Wix Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Wix alternatives: WordPress.com, Framer, Carrd, Ghost and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Website Builders & Landing Pages
Verdict:Wix's pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 with no credit card, and paid plans on yearly billing: Light at $17.77 a month, Core at $29.77, Business at $39.77 and Business Elite at $159.77, in USD for reference. The common frustration is that a custom domain, removal of ads and any online sales all require a paid plan, and you cannot export the site as code, so moving later means rebuilding. Of the alternatives, WordPress.com costs less for a simple site on a longer term, though its free plan has ads and no plugins. Framer is the pick if design quality matters more than built-in store tools. Carrd works for a landing page or portfolio at a fraction of the cost. Ghost is better for a writing business with newsletters. For technical users, Hugo with Netlify's free plan gives a site with no subscription, as long as you are happy editing files. The trade-off is the all-in-one convenience: Wix bundles hosting, templates, bookings, store and email in one place, and each alternative replaces only some of that. Stay on Wix if you rely on its apps and are happy with the bill. Leave if you want ownership of the code or a lower cost for a simple site, and copy your text and images out before cancelling. We did not test migrations from Wix.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Blogs and content sites at lower cost | Docs only |
| Framer | 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) | Web | Designers building polished marketing sites | 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 | Simple landing pages and portfolios | 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 | Publishers and newsletter writers | Docs only |
| Hugo | Free (Free: open-source under Apache-2.0; no paid plan on the license page) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Developers comfortable with code | Docs only |
| Netlify | Free (Free plan: 300 credits per month); paid from $9 per month (Personal, 1,000 credits) | Web | Developers hosting a static 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 |
| Shopify | Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Basic; $39 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | E-commerce / POS | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want a simple blog at lower cost (WordPress.com is the pick)
- You care about design quality (Framer is the pick)
- You only need a landing page (Carrd is the pick)
- You can code and want no subscription (Hugo is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Wix features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Wix today: 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).
Why people look for Wix alternatives
Wix's Light plan is $17.77 a month with 2 GB of storage and 2 collaborators; accepting payments and eCommerce start at Core ($29.77, 50 GB), and unlimited storage plus the advanced developer platform at Business Elite ($159.77). Displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions paid in full at purchase, so the first bill is a whole year, and the money-back window is 14 days. The free domain voucher is not included when renewing or upgrading.
WordPress.com
Compared with Wix: Free plan with 1 GB storage on a WordPress.com subdomain, with ads. Wix also has a $0 plan, but WordPress.com paid plans start at $2.75 a month on a 3-year term, against Wix Light at $17.77 a month.
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: Blogs and content sites at lower cost.
Worth knowing: The free plan has no custom domain.
Framer
Compared with Wix: Free plan at $0 with 1,000 pages and up to three editors; custom domains need a plan from $10 a month. Stronger design and animation than Wix, with fewer built-in business apps.
Price: 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).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Designers building polished marketing sites.
Carrd
Compared with Wix: Free plan, with paid Pro from $9 a year. It only builds one-page sites, so you lose Wix's multi-page structure and store features, but it's far cheaper.
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: Simple landing pages and portfolios.
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 Wix: Open-source publishing platform; hosted Starter is $18 a month billed yearly. A blog and newsletter focus, no drag-and-drop store like Wix, but you can self-host.
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: Publishers and newsletter writers.
Hugo
Compared with Wix: Apache-2.0 static site generator, free to use. You lose Wix's visual editor and must work with files and a terminal, but there is no subscription and no lock-in.
Price: Free (Free: open-source under Apache-2.0; no paid plan on the license page) (Hugo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 90.3k GitHub stars · latest release v0.169.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers comfortable with code.
Netlify
Compared with Wix: Free plan with 300 credits a month for static sites. It's a host, not a builder, so you need your own site files, but there is no monthly fee at low traffic.
Price: Free (Free plan: 300 credits per month); paid from $9 per month (Personal, 1,000 credits) (Netlify pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Developers hosting a static site.
Worth knowing: Bandwidth is charged at 20 credits per GB.
Other popular options (paid)
Squarespace
Compared with Wix: Basic starts at $19 a month and there is a 14-day trial but no free plan, against Wix's free tier. Online store sales carry a 2% fee on Basic; Core at $29 drops it to 0%.
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).
Shopify
Compared with Wix: Basic is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly), with online card rates of 2.9% + 30 cents. Built around selling; the trial is 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months.
Price: Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Basic; $39 billed monthly) (Shopify pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want a simple blog at lower cost: WordPress.com
- You care about design quality: Framer
- You only need a landing page: Carrd
- You can code and want no subscription: Hugo
Limits of this review
Docs-only for WordPress.com, Framer, Carrd, Ghost, Hugo, Netlify: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Wix. 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: Wix, WordPress.com, Framer, Carrd, Ghost, Hugo, Netlify, Squarespace, Shopify. 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.