What the Free Plan Includes
Framer's free tier is more generous than most people realize. You get a fully functional visual editor, a real CMS, and the ability to publish a live website without entering a credit card. Here is every feature included at the $0 price point:
- Up to 1,000 pages – enough for most personal sites, portfolios, and multi-page projects
- 10 CMS collections – blog posts, team members, portfolio items, or any structured content type
- Up to 3 editors – invite collaborators to design and edit alongside you
- 5 MB file uploads – images, PDFs, and other files up to 5 MB each
- 1 free locale – your site publishes in one language at no cost
- Full visual editor – the same design tool available on every paid plan, with layout, animation, and component features
- .framer.website subdomain – your site publishes at yoursite.framer.website
That is a real, functional website builder. You can design responsive layouts, add scroll animations, build CMS-powered blog pages, and ship a multi-page site. If you are learning web design or prototyping ideas, the free plan delivers real value.
The 5 Limits That Actually Matter
The free plan is capable, but five limitations determine whether it works for your specific use case. Some of these won't matter at all depending on what you're building. Others are deal-breakers.
1No custom domain
Your URL is yoursite.framer.website. You cannot connect yourname.com or any other domain you own. For a personal experiment or draft site, this is fine. For a freelance portfolio you share with clients, a business landing page, or anything you want to rank on Google, the subdomain is a serious problem. It signals "this isn't a real business" and dilutes your SEO authority to Framer's domain.
2Framer badge is always visible
A small "Made in Framer" badge appears in the bottom-left corner of every free-plan site. You cannot hide it, remove it, or move it. If you're building a client deliverable, this brands your work with someone else's logo. There is no setting to toggle it off. It's enforced server-side. To remove it, you need at least the Basic plan at $10/month.
3No analytics
The free plan doesn't include Framer's built-in site analytics. You can't see how many people visit your site, which pages they view, or where your traffic comes from. You could embed a third-party analytics script using Framer's custom code feature, but this requires knowing where to inject it and maintaining it yourself.
4No password protection
Every page on a free-plan site is public. If you're building a client preview, a staging version, or a members-only resource, there is no way to gate access. Password protection requires a paid plan. For public portfolios or marketing sites, this doesn't matter. For anything private, it's a blocker.
5Upgrading gets expensive fast
The jump from free to Basic ($10/month) seems small, but Basic only includes 1 CMS collection and 30 pages. If your site uses a blog and a portfolio, that's already 2 CMS collections, which means you need Pro at $30/month. Most real-world sites that outgrow the free plan skip Basic entirely and land on Pro, tripling the expected monthly cost.
Free Plan vs Paid Plans: Side by Side
Here is every plan compared on the features that matter most. All prices shown are monthly when billed annually.
| Feature | Free | Basic ($10/mo) | Pro ($30/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $10/mo | $30/mo |
| Pages | 1,000 | 30 (then $20 per 100, max 700) | 150 |
| CMS Collections | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| CMS Items | – | 1,000 | 2,500 |
| Bandwidth | – | 10 GB | 100 GB |
| Custom Domain | No | Yes (included on yearly) | Yes |
| Framer Badge | Visible (always) | Removed | Removed |
| Locales | 1 free | 1 free + $20/locale add-on | 1 free + $20/locale add-on |
| Editors | 3 | – | – |
The counterintuitive detail: The free plan gives you 1,000 pages and 10 CMS collections, while the Basic plan only includes 30 pages and 1 CMS collection. The free plan is more generous on raw content capacity. What you're paying for on Basic is the custom domain, badge removal, bandwidth, and CMS items, not more pages or collections.
The Alternative: Design Free, Host Free
Here is the approach that most people overlook: use Framer's free plan exactly as intended: as a design tool. It is excellent for that. Build your layout, dial in your animations, iterate with the visual editor. Then, instead of upgrading to a paid plan to go live, export the site to code and host it yourself for free.
Framer to HTML export takes your published Framer site and produces a complete, self-contained code package. Every page, every image, every font, every JavaScript bundle. The exported site preserves React, Framer Motion, and all your animations. Hover effects, scroll reveals, page transitions: everything works identically because the code is the same code Framer's servers run.
Once exported, you deploy the files to any static hosting platform. Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare Pages all offer free tiers with custom domain support and free SSL. Our host for free guide walks through the entire process in under 2 minutes. The badge is gone because the export process strips it. The subdomain is gone because you're on your own domain. And the monthly bill is gone because there isn't one.
For a full pricing breakdown of every Framer plan and its hidden costs, see our detailed analysis.
The cost comparison, over one year
Over two years, the gap widens further: $240 or $720 for Framer hosting versus the same $10.99 for self-hosting. The export pays for itself before the first month of any Framer subscription ends.
Ready to Go Live Without the Monthly Bill?
Design on Framer for free. Export for $10.99. Host on your domain for $0/month. No badge, no subdomain, no recurring fees.
Export Your Framer SiteFrequently Asked Questions
Yes, but with limits. The free plan lets you publish a site with up to 1,000 pages, 10 CMS collections, and 3 editors. However, your site must live on a .framer.website subdomain, the "Made in Framer" badge is always visible, and you cannot connect a custom domain. For prototyping and personal projects, it's useful. For professional or client work, the limitations will push you toward a paid plan or an alternative approach like exporting.
No. The Framer badge is permanently visible on free plan sites and cannot be hidden through CSS or custom code. You need to upgrade to Basic ($10/month) or higher to remove it on Framer-hosted sites. Alternatively, you can export your site to code with a tool like Framer Export ($10.99 one-time) and self-host it. The export process automatically strips the badge. See our full guide: how to remove the Framer badge.
Start free to design and prototype. Framer's editor is excellent for building layouts, animations, and responsive designs at zero cost. Use the free plan as your design workspace: iterate, experiment, and perfect your site. When you're ready to go live with a custom domain and no branding, export instead of upgrading to a paid plan. It's cheaper long-term: $10.99 once versus $10-30/month forever.