Launching my Website
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This is so incredibly frustrating.
I thought WordPress was free. I’m just trying to launch a blog site. I don’t really care if the domain isn’t mine or there are ads. my site is only 13MG. why can’t I launch my site for free? did something change? how do I fix this?
by the way, the AI assistant is not helpful at all. Needs to be updated.The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I completely understand your frustration; it feels like you’re being cornered into a subscription for a 13MB blog that was supposed to be free. WordPress.com still offers a completely free plan, but the “Launch” process in 2026 is often hidden behind layers of upgrade screens and AI prompts that default to paid features. The reason you can’t launch is likely because a custom domain or a Premium theme was accidentally selected during setup; to fix this, navigate to Upgrades > Plans and look for the small “Start with a free site” link at the bottom of the page, then ensure your domain is set to the .wordpress.com subdomain rather than a .com. Once you remove any “Paid” items from your cart, go to your Settings > General and you should be able to flip your site from “Coming Soon” to “Public” without spending a dime.
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Got it.
turns out it was free, but using an AI assistant wasn’t. disabled that and it let me chose the Free option.
Thank you! -
Hi @yssongemma! I’ll be happy to help you with this.
You can absolutely launch a site for free on WordPress.com. However, if you choose to use the AI site builder or premium styles, an upgrade is required before you can publish the site. You can read more about that here:https://wordpress.com/support/ai-website-builder/
After taking a look at your account, I see that you’ve successfully launched yssongemma-ngrjf.wordpress.com under the Free plan.
Please let us know if you have any questions or need any extra help, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
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