Theo vs Zarla: who does the work once the site is live
Zarla's figures below are the vendor's own as of October 2026, in US dollars, per site.
| Theo | Zarla | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the site | Theo, from a chat description or your current site's address; first preview usually in minutes | Zarla's AI, from a description of the business |
| Search work after launch | Theo, each week on Starter and Pro: keywords, new pages and posts, technical fixes, indexing; no credits used | Technical SEO set up on every plan; reviews, the Google Business Profile and new service pages stay with the owner |
| Taking the site with you | The site, its content and the images are yours to copy out; Pro adds read-only access to the code on GitHub | You own your content; no site export is documented; a canceled site goes offline and stays in the account |
| Price, as of October 2026 | $29.99 a month on Basic; $69.99 on Starter with the growth work, free for the first 30 days; $129.99 on Pro | Premium Website Builder $29 a month; $13.99 or $10.99 a month prepaid for 12 or 36 months, then $29. Business Website Builder $49; $21.99 or $16.99 prepaid, then $49. Free cannot publish. |
What Zarla does, and what it leaves to you
Zarla is an AI website builder aimed at trades and local service businesses, relaunched in September 2026 with pages for 147 industries. Three things it does, and where Theo stands on each.
- The build and technical setup. Zarla writes the copy, picks the design and sets up sitemaps, meta tags, schema and a Google Business Profile sync on every plan. Theo builds from a chat too, and on Starter and Pro keeps fixing technical issues after launch.
- The edits. Each request to Zarla's AI costs credits, about one for a chat edit, ten for a new page and fifty for a whole site, from 400 a month on Premium Website Builder or 1,500 on Business Website Builder. Theo's chat credits work the same way for what you ask; the pages, posts and fixes Theo adds each week on Starter and Pro never draw on them.
- The content that brings customers. Zarla's help center says the technical half is handled and the business side, reviews, the Google Business Profile and new service pages, is the owner's; paid plans email a site report, monthly on Premium Website Builder and weekly on Business Website Builder. Theo's growth work researches keywords, writes the pages and posts itself, submits them through Search Console and holds each draft in the Growth tab for your review.
Zarla pricing in 2026: month to month, 12 months and 36 months
As of October 2026, Premium Website Builder is $29 a month on a one-month term, $13.99 a month on a prepaid 12-month term ($167.88 upfront) and $10.99 a month on a prepaid 36-month term ($395.64 upfront); Business Website Builder is $49, $21.99 ($263.88 upfront) and $16.99 ($611.64 upfront) on the same terms. When a prepaid term ends, billing continues at the one-month rate, the only rate Zarla calls regular. Each paid charge carries a 30-day refund window.
Theo has one monthly price per plan and no long-term commitment: Basic is $29.99 a month for the site, managed hosting and 1,500 chat credits; Starter is $69.99 a month, adds the weekly growth work and 4,500 credits, and is free for the first 30 days; Pro is $129.99 a month with 7,000 credits. Pricing lists what each plan includes.
Bookings and a store on a Zarla site
Zarla's paid plans run bookings, a shop and invoices through the owner's own Stripe account, with Zarla's fee on top. Theo does not process payments or run bookings; appointment requests go to the tool the business already uses, such as Jobber or Housecall Pro.
If the Zarla site also sells products, you have three options, in this order. First, move the store to Shopify: Theo recommends it and connects to it directly, so products appear on the Theo site with a cart and checkout completes in Shopify. Second, keep the existing store and move it to shop.yourdomain.com, with the Theo site on the main domain. Third, 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.
Moving a Zarla site to Theo
Zarla documents no site export, so the move works from the live site; keep the Zarla plan until step three. Moving a website to Theo covers each step.
- Enter the Zarla site's address; Theo builds a preview that matches its look, usually within minutes, and you refine it in chat.
- Bring the content across: pages, text and images come over, and the old addresses that still get traffic are redirected once Search Console is connected. Download your contact list from Zarla as a spreadsheet.
- Point the domain at Theo (root and www), turn off forwarding and parking, leave the email records alone; the Zarla site stays live until the switch.
- Connect Google Analytics and Search Console on the live domain, which switches on the growth work on Starter and Pro, then cancel Zarla; a canceled site goes offline at the end of the paid period and stays saved in the account.
Theo vs Zarla for trades and local service businesses
Theo's industry pages cover plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies, roofers, landscapers and cleaning companies. In Theo's audit of 5,974 small business websites, 39 percent of the 373 home services and trades sites with search data got an estimated zero visitors a month from Google search (The State of Small Business Websites 2026); the audit does not break out Zarla sites.
If the business already has a Zarla site, the free audit shows what the current site earns from search before anything moves. Theo vs Durable and Theo vs Hostinger cover two other AI builders the same way, and the compare hub puts eight options on one table. Starting from nothing, build the site free and see it first.
The short answer
Pick Theo if
You want the site built, hosted and then worked on every week, with no credit allowance to budget for the pages that bring in customers. Basic is $29.99 a month for the site and hosting; Starter is $69.99 a month with the growth work, free for the first 30 days.
What Zarla leaves to you
Every change after the first build, requested from an AI against 400 or 1,500 credits a month; the reviews, Google Business Profile and service pages Zarla calls the business side; and a prepaid term for the $13.99 or $21.99 rate, which returns to $29 or $49 when the term ends.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Zarla cost compared with Theo?
As of October 2026, Zarla's Premium Website Builder is $29 a month and Business Website Builder $49 on a one-month term; prepaid 12-month and 36-month terms lower the monthly figure and return to the one-month rate when they end. Theo is $29.99 a month on Basic for the site and hosting, $69.99 on Starter with the weekly growth work, free for the first 30 days, and $129.99 on Pro.
Does Zarla do the SEO for you?
Zarla sets up the technical part on every plan and says reviews, the Google Business Profile and new service pages are yours to do. On Starter and Pro, Theo does that ongoing part too: keyword research, new pages and posts, technical fixes and Search Console submissions each week.
Can I export my website from Zarla?
Zarla documents no export of a site's pages, only a spreadsheet download of your contacts. A move to Theo starts from the live site: Theo reads the pages at their address, rebuilds them and matches the look.
Can I keep my domain if I move from Zarla to Theo?
Yes. Zarla says a domain bought through it is registered to you and yours to take. Point it at Theo when the new site is ready; the Zarla site stays live until the switch, so cancel Zarla only after it.
Will my Google rankings drop if I move from Zarla to Theo?
Some movement over a few weeks is normal after any move. Keeping the same domain, carrying the content across and redirecting the old addresses that still get traffic keeps the change small; on Starter and Pro Theo also submits the new pages for indexing.