Terms of Service

Last updated: July 11, 2026

Welcome to BuildBy1st. These terms are the agreement between you and BuildBy1st (buildby1st.com) that governs your use of our website builder, editor, hosting, and related services. By creating an account or using BuildBy1st, you agree to them. We have tried to keep them short and in plain English.

1. What BuildBy1st is

BuildBy1st lets small businesses generate a complete website from a guided questionnaire, refine it in a visual editor, and publish it to the web. Building, editing, and previewing are free; publishing requires a paid subscription.

2. Your account

You need an account to save and publish websites. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials secure and for activity that happens under your account. You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live, to use BuildBy1st.

3. Free plan

Building, editing, and previewing websites on BuildBy1st is free forever. No credit card is required and free accounts do not expire. A paid subscription is required only when you want to publish a website to the web.

4. Paid plans and billing

We offer two paid plans: Starter at $12/month or $120/year, and Premium at $29/month or $290/year. Premium adds an AI content and design assistant plus priority support. All prices are in US dollars. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled.

Billing and payment processing are handled by Stripe, our payment provider. BuildBy1st never sees or stores your full card number. You can update your payment method or cancel at any time through the self-serve billing portal.

5. Cancellation

You can cancel anytime, and cancelling stops all future charges. Your published website stays live through the end of the period you have already paid for, and is then automatically unpublished. Your account, drafts, and website designs remain in your account free of charge — you can republish them any time you resubscribe.

6. Refunds

Because you can cancel anytime to prevent future charges, we do not automatically refund partial billing periods. If something went wrong with your billing — a duplicate charge, a mistake, anything that does not look right — contact support and we will make it right.

7. Your content

You own your website content: your text, images, and business information. BuildBy1st owns the platform, templates, and software that power the service. So that we can operate the service, you grant BuildBy1st permission to host, store, and display your content — that is the only reason we need it, and the permission ends for content you delete.

8. Hosting and custom domains

Published websites are hosted by BuildBy1st with SSL certificates included, either at buildby1st.com/s/<name> or on your own domain. You purchase and own your domain at your own registrar (for example Namecheap or GoDaddy). BuildBy1st never owns, registers, or holds your domain — connecting a domain only points its DNS at our hosting, and your domain stays yours if you cancel.

9. Acceptable use

You may not use BuildBy1st to publish or distribute illegal content, phishing, malware, or spam; to infringe others' intellectual property; to host adult content involving minors; or to deceptively impersonate another person or business. We may unpublish websites or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

10. Service availability

BuildBy1st is provided "as is" and "as available." We work hard to keep the service fast and reliable, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, and we make no warranties beyond what the law requires.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, BuildBy1st's total liability for any claim arising out of the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, we will post the new version on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Continuing to use BuildBy1st after a change means you accept the updated terms.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach us any time through our support page — we respond within 1 business day.