Format pricing 2026: $10 to $36 a month, plan by plan
$12/mo buys Format Pro billed annually, or $24 month to month. What each Format plan costs per year, and when Squarespace or Framer is the better buy.
Format costs $10 to $15 a month on annual billing, or $14 to $36 a month if you pay month to month. That spread is the whole story of Format’s pricing, and it is wider than almost anything else in the website-builder category.
Format is a portfolio builder for photographers and visual creatives: designer templates, client proofing galleries, a commission-free store and a Lightroom integration. The product is focused and the prices are low. But the billing toggle on the pricing page changes what you pay more than the plan you pick, and most people looking at “Format pricing” are comparing the wrong two numbers.
All pricing below comes from each platform’s listed plans; verify current pricing on the vendor’s site before you commit.
What Format costs, tier by tier
| Plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | Per year (annual) | Per year (monthly) | What the tier adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10/mo | $14/mo | $120 | $168 | 10 pages, 70 images, client galleries |
| Pro | $12/mo | $24/mo | $144 | $288 | Unlimited pages, custom domain, store |
| Pro Plus | $15/mo | $36/mo | $180 | $432 | Unlimited images, 1TB, priority support |
There is no free plan. You get a 14-day free trial, and Format takes 0% transaction fees on its store, on any tier that has one.
Look at the two “per year” columns side by side. On annual billing, the whole range from Basic to Pro Plus is $120 to $180 a year: a $60 spread. On monthly billing it is $168 to $432: a $264 spread. Same product, same features, very different pricing shape.
The billing toggle matters more than the plan
Format’s annual discount is not a flat percentage. It grows as you go up the tiers:
- Basic: $14/mo monthly vs $10/mo annual, which saves $48 a year (about 29%).
- Pro: $24/mo monthly vs $12/mo annual, which saves $144 a year. That is exactly half price.
- Pro Plus: $36/mo monthly vs $15/mo annual, which saves $252 a year (about 58%). The monthly price is 2.4x the annual one.
Two consequences follow, and both are counter-intuitive.
Pro on annual billing is cheaper than Basic on monthly billing. Pro billed annually is $144 a year; Basic paid monthly is $168. If you are choosing Basic month to month to “keep it cheap”, you are paying $24 more a year for the plan with a 10-page cap.
Pro Plus on annual billing is cheaper than Pro on monthly billing, by $108 a year ($180 against $288). The top tier, paid annually, beats the middle tier paid monthly.
Our listing for Format flags “big jumps between tiers” as a weakness, and on monthly billing that is fair: Basic to Pro is $10/mo more, and Pro to Pro Plus another $12/mo. On annual billing the jumps nearly vanish: $2/mo ($24 a year) from Basic to Pro, and $3/mo ($36 a year) from Pro to Pro Plus. The “big jumps” are mostly a monthly-billing problem.
So the honest answer to “how much does Format cost” is: $144 a year for the plan most people need, if you pay annually. Pay monthly and the same plan is $288.
What each tier actually gets you
Basic caps you at 10 pages and 70 images. For a tightly edited portfolio of your best work, that can be enough. For a working photographer with several genres, a few client galleries and an about page, 70 images goes fast. The listing we track puts the custom domain and the store on Pro, not Basic, so if either matters to you, confirm what Basic includes on Format’s pricing page before you buy it.
Pro removes the page cap and adds the custom domain and the commission-free store. This is the tier the product is really designed around, and on annual billing it is only $24 a year more than Basic.
Pro Plus is the tier listed with unlimited images and 1TB of storage, plus priority support. If you are uploading full shoots for client proofing, or selling prints from a large back catalogue, storage is the limit you will actually hit, and $36 a year more than Pro is a small price for not having to think about it.
The comparison that actually decides it
Format’s real competition for a portfolio is the general-purpose builders that photographers also use. Here is the entry plan with a custom domain from each, annual billing:
| Builder | Plan | Annual billing | Per year | Monthly billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Framer | Basic | $10/mo | $120 | $15/mo |
| Format | Pro | $12/mo | $144 | $24/mo |
| Squarespace | Basic | $16/mo | $192 | $25/mo |
| Wix | Light | $17/mo | $204 | $24/mo |
On annual billing, Format Pro is $48 a year cheaper than Squarespace Basic and $60 a year cheaper than Wix Light. Even Pro Plus, at $180, comes in $12 under Squarespace Basic. Only Framer Basic is cheaper, by $24 a year.
Switch every row to monthly billing and the advantage disappears: Format Pro at $24/mo costs the same as Wix Light and $1 less than Squarespace Basic. Format is only the cheap option if you commit for a year.
Selling prints is where the gap widens. Format’s store is on Pro and charges no commission. Squarespace’s 0% product fee arrives on its Core plan, at $23/mo annual ($276 a year). For a photographer who wants a portfolio and a print shop with no platform cut, Format Pro is $132 a year cheaper than the Squarespace plan that does the same job without fees.
Ratings do not separate them much: Format sits at 4.4 on G2, level with Squarespace, against Wix at 4.2 and Framer at 4.5.
Where Format is the wrong choice
Format is a specialist, and it is the wrong buy when your site is not mainly a portfolio.
- You want a full marketing site. It is the one use case our data lists Format as not ideal for. If the site needs a content-heavy blog or a lot of non-visual pages, Squarespace or Wix cover more ground for $48-$60 a year more.
- You want to build before you pay. Format has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Wix, Framer and WordPress.com all have free tiers you can build on indefinitely before committing.
- Your work is writing, not images. WordPress.com Personal is $4/mo annual ($48 a year), a third of Format Pro, and is far stronger for blogging.
- You want design control or motion. Framer is $10/mo annual for a custom domain and is built for animated, design-led sites. If that is the pull, read Webflow vs Framer before you pick Format.
- You need one page. Carrd starts from $19 a year for a custom-domain one-pager, with a free tier for three sites. A full portfolio builder is overkill for a link-in-bio page.
Who should pay for which tier
Pay for Basic only if your portfolio really fits in 10 pages and 70 images, and you have confirmed it includes what you need on the domain front. At $120 a year annually it is the cheapest Format plan, but Pro costs just $24 a year more and removes the limits you are most likely to hit.
Pay for Pro annually if you are a photographer or visual creative who wants a portfolio, client galleries and a commission-free print store on your own domain. At $144 a year it is the default, and cheaper than the Squarespace and Wix equivalents.
Pay for Pro Plus annually if you upload full client shoots or run a large print catalogue. Unlimited images and 1TB for $180 a year costs $36 more than Pro and removes the storage question entirely.
Pay monthly only to stretch past the 14-day trial while you decide. Basic and Pro each cost more month to month than the next tier up does on annual billing, and Pro costs exactly double. Once you know Format is the tool, switch to annual.
The verdict
Format costs $144 a year for Pro on annual billing, and that is a genuinely good price for a focused portfolio builder with a commission-free store. It undercuts Squarespace and Wix and sits only $24 a year above Framer Basic.
The deciding question is not “which tier” but “will I commit for a year?” If yes, Format is one of the cheapest serious portfolio builders available. If you want to stay month to month, it loses its price advantage entirely, and you should pick on features rather than cost.
Our advisor narrows the category by budget, e-commerce needs and how much design control you want. There is a use-case breakdown in best website builder for a portfolio, the Format alternatives page ranks the closest competitors on price and rating, and the best website builders page covers the full category. If you are weighing a cheaper all-in-one, how much Hostinger Website Builder costs explains why its headline price needs a four-year commitment.