Publish your site and go live
What the Publish button actually does, how your first publish works, and which changes go live instantly without it.
What You’ll Learn
You'll learn how your edits save to a private draft and only go public when you click Publish, and what to expect the first time you publish — choosing a plan and checking out securely. You'll also learn how to undo unpublished changes, which everyday details go live instantly without Publish, and where to manage your subscription.
Building your site on FastPage is completely free, and you can take as long as you like. Everything you do in the builder is saved to a private draft — nothing your customers can see. Going live is one deliberate step: the Publish button.
This guide walks through what Publish actually does, what the first publish looks like, and the handful of things that go live without it.
Drafts, previews and the Publish button
As you edit in the builder, your changes save automatically to a private draft. You don't need to remember to save — just close the tab whenever you like and your work will be there when you come back.
The site beside your edits in the builder is your draft, exactly as it will look — but only you can see it. Switch between the desktop and phone views at the top to check both.
When you're happy, click Publish — top-right on desktop, or in the bottom toolbar on your phone. That's the moment your latest edits become the public version of your site.
Your first publish
The first time you publish a site, FastPage asks you to subscribe. Building and previewing is free and unlimited — a subscription is what puts your site live on the internet.
Clicking Make your site live on a site that isn't subscribed yet opens a dialog with the plan: one price a month, cancel anytime, and what it includes.
Click Make your site live again to go to checkout. Payment is handled by Stripe, the same secure checkout used by millions of businesses — FastPage never sees your card details.
Completing checkout is your first publish. The moment Stripe confirms it, your site is live. Your first subscription starts with the first month free: your card is saved at checkout and charged the plan price when the 30 days end, then monthly. Cancel from Site settings before then and nothing is charged. One free month per account — a second site, or a plan you restart, pays from day one.
Publishing updates after that
Once you're subscribed, Publish gets simpler. The dialog reads "Publish updates — Push your latest edits live to your site", and clicking it does exactly that. Edit in the builder as often as you like, then publish whenever you're ready for customers to see the new version.
After each publish, a share sheet appears with your site's web address, a copy button, a Share with friends button that opens your phone or computer's share menu, and direct options for Instagram, Facebook, X and Email. It's a good nudge to tell people your site has changed — see Share your site for ideas.
Undoing changes
Changed your mind about an edit? Undo in the top bar of the builder (or on the phone's bottom bar) steps back one change at a time, and Redo brings it back.
What goes live without Publish
One thing worth knowing: not everything waits for the Publish button. A few everyday items go live the moment you save them, because they're the things you change most often and want reflected straight away:
- Your links, announcement and events, when edited from the Home screen's Quick Edits.
- Site details like your business name, contact info and opening hours.
Builder content — your headings, text, photos and sections — is what waits for Publish. So you can safely rework a whole page over a few days without customers seeing it half-finished, while still updating today's opening hours instantly. More on those details in Your site settings, explained.
Managing your subscription
Your plan, next billing date and cancellation all live in Site settings — Change plan and Cancel subscription open Stripe from there.
If your subscription ever ends, your website goes offline. It isn't deleted straight away: you have 30 days to restart your plan, and doing so brings your website back instantly, exactly as it was. We'll email you warnings before anything permanent happens — after 30 days, your website goes down for good. Your FastLinks page stays: it's free, it keeps your address, and any link it shared with your website stays on the page as its own.
If you're still deciding, you can see what a subscription costs — and keep building free in the meantime.
Want this for your business?
FastPage builds you a real website your customers can find on Google — live in minutes, updated from your phone. First month free, cancel anytime.