Is There Actually a Free AI Website Builder? (No Credit Card, Checked)
October 25, 2026 · 5 min read
The short version
Almost every AI website builder's homepage says "free" somewhere. Checking the actual pricing pages, that word covers at least three genuinely different offers: free to build with a credit cap, pay once you want to publish; a card-free trial with no permanent free tier at all; and, less commonly, free and unlimited generation with payment only entering the picture at publish. Which one you're looking at matters more than the word "free" itself.
Model 1: free to build, limited AI credits, pay to publish
B12 states directly on its homepage: "Free to try. No card needed." Its $0/month Free plan gives you 5 daily AI credits (capped at 30/month) and a builder-hosted subdomain (yourbusiness.b12sites.com). Checking the pricing page: a custom domain requires the paid Website plan, listed at $24/month (or $1 for the first 7 days for new users).
Durable runs a similar shape: a $0 Free plan that lets you "build and share a preview for free," with 300 AI credits to try the generator. Its own pricing page isn't fully consistent about the paid tier once you're ready to publish: the plan card lists "Launch" at $25/month while the comparison table on the same page lists it at $22/month. Worth confirming directly with Durable before you commit, since that's their inconsistency, not ours.
Both are real, honest free tiers in the sense that no card is required to start. The actual constraint is the credit cap, not a hidden card requirement.
Model 2: no permanent free tier, just a card-free trial
Squarespace is upfront about this in its own FAQ: "Squarespace doesn't offer a free plan, but every site starts with a free trial. No credit card required." The trial runs 14 days. After that, its Basic plan is listed at either $19 or $25/month on the same pricing page, depending on monthly vs. annual billing. There's no path to a permanently free, published site here: the trial is genuinely card-free, but it's a clock, not a tier.
Model 3: free and unlimited generation, pay only at publish
This is a smaller group, and it's the model Parallux uses. Instead of metering AI credits or running a trial clock, generating and refining a site costs nothing and has no cap, no signup required even to try it, because matching your brief to a pre-built scene library costs close to nothing to run. The $25/month only applies once you're ready to publish to a real, shareable link - not before, and not on a countdown.
The tradeoff that makes this possible is the same one covered in What Makes a Website "Cinematic"?: tools that render a brand-new AI video per site don't have the cost structure to offer this, which is exactly why most of them default to Model 1 or Model 2 instead.
So which one is actually right for you
- Want to try a lot of prompts before deciding, and don't mind a credit cap? Model 1 (B12, Durable) - just read the credit limit before you start, not after you hit it.
- Comfortable committing to a 14-day deadline and don't need unlimited iteration? Model 2 (Squarespace) is honest about what it is: a trial, not a free tier.
- Want to iterate on a brand, a tagline, or a layout as many times as it takes with zero clock running, and only decide to pay once you've actually got something worth publishing? That's what Model 3 is for. Try generating one free and judge for yourself - no signup, no card, no credit counter.
The honest caveat
Pricing pages change. Every number above was checked directly against each company's own pricing page as of this writing, not pulled from a third-party roundup - but a tool that's accurate today can change its plan structure next month. If you're reading this later than a few months after publication, it's worth a quick re-check of the specific tool you're leaning toward before you commit.