In early October 2026, a post on X about a Framer bill went viral. A designer said they would never use Framer again after their site went over its bandwidth limit for consecutive months and was charged for the overage. Other users shared similar stories, and the discussion became a news story on X under the headline "Framer Users Rebel Over Strict Bandwidth Billing Rules."
If you run a small business site on Framer, or are thinking about it, you probably have questions. What is bandwidth? How much do you get? What happens if you go over? And what actually uses it on a site such as a restaurant, a law firm or a portfolio? This guide answers those questions using Framer's own pricing page and help documentation as of 9 October 2026. Framer's terms can change, so check the current versions before you make decisions.
What bandwidth means
Bandwidth is the total amount of data your site sends to visitors. Every time someone opens a page, their browser downloads the images, videos, fonts and code that make up that page. Add that up across every visitor in a month, and you get your monthly bandwidth use.
Framer's help article makes one point clear: bandwidth depends on how much data is downloaded by visitors, not on how big your files are in storage. A 200 MB video that nobody watches uses almost nothing. A 20 MB video that autoplays on the home page for every visitor can use a lot.
What each plan includes
According to Framer's pricing page, on yearly billing:
- Free: $0, with 1 GB of bandwidth and a Framer domain
- Basic: $10 a month, with 50 GB of bandwidth and a free custom domain
- Pro: $30 a month, with 100 GB of bandwidth, then $40 per extra 100 GB, up to 2 TB
- Enterprise: custom limits
Prices are monthly and billed according to the billing cycle you choose. Tax may be added.
What happens when you go over
Framer's help article describes the process. Bandwidth is tracked on a monthly cycle and resets on the 1st of every calendar month. If you exceed your plan's limit:
- First month: you receive an email notification and a banner in Framer.
- Second month: you are prompted to upgrade to a plan that supports your usage.
- Ongoing overages: your site may be automatically upgraded or charged an overage fee.
Framer says a site is not taken offline immediately for a one-time overage. The pricing page also says you are allowed to exceed the bandwidth limit for one month and will be notified by email so you can upgrade.
The practical lesson from the stories on X: do not ignore the first email. It is the warning. If you go over once, find out why before the next month ends.
What uses bandwidth on a small site
Framer's help article lists the main causes of high bandwidth use:
- Framer-hosted video, especially full-screen, autoplaying or unoptimised video. This is the most common cause.
- Large or lossless images. Framer optimises most images automatically, but some settings or formats can produce larger files.
- Custom code such as code overrides or components that load extra assets.
- Site modules, the system files that make your site run, including JavaScript, HTML and CMS data.
- Visitors. More visitors means more downloads.
For most small business sites, the content is mostly text and optimised images. A restaurant, an accountant or a law firm site with a few pages of text and photos is unlikely to come close to 50 GB in a month unless it gets a lot of traffic. The sites that run into trouble usually host video directly on Framer. One post on X described a video maker who self-hosted their videos and used 108 GB in a month on a 50 GB plan.
How to stay under
Framer's help article suggests several steps. Here they are in plain terms:
1. Host long videos on YouTube or Vimeo. Embed them on your site instead of uploading the files to Framer. The video streams from YouTube or Vimeo, not from your Framer bandwidth.
2. Keep background videos short. Framer recommends keeping autoplaying background videos under 30 seconds. Compress them before uploading.
3. Add a poster image to videos, so the video only loads when it is near the visitor's screen.
4. Set image resolution to "Auto" in the image settings, and avoid "Auto (Lossless)" unless you see visible problems.
5. Audit custom code and remove scripts or components you do not need.
6. Check the dashboard. Framer's dashboard lists the files using the most bandwidth. Look at it once a month.
If you are a video editor, filmmaker or colourist, video is the point of your site, so this matters more. Templates built to embed YouTube and Vimeo help. CUT plays YouTube, Vimeo or self-hosted video in its Works page, so you can choose embeds for the long pieces. Half Light Film is built for editing studios, and Grade is built for colourists selling LUTs, where before-and-after comparisons are central. With any of them, check where your video is hosted before you publish.
How to check what a page downloads
If your bandwidth is higher than you expect, you can check what a page downloads using your browser. Framer's help article describes this method in Chrome:
1. Open your site and open Developer Tools, then the Network tab.
2. Do a hard refresh to simulate a first-time visit.
3. Sort by the Size column to find the largest files.
4. Match them with the files listed in your Framer dashboard.
The largest files are usually the ones to fix.
When to change plan
If your site is getting more visitors, it may genuinely need more bandwidth. That is a good problem. Compare the cost of upgrading to Pro, or adding bandwidth on Pro, with the cost of the overage. If you have already optimised video and images and still go over, upgrading is the simpler choice.
If you have not optimised, do that first. Moving long videos to YouTube or Vimeo often makes the biggest difference.
For more on what a Framer site costs in total, read how much does a Framer website cost?. For how hosting works, see does Framer host your website?. And for the search side of a Framer site, see is Framer good for SEO?.
Bandwidth limits are not a reason to avoid Framer for most small business sites. They are a reason to know what your site is downloading, host video sensibly, and read the first warning email when it arrives.