Base44 vs Tempo
Pricing
Base44: Free tier (5 messages/day), Pro from $25/mo
Tempo: Free tier, Pro from $20/mo
Description
Base44: Chat-based AI app builder that generates business apps with databases and auth (now owned by Wix)
Tempo: AI React app builder with a visual editor: import Figma designs or describe what you want
Pros
- Generates complete working apps from natural language descriptions
- Built-in database, auth, hosting, and 20+ integrations (Stripe, Google APIs, etc.)
- No deployment step: apps are live immediately
- Visual drag-and-drop editing alongside AI generation
- Import Figma designs and turn them into working React components
- Outputs clean React + Tailwind code you can take with you
Cons
- Free tier is extremely limited (5 messages/day, 25/month)
- Acquired by Wix in 2025. Product direction may shift toward Wix's ecosystem
- Less control over code and architecture than hand-built solutions
- React-only: if you use Vue, Svelte, or anything else, this is not for you
- Visual editor hits limits fast when building complex application logic
- Newer tool with a smaller community and fewer resources
Details
Base44 takes a different approach from most AI app builders: instead of writing code you can see, it generates complete applications through a chat interface. Describe what you need (“build me a task management app with user auth and Stripe billing”), and it creates the database, UI, backend logic, and authentication. Apps are live immediately with built-in hosting.
Wix acquired Base44 in 2025 for around $80 million, so expect the product to evolve toward the Wix ecosystem over time. The free tier is tight (5 messages per day), but enough to test whether the approach works for your use case. Best for internal tools, simple SaaS MVPs, and founders who want something working today rather than something architecturally perfect.
Tempo sits between a design tool and a code generator. You can import Figma designs, use AI prompts, or visually edit components with drag-and-drop, then export clean React and Tailwind code. It is the visual approach to AI-assisted coding.
If you think in terms of visual layouts rather than code, Tempo might click better than text-prompt tools like v0. The Figma import is particularly useful if you already have designs. The limitation is that it only outputs React, and the visual editor works better for UI than for business logic. Think of it as a UI building tool, not a full app builder.
Verified
