Mobirise vs Publii (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Publii grades higher than Mobirise: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Publii grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mobirise
Free desktop website builder with paid themes, extensions and AI
Which one is for you
Pick Mobirise if
- Fits if you want to build sites offline and host them on hosting you already pay for
- Works for designers making client sites, as the Kit has no site limit
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're on Linux or want a phone app, as the app is Windows and Mac only
- Tight if you stop paying for the Kit, as premium blocks, updates and support switch off
- Not for you if you want a full online store with stock and orders; selling is cart extensions
- Watch out: a Kit activates on 2 computers, and 10 needs an Enterprise license with no price on the pricing page
- Pricey if you want hosting and custom domains, which need BASE at $199 a year for 3 sites
Pick Publii if
- Fits if you want a free site editor and already have or will pick a host
- Works for people who like keeping site files on their own computer
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: you must arrange and pay for your own hosting
- Watch out: premium themes and plugins are paid extras
- Not for you if you need shop, login or database features, as the output is static
- Tight if several people edit one site, as content lives on one computer
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAMobiriseFair | 2.8GPAPubliiGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe app is free, but a site needs a server: BASE is $199 a year, about $16.58 a month, for hosting on your own domain, and KIT at $149 a year only unlocks themes in the app. That's the middle of this category. Hosting you already pay for costs nothing extra. | AThe app is free and open source, with unlimited sites and no account, against a category where the cheaper quarter pays $6.75 a month; hosting is extra. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe desktop app is free for personal and commercial use, publishes unlimited sites to your own hosting or a free mobirisesite.com address, and gives 3 AI generations a month. One person could live on that; premium themes are the main thing missing. | AFree outright, with no cap on sites and no sign-up. |
| Features | CAn offline drag-and-drop builder, publishing anywhere with full code export, AI site generation and 220+ themes and extensions in the Kit. Selling is done with cart extensions through PayPal, Stripe or WhatsApp rather than a full store. | COffline editing, several editors, many publishing targets and a WordPress importer, but static output only, with no database or hosted multi-user editor. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating on record. You install it and start dragging blocks in, but you still build every page and, unless you pay for BASE, sort out your own hosting. | CNo store rating on record, and you pick a theme, build the site and set up your own host. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWindows and Mac, plus Mobirise AI in a browser, which is still computers only, with no Linux and no phone app. Its connections are payment and social ones: PayPal, Stripe, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube. | CWindows, Mac and Linux desktop only, with publishing links to GitHub Pages, Netlify and S3. |
| Best for | building sites offline and hosting them anywhere | a free desktop app that makes static sites |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Mobirise and Publii. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mobirise starts at $12.42 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Publii has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and Publii starts $12.42 a month lower. Of the other website and landing page builders on the chart, 31 score higher than Mobirise for less, and none scores higher than Publii for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Publii is open source, according to its own site.
- Mobirise also covers forms.
- Publii also covers Markdown.
At a glance
| Mobirise | Publii | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $149 per year (KIT) | Free |
| Free plan | The desktop app is free for personal and commercial use, with free blocks, publishing to any hosting or a free mobirisesite.com subdomain, and 3 AI generations a month. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Mobirise | TidyCustoms |
| Price read from | mobirise.com | getpublii.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Mobirise
- The desktop app runs on Windows and Mac only; there is no Linux version.
- Premium themes and extensions are sold only through the Kit, which runs for a year. If it is not renewed, premium blocks, updates and support switch off.
- Hosting, custom domains and more than 3 AI generations a month need BASE or GROW; KIT covers the desktop app only.
- A Kit activates on up to 2 computers; 10 needs the Enterprise license, whose price is not shown on the pricing page.
Publii
- You must arrange and pay for your own hosting; the app only generates the files.
- Premium themes and plugins on the Publii marketplace are paid extras.
- The published site is static, with no database or PHP behind it, so dynamic features need outside services.
- Content is edited on one computer; there is no hosted multi-user editor.
Key features
Mobirise
- Offline drag-and-drop builder
- Pages are built on your computer from pre-made blocks for menus, galleries, sliders and forms, edited like a text document and saved to a local folder.
- Publish anywhere or export code
- Sites go to your own hosting, to a free mobirisesite.com subdomain or to a custom domain, and the full HTML, CSS and JavaScript can be exported.
- Mobirise AI
- A browser-based builder turns a prompt in any language into layouts, text, images and video, with hosting included. Its sites can be edited in the desktop app too.
- Themes and extensions
- More than 220 premium Bootstrap 5 themes and extensions, such as Code Editor, Form Builder, Popup Builder, Password Protect and social feeds, come with the Kit.
- Shop and cart extensions
- Simple Shop, Smart Cart and PayPal Shopping Cart add product blocks and checkout through PayPal and Stripe, or take orders as WhatsApp messages.
- Code Editor
- The Code Editor extension opens a site's HTML and CSS for manual edits, external plugins and custom blocks made from scratch.
Publii
- Offline desktop editing
- Write and change settings without a connection or cloud account; files stay on your computer until you publish.
- Three editors
- Compose posts with a block editor, a WYSIWYG toolbar or a Markdown editor, depending on how you prefer to write.
- Many publishing targets
- Publish to GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, Netlify, Amazon S3, Google Cloud, FTP or SFTP, or export a folder of files.
- WordPress importer
- Brings in posts, pages, images, authors and menus from a WordPress export file, with a report listing unresolved links.
- SEO, privacy and AI-crawler tools
- Sitemaps, feeds, JSON-LD data and cookie controls are built in; plugins add an llms.txt file and AI crawler rules.
- Unlimited sites per app
- Each site has its own content, settings and publishing destination, with no per-site fee for the application.
Plans
Mobirise
FREE$0
The desktop app with free blocks and themes, unlimited sites published to your own hosting, and 3 AI generations a month.
KIT$149
per year
All 220+ premium themes and extensions for unlimited offline sites with no Mobirise branding, for the desktop app only.
BASE$199
per year
Everything in KIT plus premium AI designs, 3 online sites with hosting, custom domains, site export and 100 AI generations a month.
GROW$249
per year
Everything in BASE with 10 online sites and 1,000 AI generations a month, aimed at client work.
Publii
Publii app$0
Free, open-source desktop app; unlimited sites with no per-site fee and no account needed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Mobirise or Publii?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Publii is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $12.42 a month when paid by the year for Mobirise. Mobirise starts at $149 per year (KIT), and Publii is free.
Which has a free plan, Mobirise or Publii?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Mobirise and Publii have a free plan.
Which platforms do Mobirise and Publii run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Mobirise lists a web app and only Publii lists a Linux app. Both list macOS and Windows apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.