Can You Actually Publish a Site on Framer's Free Plan? Yes — With Four Walls to Know About First

If you are considering Framer for a portfolio or an event page, the first question is usually: can the free plan actually put a site online?

It can. But the free tier is built to let you make something and show it publicly, not to run a production site. Here is where the line sits, based on the pricing page as read on 2026-09-07.

1. What free includes (the four official lines)

• 500 AI credits to try
• Free Framer domain (a Framer subdomain)
• 1 GB bandwidth
• Design pages

So yes: you can build a full design, publish it, and send someone the link. For a portfolio, a résumé page or the first version of an event page, that is often enough.

2. The four walls you will hit

Wall 1: the address is a Framer subdomain, not yours. Custom domains start at Basic (US$10/month), where they are included at no extra charge. A subdomain is fine for a personal portfolio; it is not fine for client work or a URL you plan to print on a business card.

Wall 2: 1 GB of bandwidth. This is the most underestimated limit. Roughly speaking, 1 GB covers a few hundred to a couple of thousand views of an image-heavy page — an estimate that depends entirely on your asset sizes, not an official figure. Fine for showing a handful of people; not fine once something gets shared and traffic arrives. Video and large images burn it much faster.

Wall 3: 500 AI credits is a trial amount, not a monthly allowance. The paid tiers are described as “1,000 AI credits / month” and “3,000 credits / month.” The free tier says “500 AI credits to try.” The wording difference is deliberate: paid renews, free does not. Anyone planning to lean on AI agents for content will exhaust it quickly.

Wall 4: CMS and advanced publishing features are not on free. In the comparison table, CMS collections, site redirects, staging, branching previews, password protection and site search all start at Basic or Pro. Free suits a few static pages; it does not suit a site with a post list you intend to keep updating.

3. Three things free is genuinely good for

1. A personal portfolio or résumé page: few pages, low traffic, subdomain acceptable.
2. A clickable prototype for a pitch: sending a real, navigable page beats static mockups, and you pay nothing to find out whether the client likes it.
3. Deciding whether the tool suits you: Framer’s model is closer to a design tool than a typical site builder. Build one page free before committing money.

4. When to upgrade (decision points, not a sales pitch)

Per the published feature split, four situations outgrow free:

• You need your own domain → Basic (US$10/month)
• Traffic will exceed 1 GB/month → Basic gives 50 GB, Pro gives 100 GB
• You need a post or project list (CMS) → Basic includes 2 CMS collections and 1,000 items
• You are migrating an existing site and need to keep rankings → site redirects are a Pro (US$30/month) feature

That last point deserves emphasis: people assume Basic covers a migration, but redirects live on Pro. Without them every old URL 404s and your search rankings go with it. If you are replatforming, look at Pro directly.

5. Practical advice before you start

1. Compress images before uploading. With 1 GB of bandwidth, asset size directly determines how many people can view your site. This stays true after upgrading, too — past Pro’s 100 GB it is US$40 per additional 100 GB.
2. Save the AI credits for something that matters. 500 is a one-off trial amount, not a playground.
3. Decide early whether you need a CMS. If your site will have a growing list of posts or projects, structure it as CMS content from the start so upgrading does not mean rebuilding.

Verified 2026-09-07 from the Framer pricing page; plan contents can change and the official page is authoritative. For the tier-by-tier and overage breakdown see our Framer pricing check, and the full record on the Framer tool page.