A website used to be a folder of files you could carry to any host in a zip. The no-code builders made it a subscription instead: the editor, the CMS and the hosting all live inside one account, and the day you stop paying, the storefront comes down with the sign.
Webstudio is the same drag-and-drop editor, with the files handed back to you.
The best open source website builder for most people is Webstudio: AGPL-3.0 at its core, free to self-host or free on its cloud with a wstd.io subdomain, and $15 a month billed yearly for unlimited sites on custom domains (checked Nov 4, 2026). Silex is the pick if you want a free static-site builder run by a non-profit, Publii if you would rather build on your laptop and push to GitHub Pages, and WordPress if you need plugins more than a canvas.
What Webstudio actually is
Webstudio is a visual website builder that exposes every CSS property, connects to any headless CMS and can be hosted on your own server. Its GitHub description reads “Open source website builder and Webflow alternative”, the core is licensed AGPL-3.0-or-later, and the repo has about 9,100 stars with version 0.309.0 released on October 30, 2026 (repo). One optional animation package is proprietary.
Webstudio's cloud prices on Nov 4, 2026: Free with a wstd.io subdomain and unlimited projects; Pro at $15 a month billed yearly for unlimited sites with custom domains and 100,000 page views a month; Team at $35 a month billed yearly with five seats. The README says: “You can use the hosted version or roll out your own.”
Webflow's Basic plan is $15 a month per site. Webstudio's Pro plan is $15 a month for unlimited sites, and the self-hosted version is $0 for the same editor. The difference is who holds the files.
What Webflow, Framer and Squarespace charge now
Webflow now sells Starter, Basic and Premium site plans, priced per site. On Nov 4, 2026 webflow.com/pricing lists Starter as free with a webflow.io domain, 2 static pages and 1 GB of bandwidth; Basic at $15 a month billed yearly for a custom domain, 300 static pages and 10 GB; Premium at $25 a month billed yearly for the Webflow CMS and more bandwidth; and a Team platform plan at $2,500 a month on an annual contract. Webflow was last valued near four billion dollars, in a 2022 round.
Framer lists Free at $0 on a Framer domain, Basic at $10 a month and Pro at $30 on yearly billing, with extra editors at $20 a month each (checked Nov 4, 2026). Framer reportedly raised one hundred million dollars at a two billion dollar valuation in August 2025. Squarespace has no free plan; from Europe on Nov 4, 2026 its Basic plan showed as 69 to 99 złoty a month by billing period. Carrd charges by the year, from $9 on Pro Lite to $49 on Pro Plus (checked Nov 4, 2026).
The open source website builders
Of the 382 website builders in the AppClap catalog (Nov 4, 2026), 40 are open source and 69 can be self-hosted. Five of them replace Webflow or Framer for a small site.
Webstudio
Webstudio is a browser-based visual builder with full CSS control and static or dynamic export. It is free to self-host and free on its cloud subdomain; custom domains start at $15 a month billed yearly on Pro (checked Nov 4, 2026). The core is AGPL-3.0 with about 9,100 stars. It is best for a designer who knows Webflow and wants the same canvas without the per-site bill. The honest drawback: it is on a 0.x version line, and self-hosting means running a Node app and a database.
Silex
Silex is a free visual builder for static sites, run by the Silex Labs non-profit, with a free online editor at v3.silex.me. The site says “All features are free of charge, Silex is 100% free and open source” (checked Nov 4, 2026). The licence is AGPL-3.0, the repo has about 3,000 stars, and self-hosting is documented for Docker and Node.js (repo). It is best for someone who wants a builder with no pricing page. The drawback: the 3.10 line is still in canary builds, the latest on October 7, 2026.
Publii
Publii is a desktop CMS for Windows, Mac and Linux that builds a static site locally and deploys it to GitHub Pages, Netlify, Amazon S3 or SFTP. It is free, GPL-3.0 licensed, with about 7,400 stars and version 0.48.2 released on November 3, 2026 (repo). It is best for a blog or brochure site hosted for nothing. The drawback: it is a desktop app, so there is no shared editor for a team.
WordPress
WordPress is the open source CMS behind much of the web, with a block editor and a plugin directory. The software is free under the GPLv2 or later (repo); the cost is whatever host you put it on. It is best for a site that needs forms, e-commerce or memberships from a plugin. The drawback: the canvas is not a design tool, and plugin updates never stop.
Plasmic
Plasmic is a visual builder for React codebases, with a hosted editor, a headless CMS and deploys to your own servers. The free plan allows 3 collaborators with a Plasmic badge on hosted sites; Starter is $39 a month billed yearly, Pro $103 and Scale $399 (checked Nov 4, 2026). Everything outside the platform folder is MIT and the platform itself is AGPL, with about 7,100 stars (repo). It is best for a product team that wants marketing pages inside an existing React app. The drawback: it assumes a developer is in the room.
| Tool | Licence | Self-hosted price | Hosted option | Stars (Nov 4, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webstudio | AGPL-3.0 core, one proprietary package | $0 | Free subdomain, Pro $15/mo yearly | ~9,100 |
| Silex | AGPL-3.0 | $0 | Free at v3.silex.me | ~3,000 |
| Publii | GPL-3.0 | $0 (desktop app) | None, deploys to static hosts | ~7,400 |
| WordPress | GPLv2 or later | $0 plus hosting | Many hosts | ~21,500 (mirror) |
| Plasmic | MIT, platform AGPL | $0 | Free, Starter $39/mo yearly | ~7,100 |
| Webflow | Proprietary | n/a | Starter free, Basic $15, Premium $25 a site/mo yearly | n/a |
Webstudio vs Webflow
Webstudio and Webflow share the idea of a visual canvas on real CSS, and differ on licence, price and where the site lives. Webflow is proprietary and hosts every published site itself, at $15 a month per site on Basic and $25 on Premium billed yearly (checked Nov 4, 2026). Webstudio is AGPL-3.0, charges $15 a month for unlimited sites on its cloud, and lets you run the whole builder on your own server for $0. Webflow wins on polish, templates and the agencies who know it. Webstudio wins the moment you have a second site or want the files in your own hands; its plan comparison even lists a “Paste from Webflow” feature.
Is Webflow free?
Webflow has a free Starter plan, but it publishes only to a webflow.io subdomain with 2 static pages and 1 GB of bandwidth (checked Nov 4, 2026). A custom domain needs the Basic plan at $15 a month billed yearly, and the CMS needs Premium at $25. Webstudio, Silex, Publii, WordPress and Plasmic are free to self-host with a custom domain; for a static site the hosting bill can be zero.
What you actually take on
Webflow's price buys the hosting, the certificate, the form inbox and the CMS, maintained by someone else. For a marketing team with no developer, the $25 Premium plan is still a fair trade.
The self-hosted path moves those jobs to you. A Webstudio or WordPress install is a server with a public port, and it needs updates and backups. Publii and Silex sidestep most of that by producing static files. If a lost form submission at 2am is a problem you would rather not own, the paid builder is the right call. If the site is the storefront and you want the keys, the open source builders will hand them over.
- 1Do you have more than one site to run, or expect to?
- 2Is someone on the team comfortable with a static host, or a small server?
- 3Does the site need a shared editor, or can one person build and push it?
- 4If the builder raised its price next year, would you rather read the email or not receive it?
This series keeps walking down a hallway of paid-app doors, from dictation through the CRM, the mailbox and the drawing board. Today's door is the storefront itself, the website every other tool points at. We keep writing these at AppClap because a search for software should put the tool you can own next to the famous one, with the price on the page. Our Webflow alternatives, Framer alternatives, Squarespace alternatives and Carrd alternatives pages list everything we track, and if you would rather describe the job, start from a website builder I can host myself. Thirty seconds on the question is worth it: do you want to rent the storefront, or build it yourself?
