Can you make a free portfolio with Google?

What you can put on Google Sites

For a portfolio, Google Sites gives you pages and subpages to organize your work. Subpages can go up to 5 levels deep, though you don't have to use all that depth. You could keep your main pages focused on your work and put individual projects underneath them.

Start with your account. Google's help center says you create a site by opening Google Sites with your Google Account, but accounts managed by parents can't use it. That's worth checking before you start putting your portfolio together.

You don't need a paid Workspace plan for a personal portfolio. Sites is also included in paid Google Workspace plans and Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which is available at no cost to qualifying schools.

The main feature question is what you want alongside your work. Google Sites doesn't have a built-in blog or online store. Want to publish blog posts or sell work through a built-in checkout? Google Sites doesn't include those tools.

Using your own domain

A custom domain is separate from the site builder. For Google Sites, you'll need to get your domain from another registrar. Google no longer sells domains; Google Domains was sold to Squarespace.

You can connect up to 5 custom domains to a Google Site, and Google allows up to 20 domain mappings a week. Those are connection limits, not domains included with your site.

For a student or creative working within a budget, keep the domain decision separate from the decision about where to build. You can choose Google Sites without buying a domain from Google. There's no Google domain purchase to make.

Old Google sites aren't the same thing

If you're following an older tutorial, check which Google product it's talking about. Classic Google Sites was replaced by the new Google Sites: Google stopped allowing new classic sites in 2021, and editing ended on January 30, 2023.

Google Business Profile websites were a different product. Those were the sites using business.site addresses, and they were turned off on March 5, 2024. They redirected visitors to the Business Profile until June 10, 2024.

Different products, different dates. Neither shutdown is the same thing as Google ending the current Google Sites builder.

Adobe Portfolio supports up to 5 portfolio websites, custom domains, password protection, projects synced from Behance and photos from Lightroom. If your work is already in Behance or Lightroom, those connections are worth looking at.

Carrd takes a different approach: it builds one-page sites. Basic is free. Carrd Pro Standard is $19 a year and includes 10 sites, custom domains with SSL, forms, and widgets for Stripe, PayPal, Gumroad and Typeform.

Here's how those options sit alongside Heya, our builder:

What Heya includes

Heya is a no-code website builder, and you sign in with Google to publish. That's separate from building on Google Sites (using a Google login doesn't make them the same builder).

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

Need more pages? Heya Pro Lite is $3 a month, with 3 sites and up to 20 pages per site. It removes the badge, and links are no longer marked nofollow.

Heya Pro Standard is $6 a month, with 5 sites and 1 custom domain per account with HTTPS. Heya doesn't sell domains, so you bring yours from a registrar.

And check the tools against what you plan to publish. Heya supports embeds from YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, SoundCloud, Calendly and Google Maps, plus images up to 20 MB. You can set a page title, description, favicon and share image.

There's no built-in store, checkout or form builder. Link a button to your checkout or store page, use a Google Form or Tally form, or add the Calendly embed for bookings.

Related guides: Is Google Sites free?, Free portfolio website builders, Top 10 portfolio websites and Google Sites limitations.

More from Heya: All guides, Templates and Pricing.