Personal Website vs Link in Bio: Which Do You Need?

A link in bio and a personal website started as different things. A link in bio was a list of buttons for an Instagram profile; a personal website was a site you designed and hosted yourself. For makers, founders and developers the line has blurred, and the real question is simpler: what do people need to find when they click your name, and how much time do you want to spend keeping it current?

What a link in bio is good at

A link in bio is one short page that lists where to go next. It is:

• Fast to set up: minutes, not a weekend.
• Made for phones, where most profile clicks happen.
• Easy to keep current: add a link, done.
• Usually free or cheap, with analytics built in.

The weakness of a classic link in bio is depth. A list of identical buttons says nothing about what each thing is, whether it is live, or what you did on it. It is a signpost, not a portfolio.

What a personal website is good at

A personal website can hold anything: long writing, case studies, a custom design, a blog. It lives on your own domain, which nobody can take away when a tool shuts down. And it signals some care, especially for designers and front-end developers, for whom the site is itself a work sample.

The weaknesses are time and upkeep. Designing, building, hosting and updating a site is a project. Many personal sites are a year out of date, which is worse than a simple page that is current. Hosting with a builder and a domain costs more than people expect; we compared prices for hosting a personal site.

Which one you need

A link in bio is enough if people mostly need to find your things: your products, your newsletter, your socials. Founders, indie hackers and creators with a few projects are often here.

A personal website is worth it if you write long-form regularly, if the site itself is your portfolio (design, front-end, creative work), or if you need things a simple page cannot do, such as a store or a docs site.

Most makers want something in between: one page with each project explained, a way to contact them, and their own domain, without building a site.

The in-between: a maker page on your domain

That middle is what makerhandle is built for. A single page lists every project with a screenshot, a status and verified revenue if it earns, and each project opens its own project page with a write-up, screenshots and links, so the depth is there for the people who want it. On Pro the whole thing lives on your own domain with SSL handled for you, for $20 a year.

It is not general web hosting: there is no HTML upload and no blog engine. If you need those, a site builder or a static site is the right tool, and you can still link your maker page from it. If you want a personal homepage that stays current with almost no upkeep, see a personal website for $20 a year.

A quick checklist

Whichever you choose, the page behind your name should:

1. Say who you are and what you make in one line.
2. Show your best work first, with a status so nobody hits a dead link.
3. Give one clear way to contact you.
4. Load fast on a phone.
5. Live on a domain you control, or at least let you export your content.
6. Tell you whether anyone visits, without a cookie banner. See link in bio and GDPR.