Disclosure: Creator Kit Review is funded through affiliate partnerships. If a link is marked “Ad”, we may earn a commission if you buy through it, at no extra cost to you. That never changes what we recommend. The links in this article currently go straight to Hostinger’s own website. Read our advertising disclosure.
Short answer: Hostinger’s builder (now called AI Builder) is one of the cheapest ways to get a portfolio, a link-in-bio page and a small shop on your own domain, but only if you’re comfortable paying several years upfront. The headline $2.49/month Premium price requires a 48-month prepayment of $119.52, and the plan renews at $10.99/month. If you want to sell, Unlimited ($3.49/month, $167.52 for 48 months) is the cheapest builder plan that includes ecommerce. Premium does not.
See current Hostinger Website Builder plans on hostinger.com →
Prices and features below come from Hostinger’s own pages, checked October 26, 2026, in US dollars excluding tax. A Black Friday campaign was running at the time, so check the current price before you buy.
How this review was made: This review is based on Hostinger’s published plans, terms and refund policy, plus our own session in AI Builder on October 24, 2026: we created a free account (no card requested) and had Agentic mode generate a landing page. We could not publish it, because publishing requires a paid plan, so anything that depends on a live site (speed scores, a custom domain, a working shop) is not covered. We say so where it matters.
Plans and real cost
All plans are paid upfront. Hostinger’s page states that “the monthly rate reflects the total plan price divided by the number of months in your plan.”
| Premium | Unlimited | Cloud Startup | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promo price (48-month term) | $2.49/mo | $3.49/mo | $7.99/mo |
| Paid upfront for 48 months | $119.52 | $167.52 | $383.52 |
| “Regular price” for the same 48 months, per Hostinger | $585.12 | $911.52 | $1,343.52 |
| Renews at | $10.99/mo | $16.99/mo | $25.99/mo |
| Websites | Up to 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Mailboxes (free 1 year) | 2 per site | Unlimited per site | Unlimited per site |
| Custom domain | Free for 1 year | Free for 1 year | Free for 1 year |
| AI credits (regular) | 250 | 500 | 1,000 |
| AI credits during the Black Friday campaign (may change) | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| Ecommerce | No (only “AI assistant for your online store”) | Yes | Yes |
| Support | 24/7 | Priority 24/7 | Priority 24/7 |
Source: hostinger.com/website-builder, checked October 26, 2026. “Unlimited” features fall under Hostinger’s Fair Usage Policy. The regular AI credit allowances are 250, 500 and 1,000; during the Black Friday campaign they were doubled, so check which applies when you buy.
What a creator actually pays: if you take Premium for 48 months you pay $119.52 on day one. After four years, at the listed renewal price, a year of Premium costs $131.88 (12 × $10.99). The free domain is only free for the first year, so budget for domain renewal too.
What you get as a creator
Two ways to build
Hostinger now has a single builder, AI Builder, with two modes: Manual (classic drag-and-drop) and Agentic (you describe changes in chat, and it can also build web apps). You can start in Manual and switch later. Both modes are included.
What happened when we used Agentic mode (October 24, 2026)
We created a free Hostinger account. No card was requested. We gave Agentic mode a one-line prompt: “A simple landing page for a YouTube channel review site about AI tools for creators.”
- Result: in about 1–2 minutes it generated a complete landing page as a React/Vite project, with a headline, sections and buttons, and reported that it had completed 19 actions along the way.
- Editor: a live preview with Preview / Data / Code tabs, chat-based editing (“Ask for changes”), and a “Select & edit” toggle for picking an element on the page and changing it.
- Watermark: we saw no watermark in the preview. We could not check a published site, because publishing requires a paid plan.
- Trial length: our account showed a 7-day countdown right after signup. Hostinger’s help article on the free trial also says 7 days, while the website builder product page still mentions 14 days.
- Publishing and custom domain cost money: clicking Publish opened “Get a plan to publish your project”. You can build and preview for free, but you need a paid plan to go live or connect a domain.
- Credits: according to Hostinger’s help article, the Agentic-mode trial starts with 250 complimentary AI credits. We did not note the balance before generating; afterwards the menu showed 148.16 AI credits. Because we didn’t record the starting balance, we can’t confirm exactly how many credits one generation costs.
- Upgrade prices in the app: the plan picker inside the builder showed the same 48-month prices as the public page, and only Unlimited and Cloud Startup had “Ecommerce” ticked.
What we did not try: Manual (drag-and-drop) mode, a multi-page portfolio, the mobile editor, or how the generated page looks once published. If you prefer to place every block yourself, try Manual mode during your trial.
Timing note: Hostinger’s help article says that during Black Friday the free trial isn’t offered from the AI Builder page; you start it by choosing a template instead. It also says trial stores can’t connect payment methods, so you can’t take real orders until you pay.
Portfolio
Templates, a built-in blog, AI writing and image tools and an AI logo maker are included. Hostinger says sites are mobile-friendly by default, and there is a mobile editor. The template count is inconsistent across Hostinger’s own pages (300+, 400+ and 600+ in different places), so treat it as “several hundred” and look at the template gallery for your niche.
Link-in-bio
Hostinger pitches its link-in-bio page as a starting point that can grow into a full site: add pages, a blog and a store on the same domain. Its link-in-bio page also mentions an integrated store with up to 1,000 products. Hostinger notes that TikTok only lets accounts with at least 1,000 followers add a bio link, so check that first.
We did not build a link-in-bio page, because it needs a published site and publishing requires a paid plan.
Shop
For selling, Hostinger lists 0% transaction fees (from Hostinger, not from your payment provider), 100+ payment methods including Stripe and PayPal, and physical products, digital products, print-on-demand and services. On the builder plans, ecommerce is listed for Unlimited and Cloud Startup only; Premium does not include ecommerce. Hostinger also sells a separate Hostinger Ecommerce plan ($4.99/month for 12 months during the Black Friday campaign, renewing at $8.99/month) with quick product links you can share in DMs without a website.
We did not set up a store or run a test purchase.
Marketing and SEO
Built-in options include an automatic sitemap, AI SEO tools and integrations with Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Pixel and Hotjar. Hostinger Reach email marketing is included free for one year on Unlimited and Cloud Startup (up to 100 subscribers).
We have no PageSpeed scores, because our page could not be published without a paid plan.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Low entry price if you prepay a long term.
- Custom domain and email included for the first year.
- Portfolio, blog, link-in-bio and shop in one place, on your own domain.
- No Hostinger transaction fee on sales.
- You can try AI Builder without a card: when we used it, Agentic mode built a full landing page from one prompt in about 1–2 minutes, with live preview and chat editing.
- A 30-day money-back guarantee on most plans (see the exceptions below).
Cons
- The low price requires a 48-month prepayment, and renewal prices are roughly four to five times the promo rate.
- Premium doesn’t include ecommerce, so sellers are pushed to Unlimited or Cloud Startup.
- The refund policy has several exceptions: free domains from special deals are non-refundable, AI Builder credits are non-refundable, the Agentic plan is refundable only within 30 days and if fewer than 30 messages/prompts (AI credits) have been used, and hosting plans are refundable under the standard terms “except first payment after Free Trial”.
- Inconsistent template counts and trial lengths across Hostinger’s own pages make it hard to know what you get.
- You can’t publish or connect a domain on the trial.
- It’s hard to see what an AI generation costs in credits.
Who it suits, and who it doesn’t
Good fit if you:
- want a portfolio or link-in-bio page on your own domain and are happy to prepay to get the low price
- sell a handful of digital products or merch and don’t want a platform cut
- don’t code and want a drag-and-drop editor with AI help
Don’t choose Hostinger’s builder if you:
- don’t want to pay several years upfront or face a renewal price four to five times higher
- need a large, complex store with many integrations; a dedicated ecommerce platform may suit you better
- only need a free bio-link page and don’t care about a custom domain
Our recommendation
For a creator who wants a portfolio plus link-in-bio on their own domain, Premium is enough if you don’t plan to sell. If you’ll sell anything, start on Unlimited, since that’s where Hostinger lists ecommerce. Use the free trial to build the site first; when we used it, no card was needed. Before you pay, note the renewal price and the refund exceptions, especially that the refund policy excludes the “first payment after Free Trial” from its standard hosting refunds. If the money-back guarantee matters to you, ask Hostinger whether it applies to your purchase before you pay.
Check current Hostinger plans and prices on hostinger.com →
We did not contact Hostinger’s support, so we can’t comment on response times.
FAQ
Is Hostinger Website Builder free?
No. You can create an account and build on a free trial without a card, but publishing and connecting a domain require a paid plan. Our account showed a 7-day trial, which matches Hostinger’s help article; the product page still says 14 days.
How much does it cost after the first term?
Premium renews at $10.99/month, Unlimited at $16.99/month and Cloud Startup at $25.99/month (checked October 26, 2026).
Can I get a refund?
Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, with exceptions in its refund policy: free domains from deals are non-refundable, AI Builder credits are non-refundable, the Agentic plan is refundable only within 30 days and if fewer than 30 messages/prompts have been used, and the first payment after a free trial is excluded from the standard hosting refund terms.
Does Hostinger take a cut of my sales?
Hostinger says it charges 0% transaction fees. Your payment provider (e.g. Stripe or PayPal) still charges its own fees.
Can I use it for a link-in-bio page?
Yes. Hostinger has a dedicated link-in-bio option that runs on the same plans and can grow into a full website with a blog and store.
Sources
Checked October 26, 2026, unless noted.
- Hostinger Website Builder plans, FAQ and features
- Hostinger link-in-bio
- Hostinger Ecommerce
- Hostinger help: how to try AI Builder for free
- Hostinger refund policy
- Our own session in AI Builder (free account, Agentic mode) and its in-app plan picker on October 24, 2026.