Where to Host Your App After Base44

Once you migrate off Base44, your app can run anywhere. That freedom is the point, but it also means you have to choose. This guide compares the four setups we deploy most often, with honest trade-offs for each.

Most Base44 apps after migration have the same shape: a React frontend (static files), a Node.js API, a PostgreSQL database, file storage and some background jobs. Every option below can run that.

Option 1: AWS EC2 with Ubuntu, Nginx and Certbot

Best for: most small-to-medium apps that want full control at a low, predictable cost.

A single EC2 instance running Ubuntu LTS hosts everything:

• Nginx serves the built frontend and reverse-proxies /api to your Node process
• Certbot issues free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates and renews them automatically
• systemd or PM2 keeps the API running
• PostgreSQL runs on the same box, or on Amazon RDS for managed backups
• Uploaded files go to Amazon S3

Pros: full control, predictable monthly cost, easy to reason about, AWS compliance programs available, and room to grow into load balancers and autoscaling later.

Cons: you own OS patching, monitoring and backups (or pay someone to). One server is one point of failure unless you add redundancy.

This is the setup X & Company deploys most often, and it’s the architecture this site runs on.

Option 2: A VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Linode)

Best for: cost-sensitive apps and teams who want simplicity.

The architecture is the same as EC2 (Ubuntu, Nginx, Certbot, Postgres), on a provider with simpler pricing and a simpler dashboard. Many offer managed databases and object storage too.

Pros: very affordable, simple billing, and great performance for the price.

Cons: a smaller ecosystem than AWS, fewer compliance certifications depending on the provider, and the same operational responsibilities as EC2.

Option 3: Managed platforms (Vercel or Netlify, plus a managed database)

Best for: teams who want to avoid servers entirely and are fine with usage-based pricing.

The frontend and serverless API run on Vercel or Netlify. The database is a managed Postgres such as Neon, Supabase or RDS, and files go to S3 or the platform’s storage.

Pros: no servers to patch, preview deployments for every branch, and a very quick setup.

Cons: usage-based pricing again (less opaque than credits, but still variable), serverless limits on execution time, and more vendors to manage. Some teams feel they’ve swapped one platform for another, so go in with eyes open.

Option 4: On-premises or private cloud

Best for: regulated industries and enterprise customers with strict data-residency or air-gap requirements.

Your app runs in Docker containers on hardware or a private cloud you control, often behind your corporate network and SSO.

Pros: maximum control and the easiest compliance story for strict requirements.

Cons: the highest operational burden. You need people who can run infrastructure.

Side-by-side

	AWS EC2	VPS	Managed platform	On-prem
Control	High	High	Medium	Highest
Monthly cost	Low–medium, predictable	Lowest	Variable with usage	Hardware + staff
Ops effort	Medium	Medium	Low	High
Compliance options	Broad	Varies	Varies	Fully yours
Scales to	Very large	Medium–large	Very large	Your capacity

What every option needs

Whichever you pick, a production app needs:

1. HTTPS everywhere. Certbot makes this free on your own server.
2. Automated backups, plus a restore you’ve actually tested.
3. Monitoring, meaning uptime checks and error tracking at a minimum.
4. A deploy pipeline, so shipping doesn’t depend on one person’s laptop.
5. Security basics: a firewall, restricted SSH, OS updates and secrets kept out of the repository.
6. A runbook explaining how to deploy, roll back and restore.

Our recommendation

For most teams leaving Base44, start with Option 1: one well-configured EC2 instance (or VPS) with Nginx, Certbot SSL, managed Postgres and S3. It’s inexpensive, portable and easy to hand to any developer. You can scale out later without redoing the migration.

If you’d like it set up properly the first time, X & Company handles Base44 migrations through to a hardened production deployment, with the runbooks included.

Next: how to export your Base44 data safely.