If you've ever built a site in the past, you know that it requires a lot of time and patience, and it can be a daunting task.
What's HTML? Where do you start? Do you need engineers? Should you use a template? These are all questions that you might start asking yourself if you start going down a rabbit hole of how to build a site.
Thankfully, suppose you're looking for an easy, off-the-shelf solution. In that case, Carrd can help you design and create a stunning website in minutes without needing a web developer or any fancy programming knowledge.
Whether you are an independent artist, freelancer, consultant, or author, if you're looking for a website builder that helps you create a simple modern website with all your business information, Carrd might be worth checking out. While you might think Wix and Squarespace are simple, which they are, Carrd takes simplicity to another level.
In this review, we'll discuss its history, some of the features, the relevant benefits, pricing, and our recommendation on when Carrd is a good choice. Also, we'll share some alternatives with Carrd as well.
Keep scrolling and reading to learn more about this simple, easy-to-use, one-page website builder.
What is Carrd? Carrd is an online website building platform designed to create single-page websites for promoting yourself, r your business, a cause, or even an event. The Carrd platform is a good fit for individual creator portfolios and small businesses that need a simple landing page to promote their product. Creators, podcasters, fitness instructors, and almost anyone, can use the site to share more about their projects or themselves.
In short, it is ideal for anyone who wants to make a personal website, submission forms, one-page portfolios, or even use a landing page as a link in bio (like Beacons ). Apart from using a site as a link in your bio on a social platform like TikTok, you can also include it as one of your links in your existing link in bio tool.
Carrd home page
Quick Background about Carrd Carrd was founded in 2016 by AJ, a developer, and designer from Nashville. AJ posted a lengthy article explaining the whole journey of the platform. If you like, you can read AJ's full story about starting Carrd here .
The main idea behind launching Carrd was to simplify the process of creating the landing pages or website without any technical knowledge. Although the platform is relatively new, it has become popular, and the company keeps adding new attractive features. According to SimilarWeb, there were 22.3M visitors to the Carrd website in August 2022, so it's still popular six years after being launched.
While Carrd offers a free plan, there's also a paid pro plan that we'll discuss below. With the free Plan, you're limited to three sites.
From small businesses to anyone who wants a simple and professional one-page website or landing page to sell their services or as a portfolio, Carrd is a sensible choice.
As Simple as a Website Builder Can Be With so many website builders out there, why should you consider Carrd? Let's talk about some of the key features that differentiate Carrd.
Clean, Simple Interface Carrd has a clean and modern user interface. Because of its simplicity, it is beginner friendly. If you have no coding knowledge and no experience creating websites, Carrd is perfect for you. The platform also guides you at every step through recommended steps, so you won't need to research a tutorial on setting up your site.
Variety of Templates & Design Features Carrd offers five template categories: landing page, profile, entry form, portfolio, and section templates. Since these are pre-built, you can choose a template according to your purpose and modify it afterward, saving you hours.
Additionally, the platform is flexible. It's easy to customize content. You can add media, edit text, choose from many fonts, and add new buttons, tables, and lists. You can design a website according to your personality or audience as a creator.
Carrd templates
Built-in animations Another great feature of Carrd is that it allows you to add animation effects to your webpage. Adding animations can make your website more appealing to your audience, especially if you're an artistic creator. These animations can be applied in different ways based on your vibe.
Responsiveness When building a site in 2022, you need to ensure the area is responsive and looks good on mobile phones. Carrd is fully responsive, so you don't have to worry about this. Additionally, it allows you to preview the mobile version of your page. Plus, you can edit the site for mobile devices. First, ensuring that the page is mobile responsive is valuable, but making mobile-only design changes is a feature many competitors do not offer.
Free Generous Plan with 3 Affordable Premium Plans Carrd has simple pricing plans. Carrd offers a free generous program and three super affordable paid tiers that are charged yearly, not monthly. Below are the different paid tiers you can upgrade to.
Free Plan: $0 With its forever free Plan, you can create up to three sites with access to 100 of their expertly-designed templates. However, on the free Plan, the sites will have Carrd branding and be on a carrd.co subdomain.
The free Plan of Carrd might be a good fit for beginners. It also might be a good fit if you're the site to build a page for a one-time event.
Some of Carrd's key paid features on the upgraded plans
Pro Lite: $9/year The Pro Lite is the cheapest premium plan and gives you access to the following:
Three sites with custom URL ability Carrd branding removed Quality media Access to more premium templates Element limit removed
Pro Standard: $19/year The Pro Standard Plan offers the following features:
Ten sites with custom domain URLs Google Analytics integration Ability to embed features Widgets Custom meta tags
Pro Plus: $49/year The Pro Plus offers the following features along with all the features of Pro Standard:
Up to 25 websites Password protection on sites Custom templates Redirect options Download site HTML Additional Advanced settings
Other Website Builders similar to Carrd There are alternatives if you don't like Carrd for one reason or another. Maybe you don't care for the simplicity Carrd offers and want something more powerful and customizable.
Here are other website builders that can work for creators based on your needs. Let's take a look at these similar products.
Wix Wix is a versatile and cheap website builder in the creators' space. This easy-to-use platform offers high flexibility to make an appealing website for your small businesses. Here are some of the features that Wix offers:
Customizable website templates Free Domain 24/7 customer support Advanced SEO Toolkit Extensive template library User-friendly interface Moreover, paid plans of Wix offer comprehensive support, unlimited bandwidth, 32 GB support, and other advanced features.
Squarespace Squarespace is one of the most well-known website builders that you can use to design portfolio sites, blogs, resumes, online stores, business websites, and other professional websites. Squarespace is the ideal solution for solopreneurs and small business owners without technical skills. Here are the features of Squarespace:
Extensive customization options Free domain & SSL Built-in marketing tools Drag and drop builder All in one platform 24/7 support Squarespace is a bit more expensive tool than the above ones. Its pricing plan starts from $12 per month.
Who should be using Squarespace, though? Creators that are aesthetically inclined. Namely, Squarespace is known for building some of the most beautiful sites. The company values making sure sites look like they were designed professionally, so it's hard to make an ugly site on Squarespace.
Linktree While Linktree isn't precisely a website builder, the entire class of link in bio apps competes with website builders. Among the link in bio apps, Linktree is the best link-in bio tool used by influencers, creators, small teams, and businesses. With Linktree, you can build a single landing page, display links on it, and share those links with your audience. Creators mainly use it to share their social media links simply.
Here are some of its top features;
Add unlimited links Custom designs Two-factor authentication Create a QR code Lifetime analytics Social icons Linktree premium tier offers extra features at $5 a month, which is the best professional solution for businesses.
Best Site Builder on a Budget Carrd is an affordable and straightforward solution for designing single-page sites. This easy-to-use platform is perfect for beginners and experienced users both. It's a good fit for anyone who wants to make a site with a low-cost investment of money and time.
Even if you're using a link in bio tool like Linktree or Beacons as your primary link in your social handles, you might want to use Carrd for occasional side projects or events. For instance, imagine you started a book club and wanted to make a site about - you might link your TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube on Beacons already, so you don't want to remove your Beacons link, but you can use Carrd to create a page and add it to your Beacons profile.
Perhaps the most prominent aspect of Carrd is how affordable it is. It's a great starting point if you're on a low budget and is our vote for the best site builder on a budget.
