Blog / What Wix's free plan gives you, and what it doesn't
What Wix's free plan gives you, and what it doesn't
Short answer: Wix's free plan lets you build and publish with no credit card, but the address stays on Wix's domain and Wix branding stays on. Your own domain needs a paid plan, from $17 a month billed yearly. Payments and scheduling start on the $29 Core plan.
Wix is one of the best-known website builders, and it has a free plan. Many small business owners start there. Before you spend a weekend on it, here is what Wix says the free plan does and doesn't include.
See also our side-by-side Wix and bizhq comparison. Everything below comes from Wix's own pages, read on September 19, 2026. Prices and plans change, so check Wix's pricing page before you decide.
What you get for free
- No credit card to start. You can build and publish without paying.
- A big choice of templates. Wix lists more than 2,000 templates and has a blog tool.
- A free address. Your site goes live at an address on Wix's own domain, in the form
siteprefix.wixsite.com/siteaddress.
What the free plan leaves out
- Your own domain. Wix says you can't use your own domain on the free plan. That means no
yourbusiness.com. It needs a Premium plan. - Wix branding stays on. Wix shows its branding on free sites, and says a paid plan removes it.
That's the main trade. A free Wix site works, but it looks like a Wix site, at a Wix address.
What paying gets you
Wix's cheapest plan that lets you use your own domain is Light, at $17 a month. Wix says that price is for a yearly subscription paid in full up front, and before taxes. It lists a free domain for the first year on paid plans.
Payments, an online store and scheduling are a step up. Wix lists "Accept payments," online store tools and "Scheduling and services" starting on the Core plan, at $29 a month on the same yearly billing. The Light plan does not list payments or scheduling.
So a salon that wants online booking on its own site should plan on the Core plan, not the entry one. Wix also lists 24/7 customer care on paid plans.
What the sign-up doesn't show you
Wix is a builder for every kind of site. That is a strength, because you can make almost anything. It is also the catch for a busy owner: you decide the pages, the layout and the words, and there is a lot to decide. If you have a free weekend and like design, that is fine. If you have 20 minutes between clients, it may not be.
Who should pick Wix
- You want full control over the design.
- You plan to sell products or take bookings on your own site.
- You are happy to pay for a plan once the site is doing real work for you.
Who might do better elsewhere
- You want a simple, finished-looking site with your hours, services and phone number, without designing pages. A builder that starts from a business template will get you there faster. bizhq is one; so are others in our free builders roundup.
- You want a one-page site with your own .com for a very small yearly fee. Carrd lists Pro Standard at $19 a year, and you buy the domain yourself.
Where bizhq is the weaker choice
A bizhq free site has three to five fixed pages, no online store and no booking calendar of its own. Your address is yourname.bizhq.page, not your own .com. If you need a store, bookings or your own domain on your site itself, Wix is the stronger choice, once you are on the right paid plan.
If what you mainly want is your own .com and business email, we also offer both, set up for you, as an optional extra. See what it includes.
See it on a sample site
These are made-up businesses built on the free plan, so you can see how a finished site looks and reads on your phone.
Want a free website for your business?
bizhq builds one for you to edit from your phone. No credit card, no hosting fee.
Sources
- Wix plans and pricing, checked September 19, 2026
- Wix Help Center: Keeping the free Wix URL, checked September 19, 2026
More from the blog
- Free website builders that are actually free (2026)
Wix, Canva, Carrd, Durable, GoDaddy, Google Sites and bizhq compared on what the free plan really gives a local business, using each company's own pages.
- Does a free web address hurt trust?
A free address is not your own .com. Here is an honest look at what that costs you, when it matters, and how to get your own domain later.