What "free" actually buys you
Every AI website builder advertises a free option, but "free" covers a wide range — from a genuinely no-cost app that exports your source code, to a draft you can generate but not publish without paying. This guide sorts the best free AI website builders by what their free tier really lets you do: launch a live site, keep it up long-term, and get your work out again if you outgrow the tool. Where a product is trial-only rather than free, we say so plainly, because a 7-day preview is not the same as a free plan you can keep.
The short version: a couple of these builders let you publish a real site at no cost, one hands you exportable code for free, and the rest give you a free workspace to design in but move publishing, custom domains, or client features behind a paywall. Here is where each one lands. If you want the full field including paid-first tools, our roundup of the best AI website builders covers the wider category, and you can browse every option in the AI website builders directory.
Genuinely free to launch: Mobirise
Mobirise is the closest thing here to free in the plain-English sense. It is a no-code, drag-and-drop builder with AI website generation from prompts, and it produces responsive, mobile-ready designs plus AI-generated text and images. The part that matters most for a free-first user: Mobirise exports HTML and JS source code, so you can publish and deploy the finished site wherever you like. Because you own the output, you are not locked into one host or forced onto a paid plan just to go live. That makes it a strong pick for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants a real website without a monthly bill — as long as you are comfortable handling the hosting step yourself.
A real free plan with published sites: Readdy
Readdy is a freemium AI website builder where you design with natural language and can export code. Its free tier is one of the clearest of the group: the Free plan is $0/mo and includes 250 credits per month, 2 projects, and 200MB of storage. Those credits are what you spend generating and editing pages, so the free plan is best understood as a place to build and iterate on a couple of small sites rather than run an unlimited operation. Readdy also offers one-click publishing with custom domains and built-in SEO, plus a visual point-and-click editor and 500+ industry templates as starting points.
The paywall is easy to see coming. Once you need more than 2 projects or run out of monthly credits, the Starter plan is $15/mo billed annually (or $25/mo month-to-month) and bumps you to 30,000 credits with one site included. Pro ($24/mo annual, $40/mo monthly) and the Agency tiers add more credits and more included sites. For a solo project that stays small, though, the free plan is usable on its own.
Free to design, paywalled to scale: Framer and B12
Framer is a design-driven, no-code builder with AI generation of layouts and content from prompts, a built-in CMS, responsive breakpoints, hosting, custom domains, and SEO tools. It runs on a freemium model, so there is a free plan to design and preview in — but Framer is where a free tier typically shades into paid the moment you want a custom domain or heavier CMS use, so treat the free plan as your build-and-test space and expect to upgrade when the site becomes your public front door. Its polished animations and interactive effects make it a favorite of designers, freelancers, and marketing teams who care about visual craft.
B12 takes a different angle: it is an AI website builder aimed at professional service providers, and it generates not just a site but a whole client-facing setup — on-page SEO and blogging, client intake forms, a contact manager, email marketing, contracts and eSignatures, and AI chatbots. B12 is freemium, so you can have it draft a site for free and see the layout before committing. The trade-off is that its value lives in the business tooling around the site, and those workflow features are where the paid tiers earn their keep. If you are a lawyer, consultant, or agency who wants the website and the intake pipeline in one place, the free draft is a low-risk way to evaluate it.
Trial, not free: 10Web
It is worth being precise about 10Web, because it is easy to mistake for a free option. 10Web is an AI-powered WordPress platform with an agentic builder that can generate a site from a prompt, clone an existing site, or import from Figma, plus managed WordPress hosting, WooCommerce ecommerce, AI SEO, and a free custom domain and SSL on paid plans. But its free offering is a trial, not a standing free plan: paid pricing starts at AI Starter for $10/mo (1 website), then AI Premium at $15/mo (2 websites), AI Ultimate at $23/mo (4 websites), and Agency Core at $112/mo (20 websites). If you specifically want WordPress underneath your AI-built site, 10Web is a serious tool — just budget for it rather than counting it as free.
How to choose without hitting a surprise paywall
Match the tool to how permanent your free site needs to be. If you want to own your files and never pay, Mobirise's code export is the safest bet. If you want a hosted, published site at no cost and can live within a modest credit and project cap, Readdy's Free plan does that today. If you are designing something visually ambitious or building a service business, Framer and B12 give you a free canvas but expect the upgrade prompt at launch. And if the answer is really WordPress, plan for 10Web as a paid platform after its trial. The best free AI website builders are the ones honest about that line. Read each free tier for the same three things — where your site is published, whether you can use your own domain, and whether you can export your work — and you will avoid the classic trap of building for hours only to find the "free" builder can't actually put your site online for free.