Questions people ask

20 straight answers about what Grafter costs, what it builds, and what you own.

What's a credit?: A credit is what one instruction costs. Asking for a website is one build; asking for your phone number to be bigger is another, and each one takes credits off your balance. Looking at the preview, coming back tomorrow and downloading your files all cost nothing.
How much does it cost?: Nothing to start — every account gets 300 credits a month and no card is asked for. Paid plans start at $16 a month if you pay for the year, or $20 month by month, and you can stop one whenever you like.
Is it really free?: Yes, and it stays free — this is not a trial that quietly ends. The 300 credits come back every month, which is roughly 5–30 builds depending on which engine you pick. You pay only if you want more changes in a month than that.
What happens when I run out of credits?: The next change is refused before it starts, so you are never left with half a page. Everything already built stays exactly as it is and your website stays online. You can buy a one-off top-up from $5 or move up a plan, and either works straight away.
Do my credits roll over to next month?: Your plan's credits go back to full on the same date each month, and whatever is left of last month's goes with it — it is an allowance, like a phone contract, not a savings account. Top-ups are the exception: those never expire, and they are only touched once the month's allowance has gone.
Which engine should I pick?: You do not have to. The button beside the message box starts on Auto, which reads each request and picks for you — the one that thinks hardest for a whole new site, the quickest one for repairing something that has broken. Choose yourself whenever you would rather: the fastest costs 10 credits a build and is plenty for changing a price or a line of wording, and the best one costs 200 and comes with any paid plan — it wears a crown in the list. Auto never picks a model your plan does not include.
Do I need to know anything technical?: No. Describe the business the way you would to a customer on the phone — what you do, where you work, who for — and the site gets written for you. Every change after that is a sentence, not a setting.
Can I change it later?: Yes, as often as you like, for as long as you keep the project. Type what is different — "put my mobile number at the top", "the prices have gone up" — and the site changes. There is nothing to relearn in between.
What if I don't like it?: Say what is wrong with it in your own words and it gets changed — that is the whole way this works, and it is what the first draft is for. Nothing is final either: every build is kept, so Version history at the top of the editor puts it back the way it was.
What if it looks broken?: If the preview shows an error there is a Fix button on it — press that and it works out what went wrong and repairs it. If it is not broken but simply wrong, say so plainly: "the writing is too small", "that photo is squashed".
Can I use my own photos?: Yes, and you should. Press the picture button beside the message box and add a few — your logo, the van, a job you finished — and they go into the site itself rather than being described. Photographs of your own work beat any stock picture.
Is my work saved?: Yes, every build, as it happens — there is no Save button to forget. Close the tab, come back tomorrow, and the project is where you left it with every earlier version still there to go back to.
Can I build more than one website?: Yes, as many as you like, on every plan including the free one. They all draw on the same monthly credits, so what counts is how many changes you ask for, not how many sites you keep.
How do I get it online?: It already is. As soon as your first build lands, Live site appears at the top of the editor with your website's address on it — press Copy, then paste it into a text message or an email. Whoever you send it to can open it on any phone.
Who can see my website?: Anyone you give the address to. The link is long and unguessable and it is not listed anywhere, so nobody stumbles on it — but there is no password on it either, so treat it like a key: whoever you send it to can pass it on.
Can I use my own domain?: Yes — and it is yours to set up, because publishing puts the site into your own Vercel account. Once it is live, open that project in Vercel, go to Settings then Domains and add your name. Vercel shows you two DNS records to create wherever you bought the domain: an A record for the bare name, and a CNAME to cname.vercel-dns.com for the www one. Add them, give DNS a few minutes, and Vercel sorts the https certificate out itself. Worth knowing: the free .vercel.app address is built from the name you type when publishing and cannot be changed afterwards, so a domain of your own is also the fix if you would like a different name.
Will Google find it?: In time, and not on its own. The pages are written with proper headings and real words about your trade and your area, which is the part a search engine reads — but a brand-new address takes weeks to show up. For local work your Google Business Profile brings in more calls than the website does.
Can I add a booking form?: Yes, and it works — what somebody types arrives in the Leads panel on your site's dashboard. Nothing to connect and nothing to pay for. It is not emailed to you, so check Leads rather than waiting for a notification, and keep your phone number near the top too: plenty of people would rather ring than type.
Do I own it?: Yes, outright. Save & Export, then Download .zip, puts every file of your website on your computer, and it runs anywhere without Grafter. Stopping paying does not take that away and does not touch anything you have already exported.
How do I get my money back?: There is no button for that. What is automatic: cancelling under Manage billing stops the next payment and you keep the plan to the end of the month you have paid for, moving down a plan part-way through puts the difference back pro rata, and a build that fails returns its credits without you asking.