support server-side rendering?**

No. Base44's backend guide describes static hosting with a CDN and says server-side rendering is not supported; instead, Base44 serves search and AI crawlers prerendered copies of each page.

**Can I get a business email address on my Base44 domain?**

Yes, through Google Workspace bought inside Base44, as a separate subscription. It needs the Starter plan or higher, a verified custom domain connected to the app, and the workspace owner's account.

**What happens to a domain I bought through Base44 if I drop to Free?**

It stays registered until the end of its one-year cycle and can still be renewed on Free, but connecting it to a site again needs the Starter plan or higher.

**How many domains can one Base44 site use?**

One app can have up to 150 domains and subdomains, and an account up to 350 domains in total; a whole-domain redirect needs at least two verified domains on the same app.


## The bottom line

Base44 is a quick route from a description to a live, indexable site, and its SEO and GEO tooling covers prerendering, sitemaps, llms.txt, a free scan and a Search Console hookup. Treat the free base44.app address as a test stage, not a home. Budget for Starter if the site needs to be found, Builder if it needs to sell, and a separate tool for bookings, CRM follow-up or split tests. Pay yearly once you expect the site to outlive nine months.



## Sources

[1] Base44 docs: Optimizing your app's SEO & GEO — https://docs.base44.com/Performance-and-SEO/checking-your-seo-and-geo (2026-11)
[2] Base44 plans and pricing — https://base44.com/pricing (2026-11)
[3] Base44 docs: Buying a domain with Wix — https://docs.base44.com/Setting-up-your-app/Buying-a-domain-with-Wix (2026-11)
[4] Base44 docs: Getting your app found in search — https://docs.base44.com/Performance-and-SEO/SEO-and-search-visibility (2026-11)
[5] Base44 documentation — https://docs.base44.com/Account-and-billing/Credits
[6] Base44 Terms of Service — https://base44.com/about-us/legal/terms-of-service
[7] Base44 Privacy Policy — https://base44.com/about-us/legal/privacy-policy