Theo vs Durable: who does the work after the site is built
Both products build the first version without a designer; the question is who does the work after that. Durable's figures are from its pricing page as of October 2026; the compare hub covers Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, WordPress, Hostinger, Zarla and hiring a designer.
| Theo | Durable | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the site | Theo, from a chat or your current site's address; preview usually within minutes | Durable's AI, in about 30 seconds; you finish it in its editor |
| Who does the search work | Theo, on Starter and Pro; drafts wait in the Growth tab for your go-ahead | You, with automatic on-page basics and, on paid plans, rankings and keyword suggestions |
| Taking the site with you | Yours; copy the site and images any time; Pro adds read-only GitHub access | No export is documented; deleting the account removes the site |
| Price, as of October 2026 | Basic $29.99 a month; Starter $69.99 with the growth work, free for the first 30 days; Pro $129.99 | Free $0; Launch $25 a month, or $22 billed yearly; Grow $49, or $41 billed yearly; renews at the same term |
What Durable does, and what it leaves to you
Durable calls its paid plans AI agents working on autopilot; its help pages show where the autopilot stops: the agents produce drafts that the owner checks, edits and publishes, with the blog agent's optional autopublish switch the one exception. The humans at Durable are support, plus an onboarding call on Grow; no Durable page describes staff updating a site, writing content or doing SEO for a customer. The best AI website builder roundup sets Durable beside ten other builders, Theo among them.
- Edits. AI Partner returns an updated website draft that you verify and publish. On Theo you type the change in chat and Theo makes it.
- Agents. The Blog Writer agent drafts 2 posts on Free, 10 a month on Launch and 32 on Grow, to publish or set to autopublish; the Lead agent drafts replies you approve or decline. On Starter and Pro, Theo writes the pages and posts itself and holds them until you publish or turn on auto-publish, using no credits.
- SEO and GEO. Durable's on-page basics are automatic; Launch and Grow add a Visibility Score, AI rankings and a Keyword Opportunities tool whose pages you create, review and publish, and by Durable's list the follow-through is yours: adding listings, fixing mismatches, getting reviews and keeping your details consistent. On Starter and Pro, Theo does the research, the new pages, the technical fixes and the Search Console submissions, and works toward citations in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.
How much does Durable cost compared with Theo
As of October 2026, Durable's pricing page lists Free at $0, Launch at $25 a month billed monthly or $22 a month billed yearly, and Grow at $49 a month billed monthly or $41 a month billed yearly. Paid plans include a custom domain, worth up to $20 on Launch and $40 on Grow, and the SEO and GEO tools. The public pricing page shows one price per billing cycle, with no promotional or renewal split; under Durable's Terms the subscription renews for the same term and fees are non-refundable.
Theo's price buys work, not tools. Basic is $29.99 a month for the site, managed hosting and security, with 1,500 chat credits. Starter is $69.99 a month, free for the first 30 days, and adds the weekly pages, posts and fixes with 4,500 credits. Pro is $129.99 with 7,000 credits and read-only code access; the pricing page lists every line.
Selling online: Durable's Buy buttons and Theo's store connections
Durable's pricing page says the product is not designed specifically to support e-commerce businesses; its recipe is a Buy button that opens a payment link from your own Stripe account, with no cart or checkout of its own. Theo does not process payments either; a Shopify or Wix store connects directly, with products, prices and stock on your pages and checkout in the store. Three options for an owner who sells through Durable's Buy buttons, in this order:
- Move the store to Shopify. Theo recommends it and connects to it directly; see the Shopify connection page.
- Keep the existing store and move it to shop.yourdomain.com, with the Theo site on the main domain.
- If that is too hard, keep the current site and store where they are and put a separate Theo site on a subdomain such as blog.yourdomain.com.
Can you export a Durable website, and what you own on Theo
No website export is documented on Durable's pages as of October 2026. Its Terms say the customer owns all output but contain no download clause, and the only export in its help center is the customer list as a CSV file. A domain registered through Durable transfers to you after at least three consecutive paid months, once you contact its team; the pricing page says this takes a couple of weeks.
On Theo you own the site and its content and can copy the site and images at any time; Pro adds read-only code access through GitHub, and a domain you connected stays with you. Cancel whenever you like; the confirmation names the day the subscription ends.
Moving from Durable to Theo
Four steps; the Durable site stays live until the domain switches in step three; Moving a website to Theo has the detail.
If the Durable site is live now, run the free audit first; it records what the current site earns from search, so there is a baseline to compare against after the switch.
- Give Theo your Durable site's address. It builds a matching preview, usually within minutes, and you refine it in chat.
- Check the pages and drag anything missing into the chat; old addresses that still get traffic are redirected once Search Console is connected.
- Point the domain at Theo when the new site is ready: root and www, forwarding and parking off, email records left alone. It switches once the registrar's records update, usually within a few hours. If Durable registered the domain, ask its team to transfer it to you before this step; that needs three consecutive paid months and takes a couple of weeks.
- Connect Google Analytics and Search Console on the live domain; on Starter and Pro the growth work then switches on.
The short answer
Pick Theo if
You want the website built, hosted and then worked on, and you would rather type a change in chat than check and publish drafts. Site and hosting are $29.99 a month on Basic. The weekly search work starts at $69.99 a month on Starter, free for the first 30 days.
What Durable leaves to you
Approving and publishing every draft its agents produce: site edits, blog posts, lead replies and review responses. Adding and fixing listings, collecting reviews and creating the pages its keyword tool suggests. Leaving without a documented export.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Durable cost per month?
As of October 2026, Durable lists Free at $0, Launch at $25 a month billed monthly or $22 a month billed yearly, and Grow at $49 a month billed monthly or $41 a month billed yearly; the public page shows no promotional or renewal split, so both figures are its standing prices. Theo is $29.99 a month on Basic, $69.99 on Starter after the free 30 days, and $129.99 on Pro.
How long does it take to move a website from Durable to Theo?
The matching preview is usually ready in minutes after you give Theo the Durable address; the rest is how long your own review takes. Once you point the domain at Theo, the switch happens when the registrar's records update, usually the same day. A domain registered through Durable has to be transferred to you first, and Durable says that takes a couple of weeks.
Does Durable do SEO for you?
Durable's SEO is tooling: automatic on-page basics, and on paid plans AI rankings and keyword suggestions, with the listings, reviews and new pages left to you. On Starter and Pro, Theo does the research, pages, fixes and Google submissions each week, and no one can promise a ranking.
Can I export my website from Durable?
Durable documents no website export as of October 2026; its help center exports the customer list to a CSV file and nothing else, and deleting the account removes the website. Whether support sends files on request is not stated.
Can I keep my domain if I leave Durable?
Yes, with conditions Durable sets. A domain you connected from your own registrar was always yours; one registered through Durable transfers to you after at least three consecutive paid months, once you contact Durable's team, and its pricing page says this takes a couple of weeks.
Does Theo have a free plan like Durable?
Theo has a free first build rather than a free plan: describe the business, see the site, and choose a plan only to publish it; the trial is 30 days of Starter. Durable's Free plan is a private preview on a durable.site address, and its public pages advertise no trial of the paid plans.
What happens to my site if I cancel Theo?
The plan runs to the end of the period you already paid for, and the cancellation screen shows that date. The site and its content stay yours, so you can copy the pages and images before then and host them elsewhere. There is no long-term commitment on any Theo plan.