Key takeaways
A free redesign is a preview you review before you commit. The vendor earns its money from a monthly hosting and maintenance subscription.
The offer is only honest if every condition is stated up front, not buried in a footnote.
Ask about price after the preview, ownership, minimum term, cancellation and what happens if you leave.
A redesign can hurt your search traffic if old URLs aren't redirected to relevant new pages.
Design shapes first impressions, but the research behind that claim is old, so don't expect guaranteed lead lifts.
A free website redesign means a web company builds you a new version of your site, you review it, and you pay nothing unless you decide to go ahead. The cost usually shows up later as a monthly hosting and maintenance subscription. It's a fair deal when the terms are stated clearly before you say yes.
At AetherWeb, this is how we work. Below we explain how the process runs, where the money comes from, and the questions you should put to any company offering a free redesign, including us.
How a free redesign works
The steps are simple. You share your current site and what you want it to do. The vendor builds a new design. You look at it, ask for changes, and decide. If you say no, you walk away. If you say yes, the site goes live and your subscription starts.
The catch is that "free" only covers the preview. Someone still pays for the build, hosting, security and updates, and that's the subscription. We think that's a better trade than a large upfront bill for a site you haven't seen. You can compare both models in our guide to website subscription vs paying upfront.
Where the money comes from
Nobody builds a site for nothing. If a vendor can't tell you how it gets paid, walk away. The US federal rule on "free" offers is clear that all terms and obligations for receiving and keeping the free item must be disclosed up front, and the FTC's Free Guide says a footnote reached by an asterisk doesn't count.
The FTC's small-business guidance adds that the most important cost terms belong near the advertised price. Free offers are also covered by Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bars deceptive practices, and by state laws requiring clear disclosure, as FIC Law explains. It's an interpretive guide, not legal advice, but it's a good yardstick for any vendor.
Subscriptions bring cancellation rules into play. The FTC's 2024 click-to-cancel rule was vacated in 2025 on procedural grounds, but according to Jones Day's analysis, roughly 30 states have their own automatic-renewal laws, some stricter than the federal rule. Read the cancellation terms yourself. Our current plans are on our pricing page.
Eight questions to ask any vendor
What do I pay after the preview? Get the monthly figure and what it covers in writing.
Who owns the domain, content and code? Your name should be on the domain account.
What is the minimum term, and how do I cancel? You want a plain answer, not a maze.
What does "free" include? Ask about page count, revision rounds, copywriting, photos, forms and integrations.
How will you protect my search traffic? Look for a URL map and redirects.
Is the design custom or a template, and did a person review it? Be candid about how the preview was produced.
Who handles hosting, security and updates?
What happens to my site if I leave? Ask whether you can export your content and keep the design.
Questions 2 and 8 matter most. Lock-in is where cheap offers turn expensive. Our article on keeping your domain when you switch designers shows how to check this before you sign anything.
Protect your rankings during a redesign
A new design shouldn't cost you the traffic you've earned. Google's advice in its site move guidance is to map every old URL to its new equivalent, redirect the old ones, and monitor traffic on both.
What to check
Redirect each old page to its closest new page. Don't send everything to the homepage, which Google can treat as a soft 404.
Redirect straight to the final address. Google suggests keeping chains ideally to 3 hops and under 5.
Remove any noindex tag left on a staging site, and point canonical tags to the new URLs.
Keep redirects for as long as possible, generally at least a year.
Use permanent redirects. Google's redirect documentation says the 301 and 308 status codes signal a permanent move. If your URLs change but your domain stays the same, Google says to add redirects and update sitemaps because the Change of Address tool is for domain moves only.
One myth to drop: Google says permanent redirects don't cause a loss of PageRank. The real damage comes from irrelevant destinations, removed content and blocked indexing.
Does design really matter?
Yes, for first impressions. Stanford's Web Credibility Project drew 10 guidelines from three years of research involving over 4,500 people, including that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone.
Be careful with that. The research is from the early 2000s, so it's no proof of a specific lead increase. Treat design as a trust signal, not a guaranteed lead machine. Leads come from a clear offer, working forms and fast follow-up, which is why our sites run on AetherHub, with Campaigns and Workflows for automated follow-up.
Who it fits and who it doesn't
It fits established firms with a site that underperforms: accountants, engineers, wealth managers, benefits advisors, landscapers. It fits less well if you need a complex custom application. For that, we do custom software development as a separate project. Not sure? Contact us and we'll tell you straight.
Frequently asked questions
Is a free website redesign really free?
The preview is free, and you owe nothing if you walk away. If you go ahead, you pay a monthly subscription for hosting and maintenance. Any vendor should state that before you start.
Do I own my redesigned site?
Ask in writing. At minimum, your domain should be registered in your name, and the vendor should explain how you can export your content if you leave.
Will a redesign hurt my SEO?
Not if it's handled well. Old URLs need 301 redirects to relevant new pages, and staging noindex tags must be removed at launch. Ask the vendor to show you the redirect map.
What if I don't like the redesign?
You say no and owe nothing. Ask about revision rounds first, so you know how many changes you can request before deciding.
Can I cancel a website subscription?
You should be able to. Check the minimum term and the cancellation steps before you sign. State automatic-renewal laws vary, so read the terms carefully.
What is AetherWeb?
AetherWeb is a web design and marketing tools company serving San Diego, San Francisco and online. We build, host and maintain sites on a subscription with a free redesign, and offer AetherHub, SEO and AI visibility content, email campaigns and custom apps.
What to do next
A free redesign is a good way to judge a vendor on real work instead of promises. Ask the eight questions, get the terms in writing, and check the redirect plan. If a company dodges any of them, that tells you what you need to know.
Want to see what your site could look like? Learn more about us and ask for your redesign. We'll show you the terms before we show you the bill.
Sources
eCFR :: 16 CFR 251.1 -- The guide. — U.S. Federal Trade Commission (Code of Federal Regulations)
Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business — Federal Trade Commission
FTC Revives Click-to-Cancel Rule: New Risks for Subscription Businesses — Jones Day
Site Moves and Migrations — Google Search Central
Redirects and Google Search — Google Search Central
Change of Address tool - Search Console Help — Google Search Console Help
The Web Credibility Project: Guidelines - Stanford University — Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab