A practical B12 alternative if you want software, not a retainer
B12 offers AI websites, client-service tools and optional expert help. Grigora combines the website, CMS, newsletter and storefront from $12/mo billed annually. Compare the support, client workflows and editing control your business actually needs.
Published by Grigora · Updated · Sources and method
Is Grigora the right B12 alternative?
Grigora is a B12 alternative for owners who want a native CMS, newsletter and storefront they can manage themselves. B12 is a stronger fit when contracts, eSignatures, client intake or expert website services are central requirements. Both now advertise site and commerce creation. Compare the actual catalog workflow and plan inclusions, and ask B12 for a written quote before selecting an expert package.
Choose Grigora if you want…
- One price with no setup fee and no service retainer
- 15,000 to 250,000 AI credits rather than 100 to 300
- Email marketing from the $12 plan, not the $67 one
- A product catalogue with variants, stock and downloads
- A CMS with categories, authors, directories and comments
Stick with B12 if you…
- •Want B12 staff to write, design and launch the site for you
- •Need client intake, contracts, eSignature and invoicing in one bill
- •Would rather buy an agency retainer than learn an editor
B12 or Grigora: the decision in one view
B12 alternatives at a glance
How the AI builders compare once you look past the first draft.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column
| Platform | Best for | Free access | Starting price | Sales fees | Data and site portability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grigora | The AI draft plus a store, CMS and newsletter you run yourself | Free trial | From $12/mo billed annually | 0% platform fee; Stripe/Razorpay fees apply | Posts/content; rebuild design |
| B12 | Professional services firms who want experts to finish the site | Yes (B12 ads) | From $20/mo | 0% (Stripe fees apply) | Not documented |
| Durable | A solo service site generated in under a minute | Yes, publish on durable.site | From $22/mo billed annually | External selling/payment terms apply | No full site export; check data exports |
| Wix | Template range and an app market | Yes (Wix ads) | From $17/mo | 0% (processing only) | No |
| 10Web | An AI builder that outputs WordPress | Trial | From $10/mo billed annually | 0% (processing only) | Yes |
| Hostinger | The cheapest AI builder on a long prepay | No permanent free builder plan | $2.99/mo on 48-month prepay; renews $10.99 | 0% platform fee; processing extra | Manual-mode content to WordPress; design/store excluded |
List pricing (billed yearly) as of September 2026. Verify current pricing on each provider's site.
Sources for the overview table
- Grigora: official reference 1
- Durable: official reference 1
- 10Web: official reference 1, official reference 2
- Hostinger: official reference 1, official reference 2
When to consider a B12 alternative
What the retainer shape costs you once the first draft is signed off.
The finish is priced like a service
The expert tiers run $169 to $339/mo billed yearly on top of a one-time setup fee reported at around $1,999, and the pricing page never names that number.
You cannot step back down
B12's own FAQ says Professional and Advanced customers cannot downgrade to Free, Website or Website + Client Engagement. Leaving the platform is the exit.
Iteration is rationed
Compare the cost of the actual edits and generations you need. B12 and Grigora use different credit systems, so a larger raw count does not establish greater usable output.
The list is behind the third door
Email marketing does not exist on Free or on the $20 plan. Grigora includes it at $12.
What B12 does well
- A genuine done-for-you build at a published monthly price
- Client intake, contracts, eSignature and invoicing in the subscription
- AI that generates working apps with logins and databases, not just pages
- Real vertical tuning for law, insurance and consulting
Where B12 falls short
- AI allowances depend on plan; credit units are not directly comparable
- Email marketing starts at $67/mo billed yearly
- Commerce scope and plan eligibility should be confirmed in the current offer
- Expert tiers carry a setup fee that the pricing page does not name
Grigora vs B12 at a glance
Compare the published self-serve plans, client tools and optional expert services.
| Feature | B12 | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Starting paid plan | $20/mo yearly ($24 monthly) | $12/mo yearly ($15 monthly) |
| One-time setup fee | On expert tiers, reported at around $1,999 | None |
| AI credits on entry plan | 100 per month | 15,000 credits |
| Email marketing starts at | $67/mo yearly plan | $12/mo plan |
| Product catalogue | Current Commerce/store offering; verify plan scope | Variants, stock, downloads |
| Structured blog CMS | Not documented | Categories, authors, comments |
| Client intake, contracts, eSignature | $67/mo yearly plan | No |
| Done-for-you build by staff | From $169/mo yearly | No |
| Free SEO tools suite | No | Free SEO tools |
Grigora vs B12: feature by feature
A category-by-category breakdown, pricing, AI, design, e-commerce, email, SEO, performance, and support.
Buying a team instead of a tool
Fit: B12This is B12's real product and it is worth saying plainly. Professional at $169/mo billed yearly and Advanced at $339/mo billed yearly put B12's own copywriters and designers on your build, with a launch manager, and Advanced adds monthly site updates, business directory listings on Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Yelp, five seats and priority support. There is also a vetted expert marketplace afterwards. Grigora does none of this. Grigora is software you operate.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Site written and designed by staff | No | Professional and Advanced |
| Monthly updates done for you | No | Advanced |
| Directory listing setup | No | Advanced |
| Phone support | No | Expert tiers |
| Published price for the service | Not offered | $169 to $339/mo yearly |
Takeaway: If you want people rather than software, B12 is the honest answer and Grigora is not.
Intake, contracts and getting paid for time
Fit: B12The second genuine B12 advantage. From the $67/mo billed yearly tier upward you get client intake forms, contracts with eSignature, invoicing with automated invoices and reminders, a contact manager, a client portal and client file uploads. A lawyer or a consultant running B12 does not need a separate proposal-and-signature tool. Grigora has no CRM, no eSignature and no invoicing, and does not pretend otherwise.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Client intake forms | No | From $67/mo yearly |
| Contracts and eSignature | No | From $67/mo yearly |
| Invoicing with automated reminders | No | From $67/mo yearly |
| Contact manager and client portal | No | From $67/mo yearly |
| Newsletter subscriber list | 2,500 to 25,000 | Contact manager |
Takeaway: For billable client work, B12's front office is a real product and Grigora has no answer to it.
What one AI request costs you
Fit: GrigoraB12 meters AI work in credits per billing period, and B12's help centre states the credits are included in each period rather than bought once, so nothing carries forward. Free gets 5 daily credits capped at 30 a month, Website gets 100 a month, Website + Client Engagement gets 300. Because a credit meters a request and not an output, asking the AI to change one button costs what asking it to build a page costs. Grigora counts credits in the thousands.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan allowance | 15,000 credits | 100 credits per month |
| Top tier allowance | 250,000 credits | 300 credits per month |
| Free plan allowance | Free trial | 5 per day, max 30 per month |
| Unused allowance carries over | No | No |
| Small edits priced like big ones | No | Yes |
Takeaway: AI credits are vendor-specific. Compare representative drafts and edits instead of assuming a larger credit number means a cheaper task.
Selling products, not billing for hours
Depends on your needsB12 now markets generated stores and lists Commerce on its Website plan, while its invoicing product supports service billing through Stripe. Older help articles describe a different commerce offering. Confirm the current catalog, variants, shipping and order-management workflow in a demo. Grigora includes native storefront and order tools, with fulfillment and tax responsibilities left to the merchant.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Product catalogue with variants | Yes | Not documented |
| Stock tracking | Yes | Not documented |
| Digital downloads | Yes | Not documented |
| Discount codes and order management | Yes | Not documented |
| Invoices to a named client | No | From $67/mo yearly |
| Platform commission | 0% | 0% (Stripe fees apply) |
Takeaway: Compare an actual product-and-order workflow; an invoice feature alone does not establish ecommerce parity.
What sits behind the blog posts
Fit: GrigoraB12 will generate a blog and help you draft posts, and the Blogging entry in its own navigation resolves to the AI content-creation page, which tells you what the feature really is. No live B12 page documents categories, tags, multiple authors, scheduled publishing or RSS. That is an absence of published evidence rather than a documented absence, and it is worth asking them about. Grigora publishes the specifics.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Categories and tags | Yes | Not documented |
| Author profiles | Yes | Not documented |
| Directories and collections | Yes | Not documented |
| Moderated comments with admin replies | Yes | Not documented |
| AI writing assistance | Directed, on credits | Included, on credits |
Takeaway: Both will write you a post. Only one of them documents where the post lives afterwards.
Which plan switches email marketing on
Fit: GrigoraB12's email marketing is genuinely good when you reach it: campaigns, templates that pick up your site's branding, AI-drafted copy, behaviour-triggered sends off form submissions and payment reminders, and its FAQ says there are no limits on sends or recipients. You just cannot have it on Free or on the $20 plan. It starts at the $67 tier. Grigora includes the newsletter on the $12 plan.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Plan where email marketing begins | $12/mo yearly | $67/mo yearly |
| Subscriber allowance | 2,500 to 25,000 | Reported as unlimited sends |
| Automations | Yes | Behaviour triggered |
| List segmentation | Yes | Not documented |
| Professional mailbox | From $5/mailbox | Custom address from $67/mo yearly |
Takeaway: Getting a list on B12 means more than tripling the bill. On Grigora it is the entry plan.
SEO you operate versus SEO they operate
Fit: GrigoraB12 frames search as something its experts and platform handle for you: on-page best practice, a dashboard for rankings and traffic, AI-written landing pages, and directory listings set up on the Advanced plan. That suits an owner who never wants to see a meta description. It is thinner if you run search yourself. No live B12 page documents per-page meta editing, schema controls, sitemap control, canonicals or redirects, and at least one third-party review claims there is no redirect control, which B12 does not address publicly either way.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Per-page meta title and description | Yes | Not documented |
| Schema and structured data controls | Yes | Not documented |
| Sitemaps and IndexNow submission | Yes | Not documented |
| Redirect management | Yes | Not documented |
| Rankings and traffic dashboard | Analytics | Included |
| Free SEO tools suite | Free SEO tools | No |
Takeaway: B12 does search for you. Grigora hands you the controls and free SEO tools.
Going up the plans, and trying to come back down
Fit: GrigoraB12's own pricing FAQ describes this asymmetry. Customers on Free, Website or Website + Client Engagement can pay a setup fee to move to Professional or Advanced. Customers on Professional or Advanced cannot downgrade to Free, Website or Website + Client Engagement. So the step into the service tier costs a fee reported at around $1,999, which the pricing page itself never names, and inside the platform it does not reverse. Grigora's plans move in both directions and there is no fee to enter any of them.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Fee to enter the top tier | None | Reported at around $1,999, not published |
| Downgrade back to a self-serve plan | Yes | No |
| Free plan you can return to | Free trial | Not from expert tiers |
| Switch between monthly and yearly | Yes | Yes |
Takeaway: Read B12 plan-change terms and get the expert setup scope and fee in writing before upgrading.
How many sites you can actually launch
Depends on your needsAn honest split. B12 counts higher on launched projects: up to 10 on Website and up to 30 on Website + Client Engagement, against 1, 2 and 5 sites on Grigora Starter, Pro and Business. What you launch differs. B12's free tier is a b12sites.com subdomain carrying B12 ads, and the custom domain advertised on the Website plan is footnoted as free for the first year only, which is a promotion rather than an included domain.
| Feature | Grigora | B12 |
|---|---|---|
| Sites or projects, entry paid plan | 1 site | Up to 10 launched projects |
| Sites or projects, top self-serve plan | 5 sites | Up to 30 launched projects |
| Custom domain on the entry plan | Connect your own | Free first year, then renews |
| Platform ads on the free plan | Free trial | Removing B12 ads is a paid feature |
| White label for agencies | $199/mo plan | No |
Takeaway: B12 lets you launch more. Grigora lets each one carry a store, a list and a CMS.
Explore Grigora before switching from B12
Current public product pages and plans, so you can inspect what you would be moving to. Open any image at full size.
Grigora vs B12 pricing
Software priced as software, against a draft plus a retainer.
Website, newsletter & store in one plan
USD annual equivalents shown: Starter $12, Pro $20 and Business $45 per month; month-to-month prices are $15, $25 and $59. A free trial is available. Paid plans include website, CMS, newsletter and store features with stated page, storage, bandwidth and AI allowances. Stripe or Razorpay processing fees apply; fulfillment is manual and domain registration is separate.
AI draft, then experts on a monthly bill
B12 pricing read live 2026-09-11 on b12.io/pricing, which shows a Save 15% yearly toggle and a $1 for first 7 days intro offer on the two self-serve paid plans. B12 never displays an annual total, so only the per-month billed-yearly figures above are quoted. Advanced is $339/mo billed yearly ($399 monthly). The one-time setup fee on Professional and Advanced is reported at around $1,999 in B12's help centre and is not named on the pricing page. Payments carry no B12 commission; Stripe charges 2.9% + 30c per card transaction.
Compare B12’s current website, Commerce and client-engagement scope with Grigora’s integrated CMS, newsletter and storefront. B12’s expert services and eSignature tools cover work Grigora does not replace.
The real cost: Grigora vs B12
A two-person consultancy in year one: a site, a mailing list, a few paid workshops sold online, and a blog worth reading.
| What you pay for | B12 | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Plan that includes email marketing | $67/mo yearly (Website + Client Engagement) | $12/mo yearly (Starter) |
| One-time cost to start | $0 self-serve, or a setup fee reported at around $1,999 on the expert tiers | $0 |
| AI editing allowance | Plan-specific credits; evaluate actual tasks | Plan-specific credits; different unit |
| Selling workshop places online | Current Commerce or invoicing offering; verify requirements | Included, 0% platform commission |
| Contracts, eSignature and client invoicing | Included from $67/mo yearly | Not offered, use a separate tool |
| Someone to write and design it for you | $169/mo yearly plus the setup fee | Not offered |
B12 figures from b12.io/pricing read 2026-09-11; the setup fee is help-centre sourced and not published on the pricing page. Payment-processor fees apply on both platforms.
B12 and Grigora: public website references
These captures show each product’s public website. See the feature and pricing sections for capabilities and plan details.
Is Grigora the right B12 alternative for you?
Where each platform earns its monthly bill.
Best B12 alternative for owners who want to drive
Evaluate the visual editor and supported AI workflow for routine content and design changes.
… for anyone who sells a product
Compare B12’s current Commerce offering with Grigora’s native product, variant and order workflow; do not rely on an older no-store help article.
… for a list you own from day one
Subscribers, campaigns, segmentation and automations on the $12 plan, not the $67 one.
B12 is the right call if…
You want B12's writers and designers to build and maintain the site at $169 to $339/mo, and you need intake, contracts and eSignature on the same bill.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Grigora if…
- You would rather pay for software than for a retainer
- You sell products, downloads or tickets
- You publish and need categories, authors and comments
- You want the newsletter on the cheapest paid plan
- You want per-page SEO controls and redirects
Choose B12 if…
- •You want staff to write, design and launch the site
- •Client intake, contracts and invoicing matter more than a shop
- •You would rather never open an editor
How to switch from B12 to Grigora
B12 does not document a site or code export, so treat this as a rebuild rather than a transfer, and start it before your renewal date.
- 1
Save your copy and assets first
Copy the page text, images and any expert-written material out of B12 while the subscription is live. Do not assume you can pull it later.
- 2
Generate the new draft
Generate a Grigora draft and test the pages, forms and integrations your practice needs. AI credit units differ, so assess the actual editing workflow.
- 3
Rebuild the parts B12 kept separate
Rebuild the catalog and publishing structure. Export contacts where supported and preserve consent, unsubscribed status and contact history before importing newsletter subscribers.
- 4
Keep the client tooling you still need
Grigora has no eSignature or invoicing, so keep a dedicated tool for contracts and billing and link it from the site.
- 5
Move the domain and redirect
Test the replacement pages and client-service links before changing DNS. Preserve URL paths or add 301 redirects on routes you control, then monitor crawl errors and traffic. Migration can change rankings even when redirects are correct.
Why people look for a B12 alternative in 2026
B12 has spent a decade aimed squarely at professional services firms, and it shows. The product understands that a law practice or an insurance agency needs intake, a contract, a signature and an invoice more than it needs a hero carousel. The live site now leads with an AI website builder for sites, stores and web apps, and the pricing page opens on a do-it-yourself tab with the expert service demoted to second place. The tension people run into is that the pricing still behaves like a service business even when the marketing behaves like software.
The bill has a second half that is not on the pricing page
Professional is $199 a month, or $169 billed yearly. Advanced is $399, or $339 billed yearly. Both require a one-time setup fee. B12's help centre lists that fee at around $1,999, and the live pricing page names no amount at all, saying only that customers can pay a setup fee. Whatever the current number is, you find it out in a conversation rather than on a page, which is how agencies quote and not how software prices.
Credits make editing feel expensive
B12 and Grigora meter AI differently. Test representative prompts and revisions and review each plan’s allowance and renewal rules before comparing cost.
The shop is the part nobody can pin down
B12's own sources point in two directions. A help article last updated in December 2025 states plainly that B12 does not currently offer an in-house e-commerce tool and suggests embedding Ecwid or Shopify. The Commerce link in B12's own navigation goes to its payments and invoicing page, which is Stripe billing for services. Newer builder marketing promises a working cart and checkout. Even reading that marketing generously, no live B12 page documents inventory, variants, shipping rates, tax rules, discount codes or an order dashboard. If you sell things rather than hours, that ambiguity is the whole decision.
How Grigora compares
Grigora starts the same way B12 does, with a description of the business and an AI-generated draft, and then diverges on who finishes it. There is no service tier to buy and no setup fee to clear. What you get for $12 a month billed yearly is the editor, the CMS, the newsletter and the store, and the expectation that you or someone on your team will use them.
One price, and the meter set high enough to ignore
Starter is $12 a month billed annually, or $15 month to month, and carries 15,000 AI credits, 2,500 email subscribers, a store with variants and stock and no platform commission, and a CMS with categories, author profiles, directories and moderated comments. Pro is $20 with 40,000 credits and 7,500 subscribers. Business is $45 with 250,000 credits and 25,000 subscribers. Compare that to 100 credits a month on B12's $20 plan and the difference is not a discount, it is a different relationship with the tool: you can redraft a page eleven times on a Tuesday without doing arithmetic first.
Where B12 still wins, and it is not close
If what you actually want is a team, B12 has one and Grigora does not. Professional and Advanced put real copywriters, designers and a launch manager on the build at a published monthly rate, Advanced keeps updating the site every month and sets up your Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Yelp listings, and the client front office from the $67 tier upward covers intake, contracts, eSignature, invoicing with automated reminders, a contact manager and a client portal. Grigora has no CRM, no contracts and no invoicing, and will not build the site for you at any price. A solo lawyer who wants one bill covering the website, the signature and the invoice, with someone else doing the writing, should stay on B12. Everyone else is buying a retainer to get a website.
Frequently asked questions
Grigora is a B12 alternative for owners who want a native CMS, newsletter and storefront they can manage themselves. B12 is a stronger fit when contracts, eSignatures, client intake or expert website services are central requirements. Both now advertise site and commerce creation. Compare the actual catalog workflow and plan inclusions, and ask B12 for a written quote before selecting an expert package.
Read live on 2026-09-11: Free at $0, Website at $24/mo or $20/mo billed yearly, and Website + Client Engagement at $78/mo or $67/mo billed yearly. The expert-built tiers are Professional at $199/mo or $169 billed yearly and Advanced at $399/mo or $339 billed yearly, with setup scope and any one-time fee to confirm directly with B12.
B12's help centre lists a one-time setup fee reported at around $1,999 for the Professional and Advanced plans. The live pricing page says only that customers can pay a setup fee and gives no figure, so confirm the current amount with B12 before committing. Grigora charges no setup fee on any plan.
B12 now advertises generated stores and lists Commerce on its Website plan. Its older help article says it did not offer an in-house ecommerce tool, so treat that article as historical. Ask B12 to demonstrate inventory, variants, shipping and order handling for your use case. Grigora includes storefront and order tools, with merchant-managed fulfillment and tax obligations.
Yes, but not on Free or on the $20 Website plan. It starts on Website + Client Engagement at $67/mo billed yearly and includes campaigns, branded templates, AI drafting and behaviour-triggered sends. Grigora includes the newsletter with segmentation and automations on the $12 Starter plan.
B12 does not document a site or code export, so copy your text and images out while the subscription is live, regenerate the site on Grigora from the same description, rebuild the store and CMS, then point your domain across and redirect the old URLs.
Sources and comparison method
Published by Grigora, one of the products compared here. This is a comparison of public product documentation and published plans. Recommendations reflect the use cases described; they are not independent performance benchmarks. Homepage screenshots show how each product presents itself and do not establish feature availability.
Check the billing term, currency, regional availability, usage limits and add-ons before purchasing. A content export does not necessarily include the design, integrations or a working store. Migration steps need testing on your own site.
- B12 pricing and plan-change FAQ
Current website and client-engagement plans, AI allowances, commerce listing and expert-package terms.
- B12 invoicing and payments
Invoicing workflow, supported payments, processing fees and requirements.
Grigora references: plans and limits, commerce, MCP access, and help documentation.
Compare Grigora with other platforms
Make the switch from B12 to Grigora
The AI draft, the editor, the CMS, the newsletter and the store, from $12/mo. No setup fee and no retainer. Try Grigora free, no credit card required.
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