A link page is a list of links. It answers "where do I go next" for someone who already found you on Instagram. It cannot answer "who sells fresh bread near me", because there is no page there describing what you do, and that is the question more and more customers are typing into Google and asking an AI assistant. Vivreal gives you a real website on your own domain, roughly as easy to keep current as a link page, and your social posts come from the same place.
Start free, no credit card. Setup in about two minutes.
Here's the honest side-by-side:
| Linktree | Vivreal | |
|---|---|---|
| What visitors land on | A list of links | A real website with pages about what you do |
| Your address | linktr.ee/yourname, a custom domain needs Pro at $15 a month | Your own domain |
| Setup time | About a minute | An afternoon for a full site, minutes for a first page |
| Editing later | Add and reorder links | Change any text or photo, from your phone |
| Branding on the free plan | Linktree branding on the page | A small "Powered by Vivreal", removable from $19 a month |
| Selling something | 12% fee on digital sales on free, 9% on Starter and Pro, 0% on Premium at $35 | Store runs through your own Stripe account |
| Social posting | Not included | Included, one publish reaches every connected channel |
| Found by Google and AI assistants | A list of links is thin to recommend | Every page ships in a format AI assistants can read |
| Price | Free, then $8 to $35 a month | Free to start, paid plans $19 to $119 |
What Linktree genuinely does well
Linktree solved a real problem and solved it fast. You get a working page in about sixty seconds, it looks fine, it works on every phone, and one link in your bio can point at ten places. For a musician with a tour, a pop-up with a booking form, or anyone testing whether people click at all, it is genuinely the right tool, and a link page you actually have beats a website you keep meaning to build.
If you have three links and no plans to sell anything, stop reading. Linktree is fine and free.
Where it stops being enough
The trouble starts when the link page is standing in for a business. Two things it cannot do.
It is not an address you own. On the free plan you are at linktr.ee/yourname, which is fine on a business card and awkward on a van. Putting your own domain in front of it means Pro at $15 a month, and even then, what sits at that domain is still a list of links.
There is nothing there to recommend. When someone searches for what you sell, or asks an assistant for a recommendation, both are looking for a page that says what you do, where you are, and what it costs. A page of buttons gives them almost nothing to work with. You can be the best baker in town and be invisible to the question "where can I order a birthday cake near me".
A Vivreal site is a real site on your own domain, and each page ships in a format those assistants can read, without you setting anything up. It comes with the site.
It is not more work than you think
The reason most owners stay on a link page is not that they prefer it. It is that a website sounds like a project. Here is the honest version: you start from a professional template, put in your business details, your photos, and what you sell, and point your domain at it. An afternoon, not a season. After that, changing a price or adding a photo takes about a minute from your phone, which is the part that actually decides whether a site stays current.
And the posting lives in the same place. Write the update once, and the page on your site and the post for each connected channel are both built from it. One Publish sends them on the schedule you set. The free plan connects three channels.
What switching actually looks like
Can I keep my link page?
Yes, and for a while you probably should. Point it at your new site and let it do the one job it is good at while you build.
What if I sell digital products?
Worth doing the math. Linktree's free plan takes 12% of those sales and Starter and Pro take 9%, which only reaches 0% on Premium at $35 a month. In Vivreal your store runs through your own Stripe account.
Can I use a domain I already own?
Yes, on any plan including the free one. If you do not have one yet you can buy it or move an existing one over through Vivreal.
Is your free plan really free?
Yes, with the same kind of catch Linktree has: our free plan shows a small "Powered by Vivreal" on the site, and removing it starts at $19 a month. We would rather point that out than have you find it after you launch.
I do not have photos or copy ready.
Start with one page: who you are, what you sell, how to reach you, hours. That is more than a link list gives a customer, and you can grow it a page at a time.
The bottom line
If you need somewhere to send Instagram traffic this afternoon, a link page is the right call. If that link page has quietly become your whole web presence, you are paying for a list of buttons while your business stays invisible to everyone who does not already follow you. A real site on your own domain, that you can update from your phone, is what Vivreal is for.