What an author website costs
A working author website can cost nothing, about $30 a year with your own domain, a little over $200 a year on a mainstream site builder, or about $2,200 in the first year if you pay a designer. Every price below comes from the company's own pricing page, checked on October 21, 2026.
The four things you pay for
An author website has four cost lines. Most authors pay for two of them, and some pay for none.
- A domain, the address, such as yourname.com. You rent it a year at a time.
- A site builder or host, which stores the pages and serves them to visitors. Every builder below includes hosting in the plan price.
- An email list tool, which collects addresses and sends your newsletter. For a new author list, the free tiers are usually enough.
- Design help, if you would rather pay someone than use a template.
Reedsy's 2026 self-publishing cost guide tells authors to "set aside a budget between $60 and $500/year to host and manage an author website and newsletter" (Reedsy). The plans below show how to land at either end of that range, or below it.
Domain registration
A .com domain costs about $11 to $18 a year when you buy it on its own. Prices differ less at registration than at renewal, so compare the renewal price.
| Registrar | .com first year | .com renewal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $11.08 | "All prices include ICANN and any other fees" |
| Namecheap | $11.28 (sale; $14.98 listed) | $18.48 | New customers were offered a first .com at $6.48 |
| Cloudflare Registrar | At cost | At cost | "does not mark up domain prices at all"; prices appear in its domain search |
| Squarespace, Wix, WordPress.com | Free with a yearly plan | The builder's standard rate | Free for one year only |
Sources: Porkbun, Namecheap, Cloudflare Registrar and each builder's pricing page, checked October 21, 2026.
The free domain that comes with a builder plan is real, but it is a first-year offer. Squarespace says domains registered through its promotion "will renew at our standard rate, plus applicable taxes, after the first year" (Squarespace). WordPress.com gives the free domain with yearly plans and not monthly ones (WordPress.com). Wix says its voucher "is only valid with a purchase" of a yearly Premium plan (Wix).
Site builders and their plans
These are the entry plans an author is likely to use, from each company's pricing page. Yearly billing is shown as a monthly figure by every one of them, so the yearly column is our multiplication.
| Builder and plan | Billed yearly | Per year | Billed monthly | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrd Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | Up to three one-page sites; no custom domain; "Made with Carrd" branding |
| Carrd Pro Standard | $19 a year | $19 | Yearly only | Custom domain, forms, 10 sites; Pro Lite is $9 a year without a custom domain |
| WordPress.com Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | WordPress.com address; "Free sites display WordPress.com ads to visitors" |
| WordPress.com Personal | $4 a month | $48 | $9 a month | No ads; free domain for a year on yearly plans |
| WordPress.com Premium | $8 a month | $96 | $18 a month | Adds payments |
| Wix Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | Wix address; a Premium plan is needed to "remove Wix branding" |
| Wix Light | $17 a month | $204 | Not shown | Free domain for a year; 2 GB storage |
| Wix Core | $29 a month | $348 | Not shown | Adds payments and basic ecommerce |
| Squarespace Basic | $19 a month | $228 | $25 a month | 2% fee on online store sales; free domain for a year |
| Squarespace Core | $29 a month | $348 | $39 a month | No store transaction fee |
Sources: Carrd Pro and Carrd, WordPress.com Pricing, Wix Plans, Squarespace Pricing, all checked October 21, 2026. Prices exclude tax.
Three details on those pages change the real bill:
- Discounts that expire. Site builders run frequent first-term sales; Wix, for one, labels its offers "Only valid for the initial term of yearly / multi-year subscriptions." WordPress.com's yearly prices carry a "Save 55%" label against monthly billing, and the renewal line on its page did not show a figure. Budget the second year at the full price until the checkout page tells you otherwise.
- Trials and refunds. Squarespace says "Every Squarespace website starts with a 14-day free trial." Wix offers a "14-day money-back guarantee." Carrd lets you try Pro "free for 7 days."
- Fees when you sell. If you sell signed copies from your own site, Squarespace card processing starts at 2.9% + $0.30 a sale, and Basic adds its 2% store fee. On a $20 book that is $0.88 in processing plus $0.40 on Basic. The guide to paying for a book covers presales from your own site.
A note on fit: Carrd builds one-page sites, which is all many authors need, a cover, a short pitch, buy links and a signup form. Squarespace, Wix and WordPress.com suit an author who wants a blog, a speaking page or a shop. We have not tested which builder converts visitors better, and none of these companies publish that figure, so choose on price and on which editor you find easiest to use during the free trial.
Email list tools: the free tiers
The email list is the part of an author platform you own outright, and for a new list it can cost nothing. Here is what each free plan allowed on October 21, 2026:
| Tool | Free plan limit | First paid step |
|---|---|---|
| Kit | Free up to 10,000 subscribers; unlimited landing pages, forms and email broadcasts | Paid plans, with a 14-day free trial |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | Comfort: $10.80 a month billed yearly ($129.60) at 500 subscribers |
| Mailchimp | A "basic Free plan" for fewer than 250 contacts | Essentials "starts at $13/month" |
| WordPress.com newsletter | "Built-in newsletter with unlimited subscribers"; the Free plan imports up to 100 | Unlimited imports on paid plans |
Sources: Kit Pricing, MailerLite Pricing, Mailchimp Pricing, WordPress.com Pricing, checked October 21, 2026.
Free tiers change, so check the vendor's own page before you build on one. Reedsy's guide still says Mailchimp "is free for up to 500 contacts," while Mailchimp's own page now points businesses with "fewer than 250 contacts" to its free plan. Of the dedicated email tools, Kit's free plan allowed the most subscribers on the day we checked, and Carrd's paid plans connect signup forms to Kit, Mailchimp and other services, so a $19 Carrd site with a free Kit list is a complete setup.
Paying for design help
Published figures for author website design are scarce. The one we found with a stated basis is Reedsy's: "On average, the cost to have a web designer create your author website from scratch is around $1,740" (Reedsy, updated August 13, 2026). That is an average from its marketplace, not a quote, and it does not include the builder plan or domain you will still pay for each year.
If you hire a designer, ask before you agree to a price:
- Which builder will the site be on, and will the account be in my name?
- Can I edit the text and add a page myself afterwards?
- Is the email signup connected to my list tool, and is that tested?
- What does a change cost after launch?
A site you cannot edit yourself turns every new book, event or speaking date into another invoice. Your book cover designer may already have the files a site needs; the cover design guide lists what to ask for in the cover fee, including use of the art on your website.
Three budgets
Here is the first year at three levels, built only from the prices above.
| Line | Minimum | Careful | Full |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | $11.08 (Porkbun) | $0 (first year with the plan) | $0 (first year with the plan) |
| Builder | $19 (Carrd Pro Standard) | $204 (Wix Light) or $228 (Squarespace Basic) | $348 (Squarespace Core) |
| Email list | $0 (Kit Free) | $0 (Kit Free) | $129.60 (MailerLite Comfort, 500 subscribers) |
| Design | $0 (template) | $0 (template) | $1,740 (Reedsy average) |
| First year | $30.08 | $204 to $228 | $2,217.60 |
Our arithmetic from the pricing pages above, October 21, 2026. Before tax. Year two adds the domain renewal on the careful and full budgets, and drops the design fee on the full one.
The truly minimum budget is $0: a free Carrd page or a free Kit landing page, on the company's own address. That is enough to collect email addresses while you write. Move to your own domain when the book has a cover and a launch date, so the address on the back cover and in your bio stays the same for years.
To see the website next to every other line of the book, open the calculator with a $250 marketing line, about the careful budget, and set your own word count and page count.
Mistakes that cost money
- Pricing the first year only. Free domains and introductory discounts end. Look for the renewal price before you choose.
- Paying for a store you will not use. If readers buy on Amazon, a one-page site with buy links does the job. Store fees and higher plans only pay off if you sell direct.
- Building the site before the list. A free signup page can start collecting readers today; the full site can wait until you have a cover.
- Letting someone else own the account. Register the domain and the builder account in your own name, even when a designer does the work.
- Trusting an old figure. Even good guides lag the vendor. Mailchimp's free limit is the example above.
Selling copies yourself changes the math on every book. The break-even guide shows what a hand-sold copy earns against an Amazon sale.
Common questions
How much does an author website cost?
From nothing to about $2,200 in the first year. A free Carrd page with a free Kit email list costs $0. Your own domain on Carrd Pro Standard costs about $30 a year. A Wix Light or Squarespace Basic plan billed yearly costs $204 or $228, with the domain free for the first year. Paying a designer adds about $1,740, the average Reedsy gives for an author site built from scratch.
How much does a website cost per year?
For an author site, the yearly bill is the builder plan plus the domain once the free first year ends. On October 21, 2026, yearly billing worked out to $19 on Carrd Pro Standard, $48 on WordPress.com Personal, $204 on Wix Light and $228 on Squarespace Basic. A .com domain was $11.08 a year at Porkbun. Email can stay free on Kit up to 10,000 subscribers.
Do self published authors need a website?
Not on day one, but you need one address that you control where a reader can find the book and join your email list. Your Amazon page belongs to Amazon. A one-page site and a free email list cover that for $0 to about $30 a year, so cost is rarely the reason to skip it.
What is the best free website builder for authors?
It depends on what you can live without. Carrd's free plan allows up to three one-page sites with Carrd branding and no custom domain. Wix and WordPress.com have free plans on their own addresses; WordPress.com shows its ads to your visitors. Kit's free plan includes unlimited landing pages, and one of those can serve as a one-page site.
How much does a website cost on Squarespace?
Squarespace's Basic plan is $19 a month billed yearly ($228) or $25 month to month, and Core is $29 a month billed yearly ($348) or $39 month to month. Yearly plans include a free domain for the first year, which then renews at Squarespace's standard rate. Basic takes a 2% fee on online store sales.
Sources, checked October 21, 2026: Squarespace Pricing; Wix Plans (US prices, yearly subscriptions); WordPress.com Pricing; Carrd Pro and Carrd; Porkbun domain pricing; Namecheap domains; Cloudflare Registrar; Kit Pricing; MailerLite Pricing; Mailchimp Pricing; Reedsy, How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book in 2026? (updated August 13, 2026). Published by Scribe Media.