How this comparison is made

The comparison table on this site is made by reading each vendor’s own pricing, plan and help pages on a stated date and copying what they say into fixed columns. Nothing in it comes from hands-on testing, and it carries no scores. This page lists the pages read, defines each column and says what the table does not claim.

The short version

• Source: the vendor’s own pages only. No reseller pages, review sites or forum posts.
• Date: every row was read on 13 November 2026.
• Gaps are shown. Where the pages do not say, the cell reads “not stated”.
• No testing, no scores, no ranking. The picks are reasoned from published facts.

Which pages were read

Each row of the comparison table was filled from the pages below, all read on 13 November 2026.

Builder	Pages read	Used for
Wix	The help articles on free sites, on accepting payments and on hosting a site elsewhere, plus the AI builder page	Every column
Framer	The pricing page and two help articles, on the badge and on HTML export	Every column
WordPress.com	The pricing page, the AI builder page and the export support page	Every column
Webflow	The pricing page, including its plan comparison and FAQ	Every column
Lovable	The plan table, the credits page and the publishing page in its documentation	Every column
Bolt	The pricing page	Every column; export and selling are not stated there
Durable	The pricing page, including its plan comparison and FAQ	Every column; export is not stated there
Squarespace	The pricing page, the AI builder page and the export help article	Every column
Hostinger	The website builder page, including its plan cards and FAQ	Trial terms and plan contents
10Web	The pricing page and its FAQ	Trial terms and plan contents
Shopify	The pricing page	Trial terms, plans and card rates

The links themselves are in the Source column of the table, so that each fact sits next to the page it came from. Square’s pricing page was used for the store section of the home page only.

What each column means

Column	The question it answers	How the cell is filled
Free plan or trial	Can a site exist without payment, and for how long?	“Free plan” only if the vendor describes a plan with no end date. A time limit makes it a trial. A plan that shows the site to nobody is marked as a preview
Your own domain on free	Can you connect a domain you own without paying the builder?	The vendor’s statement, plus the address a free site gets where the vendor gives its form
Vendor badge or ads on free	What does the vendor put on your published free site?	The name of the badge or the word “ads”, as the vendor writes it
Published limits on free	Which hard numbers does the vendor publish for the free plan or trial?	The figures as printed: pages, storage, bandwidth, credits. No conversion between units
AI site generation without paying	Can the AI build a site before you pay?	“Yes” with the allowance, “in the trial only”, or “no” with the vendor’s wording
Export	What can you take away?	Nothing, content, code or a Git repository, in the vendor’s words, and the plan it needs
Selling without a subscription	Can you take payment for goods or services while paying no monthly fee?	The vendor’s statement about payments and store plans. Card-processing fees are a separate charge and are not counted as a subscription
Source	Where did the row come from?	Links to the pages read

Free plans are, in one sentence, a way for a vendor to let you build before you pay, and the columns are simply the places where the paid plans begin.

The words used in the cells

• A quotation is the vendor’s exact wording, kept where a paraphrase could change the meaning.
• “Listed” means the feature appears on the plan card or in the plan table, and the page says nothing more about it.
• “Not stated” means the pages read do not answer the question. It is not a polite “no”.
• “Not applicable” means the question does not arise, for example a custom domain during a trial that cannot publish.
• “From Pro”, or any plan name, means the feature starts on that plan according to the vendor’s table.

What is deliberately not claimed

1. No testing. Nobody generated sites, timed builds or measured page speed. A cell that says AI generation is available says nothing about how good the result is.
2. No scores and no ranking. The rows are grouped by kind of offer, not by quality. The use-case picks on the home page and in the guides are arguments from the table, and each gives its reasons.
3. No prices for paid plans, with two exceptions. Paid prices change monthly. The table quotes one only where it defines the free offer itself, as with Shopify’s introductory price and Squarespace’s fee on its entry plan.
4. No claim to completeness. Eleven builders have rows. Others exist, and a missing builder has not been judged.
5. No claim of distance from the publisher. This site is published by General Action, which makes Emdash. Emdash is not a website builder, has no row and is described only where a code repository is a real answer.

How builders get a row

A product gets a row when three things hold. It is sold as a way to make a website. Its vendor describes AI generation of a site, a store or a web app from a prompt. And the vendor’s own pages say plainly whether a free plan or a trial exists.

Products that fail one of the three can still appear in a guide, with their own source. Best for landing pages mentions Carrd, which has no AI generation in the documentation we read. The home page discusses Square, a commerce platform for which AI site generation is not stated.

How it is kept current

The table is re-read when a vendor changes its plans; the date at the top of each page says when. A re-read means opening every page in the row again, not only the cell that changed, because vendors tend to move several limits at once.

Between re-reads the table ages. If today’s date is well past the one printed on the page, open the Source links before you rely on a figure.

How to report an error

If a cell is wrong or out of date, tell us through the route in the corrections section of the About page. Three details make a fix quick:

1. the builder and the column,
2. what the cell should say,
3. a link to the vendor’s page that shows it.

Corrections are checked against the vendor’s own page. A screenshot from a reseller or a comparison site is not enough to change a cell.

To see the table used for a decision, start with Best for portfolios or Best for small business.

Frequently asked questions

How often is the comparison table updated?

The table is re-read when a vendor changes its plans, and the date at the top of each page says when that page was last revised. There is no fixed schedule. Every figure in the table carries the date it was read, 13 November 2026 for the current version, so you can judge its age yourself.

What does not stated mean in the comparison table?

It means the vendor pages linked in that row do not answer the question. It does not mean the answer is no. A vendor may document the point on a page we did not read, or may not document it at all. Treat a not stated cell as a question to ask the vendor.

Why does the comparison have no scores or star ratings?

Because nobody here tested the products. A score would imply measurement, and the table only records what each vendor publishes about its own free plan or trial. The use-case picks are reasoned from those published facts, and each one says what the pick rests on.

How do I report a mistake in the comparison table?

Tell General Action, the publisher, using the contact route on the About page, and include the builder, the column and a link to the vendor page that shows the right answer. A cell is corrected against the vendor's own page, and the date at the top of the page changes when it is.

Why is a builder I use missing from the table?

A row is added only when the vendor's own pages say whether a free plan or a trial exists and the product is sold with AI site generation. Some products are discussed in a guide without a row. Carrd has no AI generation in the documentation we read, and Square is a commerce platform for which AI site generation is not stated.