What a website builder really costs: Webflow, Wix, Squarespace and Framer

A website builder's headline price is only the first line of its cost. The limits that run out first (pages, CMS items, bandwidth) and the platform's own store fee decide what a growing site really pays. This guide sets out what Webflow, Wix, Squarespace and Framer state on their own pricing pages, where extra charges begin, and what those pages do not state. For head-to-head views, see Framer vs Webflow and Squarespace vs Wix; for the cost against self-hosting, see website builder vs WordPress cost.

Use one formula for every builder: plan price, plus paid add-ons for the limits you will hit, plus the platform's fee on store sales, plus the payment processor's fee, plus the domain after the first year. A five-page brochure site is mostly decided by the plan price. A content site is decided by CMS and page limits. An online store is decided by the platform's store fee and the payment fees. Compare on the same billing term, and treat any figure marked as not stated below as unknown, not as zero.

Webflow's pricing page says its prices are in USD per site and labels paid site plans as billed yearly: Basic is $15 a month and Premium $25 a month on that basis. Squarespace shows a pay-yearly and a higher pay-monthly price for each plan: Basic $12 and $19, Core $17 and $27, Advanced $25 and $36 (the page shows a dollar sign but does not name the currency). Wix says the prices it shows are for yearly subscriptions paid in full: Light $17.77, Core $29.77 and Business $39.77 a month. Framer shows monthly and yearly billing, but its yearly amounts are not in the page text we read, so we do not quote them; on the monthly view Basic is $10 and Pro is $30. Before comparing, put every builder on the same billing term.

Each builder meters something different. Webflow: Starter is free with a webflow.io domain, 2 static pages, 1 GB of bandwidth and 50 form submissions; Basic has 300 static pages and 10 GB with no CMS; the CMS arrives with Premium, with bandwidth steps from 50 GB up to 2.5 TB. Framer: Basic includes 2 CMS collections, 2,500 CMS items and 50 GB of bandwidth; Pro includes 10 collections, 2,500 items and 100 GB. Squarespace: the pricing page describes bandwidth and storage as uncapped, with video hosting of 30 minutes on Basic, 5 hours on Core and unlimited on Advanced. Wix: storage is 2 GB on Light, 50 GB on Core and 100 GB on Business; the plans page does not state bandwidth.

Framer Pro charges for growth in steps: $20 per additional 100 pages (up to 700), $40 per additional 10 CMS collections (up to 40), $20 per additional 10,000 CMS items (up to 40,000), $40 per additional 100 GB of bandwidth (up to 2 TB) and $20 per locale (up to 20). Webflow lists separate paid add-ons: Analyze from $9 a month by sessions and Optimize from $299 a month by page views. Squarespace takes its own fee on store sales by plan: 2% on Basic and 0% on Core and Advanced, plus a fee on digital content and memberships of 7%, 5% and 0%. Wix's plans page does not state platform transaction fees; payments run through Wix Payments or other providers, whose own fees apply.

Domains: Squarespace says annual plans include one year of free domain registration for new websites; Wix says all paid plans include a free domain for one year; Framer says Basic and Pro include a complimentary domain on yearly billing; Webflow's plan table lists a custom domain from Basic. The pricing pages we read do not state what the domain costs after the first year, so check that before you buy. Ecommerce: Squarespace's pricing page shows store fees by plan (above). Wix lists ecommerce from its Core plan. Framer's pricing page states no ecommerce or transaction fees, and Webflow's site-plan table does not list store fees, so check Webflow's ecommerce plans page. Prices, plan names and promotions change: open the builder's own page for your country and billing term before you buy.