Portfolio Website Templates in 2026: What They Really Cost

Portfolio website templates are advertised as the free part of building a site, and for two of the platforms creatives most admire, they are not.

Framer runs a marketplace where templates sit alongside the subscription, and the paid ones we saw while researching this article were priced at $89, $98, and $129.

Webflow describes its own library, in the title of its templates page, as free and premium. Squarespace and Wix include every template they offer inside the plan you are already paying for.

So the first question about a template is not which one looks best. It is whether it is included, and the second question, which almost nobody asks in month one, is what it will cost to change it in year three.

A portfolio website template is a pre-built set of pages, layouts, and styles that you fill with your own work, rather than designing the site from an empty canvas.

Full disclosure: Framekit is our own product and it includes its templates in the plan, so we have an interest in the argument that included beats sold separately. We have tried to make the case on the numbers and to say plainly where a paid Framer template is worth the money.

How We Compared 8 Template Sources

We looked at where a working creative actually gets a portfolio template, and asked three questions of each: is it included or sold separately, what does a good one cost, and what happens when you want a different one.

Prices and library descriptions were read on each vendor's own pages in August 2026. Where a marketplace displays individual template prices, we report the prices we actually saw rather than a range from a press release. Where a platform's pricing was not readable, we say so.

Verified means we read it on the vendor's own page and are reporting it with a link. Measured means we went through the flow.

Judgements about how templates look are explicitly ours, because taste is not a measurement and pretending otherwise would be the least useful thing this article could do.

No star ratings appear here. The big review aggregators declined our automated checks during this research, and template quality is a matter of taste rather than something a score settles.

In one lineeight places to get a portfolio template, compared on whether it is included, what a paid one costs, and what changing your mind later costs.

By the Numbers

• $89 to $129 is the range of paid template prices we observed on Framer's marketplace, alongside free ones.
• 2 of 8 sources sell their best templates separately from the subscription: Framer and Webflow.
• 4 of 8 include every template in the plan: Squarespace, Wix, Pixpa, and our own.
• 1 of 8 cannot change template after publishing without rebuilding the pages: Wix, which is the single most expensive constraint in this article.
• 0 of 8 let you take the template with you if you leave the platform.
• One-time versus recurring is the distinction that matters on a paid template: $129 once is less than four months of most subscriptions, which is why the sticker price is the wrong thing to focus on.

The Comparison Table

1. Squarespace: The Best Included Library

Squarespace's templates remain the most consistently well-made set that comes free with a subscription, and for a photographer or designer who wants the site to look considered without a week of work, that is the whole proposition.

What it costsnothing beyond the plan. The pricing page served us Basic at 11 euro a month, Core at 17 euro, and Advanced at 29 euro on annual billing, with every template available on every tier and no separate template purchase at any point.

The standout detailCore at 17 euro includes complete customisation with CSS and JavaScript, which is what turns a template from a constraint into a starting point.

Most platforms in this comparison put code access on a higher tier, so on Squarespace a template you have outgrown can be edited rather than replaced.

The gotchathe templates are firmly opinionated and working against one is slower than accepting it. This is a design philosophy rather than a flaw, and it is why Squarespace sites are recognisable to people who look at a lot of them.

Skip it ifyou want a layout nobody else has. Included templates are, by definition, used by other people.

Verdict: The best value template library in this comparison and the safest default for a creative who wants a good site quickly.

2. Framer: The Best-Looking Templates, Sold Separately

Framer's marketplace carries the most design-led portfolio templates available anywhere, and it is honest about the arrangement: some are free, and the good ones are usually not.

What it coststhe paid templates we saw on the marketplace while researching this article were priced at $89, $98, and $129, with free templates available alongside them.

That is a one-time purchase on top of a subscription which starts at a free plan with a custom .com on yearly billing, or $10 a month on Basic.

The standout detail, and the argument in Framer's favour$129 once is less than four months of a mid-tier subscription elsewhere. If a paid template saves you a week of design work and produces a site that looks like it was made for you, it is the cheapest design work you will ever buy.

The sticker price is startling only because everything around it is priced monthly.

The gotchathe free tier of the marketplace is not the same product as the paid tier. If you evaluate Framer by browsing free templates and conclude the library is thin, you have looked at the wrong shelf.

Skip it ifyou will not maintain it. Framer templates assume someone comfortable in a design canvas, and a beautiful template edited badly looks worse than a plain one edited well.

Verdict: The best ceiling in this comparison, at a one-time cost that is more reasonable than it first appears. Our Framer alternatives guide covers the trade if the canvas is not for you.

3. Wix: The Largest Library, With the Worst Exit

Wix has more templates than anyone and includes every one of them, and it attaches the most consequential condition in this article.

What it costsnothing beyond the plan.

The plans page quotes yearly-billing rates of $17 a month for Light, $29 for Core, $39 for Business, and $159 for Business Elite, with a template library available across the board and a free plan that publishes a real site with Wix advertising on it.

The gotcha, and it is the reason this section existsWix does not let you change template after publishing without rebuilding the pages. A redesign is therefore a rebuild, and a rebuild is when URLs move and search positions built over years move with them.

The standout detailbecause of that constraint, the correct way to use Wix is to over-invest in the template choice at the start rather than treating it as provisional. Spend a day choosing. It is the cheapest day you will spend on the site.

Skip it ifyou redesign often, or you are choosing a template before you know what the site needs to be.

Verdict: Enormous choice, included, with a switching cost nobody mentions until year two. We go through the wider trade in Wix vs Webflow.

4. Webflow: Free and Premium, With Real Control After

Webflow's template library is described on its own templates page as free and premium, so both exist, and the premium ones are a separate purchase from the site plan.

What it costswe were not able to read individual template prices from Webflow's marketplace during this research, so we are not quoting a range.

What we can tell you is the structure: premium templates are paid, and the site plans they sit on run free for a 2-page Starter tier, $15 a month billed yearly for Basic, and $25 for Premium, which is where the CMS begins.

The standout detailwhatever you start from, Webflow gives you more control over the result than any other entry here. A template is genuinely a starting point rather than a container, because the Designer exposes the box model directly.

The gotchaa portfolio with a project archive needs the CMS, which is the $25 Premium plan and not the $15 Basic one. Budgeting the template and then discovering the plan is a common sequence.

Skip it ifnobody on the project enjoys layout systems. Webflow rewards that taste and is unforgiving without it.

Verdict: The best template-to-finished-site path for someone who will actually customise it, and the least suitable for someone who wants to fill in the blanks and publish.

5. Framekit: Templates Built for Creative Work

Framekit is an AI website builder for photographers, filmmakers, designers, and illustrators, and its templates are included on every plan including the free one, with no separate marketplace and nothing to buy on top.

What it costsnothing beyond the plan. Free at $0 publishes up to 10 pages with Framekit branding and no custom domain, Starter at $9 a month adds your own domain and removes the branding, Pro at $19 adds 200 pages and custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The standout detailbecause the same site carries a portfolio, client galleries, and a digital store, the templates assume those parts exist rather than treating a shop as an add-on.

For a photographer who delivers galleries and sells presets, that is a different starting point from a general-purpose business template.

The gotchaour library is smaller than Squarespace's or Wix's, and much smaller than Framer's marketplace. If breadth of choice is what you want, we do not have it, and we would rather say so than describe a small library as curated.

Skip it ifyou want the specific template you already found on Framer. Buy it and enjoy it; a good template you love is worth more than a platform argument.

Verdict: The right starting point if the site has galleries and a store in it. Not the place to come for the biggest library.

6. Pixpa: Included, and Aimed at Photographers

Pixpa bundles a portfolio, client galleries, a blog, and a store, and includes its templates on every plan, which puts it in the same structural camp as Squarespace and us.

What it coststhe pricing page lists standard monthly rates of $9 for Basic, $15 for Creator, $20 for Professional, and $25 for Advanced, with a 15-day trial and no card required. Templates are included throughout.

The standout detail worth knowing before you commitPixpa's advertised annual and two-yearly prices carry a 25 percent introductory discount that applies to the first billing period only, after which plans renew at standard pricing. The template library is not affected by that, but your bill is.

The gotchathe library is aimed squarely at photographers, which is a strength if you are one and a limitation if you are an illustrator or a designer looking for something typographically adventurous.

Skip it ifyou have no galleries and nothing to sell.

Verdict: Strong included library for photographers specifically, attached to a product that does more than templates.

7. Adobe Portfolio: Free If You Already Pay Adobe

Adobe Portfolio's templates are included with a paid Creative Cloud subscription, because the whole product is, and it is not sold separately at any price.

What it costsnothing extra if Creative Cloud is already on your card. We are not quoting a Creative Cloud figure, because Adobe's plans page did not resolve for our checks during this research and a stale subscription price would be worse than none.

The standout detailthe Lightroom integration means a gallery updated in your catalogue reaches the live site without a manual export cycle. Nothing else in this comparison connects to a working image library.

The gotchathe site is a feature of a subscription rather than an asset. Cancel Creative Cloud for any reason and the site goes with it, which matters most in the quiet months when you might cancel and also most need to be findable.

Skip it ifyou want to sell anything. Portfolio has no store.

Verdict: The best-value template library available to an existing Adobe subscriber, and a poor reason to become one.

8. Carrd: One Template, One Page, $19 a Year

Carrd includes its templates and builds a single page, which makes the template question much simpler: you are choosing a layout for one scroll rather than a system for a site.

What it coststhe free tier builds and publishes up to three sites, and Pro starts at $19 a year with a custom domain, SSL, forms including payment-enabled ones, analytics, and removal of Carrd branding.

The standout detailat $19 a year, changing your mind is free in a way it is not anywhere else. Rebuild the page, publish, done. There is no migration because there is nothing structural to migrate.

The gotchait is one page permanently, so a portfolio with a real project archive is not what this is for.

Skip it ifyou have more than about a dozen images to show.

Verdict: The cheapest template decision in this comparison, and the smallest one.

The Cost Nobody Prices: Changing Your Mind

In one linethe sticker price of a template is a one-off and the cost of replacing it is structural, and only one platform in this comparison makes that replacement genuinely expensive.

Most articles about portfolio templates stop at which ones look good. Here is the part that costs real money.

On Wix, changing template after publishing means rebuilding the pages. Your content does not automatically flow into the new design.

In practice that means a redesign is a rebuild, and during a rebuild URLs change unless you are careful, and when URLs change without redirects the search positions attached to them go too.

If you have ranked for your own name for four years, that is the asset at risk.

On Squarespace, switching template is possible and involves rework, because content blocks do not always map cleanly between designs. Budget a weekend rather than an afternoon.

On Framer and Webflow, a template is a starting point you edit rather than a shell you fill, so "changing template" is usually just redesigning, which is what those tools are for.

On Carrd, it is one page, so the question barely exists.

The practical instructionbefore you choose a template anywhere, find out what replacing it involves, and if the answer is a rebuild, fix your URL structure at the start and never change it. That single decision protects more value than any template choice.

Does a Template Make Your Site Look Generic?

In one linetemplates are not the reason portfolio sites look the same, and the actual reason is that people leave the demo content's structure in place.

This is judgement rather than measurement, and it is worth saying because it is the objection most designers raise.

A template ships with a structure that suits the imaginary business it was designed for: a hero, three feature columns, a testimonial row, a call to action.

The sites that look generic are the ones where that structure survived contact with a real portfolio, so a photographer ends up with three feature columns because the template had three feature columns.

The sites that do not look generic are the ones where somebody deleted half the sections. A portfolio usually needs fewer parts than a template provides, not more.

If you take one thing from this article beyond the pricing, take that: the most valuable hour you spend on a template is the one where you remove things.

We go through the specific failures in portfolio mistakes costing creatives clients and what a good one contains in what makes a good photography portfolio.

How to Choose

In one linework down these questions in order and stop at the first one that describes you, because whether templates are included settles most of the decision before taste enters it.

1. Do you want a good site quickly with nothing extra to buy? Squarespace, on Core at 17 euro a month for the code access.
2. Is the site's design part of what you are selling? Framer, and budget $89 to $129 for a paid marketplace template. It is a one-time cost worth less than four months of most subscriptions.
3. Do you already pay Adobe every month, reliably? Adobe Portfolio costs nothing extra and syncs with Lightroom.
4. Is it one page? Carrd Pro at $19 a year.
5. Does the site need client galleries and a store as well as a portfolio? Framekit or Pixpa, both of which include templates built around those parts.
6. Do you want the largest library and will you never redesign? Wix, and choose the template carefully, because changing it later means rebuilding the pages.
7. Will you customise heavily? Webflow, budgeting the $25 Premium plan if the portfolio needs a CMS-driven archive.

The individual project pages inside a portfolio are a separate design problem, which we cover in the best case study templates for designers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are portfolio website templates free?

It depends on the platform. Squarespace, Wix, Pixpa, Adobe Portfolio, Carrd, and Framekit include every template in the subscription.

Framer and Webflow both run marketplaces with free and paid templates, and the paid Framer templates we saw during this research were priced at $89, $98, and $129.

How much does a good portfolio template cost?

Nothing on the platforms that include them, and $89 to $129 for the paid Framer marketplace templates we observed.

Judged as design work rather than as a subscription add-on, a one-time $129 for a template that saves a week is inexpensive; it looks steep only because everything around it is billed monthly.

Can I change my template later?

On most platforms yes, with rework. The important exception is Wix, which does not let you change template after publishing without rebuilding the pages.

On Squarespace switching is possible but content does not always map cleanly between designs. On Framer and Webflow a template is an editable starting point rather than a shell, so changing it is just redesigning.

Do templates hurt SEO?

No. What hurts your search position is changing URLs without redirects, which most often happens during a redesign or a platform move. That risk is highest on platforms where changing template means rebuilding pages.

The template itself is neutral; the rebuild it may force is not.

Which platform has the best portfolio templates?

For design-led work, Framer's marketplace, which is why many of its best templates are paid. For consistently well-made templates included in the plan, Squarespace. For photographers who also need client galleries, Pixpa or our own.

That ranking is a judgement about taste and we would rather label it than pretend it is measured.

Should I buy a paid template?

If the design is part of what you are selling and the template genuinely fits your work, yes. A one-time $129 is less than four months of most subscriptions and far less than commissioning a designer.

Do not buy one to fix an unclear idea of what the site is for, because a template will not decide that for you.

Why do portfolio sites all look the same?

Usually because the template's structure was kept intact. Templates are designed for an imaginary business with three services and a testimonial row, and portfolios that inherit those sections inherit the sameness.

The fix is deletion: most portfolios need fewer sections than the template provides.

Can I take the template with me if I switch platforms?

No, on any of the eight sources here. A template is licensed for use on the platform it was made for, and your content moves in some form while the design does not. Plan a move as a rebuild of the design and a migration of the content, with redirects for any URL that changes.

Do I need a template at all?

No, but starting from an empty canvas costs time that most working creatives would rather spend on the work. The exception is a designer whose site is itself a portfolio piece, where starting from nothing is the point.

For everyone else a template with half its sections removed is a better use of a weekend.

What should I look for in a portfolio template?

Enough room for large images, a project page layout that holds a real case study rather than a single hero shot, a legible contact route, and as few decorative sections as possible.

Then check the practical question this article is about: whether it is included, and what replacing it would involve.

Final Verdict

If you want a well-made portfolio template at no extra cost, Squarespace has the best included library and Core at 17 euro a month gives you the code access to change it later.

If the design is part of what you sell, Framer's marketplace has the best portfolio templates in the category and many of the good ones cost $89 to $129 once. That is a fair price for design work and a startling one only in a market that trained you to think in monthly fees.

Whatever you choose, check the switching cost before you commit, because it is the number that eventually matters more than the sticker price, and on Wix specifically a changed mind means a rebuild.

Where Framekit loses. Our template library is smaller than Squarespace's, much smaller than Wix's, and does not compete with Framer's marketplace on design ambition.

If breadth or a specific look is what you are shopping for, buy elsewhere. We include our templates in every plan and build them around portfolios, galleries, and a store, which is a narrower offer than a general library.

Related readingthe best no-code website builders, the best personal website builders, and what makes a good photography portfolio.