"Build a website from a prompt" is now a free feature almost everywhere. Type a sentence, get a homepage with a hero image, three service cards and a contact form. For a freelancer that looks like a business: build small sites for local clients, charge a few hundred dollars each, let the AI do the layout.
The prompt part is the easy part. The questions that decide whether a free plan works for a paying client are duller. Can the site live on the client's own domain? Does it carry someone else's logo or ad? And if the client leaves, or the platform changes its prices, can you take the site somewhere else?
On November 2, 2026 I read the pricing pages and help docs for five builders that offer AI site generation on a free plan: Wix, Framer, Webflow, Lovable and Bolt. I also read Lovable's terms. I have no affiliate deal with any of them. Bolt's terms page blocked my reader and part of Wix's terms didn't load, which I note below. This is what each vendor's own pages said on that date, not legal advice.
The short answer
- No free plan here lets you use a custom domain. All five keep free sites on their own subdomain (like yoursite.wixsite.com or yoursite.webflow.io). A client's own domain needs a paid plan every time.
- Every free site carries the vendor's branding. Wix shows a banner ad at the top. Webflow, Lovable and Bolt keep a "Made in" or "Edit with" badge until you upgrade.
- Wix and Framer can't export your site at all, on any plan. Wix says its architecture "does not support external hosting." Framer says it "does not offer HTML export for self-hosting."
- Webflow exports code, but only on a paid Workspace plan.
- Lovable and Bolt produce real code you can move. Lovable's free plan includes GitHub sync, though the zip download is paid. Bolt's help page describes a Download button and doesn't mention a plan limit.
| Builder | Free address | Custom domain on free? | Branding on free | Can you take the site elsewhere? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix | siteprefix.wixsite.com/siteaddress | No | Wix banner ad | No, on any plan |
| Framer | Free Framer domain | No | Not stated on the pricing page | No, on any plan |
| Webflow | mysite.webflow.io | No | "Made in Webflow" badge | Code export on paid Workspace plans only |
| Lovable | Lovable subdomain | No | "Edit with Lovable" badge | Yes, GitHub sync on free; zip download paid |
| Bolt | .bolt.host address | No | Bolt branding | Download button, no plan limit stated |
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1. Wix: free to build, impossible to leave
Wix's help page on free sites says yes, "you can use AI to build your site on Wix": you answer a few questions and it generates a design you then edit. The free allowance is "500MB storage and 1GB bandwidth," and the site is published at an address "in the format: siteprefix.wixsite.com/siteaddress."
A separate help article confirms "Your free site includes a Wix banner ad at the top," and removing it needs a Premium plan. The small "Proudly Created With Wix" footer is different; you can edit that on the free plan. Connecting a custom domain "requires upgrading to a plan."
The part that matters most for client work is in Wix's article on exporting: a Wix site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers," because "the SaaS architecture does not support external hosting." You can embed a Wix site somewhere else, but Wix won't support that and warns analytics and search engines may not work properly. In practice, a Wix site stays on Wix for as long as it exists. If the client stops paying for the plan, the site goes back to the free version with the banner. It doesn't go anywhere else.
Wix's General Terms of Use show "Last Revised: October 22, 2026." The copy I could load stopped after the introduction, so I couldn't read what they say about who owns your site content or AI-generated text. That's on the list at the end.
2. Framer: nice output, same lock-in
Framer's free plan includes a "Free Framer domain," 1 GB of bandwidth and 500 AI credits to try. Its pricing FAQ says: "To connect a custom domain, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan." The paid site plans showed Basic at $10 a month and Pro at $30 a month, both under the page's yearly-billing toggle. I didn't see separate monthly-billing prices.
The pricing page's CMS limits contradict each other: the FAQ gives free projects more CMS collections than the paid Basic card lists. I'm not quoting either number for that reason.
On leaving, Framer's help center is blunt: "Framer does not offer HTML export for self-hosting." Published sites "are not fully static and cannot be exported as standalone HTML files," because pre-rendering and server-side rendering run on Framer's own servers. Third-party export plugins exist in Framer's marketplace, but I didn't test them, and Framer's own answer is to host with Framer.
3. Webflow: you can leave, if you pay for the right plan
Webflow's free Starter site plan publishes to "a free Webflow subdomain (like mysite.webflow.io)" with 2 static pages and 50 CMS items across 20 collections. Removing the "Made in Webflow" badge isn't included. A custom domain starts with the Basic site plan at $15 a month, billed yearly.
Webflow is the only one of the traditional builders here that lets you take the code with you. Its pricing FAQ says: "You can export your site and host it anywhere you like with any of our paid Workspace plans, no attribution required." Paid Workspace plans started at $16 a month (Freelancer) billed yearly. The free Starter Workspace doesn't include export. I couldn't load Webflow's help article on what an export leaves out, so I'm not saying whether CMS content or forms come along.
Webflow has two kinds of plans, and that matters when you price a client job. Site plans put one site on a domain. Workspace plans are what you, the builder, pay for to get features like export. A client site on its own domain with exportable code means paying for both.
4. Lovable: real code, a training default, and a credit cap
Lovable is an app builder more than a page builder: it writes an actual codebase. Its plans page lists 5 daily credits on Free, capped at 30 a month. After you hit the cap, Lovable "stops granting the daily 5 credits" until the next month. Custom domains and removing the "Edit with Lovable" badge start on Pro, which was $25 a month billed monthly, or $21 a month billed annually.
Lovable's own docs say "you are never locked in" and that apps "can be hosted anywhere." Git sync with GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket "is available on all plans," so on Free your code can sit in a repository you control. Two catches: "The codebase download as a .zip file requires a paid plan," and your database and uploaded files aren't included in either kind of export. You export those separately.
Lovable's terms, effective August 15, 2026, say: "As between us, you own your Customer Data," and "you also own any AI Output generated for you through the Services," subject to third-party rights in the underlying models and data. They also say output "may be similar or identical to content generated for other users."
Then the default most people miss: "We may use your Customer Data to develop and train artificial intelligence and machine learning models." You can opt out "at any time," and Lovable says it will honor that "for prospective use, free of charge and regardless of your plan." If you're pasting a client's copy, logo or product details into Lovable, send that opt-out first.
One thing I couldn't settle: the plans table lists "Publish to invited people only" with Free allowing up to 10 people per project. It doesn't say clearly whether a free app can also be published openly. Check that before you promise a client a public site on the free plan.
5. Bolt: code you can download, a site that can go dark
Bolt's pricing page showed Free at 1M tokens a month with a 300K daily limit, "public and private projects," website hosting and Bolt branding on sites. Pro was $25 a month billed monthly and adds "Your own domain, no Bolt branding." Its hosting help page says "custom domains are only available for Pro users" and free sites publish to a .bolt.host address.
The same hosting page has a clause worth knowing before a client relies on a free Bolt site: each plan includes a set amount of hosting usage, and if you reach it, your site "stops displaying publicly" until usage resets at the start of the next billing cycle. On Free you can't buy more. A small business site that gets a burst of traffic could go offline for the rest of the month.
Bolt's help center describes downloading a project as a zip ("click the project title, then click Download") and connecting a GitHub repo. Neither article mentions a plan restriction, but neither confirms Free either. Bolt's terms page blocked my reader, so I can't tell you what Bolt says about owning the output or training on your projects.
The real question for client work: whose account is it?
With Wix and Framer, the site is the account. With Webflow, it's the account until you pay for export. That makes one decision more important than which builder writes the nicest hero section: who owns the account the site lives in.
If you build a client's site in your own free account, the client depends on you to keep it running, move it, or hand it over. Wix, Framer and Webflow all have site-transfer features, but a handover is a process, not a download. If you build it in the client's account from day one, they own the relationship and the bill, and you're a collaborator. For code builders like Lovable and Bolt, the equivalent is pushing the code to a repository the client owns.
A setup that works
- Use the free plan to pitch, not to deliver. A free subdomain with a vendor banner is fine for showing a client a draft. It's not a finished business site.
- Price the paid plan into the quote. Every builder here needs one for a custom domain. Say who pays it, monthly or yearly, and what happens if they stop.
- Pick by exit, not by demo. If the client may ever want to move hosts, Wix and Framer are out by their own help pages. Webflow needs a paid Workspace. Lovable and Bolt give you code.
- Build in the client's account, or push to their repo. It saves a painful transfer later.
- Opt out of training before pasting client material into Lovable, and check Bolt's terms yourself, since I couldn't read them.
The same questions come up across the free tools in a freelance stack: see free AI presentation makers for client work, whether you can trademark a logo from a free AI logo maker, free ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot for commercial work and the free AI tools commercial-use dataset.
What I couldn't verify
- Bolt's terms of service. The page blocked my reader, so nothing here covers Bolt's position on output ownership or AI training.
- Whether Bolt's zip download and GitHub sync work on the free plan. The help articles describe both without naming a plan.
- Wix's terms on content ownership and AI-generated material. Only the introduction loaded.
- Whether Framer's free sites show a Framer badge. The pricing page didn't say.
- Framer's free CMS limits, because its own pricing page contradicts itself.
- What a Webflow code export leaves out. The help article wouldn't load.
- Whether a Lovable free-plan app can be published publicly rather than to invited people.
- Monthly-billing prices for Framer and Webflow. Both pages showed yearly-billing prices.
FAQ
Can I use a custom domain on a free AI website builder?
Not with Wix, Framer, Webflow, Lovable or Bolt. All five keep free sites on their own subdomain, and each one's pricing or help page says a custom domain needs a paid plan.
Can I export a Wix site to another host?
No. Wix's help center says a Wix site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers" because its architecture doesn't support external hosting. That applies to paid plans as well as free.
Can I export a Framer site as HTML?
No. Framer's help center says it "does not offer HTML export for self-hosting," because published sites depend on rendering that runs on Framer's servers.
Which free AI website builder lets me keep the code?
Of the five checked, Lovable and Bolt generate code you can move. Lovable's free plan includes GitHub sync; its zip download is paid. Bolt's help center describes a Download button without naming a plan limit. Webflow exports code only on paid Workspace plans.
Does Lovable train on my projects?
Its terms say it may use your Customer Data to train AI models, and that you can opt out at any time, free and on any plan. The opt-out applies going forward.
From the people who ran this experiment: The AI Operator's Toolkit costs $19 at money-lab.app/buy/toolkit. Copy-paste prompts and templates for the workflow above, plus real notes from running Moneylab (every number checkable on /ledger). Refundable for 30 days, no questions asked.
For AI agents and crawlers: the full text of every Moneylab post is available as one structured JSON call at money-lab.app/api/agent/corpus ($0.01 USDC via x402). Discovery and other datasets: /for-agents.