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Framer Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Framer alternatives: Penpot, Carrd, Ghost, WordPress.com and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Website Builders & Landing Pages
Verdict:Leave Framer when the site is simpler than the tool you bought or when you need a platform that suits content more than layout. Framer's free plan is real: it includes a Framer domain, 1GB bandwidth, up to three editors and 500 AI credits to start, and you only pay once you need a custom domain, where Basic is $10 a month. The question is what you need to ship. For a single landing page, Carrd is cheaper, with a Pro Lite plan from $9 a year for three sites, though it is not a multi-page tool. For a blog or newsletter, Ghost is open source and self-hostable, and its Starter plan is $18 a month billed yearly, so you trade layout control for a publishing system. WordPress.com's free plan costs nothing but shows ads and blocks plugins, and its Personal plan is cheaper than Framer once you accept WordPress themes. If you are still designing and not publishing, Figma's Starter plan is free and its Professional plan costs $16 a month per seat, but it stops at the design file. Penpot is free for up to eight members on its Professional plan, and it does not host the site either. The trade-off to check first is custom domains and the number of pages you need on the free plan.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penpot | Free (Professional plan at $0: up to 8 team members plus unlimited viewers, 10GB storage, 7 days of version history); paid from $7 per per editor/month (Unlimited), capped at $175/month; 14-day free trial | Web | Free design files for a team | Docs only |
| Carrd | Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for Pro limits); paid from $9 per year, billed yearly (Pro Lite, 3 sites) | Web browser | One-page sites on a tiny budget | Docs only |
| Ghost | Free (Self-hosted Ghost is open source (source linked from the pricing page); no self-host price shown); paid from $18 per per month, billed yearly (Ghost(Pro) Starter) | Web | Blogs and newsletters | Docs only |
| WordPress.com | Free (Free plan: 1 GB storage, WordPress.com subdomain only, no plugin installation, WordPress.com ads shown); paid from $2.75 per month, billed every 3 years (Personal) | Web | Content sites with a large plugin ecosystem | Docs only |
| Figma | Free (Starter at $0: limited access to Figma products, unlimited drafts, 150 AI credits a day (500 a month)); paid from $16 per per full seat/month (Professional); annual rate not shown in the extracted text | Web, macOS, Windows | Designing before you build the site | Docs only |
| Squarespace | Paid from $19 per month (Basic; the page shows $19 and $25 for it without labelling which is annual billing) | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
| Wix | Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Explore the interface and watch a workflow before choosing.
Good fit if
- You want a single-page site for a launch and the cheapest plan (Carrd is the pick)
- You publish a blog or newsletter and want a self-hostable system (Ghost is the pick)
- You need a free design file shared with the team before the site exists (Penpot is the pick)
- You want a content site with a large theme and plugin ecosystem (WordPress.com is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Framer features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Framer today: Free (Free plan at $0: 500 AI credits to try, 1 GB bandwidth, a free Framer domain, 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, up to three editors; custom domains need a paid plan); paid from $10 per per month, billed monthly or yearly (Basic) (Framer pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Framer alternatives
Framer's Free plan stops at 1 GB of bandwidth and a Framer-hosted domain, so a real site starts at Basic, $10 a month, which allows 30 pages, 1,000 CMS items and 50 GB of bandwidth. Costs then rise in steps: Pro is $30 with 100 GB, extra bandwidth is $40 per 100 GB, each extra locale is $20 a month, and additional editors are $20 each. Basic includes 2 CMS collections, with ten more for $40. A multilingual or content-heavy site can pay far above the headline price.
Penpot
Compared with Framer: Free Professional plan at $0 with up to 8 team members, and open-source code you can self-host. Penpot is a design tool, not a publishing platform, so you give up Framer's hosted site and CMS.
Price: Free (Professional plan at $0: up to 8 team members plus unlimited viewers, 10GB storage, 7 days of version history); paid from $7 per per editor/month (Unlimited), capped at $175/month; 14-day free trial (Penpot pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. MPL-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 61.8k GitHub stars · latest release 2.18.5 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Free design files for a team.
Carrd
Compared with Framer: Free plan exists for simple one-page sites. Pro Lite starts at $9 a year for 3 sites, far cheaper than Framer's Basic at $10 a month, but it handles a single landing page better than a multi-page site.
Price: Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for Pro limits); paid from $9 per year, billed yearly (Pro Lite, 3 sites) (Carrd pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: One-page sites on a tiny budget.
Worth knowing: Pro Standard (10 sites) is $19 per year and adds custom domains and forms. A 7-day Pro trial is available.
Ghost
Compared with Framer: Open-source publishing platform you can self-host, and Ghost(Pro) Starter costs $18 a month billed yearly. Ghost is built for blogs and newsletters, so you lose Framer's visual layout tools.
Price: Free (Self-hosted Ghost is open source (source linked from the pricing page); no self-host price shown); paid from $18 per per month, billed yearly (Ghost(Pro) Starter) (Ghost pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Open source (license not named on ghost.org/pricing) (open source).
Project activity: 55.6k GitHub stars · latest release v6.73.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Blogs and newsletters.
WordPress.com
Compared with Framer: Free plan with 1GB and a WordPress.com subdomain, though it shows ads and blocks plugin installs. Personal costs $2.75 a month billed every three years. You trade Framer's visual editor for WordPress themes.
Price: Free (Free plan: 1 GB storage, WordPress.com subdomain only, no plugin installation, WordPress.com ads shown); paid from $2.75 per month, billed every 3 years (Personal) (WordPress.com pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary hosted service.
Best for: Content sites with a large plugin ecosystem.
Worth knowing: The free plan has no custom domain.
Figma
Compared with Framer: Free Starter plan with unlimited drafts and limited products. Professional costs $16 a month per full seat. Figma designs screens but does not publish or host a live website, so you lose Framer's publish step.
Price: Free (Starter at $0: limited access to Figma products, unlimited drafts, 150 AI credits a day (500 a month)); paid from $16 per per full seat/month (Professional); annual rate not shown in the extracted text (Figma pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, macOS, Windows. Proprietary.
Best for: Designing before you build the site.
Other popular options (paid)
Squarespace
Compared with Framer: Basic is $19 per month billed annually ($25 monthly) with a 14-day trial and no free plan, whereas Framer has a free tier. It suits template-led sites, and you give up Framer's freeform design canvas.
Price: Paid from $19 per month (Basic; the page shows $19 and $25 for it without labelling which is annual billing) (Squarespace pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Wix
Compared with Framer: Wix has a free plan like Framer, and its lowest paid Light plan is listed at $17.77 per month against Framer Basic's $10. You pay more at entry but get a long ladder of plans up to Business Elite at $159.77.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase (Wix pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want a single-page site for a launch and the cheapest plan: Carrd
- You publish a blog or newsletter and want a self-hostable system: Ghost
- You need a free design file shared with the team before the site exists: Penpot
- You want a content site with a large theme and plugin ecosystem: WordPress.com
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Penpot, Carrd, Ghost, WordPress.com, Figma: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Framer. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Framer, Penpot, Carrd, Ghost, WordPress.com, Figma, Squarespace, Wix. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.