Wix Free Gives You a Whole Site, Just Not an Address
The free plan is not a trial and it does not expire. It is a complete site on an address you do not own, with advertising you did not ask for.
Wix's free plan gives you a complete website, permanently, at no cost and with no card. It includes hosting, the drag-and-drop editor, access to the template library and a wixsite.com subdomain. What it does not include is your own domain, removal of Wix branding, or any way to switch off the advertisements Wix places on free sites. The first paid tier, Light, is $17.77 a month billed yearly.1
That is a genuinely unusual offer. Most builders in this category call a 14-day window a free plan and hope you do not read the footnote. Wix's free tier does not expire, and a site built on it can stay live indefinitely.
The catch is not time. It is identity.
The plans, measured
| Free | Light | Core | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $17.77/mo | $29.77/mo | $39.77/mo |
| Billing | None | Yearly | Yearly | Yearly |
| Custom domain | No | Free for 1 year | Free for 1 year | Free for 1 year |
| Storage | Limited | 2GB | 50GB | 100GB |
| Wix ads | Yes | No | No | No |
| Collaborators | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Accept payments | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Prices measured on 22 October 2026. Vendor plan terms, allowances and prices change without notice, so treat every figure on this page as a dated snapshot rather than a permanent fact. Where a number here differs from the vendor's own pricing page, the vendor's page is correct and the figure above is simply older than it.
The address is the whole limitation
A free Wix site lives at username.wixsite.com/sitename. That is a real, working, indexable URL. It is also a URL that tells every visitor two things: that this is a side project, and that the owner did not pay.
For a portfolio, a wedding page, a club noticeboard or a test build, that does not matter at all. For a business, it does, and it is not fixable at any free tier. Connecting a domain you already own requires a paid plan, and so does removing the Wix branding from the page footer.
What the editor gives you for nothing
This is the part that surprises people who assume free means crippled. The drag-and-drop editor on the free plan is the same editor as on the paid plans. There is no reduced feature set for design, no locked template tier, no watermark on your images.
You get the template library, the responsive layout tools, the built-in SEO fields, and the mobile editor. What you do not get is the business layer: no payments, no custom domain, no removal of ads.
That split is worth understanding before you start. Wix gives away the design tool and charges for the commercial infrastructure. If you are building something non-commercial, the free plan is close to complete.
What free sites cannot do
No payment processing. Wix Pay, Wix Bookings and the store checkout all require Core or above, so a free Wix site cannot sell anything.
No custom domain, as covered. No removal of the Wix ad banner. And the free plan is limited to a single collaborator, which means you cannot hand a site to a client or bring in a second editor without upgrading.
Storage on the free tier is small enough that a media-heavy site will notice it, though Wix does not publish an exact free figure on the plans page. Treat it as an allowance for text and a handful of images rather than a gallery.
When the free plan is enough
A personal site where the URL genuinely does not matter. A landing page for something temporary. A build you want to try before committing to the editor, where the twelve-template limit on some rivals would have stopped you.
It is also the cheapest way to learn the Wix editor. Nothing expires, so you can build at your own pace over weeks and only pay when the site is worth an address.
When it stops being enough
The day you want a real domain. Light at $17.77 a month is the smallest step, and it bundles a free domain for the first year, ad removal and 2GB of storage.
If you need to take money, skip to Core at $29.77, because Light and the free plan cannot process payments at all. That is a two-step jump from free, and it is worth knowing before you budget for one upgrade.
How it compares
Against WordPress.com, Wix gives a better editor on free and WordPress gives more storage and no page limit. Against Webflow, Wix is far more generous: Webflow caps free sites at two static pages.
Against Carrd, the comparison is scope rather than generosity. Carrd gives three free one-page sites; Wix gives one free full site. Both refuse custom domains on free.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Wix free plan really free forever?
Yes. It has no expiry and requires no card. Wix supports it with ads on your site.
Can I use my own domain on Wix free?
No. Connecting a custom domain requires a paid plan. Free sites use a wixsite.com address.
Can I sell on Wix free?
No. Payment processing and the store checkout start at the Core tier.
Does Wix free show ads?
Yes, Wix branding and promotional banners appear on free sites. They are removed from Light upward.
What happens if I downgrade from a paid plan?
The site stays live on the free tier, losing its custom domain and regaining Wix ads.
Limits and prices verified against Wix's own plans page on 23 October 2026. Prices shown include GST and are for yearly subscriptions.
Sources
- Wix plans and pricing: www.wix.com/plans.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 22 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
