Is Carrd safe and trustworthy?

Who runs Carrd?

Carrd was built by AJ (@ajlkn), a solo developer based in Nashville. The company is Carrd Inc. Carrd launched on March 7, 2016, and reached #1 on Product Hunt on March 16, 2016.

There's a public record behind it. In a 2019 Indie Hackers podcast appearance, AJ said Carrd was making about $30,000 a month. In a 2021 AMA, he reported over $1M in yearly revenue, alongside 2.5 million sites and 1.6 million users.

Those are dated figures. Read them as part of Carrd's history, not as a count of its users today.

Why is it inexpensive? AJ has said he picked $19 a year to make upgrading appealing to free users, at a time when other builders charged $20 to $250 a year. He's also said that keeping Carrd focused on one-page sites made it small enough for one person to run, that it grows through word of mouth, and that it uses cheap, flat-price servers.

What can get your site removed?

Check the content rules before you build, especially if your page includes adult artwork.

Carrd's content policy prohibits pornographic content. It allows adult-oriented artwork only as part of the creator's own portfolio, and only when that work isn't illegal. That's a narrower allowance than permission to publish adult content generally.

The terms, updated October 2, 2026, bar User Content that's "pornographic, or otherwise objectionable" in section 5(C)(ii). Section 5(G) lets Carrd suspend or remove sites.

Don't skip that wording. If your page depends on material covered by those rules, read the policy and terms before putting the page there. Carrd also requires you to be 18 or older to register.

What do you get for your page and payments?

Carrd builds one-page sites, and Basic is free. The paid plan you choose matters: Pro Lite is $9 a year for 3 sites, but it doesn't include a custom domain, forms or widgets.

For a custom domain with SSL, you need Pro Standard. It costs $19 a year and includes 10 sites, forms, and widgets for Stripe, PayPal, Gumroad and Typeform. If your reason for upgrading is to put payments on the page, this is the plan with those payment widgets.

Keep the distinction clear: Carrd supplies the page and the widget, while the payment option you're choosing is Stripe, PayPal or Gumroad. Look at the particular payment setup you intend to use, rather than treating "supports payments" as the whole decision.

And don't buy Pro Lite expecting to add those widgets later within that plan. They're a Pro Standard feature.

Carrd offers a 7-day Pro trial with no card required (use it to try the setup you need). Its terms say purchases are generally non-refundable, so make that check before paying.

Can you take your site with you?

If getting a downloadable copy matters, look at Pro Plus rather than assuming every paid plan includes it.

Carrd Pro Plus is $49 a year. It includes 25 sites and lets you download your site as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It also adds advanced forms, redirects and password protection.

That gives you a concrete feature to check when thinking about control over your site: a download of its files. It's separate from having a custom domain, and it's separate from having permission to keep content published under Carrd's rules.

For your decision, keep those questions apart. Do you need a custom domain? Payment widgets? A copy of the site files? Carrd puts those features on different plans.

Heya Free costs $0, with no credit card and no time limit. It includes 3 sites, up to 5 pages per site, all 68 templates, and a yourname.heya.bio address with HTTPS. There's a small Made with Heya badge.

Here's the side-by-side on the trust and control questions:

Heya Pro Standard is $6 a month and includes 5 sites and 1 custom domain per account with HTTPS. You bring your domain from a registrar; Heya doesn't sell domains.

Heya Pro Plus is $15 a month and includes 25 sites, up to 10 custom domains, and a site download as a ZIP of HTML files.

But Heya doesn't have a built-in store, checkout or form builder. You link a button to your checkout or store page, use a Google Form or Tally form, and use the Calendly embed for bookings.

Related guides: Is Carrd free?, Why is Carrd so cheap?, Is NSFW allowed on Carrd? and Carrd alternatives.

More from Heya: All guides, Templates and Pricing.