Link in Bio Tools

Carrd vs Bio.fm: Lightweight Website or Modern Bio Link

Carrd is a tiny website builder people repurpose as a bio link. Bio.fm is a bio link designed around flexibility. When does each one actually make sense.

Option A
Carrd
carrd.co
Free + from $9/mo

Carrd is a one-page website builder that predates the link-in-bio category and is often repurposed as one. It sells on simplicity, flat annual pricing, and the ability to run multiple tiny sites on a single plan.

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Option B
Bio.fm
bio.fm
Free

Bio.fm is a link-in-bio tool built around rich media embeds: music tracks, videos, Instagram posts, and more. It pitches itself as a more visual alternative to plain link lists, aimed at creators whose content lives across multiple platforms.

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Carrd predates the bio-link category. It's a single-page website builder launched in 2016, and people started using it as a bio link because it's cheap, flexible, and outputs clean pages. Bio.fm came later, in 2020, and was built as a bio-link tool first. Both end up at roughly the same place (a customizable page with links on it), but they come from different directions, and that shows up in how much work you do and what you end up with.

Pricing

Carrd Pro is $19/year on the base tier and $49/year on Pro Plus. That's closer to $2-4/month equivalent, the cheapest serious option in either category. Bio.fm has a free tier and paid plans from about $5/mo. If you want a custom domain, both charge for it. Neither takes a commerce commission. If you're budget-sensitive and prepared to do more work, Carrd is the cheaper long-term choice by a meaningful margin.

Design and feel

Carrd gives you more control but also more responsibility. You're building a single-page site using blocks, layouts, and some light CSS if you want. A well-made Carrd looks as good as a well-made Bio.fm, sometimes better, because there's no template ceiling. A badly made Carrd looks like a first-year design student's portfolio. Bio.fm constrains the design space, which is the right call for most people. You can't build something stunning, but you also can't build something broken.

Feature by feature

AreaCarrdBio.fm
Setup time15-60 minutes for a clean first version. You're building a page.5-10 minutes. It's closer to filling out a profile than building a site.
Design ceilingHigh. If you care about design, Carrd can produce beautiful pages.Medium. Pages look clean and modern but follow familiar patterns.
Design floorLow. It's easy to make something that looks amateur.High. Even a lazy setup produces a page that looks professional.
Bio-link conveniencesNone out of the box. You add them via blocks and custom code.Built in: social icons, payment buttons, embeds, email capture.
AnalyticsVia Google Analytics, Plausible, or similar. You wire it up.Built in. No setup required.
Custom domainIncluded on Pro. Straightforward.Included on paid. Also straightforward.
Yearly cost for branding removal + custom domain$19/year on Carrd Pro. Still the cheapest option here.Typically $60-120/year depending on plan.

Verdict

Use Carrd if you want a single-page site that happens to serve as a bio link, and you're willing to invest 30-60 minutes of setup. Use Bio.fm if you want a bio link with bio-link features built in, and you'd rather not think about page structure. Both are good products aimed at slightly different people.

Pick Carrd when

You want to hand-build a minimal site, you understand blocks and layouts, and you'd prefer a $19/year bill to a $60+/year one. You're trading time for control and cost. Carrd is also the right answer if the bio link is secondary to using Carrd for a landing page, a side project, or a portfolio.

Pick Bio.fm when

You want a bio link and want it to have bio-link features (payment buttons, social icons, integrations) out of the box. Pick Bio.fm if you don't want to think about page structure or wire up your own analytics. The higher cost is the price for not doing that work.

Which one for your situation

A designer who wants their bio page to look hand-crafted.

Carrd. The design ceiling is higher and the price is lower. You're going to enjoy the control.

A solopreneur who just wants to share their links and doesn't want to design anything.

Bio.fm. The defaults are good enough and the setup is 10 minutes.

Someone who also wants a landing page for a side project.

Carrd. You can build both the bio link and the landing page on one Pro plan.

A creator selling digital products through the bio page.

Bio.fm has built-in payment buttons, so it's the faster answer. But honestly, a creator-focused tool like Beacons or Stan Store will serve you better than either.

FAQ

Is Carrd still actively maintained?

Yes. It's a small team but updates ship regularly. The product is mature and stable, not abandoned.

Can Carrd do everything Bio.fm can?

Functionally close, yes, but you do the work. Social icons, payment buttons, and analytics all require adding blocks or pasting code. Bio.fm has those things out of the box.

Which one is better for SEO?

Carrd, slightly. A Carrd page is a real standalone site that search engines index normally. Bio.fm pages are technically indexable but usually don't rank, which is true of bio links generally.

Can I start on Bio.fm and move to Carrd later?

Yes, but not automatically. You'd rebuild the page in Carrd. Most people don't bother unless they're committing to design work.