A Base44 alternative for people who want to keep the code
Base44 is a well-known AI app-building platform. If you are comparing alternatives to it, there is a good chance the question underneath is about ownership: what exactly do you walk away with, and how hard is it to leave?
That question deserves a precise answer rather than a marketing one, because "you own your code" is a phrase every builder in this category uses and it means quite different things depending on who is saying it.
This page sets out exactly what Siteglade hands over, in what format, on which plan, and where the honest limits are.
What "you own your code" should actually mean
The phrase is doing a lot of work in this market. At minimum it should mean the generated source is written in a mainstream framework, that you can read all of it, that you can get a complete copy out, and that the copy builds and runs somewhere other than the tool that produced it.
Those are four separate claims, and a platform can satisfy some without the others. Code you can read but not export is not portable. Code you can export but which depends on a proprietary runtime is not portable either. It is worth pressing on each one:
- Framework: is the output a mainstream stack, or a platform-specific format?
- Completeness: does the export include configuration, assets and dependencies, or just page files?
- Runtime dependencies: will it build without calling back to the platform?
- Mechanism: is there a real export, or only copy and paste from a viewer?
- Gating: which plan does export sit on, and can you get your code out of a free account?
What Siteglade hands over, concretely
Siteglade generates standard Next.js or Vite React projects. There is no intermediate representation and no proprietary component format — the file you read in the built-in Monaco editor is the file that gets built and deployed.
There are three ways to get it out. GitHub export runs an OAuth flow, creates a repository in your account and pushes the project into it, on Pro and Max. A direct code download produces a temporary link that expires after an hour. And for repository-style access there are signed git clone tokens served by a built-in git server, which sits on the Max tier as a temporary repository access token.
Exported projects are ordinary web projects. You install dependencies, run the dev server, and deploy them wherever you want. Nothing calls home for the site to render.
Where the honest limits are
Two areas deserve care, and we would rather write them down than let you discover them later.
The first is the managed backend. Siteglade Cloud can provision databases, authentication and storage for a generated site on Pro and Max, behind an explicit consent step that is enforced on the server so the agent itself cannot bypass it. If your site uses that, the frontend code is yours and portable, but the backend is a hosted service — moving off it means standing up an equivalent, exactly as it would with any managed backend from any vendor.
The second is generated media. Images and video produced in Media Studio are files in your project and travel with it, but they were generated through third-party models, and the usual sensible caution about generated media in commercial contexts applies here as it does everywhere else.
A site that is purely frontend — the majority of what gets built here — has neither issue. It exports as a plain codebase and that is the end of it.
Ownership beyond the source tree
Code is only one of the things you can be locked into. The domain matters at least as much: Siteglade hands domain purchases to a third-party registrar checkout and is never the merchant of record, so the name is registered to you at a registrar you can log into and transfer from. Domains you already own connect via generated DNS records instead.
Published sites also carry machine-readable AI provenance markup — IPTC DigitalSourceType trainedAlgorithmicMedia in JSON-LD and meta tags — which is there for EU AI Act Article 50(2) transparency and travels with the exported code rather than being injected by a platform layer.
And the boring one: on Free the published site carries a Siteglade badge. Pro and Max remove it. That is the only mark the platform leaves on a deployed site.
When Base44 is honestly the better pick
If what you are building is an internal application whose value is in data modeling, roles and workflows rather than in pages, evaluate tools aimed squarely at that. Siteglade supports app and workflow project types, but a marketing site builder is not the natural home for a permissions matrix.
If you specifically want a fully managed platform — one vendor for the frontend, the database and the auth, with no intention of ever exporting — then export mechanics are not a deciding factor and you should weigh the platform on its own merits.
Choose on the strength of the exit only if you think you might use it. Plenty of people never do, and that is a legitimate choice too.
| Method | How it works | Plan required |
|---|---|---|
| Read in the browser | Monaco editor and file explorer over the live project tree | All plans |
| Code download | Temporary download link that expires after one hour | All plans |
| GitHub export | OAuth flow creates a repo and pushes the project to your account | Pro and Max |
| Git clone access | Signed clone tokens against a built-in git server | Max |
| Deploy elsewhere | Standard Next.js or Vite project, no proprietary runtime | All plans |
Frequently asked questions
Can I export the code on the Free plan?
You can read every file in the built-in editor and use the temporary code download link on Free. GitHub export is a Pro and Max capability, and the temporary repository access token for git clone access sits on Max.
Does the exported project build outside Siteglade?
Yes for a normal frontend site — it is a standard Next.js or Vite React project, so install dependencies and run the usual build. The exception is any part of the site wired to the managed backend, which is a hosted service rather than code you can copy.
What exactly is Siteglade Cloud, and is it required?
It is an optional managed backend providing databases, authentication and storage for a generated site, on Pro and Max. It is never provisioned silently: there is an explicit consent step enforced on the server that the agent has no way around. Plenty of sites never use it.
Who owns a domain bought through Siteglade?
You do. Siteglade shows at-cost pricing through Cloudflare Registrar and then hands the purchase to a third-party registrar checkout, so the registration is in your name and Siteglade is never the merchant of record for it.
How does the GitHub export handle updates after the first push?
The OAuth flow creates the repository and pushes the project source into your account. Once the code is in your repository it is yours to manage with normal git tooling, which is the point of exporting it in the first place.
Is there anything Siteglade keeps that I cannot take?
The build history and chat transcript live in the product, and the managed backend is a hosted service. The site itself — source, assets, configuration — is a plain codebase you can download, push to GitHub or clone.