#AFFILIATE-PLACEHOLDER-* in our code) until we join programs — at which point every affected page gets a clear, conspicuous disclosure. Full disclosure.Every freelancer needs a portfolio site, and a growing share of client work is now building sites for clients. AI site generators have collapsed the build time — but the pricing hides the freelancer math: per-site plans that multiply with every client, e-commerce gates at the entry tier, and monthly caps on the AI generation credits the whole pitch depends on. We compared five builders on published 2026 pricing and free-plan limits, with the client-work arithmetic spelled out. Method: no tool was tested by us; everything below is built on official published specs plus cited independent 2026 reviews. Prices last verified: October 2026.
| Tool | Free Plan | Entry Paid Tier | Notable Paid Tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durable | $0 — website preview, 300 AI credits total (not monthly), *.durable.site subdomain, CRM (10 customers) |
Launch $25/mo ($22/mo on annual) — free custom domain, unlimited traffic, 1,000 AI credits/mo, booking calendar | Grow $49/mo ($41/mo on annual) — 5,000 AI credits/mo, auto site translation, unlimited team members |
| Framer | $0 — 500 AI credits one-time trial, Framer subdomain, up to 3 editors; no custom domain | Basic $10/mo on annual ($15/mo monthly) — custom domain, 30 pages, 1,000 AI credits/mo | Pro $30/mo on annual ($45/mo monthly; 150 pages, 3,000 AI credits/mo); Scale $100/mo on annual |
| Wix | $0 — 900+ templates, drag-and-drop editor, AI builder; Wix ads + Wix subdomain | Light $17/mo on annual (~$24/mo monthly) — custom domain (free 1 year), no ads; no e-commerce | Core $29/mo on annual — first tier with payments/e-commerce; Business $39/mo; Business Elite $159/mo |
| Squarespace | No free plan — 14-day free trial only | Basic $19/mo on annual ($25/mo monthly) — built-in AI tools, free custom domain 1 year; 2% store fee + 7% digital-content fee | Core $29/mo on annual — 0% store fee, unlimited contributors; Plus $49/mo; Advanced $99/mo |
| Webflow | $0 (Starter) — 2 pages, webflow.io subdomain — prototype only |
Basic $15/mo on annual ($25/mo monthly) — custom domain, 300 static pages; no CMS, no blog, no e-commerce | Premium $25/mo on annual ($39/mo monthly) — full CMS (20,000 items), site search; Workspace team seats billed separately |
Prices last verified: October 2026. Durable, Wix, Squarespace, and Framer's free-plan terms were verified on the official pricing pages in October 2026; Framer plan prices and all Webflow prices come from consistent 2026 reviews (Framer's plan table is JS-gated and did not render in text fetches). Note Squarespace renamed its plans in 2026 — Basic/Core/Plus/Advanced; "Personal/Business" names in old roundups are outdated.
| Tool | What You Get Free | Where It Pinches |
|---|---|---|
| Durable | A real generated site preview on a Durable subdomain, plus a starter CRM | The 300 AI credits are a lifetime budget, not monthly — spend them on regenerations and they're gone |
| Framer | Full builder access and a live subdomain site — the most capable free builder tier here | No custom domain; the 500 AI credits are a one-time trial, not a monthly allowance |
| Wix | The complete editor and AI builder to try before paying | Wix branding on every page and a Wix subdomain — unusable as a client portfolio |
| Squarespace | 14 days to build and evaluate, on the real platform | No free tier at all — day 15 needs a paid plan to stay published |
| Webflow | Two pages to prototype layouts and the AI generation workflow | Two pages, one subdomain, a Webflow badge — a demo, not a portfolio |
Durable is the most literally "AI website builder" on this page: describe your business in a prompt and it generates the site, copy, CRM, booking calendar, and auto-blog in under a minute. Launch ($25/mo, $22/mo on annual) is the working tier — free custom domain, unlimited traffic, and 1,000 AI credits a month to keep generating and editing. The plan structure is simple, but two freelancer caveats: Durable is explicitly not built for e-commerce, and AI credits are a monthly cap — heavy regenerators burn through Launch's 1,000 credits and face Grow ($49/mo, $41/mo annual, 5,000 credits/mo) sooner than expected.
Best for: freelancers who sell services (consultants, coaches, agencies) and want the site plus the booking/CRM pipeline in one subscription. Watch out for: older roundups quote outdated $12/$20/$80 tiers — those prices are gone; and the credit caps mean "unlimited AI" is not what you're buying.
Framer sits between a website builder and a design tool: the AI generates the starting point, and the Figma-like canvas lets you take it somewhere distinctive. The free tier is genuinely usable — 500 AI credits on a trial basis, a live subdomain site, up to 3 editors. Basic ($10/mo on annual, $15/mo monthly) adds the custom domain and 1,000 AI credits a month. The one line that decides everything for client work: pricing is per published site. Every client site needs its own plan, so ten client sites on Basic is $100/mo on annual — not $10. Extra editors cost $20–40/mo each on top.
Best for: freelancers whose portfolio is the sales pitch — designers, studios, anyone whose site must look expensive. Watch out for: per-site billing multiplies with your client roster; no native e-commerce (third-party integrations required); bandwidth overages push you to the next tier.
Wix remains the most flexible general builder here: 900+ templates, a real AI builder, and the broadest feature spread at each tier. Light ($17/mo on annual, ~$24/mo monthly) is the freelancer's own-site tier — custom domain free for the first year, no ads — but note what's missing: e-commerce is hard-gated at Core ($29/mo on annual), so a freelancer selling even one digital product must skip Light. Wix prices are annual and billed upfront ($204/yr for Light), and the figures are region-variable — confirm your checkout. The upside: no Wix transaction fee on store orders, and Core's 50GB storage covers most content sites.
Best for: freelancers building for clients with mixed needs — booking, blog, store-lite — who want one vendor for everything. Watch out for: the Light/Core e-commerce gate is the single most common freelancer pricing mistake in this category; verify your regional checkout price.
Squarespace trades flexibility for taste: the templates are the product, and the built-in AI tools are now part of every plan. There's no free tier — just a 14-day trial — and the 2026 plan names are new (Basic/Core/Plus/Advanced; old "Personal/Business" labels in roundups are stale). Basic ($19/mo on annual, $25/mo monthly) carries the steepest freelancer tax in the category: a 2% store transaction fee and a 7% digital-content/membership fee on top of payment processing. A freelancer selling a $100 course on Basic loses $7 to Squarespace before the payment processor takes its cut — anyone selling digital products should start at Core ($29/mo on annual), where the store fee drops to 0%.
Best for: visual freelancers (photographers, illustrators, writers) whose own brand site is the primary need. Watch out for: the digital-product fee makes Basic a trap for course/ebook sellers; no free plan means you commit within two weeks or lose the published site.
Webflow is the professional's builder: visual development with real CSS-level control, and the choice for client work that needs custom design systems rather than templates. The tier structure was simplified in 2026: Basic ($15/mo on annual, $25/mo monthly) is static-only — custom domain, 300 pages, but no CMS, no blog, no e-commerce — so any client site with a blog needs Premium ($25/mo on annual, $39/mo monthly) with its full CMS (20,000 items, 40 collections). Uniquely here, Webflow provides no free domain at any tier — budget domain registration separately for every project. Workspace team seats are billed separately from site plans, another line item the per-project math needs.
Best for: freelancers doing custom client builds and charging accordingly. Watch out for: Basic's static-only scope surprises people — blogs, dynamic listings, and stores all need Premium; the no-free-domain policy and separate team seats make the true per-project cost higher than the headline.
Framer's Basic plan ($10/mo on annual) with a custom domain is the cheapest professional option, followed by Wix Light ($17/mo on annual). Squarespace has no free tier and starts at $19/mo on annual.
Unlike the others, Framer charges per published site — one plan covers one site. If you build client sites on Framer, each client needs its own plan, so your costs scale with your client count. Factor that into project quotes.
Wix Light has no e-commerce at all — you need Core ($29/mo annual). Squarespace Basic allows it but takes a 7% digital-content fee per sale; Core ($29/mo annual) removes the store fee. Durable doesn't support e-commerce.
Yes, in 2026 Squarespace renamed its plans to Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. Older reviews referencing Personal or Business plans are describing the same tiers under the old names — Basic replaced Personal, Core replaced Business.
Durable (Launch and up), Wix (first year), and Squarespace (first year) include a free custom domain. Framer includes it on paid plans. Webflow is the exception: it provides no free domain at any tier.