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Verified Free / Software

Is Wix actually free?

Free-ish
How free55/100
Value5/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.

Sort of. You can build and publish a site free with no card — but it lives on a wixsite.com address and carries a Wix banner.

What it’s worth

Real hosting starts around $5–15/month; the free tier is a permanent demo.

What you get free

  • The full drag-and-drop site builder
  • Hundreds of templates
  • Publishing and hosting on a wixsite.com address

In practice: a real sandbox — build and publish an actual working site today without spending a cent.

Drawbacks

  • A Wix banner sits on your site
  • You live at a wixsite.com address
  • Builder lock-in makes leaving later painful

Also paywalled

  • Your own domain name
  • Removing the Wix banner from your site
  • Taking payments and e-commerce

Free facts

VerdictFree-ish
Card requiredNo
Auto-bills—
AccountRequired
LimitsWix ads on your site, wixsite.com subdomain
The real costYour site advertises Wix until you pay.

The catch

A site that shows another company's ad and URL isn't really yours; it's a live demo you built for them. Fine for practice, not for a business.

The smart play

  • Treat the free tier as a sandbox — build, learn, screenshot for a portfolio
  • Never print or advertise a wixsite.com address; buy the domain before going public
  • Compare first: a free Netlify site with your own ~$12 domain carries no Wix banner

Common questions

Does Wix require a credit card?
No — Wix does not ask for a card to use the free version. Auto-billing: —.
What are the limits of Wix's free plan?
Wix ads on your site, wixsite.com subdomain. A site that shows another company's ad and URL isn't really yours; it's a live demo you built for them. Fine for practice, not for a business.
How do I use Wix without paying?
Treat the free tier as a sandbox — build, learn, screenshot for a portfolio Never print or advertise a wixsite.com address; buy the domain before going public Compare first: a free Netlify site with your own ~$12 domain carries no Wix banner
What does Wix really cost?
Your site advertises Wix until you pay.
Why is Wix free?
Your site advertises Wix until you pay. Real hosting starts around $5–15/month; the free tier is a permanent demo.
Is Wix still free?
As of our last check, partly — and the free tier is squeezed. Sort of. You can build and publish a site free with no card — but it lives on a wixsite.com address and carries a Wix banner. Free tiers change without notice, which is why every page here carries the date it was checked.

More info — tap to expand

What the banner and subdomain cost you
A business on a wixsite.com address with a Wix ad reads as temporary to customers and to Google. The free tier is genuinely useful — as a build-and-learn sandbox, not a storefront.
The lock-in caveat
Wix sites don't export to other hosts; leaving means rebuilding. Decide whether you're okay marrying the platform before pouring months of content in — or build on plain HTML hosting (see Netlify) where your files are portable forever.

Last checked: August 2026site-wide date · Verdict: Free-ish — a free tier exists, but it's shaped to squeeze you toward paying.

What users actually say

No consumer-rating consensus at scale — the free plan's reputation is set by what visitors see, not by reviewers.

What they praiseEase is the constant: people with no web experience get a real, working, responsive site up in an afternoon, hosting handled.
What they complain aboutTwo complaints dominate. The free plan puts Wix's own ad and a wixsite.com address on your site. And the template can't be swapped after you publish — a redesign means rebuilding.

The free tier is a working showroom for Wix with your content in it. Fine for learning; the moment it represents a business, the ad and the subdomain cost you more than the plan saves.

Our reading of the public review record — patterns, not quotes. Scores link to their sources above.

Visit Wix →

Was this verdict right?

Free tiers change without notice. If you have just used it, you know something we don't.

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