Etch Studio Review: Even a Developer Who Helped Build Etch Says You Don't Need It

What Etch Studio is

Etch Studio is a hosted visual site builder from Kevin Geary’s company, Digital Gravy. It launched on 26 August 2026. You build in Etch’s hosted editor, and it pushes your site out as static files.

It’s a subscription. Even people who already paid for a lifetime Etch licence don’t get it. They’re offered a discount and asked to pay again.

The whip holder

Piskorz’s article compares page builders to the whip holders early cars kept, with no horse left to whip. Builders were made for humans who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, write code. Even the ones that show you clean code, he says, are really storing “JSON in a database, in a format specific to that one tool.”

Once an agent writes the code, he says, that layer “stops helping anyone and just gets in the way.” Builders adding MCP, so agents can talk to them, don’t fix it: “That’s a layer on top of a layer.”

He doesn’t name Etch Studio. But in my view, Etch Studio is that layer, with a monthly subscription on top.

Geary said the idea was worthless first

In March 2026, a solo developer, Chris Good, launched FEWD Studio, a visual editor for plain files and Astro sites. Geary replied under the launch video:“He didn’t really make anything.” And: “Nobody is actually gonna use this to do any serious work.”

YouTube comment, commenter blurred: “Bro just made Etch for non WordPress websites 🤯”. Reply from @Gearyco, 7 months ago: “He didn’t really make anything. He cloned the bones of something. Nobody is actually gonna use this to do any serious work because you can’t depend on it and it probably doesn’t do the vast majority of what you need it to do. This is what people will quickly learn about AI. Resembling software doesn’t make it software.” — Geary’s reply under the FEWD Studio launch video. The other commenter is blurred.

Five months later he launched Etch Studio, his own visual builder for static sites. FEWD Studio is £79.99 a year, and you keep your files if you stop paying.

So many complaints that Etch banned them

On 20 October, Etch’s support staff posted in the official community, the one for paying customers: “Over the past few weeks we’ve had a lot of posts sharing thoughts and feelings about Etch Studio.” Then: “we won’t be allowing new ‘my feelings on Etch Studio’ posts going forward. Any new ones will be removed.”

Post in Etch’s official community by an Etch staff member, name blurred, Oct 20. Title: “No more “my feelings on Etch Studio” Posts”. Text: “Hey everyone, Over the past few weeks we’ve had a lot of posts sharing thoughts and feelings about Etch Studio. We appreciate everyone who’s taken the time to share their perspective. Most of these posts raise the same questions, though, and we’ve been answering them over and over again. To keep the community focused on building, helping each other, and sharing what you’re working on, we won’t be allowing new “my feelings on Etch Studio” posts going forward. Any new ones will be removed. (We will do the same with similar comments on this post.) If you have questions about Etch Studio, EtchWP, or how the two fit together, please check out https://etchbuilder.io first. On the homepage you’ll find a letter from Kevin explaining the direction of Etch, and further down there’s an FAQ that covers the most common questions. The site is still a work in progress, so most of the other pages aren’t live yet, but more information is coming soon. If you have direct comments or concerns, please email etch@digitalgravy.co so they reach the team. Thanks for understanding, and thanks for being part of the Etch community!” 25 reactions, 27 comments. — The 20 October post in Etch’s official community. Staff name blurred.

The same afternoon, the same staff member told the public Etch group that apart from extension announcements, “most of it is complaints”. She put that down to “incorrect information” without naming any.

Post in the public Etch group by an Etch staff member, name blurred, October 20 at 3:15 PM: “Hey everyone, [name blurred] here from the Etch team at Digital Gravy. (Not an official announcement, just from me personally.) I want to be honest about what’s been happening in this group. If you scroll back through recent posts, apart from third-party extension announcements, most of it is complaints, and a lot of it is incorrect information about Etch and Etch Studio. Part of the reason is how the group is set up. It’s an unofficial group that’s open to everyone, customers and non-customers alike. Many of the people posting here don’t use Etch, so they don’t see the updates, announcements, and discussions that customers get in the official community. Without that context, misinformation keeps getting repeated. And since Kevin, the creator of Etch, has been removed from the group, the person building the product can no longer share updates or correct things here. So let me clear up the biggest misconceptions: EtchWP isn’t going anywhere. If you have an EtchWP LTD or annual license, you still have it, and you can keep building WordPress sites exactly as you have been. EtchWP is still in active development. Many features built in Studio, including the new data management tools, are being ported over to EtchWP now. Etch Studio is a separate, optional product. It’s hosted by us for building outside of WordPress, and existing Etch customers get a discounted rate if they want it. Nobody is required to buy it. You’re welcome to stay here, of course. Just know that official updates won’t be shared in this group. If you want accurate information and direct answers from the team, please join the official Etch community: https://community.etchwp.com Kevin’s letter and the full FAQ are on the homepage at https://etchbuilder.io. The site is still a work in progress, so some pages are missing, but the letter and FAQ are there. Hope to see you in the official Etch Community!” — The same day, in the public Etch group. Staff name blurred.

Back in September, a paying Etch customer said publicly that Geary removed him from the Etch community over a comment about Studio. Two lines from that comment:

“A proper Studio website might help.”

“And, yes, I can do it all with Claude. Yay! Becoming tired of being told to go and use AI to do the stuff the software I invested in promised to do.”

Public post by a paying Etch customer, name blurred, September 7: “So, KG kicks me off Etch community (i thought everyone that bought it had access?) after he became really upset about a supportive comment I made on one of his threads. Seriously, I wish I had access so I could show the petty crap he chucked at me cos he’s been getting shit from people asking legit Studio questions. My last comment—the final straw—was... “For some reason, an earlier post of mine was deleted. The original thread was created by our infallible leader although my comment was not in direct response to his posts. All of which became unreasonably personal from the get-go. I know some others’ comments were redacted too. Weird. Here’s mine (again)... Would love to know what, exactly, was reasoning for its expurgation? “I can’t wait for all the things that were supposed to be in EtchWP but will now appear in Studio, at some point, then get ported back to the software we all bought on the promise of the features that are now going to Studio first... then WP. Maybe. It’s making my head spin. A proper Studio website might help. Very much looking forward to facets and PHP authoring (I guess that’s on the far-back-burner if we’re not using WP). And, yes, I can do it all with Claude. Yay! Becoming tired of being told to go and use AI to do the stuff the software I invested in promised to do. Oh, and talk to me like I’m a c**t. Are we tired of the winning yet? Certainly tired of the whining.”” — The customer’s public post, 7 September. Name blurred.

Put that next to Piskorz. Customers are told to use AI. A developer who helped build Etch says that once you use AI, you don’t need the builder at all.

What it costs, and what you keep

Etch Studio is $59 a month, or $590 a year on the annual plan. There’s no lifetime deal. Over three years that’s $1,770.

Your editable project lives in Etch’s hosted editor, and you can’t take it with you. I compared Etch Studio with 13 alternatives. It’s the only one I’d rate as high lock-in, and every one of the 13 costs less over three years. Five are free.

Piskorz’s list is shorter. Astro, plain HTML, WordPress core. Your files, in a folder, on your machine. No subscription.

My verdict

Etch Studio asks you to pay every month for a layer that a developer who helped build Etch now says you don’t need. Your project stays in Etch’s editor, not in your own files. And its own customers complained about it so much that the complaints got banned.

I wouldn’t pay for it. If you want an AI agent to build your site, let it write the files.