Is Wix free anymore?

Wix's free plan costs exactly $0 — and that's precisely the problem. The price tag hides what you actually get: a site that can't function as a real business presence.

Here's what "free" actually looks like. According to Style Factory Productions, Wix's free plan includes prominent Wix adverts on your website, just 500MB of storage, and 1GB of bandwidth. You can't sell online with it, and you can't connect your own domain — your web address stays a Wix subdomain.

For a business, those aren't minor inconveniences. They're credibility killers.

• Wix branding on every page — your customers see ads for the platform you built on, not your business
• No custom domain support — a Wix subdomain signals "hobby project" to anyone searching for you
• No ecommerce capability — you cannot take a single order or booking
• Minimal storage and bandwidth — 500MB and 1GB won't support a growing business site

The moment you need any of those things, you're paying. Tooltester's analysis makes it plain: "if you want to use your own domain name and have an ad-free website, you will need at least the Light plan at $17 US per month" — and that's with annual billing. Monthly, it's $24.

Then the hidden costs pile up. Domain renewal runs roughly $17.35 per year after the first free year, with private registration adding another $9.90. Professional email through Google Workspace costs $6 per user per month. Third-party apps run $5–20 each, and some business features require upgrading your entire plan to access. Factoring it all in, the typical year-one cost for a Wix business site ranges from $240 to over $1,000 — before counting a single hour of your own time building and maintaining it.

That last part matters most. Even at $240 a year, you're doing all the work yourself: writing content, updating pages, managing apps, troubleshooting. The free plan isn't a shortcut to a professional website — it's a demo with no end date.

There's a different model worth understanding here. A done-for-you service like AI Business Sites charges a transparent $1,497 one-time setup and $497/month managed pricing — the custom website, ongoing content, and technical maintenance are all included, and you own the code, content, and domain. No ads, no feature gates, no surprise renewals.

The honest takeaway: Wix's free plan was never really free for a business. It was free only if your time was — and for a busy owner, it never is.

The True Cost of DIY: What Wix Actually Costs for Business Use

While Wix advertises a free plan, it’s not viable for professional business use due to mandatory Wix branding and no custom domain support. To build a functional site without ads and with your own domain, you need at least the Light plan, which starts at $17/month when billed annually—or $24/month if paid monthly. That base cost alone translates to $204–$288 per year before any additional essentials.

But the subscription fee is just the beginning. A truly functional business site requires a custom domain (~$17.35/year after the first free year), professional email (Google Workspace at $6/user/month), and often third-party apps for bookings, email marketing, or SEO—each ranging from $5–20/month. When you factor in hosting, domain privacy, and optional premium templates, the total first-year investment for a DIY Wix site typically falls between $240 and $1,000+, depending on the apps and features you add.

This wide cost range reflects how quickly expenses accumulate when piecing together a functional site from Wix’s à la carte ecosystem. Unlike AI Business Sites’ transparent $1,497 setup and $497/month managed model—which includes a custom website, AI-powered back office, ongoing content generation (14+ pieces/month), CRM, and full technical management—Wix’s pricing structure hides critical costs in add-ons and usage fees. For service businesses needing booking integrations, member portals, or automated follow-ups, those essentials often require upgrading to higher-tier plans or purchasing multiple apps, driving costs well above the base rate.

What’s rarely calculated in DIY comparisons is the value of the business owner’s time spent building, maintaining, updating content, troubleshooting integrations, and managing subscriptions—time that could be spent serving clients or growing the business. AI Business Sites eliminates that burden by handling everything from launch to ongoing optimization, all while the client retains full ownership of their code, content, domain, and data. The result isn’t just a website—it’s a managed business operating system with predictable pricing and no hidden fees.

While Wix still offers a free plan, it comes with prominent branding, no custom domain support, and lacks essential business features—making it unsuitable for professional use. For a functional site with a custom domain and ad-free experience, Wix requires a paid plan starting at $17/month when billed annually, though the true annual cost often ranges from $240 to over $1,000 when factoring in domain renewal, essential apps, hosting, and premium templates. This DIY approach demands significant time and technical effort from business owners who must build, maintain, and update everything themselves.

In contrast, AI Business Sites delivers a fully managed solution with transparent pricing: a one-time $1,497 setup and $497/month that includes a custom website, AI-powered back office, ongoing content generation (14+ SEO pieces monthly), and full technical management—all while ensuring the client retains complete ownership of their code, content, data, and domain. Unlike Wix’s closed ecosystem, where exporting a site to another host requires a full rebuild, AI Business Sites builds on standard React/Next.js technology, allowing clients to leave with everything intact and continue operating independently if they choose.

• Full asset ownership: code, content, leads, and domain remain with the client
• Ongoing content engine: 14+ new SEO pages published monthly without client effort
• AI business tools included: CRM, voice agent, job tracking, invoicing, and online selling—no per-seat fees

For businesses that need more than a brochure site—a system that answers questions, captures leads, runs quotes to invoices, and publishes consistent content—AI Business Sites eliminates the hidden costs and time drain of DIY platforms by providing a done-for-you operating system that runs the business behind the scenes. The model is simple: you focus on your trade; we handle the rest.