Carrd vs WordPress
Carrd scores 8.1/10, WordPress 7.9/10. Where each one wins, what they cost and who should pick which, side by side.
The short answer
Carrd scores 8.1/10 and WordPress scores 7.9/10 on our rubric. The scores are close enough that fit matters more than the headline number.
Carrd leads on ease of use, value, and support. WordPress leads on flexibility. They tie on design.
Carrd starts at $1.58/mo and has a free plan; WordPress starts at $0/mo and has a free plan. WordPress is the cheaper way in.
| Carrd | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 8.1 | 7.9 |
| From | $1.58 | $0 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Sells online | No | Yes |
| Code export | No | Yes |
| Ease of use | 9.6 | 5.6 |
| Design | 7.8 | 7.8 |
| Flexibility | 5.6 | 9.8 |
| Value | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| Support | 6.8 | 6.4 |
What Carrd does well
- $19 a year, not a month
- One-page sites live in under an hour
- No bloat at all
What WordPress does well
- Powers a large share of the web, so every problem has been solved by someone already
- Tens of thousands of themes and plugins
- You own the site outright and can move it to any host
Who each one is for
Carrd. Link-in-bio pages, personal profiles, event and launch pages, and validating an idea before committing to a real site. On cost per outcome at this size, nothing here is close.
WordPress. Content-heavy sites, anyone who wants to own the stack outright, and projects where a specific plugin solves a problem no hosted builder addresses. If the site will live for years and change often, the ownership pays for itself.
Pricing side by side
Carrd
| Free | $0 | up to 3 sites on a carrd.co address, with Carrd branding |
|---|---|---|
| Pro Lite | $9/year | 3 sites, no branding, but no custom domain |
| Pro Standard | $19/year | 10 sites, custom domains, forms, embeds and analytics |
| Pro Plus | $49/year | 25 sites, redirects, password protection, downloadable sites |
WordPress
| WordPress.org | Free software | you pay for hosting, a domain and any premium plugins or themes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com Personal | $4/mo first year, then $5 | billed yearly, 6 GB, no ads, plugins allowed |
| WordPress.com Premium | $8/mo first year, then $9 | 13 GB, all premium themes, payment buttons, video |
| WordPress.com Business | $25/mo first year, then $28 | 50 GB, SSH and Git deploys, real-time backups, priority support |
| WordPress.com Commerce | $45/mo first year, then $50 | WooCommerce store features on top of Business |
What a year costs
Carrd
Carrd's pricing is refreshingly small, but the three Pro plans are not interchangeable. Pro Lite, at $9 a year, removes the branding and adds bigger images and premium templates, but it does not let you use your own domain. For almost everyone with a business, the right plan is Pro Standard at $19 a year: custom domains, contact and signup forms, embeds for things like Stripe or Gumroad, and analytics.
Plan price
WordPress
WordPress.com's headline prices are introductory. On yearly billing, Personal is $4 a month for the first year and renews at $5; Premium goes from $8 to $9, Business from $25 to $28 and Commerce from $45 to $50. Paying monthly is much more expensive, from $9 a month for Personal to $70 for Commerce, and two- and three-year terms are cheaper still. Budget on the renewal figure, not the first-year one.
Plan price after the first year
Who should skip each one
Carrd
Any site that needs multiple pages, a blog or a store. Using Carrd for those means fighting the product's single clear decision.
WordPress
Someone who wants to be online this afternoon and never think about the site again. Every hosted builder here beats it on time-to-live and on not having to care about updates.
The bottom line
Carrd
For a one-page site, Carrd is the best value on the web, and Pro Standard at $19 a year is the plan to buy. Use it for a personal homepage, a launch page or a link hub, and do not be embarrassed by how little it costs.
WordPress
Choose WordPress when you want to own your site outright and expect it to grow into something other builders cannot contain. For most people, WordPress.com's Personal or Premium plan is the sensible way in; developers and content-heavy businesses should look at Business or self-hosting.
Questions people ask
Is Carrd better than WordPress?
Carrd scores 8.1/10 and WordPress scores 7.9/10 on our rubric. The scores are close enough that fit matters more than the headline number. Carrd leads on ease of use, value, and support. WordPress leads on flexibility. They tie on design.
Which is cheaper, Carrd or WordPress?
Carrd starts at $1.58/mo and has a free plan; WordPress starts at $0/mo and has a free plan. WordPress is the cheaper way in.
Which is easier to use, Carrd or WordPress?
Carrd scores 9.6/10 for ease of use against WordPress at 5.6/10.
Do Carrd and WordPress have a free plan?
Both Carrd and WordPress have a free plan.
Can you sell online with Carrd and WordPress?
Carrd is not built for selling products; WordPress can take payments and run a store.
Can you move your site off Carrd or WordPress?
Carrd does not export a working site; WordPress lets you export your code.
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