B12 alternatives: AI website builders for service businesses compared

What B12 includes, and why people look elsewhere

At the time of writing (October 2026), B12's pricing page lists these plans:

• Free: a site on a b12sites.com subdomain, the visual editor with AI chat, and 5 AI credits a day (30 a month at most).
• Website, $24 a month: your own domain (free for the first year), 100 AI credits a month, up to 10 launched projects, commerce tools, analytics, and email and chat support. New users pay $1 for the first 7 days.
• Website + Client Engagement, $78 a month: 300 AI credits a month, a custom email address, client intake forms, email marketing, a contact manager, contracts with eSignature, file uploads, and payments and invoicing.
• Professional and Advanced: done-for-you plans where B12's team sets the site up for you, with a one-off setup fee agreed with their sales team.

Some recent reviews quote the Website plan at $49 a month rather than $24, so confirm the price at checkout before you compare.

B12 does have real strengths. The first draft arrives quickly, you can change it by chatting with the AI or in the visual editor, and the client tools follow the way service firms actually work: an enquiry, a form, a proposal, an invoice. Invoicing supports recurring invoices and sends automatic reminders when a payment is late. Card payments cost 2.9% plus 30 cents each, and bank (ACH) payments cost 1%, capped at $10.

So why do people look for alternatives? Four reasons stand out:

• Invoice payouts only work in the US. B12's help article on connecting a bank account for invoicing says the feature is 'currently available only to users located in the United States'. If your business is in the UK, Europe, India or Brazil, one of B12's main selling points does not apply to you.
• The useful client tools cost $78 a month. If you need booking and a way to get paid, but not contracts or email marketing, that is a big jump from the basic plan.
• AI edits are limited. Credits run from 30 a month on Free to 300 on the top self-serve plan. Heavy chat editing in the first few weeks can use them up.
• It is not a store builder. Reviewers keep describing B12 as better for services and simple transactions than for a product catalogue with stock and shipping.

Six things to compare before you switch

Most comparison pages list features. For a service business, these six questions matter more:

1. The first draft. Every builder on this page produces a believable draft within minutes. None of them knows your prices, service area, qualifications or how you actually work. Judge the draft on its structure and pages, not on the wording, because you will rewrite the wording anyway.
2. How you edit afterwards. Some builders let you change the site by chatting with the AI (B12, GoDaddy's Airo AI Builder, WebNewBiz). Others rely on a visual drag-and-drop editor (Wix, Squarespace, Hostinger) or a designer's canvas (Framer). Pick the one you will still be happy using in a year.
3. Booking. It can be built in, sold as a separate subscription, or embedded from another tool. Each step away from built in adds a login and often a bill.
4. Payments, and where they work. Check that payouts can reach a bank account in your country. B12 invoicing and GoDaddy Payments are both limited to US businesses.
5. CRM and invoicing. Does a website enquiry become a contact on its own? Can you send an invoice from the same place, and does it chase late payers for you?
6. The price after the first month. Trial offers, introductory rates, long prepaid terms and add-ons all change the real figure. Work out what month 13 costs, not month 1.

B12 alternatives at a glance

Competitor prices are US prices per month on annual billing, at the time of writing (October 2026). WebNewBiz prices are monthly, and its yearly billing is cheaper.

Whichever you choose, expect card processing fees of around 3% per payment on top.

Durable: the closest like-for-like match

Durable is the builder most often weighed against B12, and on paper it is the closest match. It drafts a site from a few answers about your business, then adds the admin tools a service business needs.

• Free: a preview site on a free subdomain and a basic CRM for up to 10 customers.
• Launch, $22 a month on annual billing ($25 monthly): a custom domain with up to $20 of domain credit, unlimited online booking synced to your calendar, automatic lead capture and replies, unlimited CRM customers and 1,000 AI credits a month.
• Grow, $41 a month on annual billing ($49 monthly): adds a one-to-one onboarding call, unlimited team members, automatic translation of your site and 5,000 AI credits a month.

Payments run on Stripe inside Durable, and invoicing comes with the paid plans. A solo consultant, cleaner or tutor who needs a site, booking, a contact list and invoices gets most of what B12's $78 plan does on Launch, for much less.

Where Durable falls short: reviewers point to limited design control, and Durable says itself that it is not built specifically for online stores. If it is on your shortlist, our guide to Durable alternatives covers its weak spots in more detail.

Wix and Squarespace: more design freedom, more to set up

Wix includes AI creation tools on every plan, but the cheapest plan, Light at $17 a month, cannot take payments. Core at $29 is the realistic starting point for a service business. It adds online payments, scheduling and services, and basic ecommerce. Wix also has invoices and price quotes. Its contact list automatically adds people from form submissions, newsletter sign-ups and store purchases, and each contact has an inbox showing their history. Its app market is one of the largest of any builder, and that is the main reason to choose it.

Squarespace is the design-first option. Basic costs $19 a month with a 2% fee on store sales, and Core costs $29. Recurring invoicing is included on every website plan. Booking is the catch: appointments run through Acuity Scheduling, a separate subscription from $16 a month on annual billing ($20 monthly). A Basic site plus Acuity comes to about $35 a month before card fees.

Both beat B12 if you want full control of the layout and a large ecosystem. Both also take longer to set up than an AI draft you edit by chat, because you work in a visual editor with more settings. If you are deciding between them, our roundup of the best AI website builders compares them on more than booking and invoicing.

GoDaddy Airo and Hostinger: cheap to start, check the renewal

GoDaddy retired its separate AI Website Builder on 31 July 2026 and moved those customers to its classic Websites + Marketing builder, which uses GoDaddy's Airo AI tools. New users are also pointed to the newer Airo AI Builder. Websites + Marketing starts at $9.99 a month on an annual plan at the introductory rate. For proper online appointments with calendar sync and payment at booking, you need Premium at $14.99 a month (introductory). Renewal prices are noticeably higher than these first-year rates, so check them before you commit. GoDaddy Payments, including its invoicing, is only available to US merchants.

Hostinger has the lowest headline price. Premium is $2.99 a month, but only if you prepay 48 months, and it renews at $10.99. Its AI builder drafts the site from a description. You can offer free or paid appointments, but Hostinger says booking is only available on its Business Website Builder plan, so check the plan name at checkout. Hostinger is a website builder rather than a client-management tool, so you will need separate tools for a CRM and invoicing.

Both make sense for a simple brochure site on a tight budget. Neither replaces B12's client tools, and GoDaddy's own payments and invoicing only work for US businesses.

Framer: for design-led sites, not client admin

Framer is a favourite of designers. Basic costs $10 a month per site and Pro costs $30. It can generate a starting layout with AI and produces polished, design-led sites, but it has no built-in checkout, booking, CRM or invoicing. Bookings come from an embedded scheduling tool (Framer partnered with Cal.com in 2025), and payments come from something like Stripe payment links. Choose Framer if the look of the site matters most and you, or a designer, enjoy that kind of work. For client admin, it is the furthest from B12 on this list.

Where WebNewBiz fits, and where it does not

WebNewBiz is our own platform, so read this section with that in mind. It starts the same way as B12: you describe your business in plain language and the AI drafts a complete site, with pages, layout and copy, that you edit in the browser. You make changes by chatting with the AI Copilot (copy, sections, pages, design, images), and Starter and above add the Design Studio visual editor.

The difference is in what comes with the site:

• Starter, $29 a month: adds an online store with cart and secure checkout, taking card payments through Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Growth, $79 a month: adds the AI CRM. It reads and scores leads, handles deals, tasks and bookings, and sends invoices that chase themselves. Website enquiries land in the CRM automatically and store buyers become contacts. It includes 3,000 contacts, 3 team members, backups and a free domain for a year.
• Pro, $149, and Ultimate, $199: Pro adds email campaigns, social media marketing and advanced SEO tools. Ultimate adds an AI chatbot and a phone system with its own number.

Every plan includes hosting, SSL and 24/7 chat support, and costs $1 for the first month. There is no minimum contract.

Like for like, WebNewBiz Growth at $79 costs almost the same as B12's Website + Client Engagement at $78. B12 is ahead if you rely on contracts with eSignature, want a free plan to start on, or want B12's team to build the site for you. WebNewBiz is the better fit if you also want to sell products, or want enquiries, bookings and invoices in one CRM. If invoicing is the deciding factor, our guide to CRMs with invoicing for small business goes further.

The honest limits: WebNewBiz is a young platform with a much smaller app ecosystem and community than Wix or Squarespace. There is no free plan. Lite at $9 has no store or CRM, and the CRM starts at $79, which is more than Durable charges for a basic CRM with booking. The AI first draft still needs your own edits, photos and facts, just as it does on B12.

Which B12 alternative should you choose?

• Stay with B12 if you are in the US, rely on intake forms, contracts and eSignature, or want a team to build the site for you.
• Durable if you want booking, a CRM and invoices for the lowest monthly price.
• Wix if you want the largest app market and full control of the layout.
• Squarespace if design comes first and you are happy to pay for Acuity on top.
• GoDaddy if you are in the US and want a low first-year price with paid appointments.
• Hostinger if you need a simple site at the lowest cost and can prepay for years.
• Framer if the design is the product and admin happens elsewhere.
• WebNewBiz if you want AI drafting and chat editing, with a store and a CRM in the same account as you grow.

How to switch from B12 without losing enquiries

1. Export or copy your contacts, open invoices and any recurring invoice schedules before you change anything.
2. List every page address on your current site so you can set up redirects on the new one and keep the pages Google already ranks.
3. Write down your appointment types, durations and availability, then recreate them on the new platform.
4. Build and check the new site on a temporary address, then point your domain to it last.
5. Test one form, one booking and one small payment from start to finish before you tell clients.
6. Only cancel the old plan once recurring invoices are running from the new system.

If you want to see what an AI first draft looks like before signing up anywhere, try the free AI Website Preview. Describe your business in one sentence and it designs a homepage.

Quick answers

What is the best alternative to B12?

It depends on what you use B12 for. Durable is the closest match for booking, a CRM and invoices at a lower price. Wix suits people who want a large app market and control over the design. WebNewBiz suits owners who want AI drafting and chat editing, with a store and a CRM in the same account.

Is B12 free?

B12 has a free plan on a b12sites.com subdomain with 5 AI credits a day, up to 30 a month. At the time of writing, B12's pricing page lists the Website plan at $24 a month and Website + Client Engagement at $78 a month.

Can I take B12 invoice payments outside the US?

Not at the time of writing. B12's help centre says connecting a bank account for invoicing is currently available only to users located in the United States.

Which alternative includes booking, a CRM and invoicing in one plan?

Durable's Launch plan ($22 a month on annual billing) and WebNewBiz Growth ($79 a month) both cover all three. Wix Core ($29) covers booking and invoices, with a contact list rather than a full CRM.

Will an AI website builder write the whole site for me?

It writes a first draft with pages, layout and copy in minutes. You still need to add your real prices, service area, photos and facts, and check every claim before you publish.

Does WebNewBiz have a free plan?

No. Every plan costs $1 for the first month, then from $9 a month. The online store starts on Starter at $29 and the AI CRM on Growth at $79.

Related guides

• Hocoos alternatives: where to go now that Hocoos has closed

Try it if it fits

If AI drafting with chat editing, plus a store and a CRM you can add later, sounds like what you need, have a look at the WebNewBiz AI website builder and judge the first draft for yourself. It costs $1 for the first month with no contract: start for $1. If one of the alternatives above suits you better, that is a perfectly good outcome too.