Webdoline, a WordPress alternative for artist websites.
WordPress.com is the most widely used website platform in the world. It's powerful, flexible, and has a free plan that makes it tempting as a starting point.
But that power comes with complexity. WordPress.com is a content management system built for bloggers, businesses, and publishers. As a gallery artist, you'll spend more time navigating menus, installing plugins, and choosing between hundreds of themes than actually presenting your work.
Webdoline is built specifically for artists. It's a one-time $70 purchase. No subscriptions, no renewals, no price increases.
Here's a look at the differences.
The free plan isn't really free
WordPress.com's free plan displays ads on your website — ads you don't control and don't earn from. For a gallery artist trying to make a professional impression on collectors and curators, that's a problem.
To remove ads and use a custom domain, you need a paid plan. And that's where the monthly fees begin.
The cost difference is dramatic
| Webdoline | Webdoline Up-to-date | WordPress.com Personal ($4/mo) | WordPress.com Premium ($8/mo) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $70 | $70 | $48 | $96 |
| Year 3 | $70 | $140 | $144 | $240 |
| Year 5 | $70 | $210 | $288 | $480 |
| Subscription | Never | Never | Forever | Forever |
| Updates | Year 1 included | New license every ~2 years | Included | Included |
Webdoline Up-to-date assumes renewing the license every 2 years ($70 each time). Updates are optional, the app keeps working without them.
WordPress.com Personal looks affordable at $4/month, until you realize you're paying it forever, and that it still has significant limitations on design customization. To get full control over your site's appearance, you need the Premium plan or higher.
WordPress.com is built for writers, not artists
WordPress.com's core unit is the post, a piece of writing published over time. Its entire architecture is designed around blogging and content publishing.
For an artist, the core unit is the artwork. A single page might present dozens of them across different galleries and series. WordPress.com has no concept of this. You'd be building workarounds from the start.
Webdoline is organized around artworks from the ground up. When you add a piece to your website, you're adding an artwork: title, description, year, price. Picture galleries pull from that list automatically. Your available works list, the one you paste into emails when a collector asks, is generated for you. So are reels, ready to share on Instagram.
Themes, plugins, and the complexity trap
WordPress.com offers thousands of themes and plugins. That sounds like an advantage, but for an artist it's mostly noise. You spend time evaluating options, dealing with compatibility issues, and customizing something that wasn't built for the art world in the first place.
Webdoline doesn't need themes. The minimal, clean aesthetic expected by blue-chip galleries and collectors is baked in from the start. Your website looks like it belongs in the art world the moment you open the app.
What about hosting, domains, and everything else?
WordPress.com bundles hosting, domain (first year free), analytics, and basic forms into its subscription. Webdoline is a desktop app that generates a static website you upload yourself. That might sound like more work, but in practice it's simpler than it sounds.
Here's how a typical setup looks:
Hosting. Netlify and Cloudflare both offer free plans that comfortably accommodate a typical artist's website.
Domain. Namecheap sells domains for around $15/year. You own it outright, independent of any platform.
Analytics. Paste a script from Google Analytics or Umami. Done.
Forms. Embed a form from any external service, or use the built-in form handling from Netlify or Cloudflare.
Email. Namecheap and Migadu both offer affordable email hosting tied to your domain.
The key advantage: nothing is locked to a single platform. Your website, your domain, your hosting, all independent, all yours.
Multi-currency without a store
Webdoline doesn't have e-commerce. But it does something more specific: it lets you show prices in multiple currencies per artwork.
This matters when you're showing in New York and Paris at the same time. One piece is priced in USD, another in EUR. Webdoline handles that cleanly, without turning your website into a shop.
Where WordPress.com is the better choice
Webdoline includes a News section that works as a blog, good enough for exhibition announcements, press coverage, and the occasional artist statement. If your writing needs go beyond that, a heavily trafficked blog, advanced content scheduling, or membership features, WordPress.com is the better fit. It's also the right choice if you need deep integration with a wide plugin ecosystem.
If you need to update your site from your phone or tablet, WordPress.com's online editor works anywhere. Webdoline is a desktop app, you edit locally, preview locally, and upload when you're ready.
Who is Webdoline for?
Webdoline is for gallery artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, installation artists) who need a professional, elegant online presence and never want to think about a monthly bill again.
It's not for everyone. But if your practice is the focus and your website is the showcase, it was built for you.
Own your art website forever
$70, one time. Works on Mac.