Splitleaf vs Framer: five-year cost, AI pricing and ownership

Pricing

Splitleaf

$129 once, per person

Unlimited sites, pages and CMS items on one license
First collaborator on each site is free, then $6/mo
Hosting is paid to your own host
AI at your provider's price, no markup

Framer

$10 to $30 /mo per site, billed yearly

Basic, $10: 30 pages, 2 CMS collections, 1,000 CMS items
Pro, $30: 150 pages, 10 collections, 2,500 items
Additional editor: $20/mo. Content editor: $10/mo
Each extra language: $20/mo

Framer's price includes hosting and a very good design canvas. The trade is that each site, editor and language is a monthly line, with limits on pages and content.

Prices checked on September 20, 2026, on each vendor's own pricing page. Yearly billing, USD, before tax.

What AI costs

AI in Splitleaf

$0 to Splitleaf

Connect your own key: Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter
You pay the provider's price. We add no markup
No credits and no monthly allowance to run out
The agent panel shows the usage of each chat

AI in Framer

Credits per workspace, per month

1,000 credits a month on Basic, 3,000 on Pro
Framer's own figures: a generated landing page costs about 300 credits, a small edit about 50
Unused credits do not roll over
At zero, the AI features pause until the next cycle or a purchase

By Framer's figures, a Basic month is about three generated landing pages. See how AI is charged in each tool.

What it costs over five years

These are list prices with yearly billing, in USD, before tax. Framer's price includes hosting. Splitleaf never hosts your site, so hosting is a separate line that you pay to your own host.

Scenario	Framer	Splitleaf
One person, five sites with a CMS	$3,000 on Basic, $9,000 on Pro	$129 + your hosting
Two people, one site with a CMS	$1,800 on Basic, $3,000 on Pro	$618 + your hosting
Agency: five people, twenty sites with a CMS	$16,800 on Basic, $40,800 on Pro	$2,085 + your hosting

How we counted:

One person, five sites. Framer: five Basic plans at $10 a month if every site fits in 30 pages and 2 CMS collections. Five Pro plans at $30 a month if not. Splitleaf: one license. The first collaborator on each site is free.
Two people, one site. Framer: one Basic plan at $10 or one Pro plan at $30, plus one additional editor at $20 a month. Splitleaf: two licenses plus one team seat at $72 a year. If the second person only works on that one site, add them as the site's free collaborator and the total is $258.
Agency. Framer: twenty Basic plans at $10 or twenty Pro plans at $30, plus four additional editors at $20 a month. Splitleaf: five licenses, plus four team seats at $72 a year each.

Your host sets the hosting price. Many static hosts have a free tier, and a paid plan is often about $20 a month. At $20 a month, five years of hosting is $1,200.

The Splitleaf license includes 12 months of updates. The app you bought keeps working and publishing after that. A future major version is an optional paid upgrade.

Change the numbers in the cost calculator.

Which one fits you

Choose Framer if

You want a design-tool canvas for landing pages and launches
Motion and visual polish matter more than owning the files
Framer's hosting and page limits fit the site
A monthly price per site and per editor fits how you work

Choose Splitleaf if

You want the site as HTML, CSS and Markdown files on your own disk
Content and CMS work matter as much as the first design
You want to host where you already have contracts and regions
You want to pay once, and use AI without a credit allowance

The real difference is where the tool runs

Framer is a design-first builder for polished marketing sites. It runs in the browser, and your site lives and is hosted on Framer's platform. Splitleaf is an on-device CMS. It runs on your Mac or Windows PC, and your site is a folder of HTML, CSS and Markdown files with Git history.

Framer is built for the speed of the first design. Splitleaf is built for the years after it. You get a working copy on your disk. You get classes and components that hold the design together. You can edit content without a prompt, and you choose the host.

The AI meter

Framer sells AI as credits. Every plan has a monthly allowance. The Basic plan includes 1,000 credits a month. Framer publishes what tasks cost:

Generate a landing page: about 300 credits
Make a page responsive: about 150
A large edit: about 100
A small edit: about 50 Unused credits do not roll over, and at zero the AI features pause.

In Splitleaf you connect your own key with Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter and pay the provider's price. Splitleaf runs no server between you and the model and adds no markup. Nothing runs out at the end of a month.

Ownership and exit

Pages, styles, components and content are files in a folder on your disk
Every publish is a commit to your own GitHub repository
The published site is plain static HTML and CSS on a host you choose
There is no limit on pages, collections or CMS items

Feature comparison

Capability	Splitleaf	Framer
Where it runs	On your Mac or Windows PC	In the browser, on Framer's servers
Where the site lives	Files in your folder and your repository	Framer's platform
Design model	HTML and CSS, with classes and components	Design-tool canvas and components
Content	File-based collections, no item limits	Framer CMS, with plan limits
Hosting	Any static host you choose	Framer hosting
AI	Your own key, provider price, staged changes you review	Platform AI, sold as credits
Price model	$129 once per person	Per site, per editor, per month
Best fit	A site you run for years	A high-craft launch

Our honest opinion

Framer's canvas and motion tools are very good. If you ship a high-craft campaign and a hosted platform is an acceptable trade, Framer can be the fastest way to a beautiful page.

A company site has to outlive its launch week. For that, we think the files, the history and the choice of host should be yours, on your own device. The craft you put in then keeps its value, and it is not stranded in a vendor's canvas.

Questions

Is Splitleaf cheaper than Framer?

Over several years, yes, for most sites. But the price is a result, not the point. Splitleaf runs on your device. Our cost does not grow with your sites, your pages or your editors, so we do not charge you for them every month.

What happens when Framer AI credits run out?

By Framer's own help article, the features that use credits pause, and new requests are blocked until the credits reset or you buy more. Unused credits do not carry over to the next cycle.

Do I pay Splitleaf for AI?

No. You connect your own key and pay your provider at its normal price. Splitleaf runs no server between you and the model and adds no markup. The agent panel shows the usage of each chat.

Who should stay on Framer?

Teams that ship campaign pages, where canvas speed and motion matter most. Framer suits them if a hosted platform and a monthly price are fine. Framer is a good product for that.

Sources

Framer pricing: plans, limits, editors and add-ons
Framer: AI credits, simpler plans, and lower prices: credits per plan and per task
Framer help: how AI credits and Agent pricing work: rollover and what happens at zero
Splitleaf pricing

Prices are list prices in USD with yearly billing, read on the vendor's own page on the date above. Framer shows prices in the visitor's local currency. Taxes are excluded. If a price here is out of date, tell us at contact@splitleaf.eu and we will correct it.