Questions about Earl
What is Earl?
Earl is an AI web developer for small business websites. He rebuilds the website you already have in clean, fast code, or builds a new one from a few quick questions. After that you ask him for changes in plain English, see each one as a preview, and publish it when you are happy.
How is Earl different from WordPress, Wix or Squarespace?
Those give you the tools to build and edit a website yourself: an editor, themes, settings and, on WordPress, plugins. Earl gives you a developer instead. You say what you want and he writes the code, so there is nothing to learn, and no editor, plugins or updates to look after.
Your site is plain HTML and CSS, served as fixed files. It needs no database and runs no plugins.
Do I need to learn anything?
No. You talk to Earl in plain English, or point at the part of the page you mean and say what should change. He shows you the result before anything is published.
I’m not technical. Can I still use Earl?
Yes. That is who Earl is for. You never see code unless you want to. Connecting your own domain is the one step that happens outside Earl: he shows you exactly which records to add where you bought it, with steps for the common registrars, and checks for them himself.
Is Earl a person?
No. Earl is an AI, and he always says so. His changes are written by an AI model and can be wrong, which is why you see every change as a preview and approve it before it is published.
Can I keep my own domain?
Yes. Earl asks you to add a few records where your domain is registered: two to prove it is yours and get its security certificate, then two that point your site at Earl. He never asks you to change your name servers. Your current site keeps working until you make that last change.
You can also have Earl register a new domain in your name, or start on a free Earl address and add a domain later.
Do I need to buy hosting or a domain separately?
No. Hosting is included in every plan. Earl can register a new domain for you, charged as a line on your plan’s own bill, or connect the domain you already have. Your email stays where it is: Earl never touches your email (MX) records.
What happens to my email?
Nothing. When you keep your own domain, Earl never asks you to touch your MX (email) records, so your email stays exactly where it is. If your email runs on the same domain, he checks it first and shows you how to keep it working before you point the domain at him.
A domain Earl registers for you starts out saying it takes no email, so nobody can send mail pretending to be it. When you want email on it, you add your provider’s records in Earl’s DNS settings; there is a one-tap setup for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
Who owns my site and my content?
You do. Your words, pictures and other content are yours, and so is the code Earl writes for your site, as soon as it is written. Every change is kept in your site’s history.
Can I leave and take my site with me?
Yes. From your site, Take your site with you gives you a download of the whole site, or a copy of it with every change ever made, and how to host it anywhere. It is plain HTML and CSS with nothing of Earl’s inside it. The one thing that does not travel is a contact form Earl made, which sends its messages through Earl; on another host you would use that host’s form service.
For a paid plan, taking a copy opens once its refund window has closed.
How much does Earl cost?
A site is $29 a month, or $289 a year. Moving your site to Earl is free with a year of Starter hosting: $289. Larger plans are for more pages, more changes and busier sites: Business is $99 a month, High traffic is $299 a month. Seeing your new homepage first is free.
Can I cancel? Is there a refund?
You can cancel any time from Manage billing, and the plan runs to the end of the time you paid for. A full refund within 7 days of going live, or 14 days of paying, whichever is later. A domain is not refunded once it is registered.
Is my contact form protected from spam?
Yes. A form Earl builds checks every message for the signs of a bot: a field only bots fill in, a form sent faster than a person could, too many links, and phrases spammers use. It also limits how often one visitor can send, and Google reCAPTCHA, which works unseen with no puzzle to solve, scores each send as a person or a bot. If reCAPTCHA can’t be reached, a message is judged by the other checks, so a real one isn’t lost. Spam is dropped quietly; real messages are emailed to the addresses you choose.
Can Earl build an online store or a members’ area?
Not on your site itself. Earl builds fast, simple sites, and a cart and checkout or a sign-in for visitors needs a server. If your site has one, he says so before you pay, and tells you what people usually do, such as a store on a service built for stores, linked from your site.
Will Earl help me get more customers?
Earl is a web developer, not a marketer. He makes your site fast, secure, accessible and right on every phone, and builds what you ask for. What to say, who to say it to and what to sell are your calls, or your marketer’s, and he does not promise visitors, leads or sales.