Artist website builder guide: what an artist site needs in 2026

What an artist website has to do

An artist website has two jobs: show your work well, and make the next step easy for a collector, gallery or client, whether that is buying a print, asking about an original or joining your list.

Most art still sells through people and places. In the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025, a third-party survey of 3,100 wealthy collectors, 83% had bought through galleries and dealers and 51% through Instagram. Your site is where a buyer checks who you are before they pay.

A good artist portfolio website covers these basics:

• Your work, organized by series or medium, with title, size and year on each piece.
• A clear way to buy or ask: a shop, an inquiry form, or a list of the galleries that represent you.
• About, statement and CV pages.
• An email list, so you can tell collectors about new work first.
• Shop policies: shipping, returns and edition details, linked from every product.
• A phone-first layout, with alt text on every image so screen readers and search engines know what it shows.

Ways to get a website for artists

The quick verdict: a general builder such as Squarespace, or self-hosted WordPress, covers most artists. Portfolio builders such as Format and Cargo are built around images. Store and marketplace tools help you sell but are not a full website on their own. The biggest differences are fees per sale and what you can take with you.

1. A general website builder

Squarespace Core is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 billed monthly) with a 0% store transaction fee; Basic is $19 a month billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) but adds a 2% fee on store sales. Card processing is 2.9% + $0.30 on both. Five of the 15 artist sites in our examples roundup load their images from Squarespace’s servers.

Wix markets art portfolio templates and lets you build for free, but taking payments needs Core at $29 a month billed yearly. Shopify Basic is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 billed monthly) and fits artists who sell many prints and products; three of our examples run on it.

The trade-off is leaving: Squarespace and Shopify score 5/10 on our exit score and Wix 3/10. Our best portfolio website builders list compares the design-led options in detail.

2. Self-hosted WordPress

WordPress is free software you run on hosting you choose, and the free WooCommerce plugin adds a store with a 0% platform fee. Bluehost Starter hosting is $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, then $9.99 a month. You own the files and the database, so WordPress scores 10/10 for leaving, which matters for an archive you add to for decades.

We build on WordPress every week, so weigh our bias. The downside is upkeep: updates, backups and security are your job. See our WordPress review.

3. A portfolio builder made for artists

• Format is built for photographers and visual artists, with client galleries and a store that takes no commission. Basic shows $10 a month billed yearly next to “normally $14/month,” with no store. Pro is $17 a month billed yearly or $24 billed monthly (store up to 15 products), and Pro Plus $26 billed yearly or $36 billed monthly (up to 1,000 products). Promo codes redeemed by October 31, 2026 bring the first year of Pro to $12 and Pro Plus to $15 a month billed yearly.
• Cargo has one price: $14 a month billed yearly ($19 billed monthly), with one custom domain included. Its Commerce add-on is $5.50 a month billed yearly ($9 billed monthly), and Cargo says it charges no per-transaction fees.
• Adobe Portfolio comes free with paid Creative Cloud plans, such as Lightroom at $11.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly. It has no store, and the site stays live only while you pay for a plan.
• Pixpa bundles a site, store, blog and client galleries with 0% commission on sales. We could not read its US prices, so check its pricing page.

4. Store, marketplace and inventory tools

• Big Cartel is a simple store for artists and makers: free Gold, or Platinum at $15 and Diamond at $30 a month billed monthly. Custom domains start on Platinum.
• Fine Art America prints, frames and ships your work. You earn the markup you set over its base price. Premium is $30 a year and includes a white-label website.
• Saatchi Art is a curated online gallery: free to list, with a 40% commission on originals, so you keep 60%. It is non-exclusive.
• Artwork Archive tracks inventory, editions and sales for $9, $18 or $36 a month and includes a public profile site. Professional and up can embed your collection into WordPress or Squarespace.

The options side by side

The exit score, out of 10, measures how much of your site comes with you if you switch; see every score in our exit scores tool. The artist tools have no exit score yet, so the table quotes their help pages. Our cost guide adds domain, email and sales fees over three years.

Which artist website builder should you use?

There is no single best website builder for artists. Here is who each route fits.

• You mostly show work and sell through galleries: Squarespace, for polished templates in one bill, or Cargo, for a design-led site at one flat price.
• You already pay for Creative Cloud: Adobe Portfolio costs nothing extra, but add a store elsewhere and keep the plan active.
• You sell many prints, books or goods: Shopify or WooCommerce. Lisa Congdon, Sarah Kersten and Jen Hewett run their shops on Shopify.
• You are a photographer-artist with client work: Format, for client galleries plus a commission-free store. See our best website builders for photographers.
• You want to own your archive for life: self-hosted WordPress, the only route here that scores 10/10.
• You want prints sold with no inventory: Fine Art America, alongside your own site.

How to make an artist website, step by step

1. Decide how you sell: inquiries, your own store, print-on-demand or galleries. That picks your platform.
2. Register your domain name in your own name, ideally your name as an artist, at a registrar you can log in to.
3. Write the pages: work, about, CV, contact and shop policies.
4. Connect payments and shipping, then place a real test order from your phone.

Selling art online: store fees, sales tax and shipping

Every online sale carries three costs. First, the platform fee: 0% on Squarespace Core, Shopify with Shopify Payments, WooCommerce, Format and Cargo; 2% on Squarespace Basic; and 40% on Saatchi Art originals. Second, card processing: Stripe’s standard US rate is 2.9% + 30 cents per domestic card, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency is converted. Our transaction fees entry explains the difference.

Third, sales tax. Since South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require sellers in other states to collect sales tax once they pass a threshold. Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky use $100,000 or 200 transactions, Washington $100,000, and California $500,000 in sales delivered into the state (CDTFA). The Streamlined Sales Tax program lets remote sellers register in all its member states with one free application (SST).

Shipping has its own federal rule, below. For store platforms, see our best online store builders.

Design that turns visitors into buyers

Let the work fill the screen

Group pieces by series or medium, each with size, year and price or “inquire.” Kathleen Dunphy sorts paintings by subject, and Ayumi Horie sorts ceramics by material.

Make buying feel safe

Buyers want to know what happens if a piece arrives damaged. Emily Jeffords links shipping, returns and a framing guide from her footer, and Jen Hewett shows prices on her prints.

Build a list of collectors

An email list is the one audience you own. Emily Jeffords runs a “Collectors Club” with first notice of new work. See all 15 in our best artist websites roundup.

The rules your artist site has to follow

These are the main US rules for artists selling online as of October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Shipping times (FTC Mail Order Rule)

This FTC rule covers internet orders. Don’t take an order unless you expect to ship within the time you state, or within 30 days if you state none. If you can’t ship on time, offer the buyer the choice to wait or cancel for a prompt refund, which means within 7 working days. This matters for commissions and print-on-demand lead times (16 CFR 435).

Prints and editions sold in New York

New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Law requires an art merchant selling a multiple, such as a print or photograph, in, into or from New York to give written details, including the artist, medium, whether it is a reproduction, production date and edition size. A priced online listing must show them near the description. The law’s notice text covers prints and photographs over $100 each, not counting the frame, and sculpture over $1,500 (s.15.01). A seller who skips them can owe a refund plus interest, or three times that for willful violations (s.15.15). The law doesn’t clearly say whether artists selling their own work count as “art merchants.”

Refund policy (New York)

New York requires retailers, online ones included, to post their refund policy where buyers see it before entering billing details. If it isn’t posted, buyers can return unused items within 30 days (GBL s.218-a).

Copyright

A copyright notice is optional since March 1, 1989, but it can block a copier’s innocent-infringement defense. To sue over a US work, you generally need to register it first, and statutory damages and attorneys’ fees apply only if you registered before the infringement or within three months of publication. Online registration is $45 for a single work by one author, or $55 for a group of photographs (Copyright Office fees).

AI training

Your robots.txt file can ask AI companies not to train on your images. OpenAI says blocking GPTBot keeps content out of training, while its search crawler is controlled separately, and Google says blocking Google-Extended doesn’t affect Google Search. See websites and AI search.

Native American art claims

The federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act bans marketing art in a way that falsely suggests it is Native American made, product descriptions included. An individual’s first violation can bring a fine of up to $250,000, up to five years in prison, or both (Interior Department).

Pre-launch checklist

1. Your domain is registered in your name, at a registrar you control.
2. Every piece has a title, medium, size, year and either a price or an inquiry link.
3. Shipping times, returns and refund policy are linked from every product page.
4. A test order works on your phone and the confirmation email arrives.
5. Images have alt text, and the site loads quickly on a phone.
6. Your robots.txt matches your choice on AI training.

Getting found after launch

Link your site from every social profile, gallery page and art fair listing. In the third-party Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2026, online sales were about 15% of the art market in 2025, so your site often supports a sale that closes in person.

Then give search engines text to read: a page per series, titled pieces and a current exhibitions page. If people can visit your studio, add a Google Business Profile. Our SEO entry covers the basics. Our sister site, SEO PPC Management, covers SEO.

Where to go next

• How much an artist website costs: true 3-year totals, including store fees and a sales example.
• Best artist websites: 15 real sites and one idea to copy from each.
• Best portfolio website builders and best website builders for photographers: our ranked picks.

Website guides for other industries: Real estate, Law firms, Dental, Medical, Therapists, Contractors, Electricians, Restaurants, Schools, Salons, Churches, Events, Vacation rentals, Nonprofits, Creators and courses. All industries.