eltree vs Carrd
The short answer
Choose eltree if you want a good-looking page in minutes without designing anything.
Choose Carrd if you want to design a bespoke page and are happy to do the layout work.
The one-paragraph version
eltree builds the page for you from pasted URLs. Carrd expects you to design it. If you do not want to be your own web designer, that difference is the whole decision.
Carrd is not really a link-in-bio tool — it is a very good one-page site builder, and a bio link is one of the things you can build with it. That trade is the whole story: you get far more layout freedom than any link-in-bio tool offers, in exchange for having to design the page yourself and wire up anything dynamic.
Row by row
| Dimension | eltree | Carrd |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes — the page, every design feature, tips and a shop, no watermark | Yes — up to three sites on a carrd.co subdomain |
| Paid plan from | Free; Pro £2.99/mo or £24.99/yr; Seller £9.99/mo | From $9/year |
| Page layout | Visual content grid, link rows, or both | Whatever you build — it is a page builder |
| Automatic thumbnails | Yes — pulled automatically from the pasted URL | No — you add every image yourself |
| Themes and fonts on the free plan | 7 themes, 30+ fonts, full custom colours — all free | Templates you then customise freely |
| Branding on free pages | Optional badge you can switch off | No forced branding |
| Analytics | Views, tile clicks and reactions on your page, free | Bring your own (Google Analytics and similar) |
| Monetisation | Tips and a built-in shop (products, downloads, services) via Stripe, free to switch on, plus links to products on Amazon, Etsy or Shopify | Via embeds and third-party checkout |
| Platform fee on money you take | 10% on the free plan, 5% on Pro, 0% on shop sales on Seller, plus Stripe’s processing charge | No Carrd fee — you embed your own checkout, so your provider’s fees apply |
| Custom domain | Yes, on Pro (£2.99/mo); eltree.app/yourname keeps working too | Yes, on paid plans |
| Email / SMS capture | No built-in capture form | Yes — forms on paid plans |
| Posting to social accounts | No | No |
| Community features | Emoji reactions, stories, highlights and a public creator directory | No |
| Typical setup time | A couple of minutes — paste URLs and the tiles build themselves | Longest — you design the page |
Where Carrd wins
This is our site and eltree is our product. Here is the case against us anyway.
- Total layout control — eltree gives you themes and two layout modes, not a canvas
- Custom domains for a low annual price
- Contact and signup forms
- Can be a full one-page site, not only a bio link
Where eltree wins
- You build everything by hand — nothing is auto-generated from your links
- No creator-specific features: no reactions, no stories, no directory, no tips
- No automatic thumbnail extraction
- The free tier cannot use a custom domain
Before you switch to eltree
These gaps apply whichever tool you are coming from.
- Email or SMS capture: There is no built-in subscriber capture form. Link out to your own list instead.
- Link scheduling: Individual links cannot be scheduled to appear or expire on a date.
- Large catalogues: eltree’s own checkout suits a handful of products, downloads or services (up to 100 in the shop) and has no variants or checkout discount codes. For a big catalogue, sell on Shopify or Etsy and add product links to your eltree shop.
- A/B testing: No split testing of layouts or link ordering.
- Posting to social networks: eltree does not publish or schedule posts to Instagram, TikTok, X or other networks. Use a scheduler such as Buffer or Later for that.
- Fee-free monetisation: eltree takes 10% of tips and shop sales on the free plan and 5% on Pro; only the £9.99/month Seller plan takes 0%, and only on shop sales. Taplink and Stan Store take 0% platform commission, though Stan has no free plan.
Questions people ask
Is eltree better than Carrd?
Not universally. eltree is better if you want a good-looking page in minutes without designing anything. Carrd is better if you want to design a bespoke page and are happy to do the layout work. The largest single difference is layout: eltree builds a visual grid of thumbnails from your links, while Carrd presents whatever you build — it is a page builder.
Is eltree cheaper than Carrd?
The eltree page itself is free with no watermark. Carrd paid plans start at pro lite from $9/year, pro standard from $19/year, pro plus from $49/year. Tips and the shop are free to switch on, and instant payouts (1% fee) are on every plan. eltree Pro costs £2.99/mo (or £24.99/year) and adds your own domain, a song under your bio, a weekly report, unlimited tiles, links and stories and a 5% fee — the page design is never behind it.
Can I move from Carrd to eltree?
Yes, manually — there is no automated import. Copy each destination URL from your Carrd page and paste it into eltree, which pulls the thumbnail and title for you. Then update the single link in your Instagram, TikTok or X bio. Your Carrd page keeps working until you delete it, so you can run both while you decide.
Carrd pricing and features last checked 2026-09-21 against their site .
Other comparisons
eltree vs Linktree
The original link-in-bio tool, and still the default for most people.
eltree vs Beacons
A whole creator business suite that happens to include a link-in-bio.
eltree vs Bio.link
A clean, genuinely generous free link-in-bio.
eltree vs Lnk.Bio
The budget option, with an unusual one-off lifetime payment.
Carrd on its own terms
A review of Carrd without the head-to-head framing.
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