Best personal website templates in 2026 (free and paid)
Five personal website templates compared on pages, motion, phone layout, printable CV and free or paid, so you can pick the right portfolio website.
In this post
The best personal website template is the one that gets your story read and your CV printed with the least friction. We make five personal website themes. Three are free (Lightwork, Interactive Résumé, Playable Résumé) and two are paid (Gesture, Stet). This page compares them on facts we can check: pages, motion, phone layout, printable CV and how you edit content. We only compare our own products. We make no claims about anyone else's.
What a personal website has to do
A personal website has two readers. The first is curious. They want to see how you think and what you made. The second is busy. A recruiter or client wants your CV, your contact details and proof, fast.
Many portfolio website templates serve one reader and lose the other. A pretty site with no printable CV frustrates the busy reader. A plain CV page gives the curious reader nothing to remember.
All five themes below try to serve both. Each one has a story-led front and a plain, printable CV behind it. They differ in how much motion they use, how many pages they ship, and how you change the content.
All five share the same base: Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4 and GSAP for motion. Gesture and Lightwork also use Three.js. Each has two product films and real desktop, tablet and phone screenshots on its page.
How we compared them: the criteria table
We looked at what each theme actually ships, not what it could become. Here is the summary.
| Theme | Free or paid | Pages | Motion | Phone layout | Printable CV | Editing content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gesture | Paid | 1 (Home) | Pencil-traced portrait, career drawn as one line, sketches turn into photos | Phone layout that feels like an app | One click prints a one-page CV | Not stated on the listing |
| Stet | Paid | 1 (Home) | CV lines peel off into receipts; soft sound | Swipe or tap a line; receipts open as bottom sheets | Print-ready PDF in one tap | One data file |
| Lightwork | Free | 1 (Home, the film) | Projector maps your career onto a model town | One swipe per chapter, bottom sheets, thumb-friendly action bar | Printable PDF résumé | One file |
| Interactive Résumé | Free | 3 (Home, Plain résumé, Case study) | Scroll-driven illustrated world with a walking character | Phone screens for all three pages | Plain résumé page, PDF download, print styles | resume.json |
| Playable Résumé | Free | 8 (Home, Levels 2–4, Case study, Résumé view, Contact thanks, 404) | Side-scrolling levels with a walking character | Works on phones | Plain résumé, PDF download, print styles | resume.json |
On accessibility, we only list what the products state. Stet is reduced-motion and keyboard friendly. Playable Résumé respects reduced-motion settings and keeps a semantic résumé underneath, so screen readers and ATS are not blocked. Lightwork has a calm version that tells the same story as still frames. Gesture and Interactive Résumé do not list reduced-motion support, so test them before you rely on it. None of these is sold as ADA or EAA certified.
Free: three themes
- Lightwork, Interactive Résumé and Playable Résumé
- From 1 to 8 pages; Playable Résumé ships the most
- Content lives in one file or resume.json
- Each keeps a printable CV or plain résumé
Paid: Gesture and Stet
- One focused page each, built around one idea
- Gesture draws your portrait and career by hand
- Stet lets visitors check the proof behind each CV line
- Both print a clean one-page CV in one step
The five themes, one by one
Gesture (paid): the hand-drawn personal website
Gesture is a one-page résumé site for illustrators, designers, art directors and makers. A pencil traces your portrait from your own photo, shades it, then paints it into colour. Your career is drawn as one line down the page. The pen changes from biro to watercolour as you grow.
Every picture starts as a pencil sketch and turns into the real photo as visitors scroll. Your work sits in a swipeable sketchbook with full case stories: the brief, what you made, the result. Visitors can tap your portrait to watch it drawn again. There is a sign-here pad, and a note form that opens the visitor's own email ready to send.
Limits: it is one page. The listing does not say how content is stored, and it does not list reduced-motion support.
Stet (paid): the CV that proves every line
Stet is a personal résumé and portfolio website for people whose CV makes claims worth checking. A visitor highlights any line and it peels off the page into its receipt: the screen you shipped, the number you moved, the people who vouch for you.
The highlights then do useful work. They become the visitor's note to you, a call ticket in the hours you both share, and their own marked-up copy of your CV. The CV itself is one page, readable in ten seconds, with a print-ready PDF.
On phones, you swipe or tap a line and the receipt opens as a bottom sheet. It is light, calm, reduced-motion and keyboard friendly. All content comes from one data file. Limit: it is one page, so case studies live inside the receipts, not on separate pages.
Lightwork (free): the cinematic one-pager
Lightwork plays like the opening of a game. A projector maps your career onto a white plaster model of a hill town, chapter by chapter. Halfway through, the visitor picks a reel: Product, Brand or Motion. The ending and offer change to match.
It is built from photos you already have. You swap every word and image in one file, with no 3D modelling. It ships ten ready case studies with problem, approach, results, numbers and client quotes, for you to replace with your own. Résumé, Hire and Contact are one tap from the first screen. The Hire form puts the visitor's project name on an empty plinth as they type.
Interactive Résumé (free): a scrollable illustrated world
Interactive Résumé tells your career as one story that moves as you scroll. Skills are creatures on a five-level ladder. Jobs are machines. Awards are flags you collect. An illustrated character walks, runs or pauses with your scroll speed.
It has three pages: the world, a plain résumé with PDF download and print styles, and a case-study view you open by clicking any job. Everything changes from one resume.json file.
Playable Résumé (free): the most pages of the five
Playable Résumé is a side-scrolling résumé your visitors walk through. It has a title screen, a route map and five levels: About, Skills (a dive), Experience (a dock), Work and Recognition (a banner shaft), and Contact (a balloon ascent). A HUD shows level chips, an XP bar, coins and keyboard controls.
It ships eight pages, including case studies, a résumé view, a contact thank-you page and a game-over 404. There is also an offline page. Every infographic is generated from one resume.json. Underneath sits a real, semantic, printable résumé.
How to pick the right portfolio website template
Start from your reader, not the effect. Then check the practical items in the table.
- Name your main readerRecruiters want a fast CV. Clients want proof and a way to reach you. Peers want to see your craft.
- Match the idea to your workVisual makers suit Gesture. Product people with numbers suit Stet. Motion and brand people suit Lightwork.
- Count the pages you needNeed separate case-study pages? Interactive Résumé has 3 pages and Playable Résumé has 8. The others are one page.
- Check the plain CV pathAll five print a CV. Open the live page and try it on a phone before you choose.
- Check motion settingsStet, Playable Résumé and Lightwork state reduced-motion or calm modes. Test the others yourself.
- Swap in your contentEdit the data file or resume.json, then run the site locally and read it as a stranger would.
Setup is a standard Next.js project. These five themes do not have their own sections in our docs yet, so the usual commands apply:
npm install
npm run dev
npm run buildIf you add analytics or a form service, check whether you need a cookie banner and privacy notice for UK and EU visitors. Gesture's note form opens the visitor's own email app, so it does not describe sending data to a server.
What to do next
Open two themes side by side on your phone. Read each as a recruiter for ten seconds, then as a curious client for two minutes. The one that works for both readers is your answer.
If your CV is full of claims you can back with screens, numbers and references, Stet is built for exactly that. It turns each line into its own proof and still prints a clean one-page CV. Agencies building these for clients can read how our single licence covers client sites.
Questions
Are any of these personal website templates free?
Yes. Lightwork, Interactive Résumé and Playable Résumé are free. Gesture and Stet are paid.
Can a recruiter get a plain CV quickly?
Yes, on all five. Gesture and Stet print a one-page CV, Lightwork has a printable PDF résumé, and both Interactive Résumé and Playable Résumé have a plain résumé page with PDF download and print styles.
Which theme has the most pages?
Playable Résumé, with eight: Home, three level pages, Case study, Résumé view, Contact thanks and a 404. Interactive Résumé has three. The other three are single pages.
How do I change the content?
Stet and Lightwork use one data file. Interactive Résumé and Playable Résumé use resume.json. Gesture's listing does not state how content is stored.
Do they respect reduced-motion settings?
Stet and Playable Résumé state reduced-motion support, and Lightwork has a calm still-frame version. Gesture and Interactive Résumé do not list it, so test before launch.
