Softwr

Web Development · head to head

Carrd vs Garden

Carrd logo

Carrd

Web Development

Ultra-affordable one-page site builder.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Carrd free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro; Garden incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Carrd and Garden actually diverge.

Attributes where Carrd and Garden differ
AttributeCarrdGarden
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, MobileLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes
CategoryWeb DevelopmentDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Carrd

Nothing recorded that Garden does not also cover.

Only in Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Carrd

  • Indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pagesnot Garden
  • Small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low costnot Garden
  • Link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pagesnot Garden
  • Email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnetsnot Garden
  • Cost-conscious teams requiring a cheap website alternative to Webflow or Squarespacenot Garden

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot Carrd
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot Carrd
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot Carrd
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot Carrd

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Carrd

  • Free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro
  • Pro plan includes Carrd branding removal but still lacks advanced features (e-commerce, multi-step funnels, complex forms)
  • Single-page design only; does not support multi-page websites or complex site structures
  • Limited template library compared to competitors like Leadpages or Unbounce
  • Annual payment required for Pro tier; no monthly payment option
  • No native A/B testing, analytics dashboard or conversion optimisation tools built-in

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely.
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost.
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police.
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice.

Pricing, plan by plan

Carrd

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 3 sites
    • Responsive design
    • Templates and blank pages
  • Pro$19/year
    • Unlimited sites
    • Custom domain with SSL
    • Contact forms

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tier$undefined/year
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

Which should you pick?

Choose Carrd if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
Carrd review

Choose Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden review

Questions people ask

Is Carrd or Garden better?
Neither clearly leads. Carrd starts at Free and Garden at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Carrd or Garden?
Carrd starts at Free and Garden at Free.
Does Carrd or Garden run on more platforms?
Carrd runs on Web, Mobile. Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
Can I use Carrd for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Carrd best used for?
Carrd is most often used for indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages, small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost, link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pages, email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnets. Of those, indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages and small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost are not what Garden is typically brought in for.
What can Carrd do that Garden cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Carrd: How much does Carrd cost?

Carrd is free for up to 3 sites. The Pro plan costs $19/year and enables unlimited sites with custom domains, forms and integrations.

Source
Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

Carrd: Can I use Carrd for e-commerce?

Carrd's Pro plan supports payment forms with Stripe integration, but it is not a full e-commerce platform. Single-product sales or payment collection is possible, but inventory management and complex product catalogs are not supported.

Source
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

Carrd: Can I create multi-page websites with Carrd?

No. Carrd is designed for single-page sites only. For multi-page websites, you would need to use a full website builder like Webflow or Squarespace.

Source
Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

Share

Related pages

More on Carrd

More on Garden

Keep looking

Other head to heads