Carrd Alternative: 4 Options for Simple One-Page Sites

If you need a dead-simple one-page site and $19 a year works for you, Carrd still does the job. If you want a more generous free tier, full HTML control, or lower-friction publishing, there are better fits. Here is how four tools compare.

The short version: Carrd is still the cleanest no-code editor for a simple personal page. If you are generating your page with AI, HTML Pub publishes your HTML to a live URL in seconds. For marketing features and light ecommerce, Strikingly. For file-level control at low cost, Neocities. Full breakdown below.

Last updated July 2026. Prices are checked against each tool's current pricing; confirm before you commit.

Quick comparison

Tool	Free tier	Paid from	Custom domain	Best for
Carrd	3 sites, no custom domain	$19/year	Pro plan	Simple no-code one-pagers
HTML Pub	5 pages, build/preview only (no live publish)	$10/month	All paid plans	AI-generated HTML, quick publishing
Strikingly	Unlimited sites, Strikingly subdomain	$16/month	Pro plan	Marketing one-pagers with built-in features
Neocities	1 site, 1 GB storage	$5/month	Supporter plan	Developers managing files directly

Pricing verified April 2026 and reviewed July 2026. Verify current prices at each tool's site before committing.

Where Carrd still wins

Carrd has the cleanest visual editor for non-technical users who want a simple about page or link-in-bio site. The $19/year Pro price is genuinely cheap for what it includes: custom domain with SSL, contact and signup forms, Google Analytics, and no "Made with Carrd" footer branding. If you already know Carrd and your use case fits, there is no compelling reason to switch.

The catch: Carrd builds sites in its own format. You do not get raw HTML output you can take elsewhere, and the free tier blocks custom domains entirely, so you are on carrd.co subdomains until you pay.

Where HTML Pub wins

HTML Pub fits one specific workflow: you generated HTML in Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor and want it live fast. Building and previewing is free; a paid plan ($10/mo and up) publishes it to a live URL. No drag-and-drop editor to learn, no template constraints, no waiting.

For people running marketing experiments or testing landing page ideas, the publish-anything approach means you can ship a new variation in under a minute. The free plan lets you build and preview up to 5 pages with no card. Publishing live starts at $10/month and includes a custom domain.

The AI website builder approach also means you are not locked into a template format. Whatever HTML you generate with AI tools, HTML Pub publishes it. For teams using the MCP connector, you can publish directly from a Claude conversation without touching a dashboard at all.

The catch: HTML Pub does not have a visual editor. If you want to design a site without touching code, even AI-generated code, this is not the right tool.

Where Strikingly wins

Strikingly has the most feature-rich free plan for marketing-oriented one-pagers. The free tier allows unlimited sites on a Strikingly subdomain, 500 MB storage per site, 5 GB monthly bandwidth, and even basic ecommerce (one product, 5% transaction fee). The Pro plan at $16/month billed annually adds a custom domain, 20 GB storage per site, and up to 300 products.

The catch: Strikingly sites look like Strikingly sites. The templates are polished but visually identifiable. If you want something that feels fully custom, you will hit the ceiling of what their editor can produce.

Where Neocities wins

Neocities gives the most control for developers who want to host raw HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with no framework overhead. The free tier includes 1 GB storage and 200 GB monthly bandwidth. The Supporter plan at $5/month adds custom domains, a global CDN, SSL certificates, and the ability to manage multiple sites.

The catch: Neocities is intentionally minimal. There is no visual editor, no built-in forms, no analytics dashboard. You are managing files. That is the point for the audience it serves, but it is not a Carrd replacement for non-technical users.

Pricing side by side

Tool	Free	Entry paid	What you get
Carrd	3 sites, no custom domain	$19/year	Custom domain, forms, analytics, no branding
HTML Pub	5 pages (build/preview only)	$10/month	Live publishing, custom domain
Strikingly	Unlimited sites, limited storage	$16/month (billed yearly)	Custom domain, 20 GB storage, ecommerce
Neocities	1 site, 1 GB	$5/month	Custom domain, CDN, SSL, multiple sites

Who should use each

Use Carrd if you want a no-code visual editor for personal one-pagers and the $19/year price works.

Use HTML Pub if your workflow starts with AI-generated HTML and you want the fastest path from code to live URL. Also the right choice for running multiple landing pages or publishing directly from Claude.

Use Strikingly if you want a polished marketing page with ecommerce, forms, and analytics built in, and you are comfortable working within their template system.

Use Neocities if you are comfortable managing files directly and want the most control for the lowest price.

The bottom line

Carrd became popular because it solved a real problem: simple one-page sites with minimal friction. It still solves that problem. The alternatives here are not better across the board; they are better for specific workflows.

If you are generating sites with AI tools, Carrd's visual editor does not fit your workflow, and HTML Pub is a more direct answer. Carrd is an editor. HTML Pub is a description. They design. We build. If you want marketing features and forms without writing code, Strikingly covers more ground. If you want file-level control at the lowest cost, Neocities at $5/month is hard to match.

FAQ

What is HTML Pub? HTMLPub is the AI-native publishing platform that turns HTML, often generated with AI, into a live URL in about 60 seconds. You can paste HTML or publish straight from a Claude conversation through the MCP connector. The Free plan is permanent and needs no credit card: build and preview up to 5 pages with the full AI editor. Publishing a live page starts at $10 per month (Starter), and every paid plan includes a custom domain.

What is the best free Carrd alternative in 2026? It depends on your workflow. For a more generous marketing free tier, Strikingly allows unlimited sites with forms and basic ecommerce. For AI-generated HTML, HTML Pub publishes your page to a live URL in seconds (free to build; $10/mo to publish live). For raw file control, Neocities is $5/month with a CDN and SSL.

Is there a free alternative to Carrd with a custom domain? Not on the fully free tiers. Carrd, Strikingly, Neocities, and HTML Pub all require a paid plan for a custom domain, but the entry prices are low: Neocities $5/month, HTML Pub $10/month, Strikingly $16/month, and Carrd $19/year. Carrd is the cheapest if a yearly plan suits you.

What is the best Carrd alternative for AI-generated pages? HTML Pub. Carrd builds sites in its own visual format, so it does not fit a workflow that starts with HTML from Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor. With HTML Pub you paste the generated HTML, or publish straight from the Claude MCP connector, and get a live URL without a template editor (building is free; publishing a live page is a paid plan, from $10/mo).

Can I move my Carrd site somewhere else? Not as raw HTML. Carrd builds and exports in its own format rather than portable HTML files, so there is no clean export you can drop into another host. If portability matters, start with a tool that works in plain HTML, such as HTML Pub or Neocities.

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For more on the publishing options in this space, see our static site hosting comparison and our free one-page website builder roundup.

About the author

Yvonne Chow leads marketing at Leadpages and HTML Pub and ships web pages most weeks. She keeps these comparisons current: the free-tier limits, the pricing, and which tool actually fits which job, checked from the operator's seat rather than a spec sheet. Last reviewed July 2026.