Design Note · from the creator
The Modern Million Dollar Homepage Alternative
Let's be honest from the start: this project wouldn't exist without Alex Tew. In 2005, a 21-year-old student sold 1,000,000 pixel squares on a single homepage for $1 each and made a million dollars in a few months. The Million Dollar Homepage became one of the most famous experiments in internet history, and it's the undeniable forefather of everything you see here.
I don't want to pretend The Wall of the Million is a brand-new invention. It's an honest evolution of that idea, rebuilt for today's web. The question I kept asking myself wasn't "how do I copy this?", it was "what would a 2026 version of that feeling actually look like?"
From pixels to permanence
- The Million Dollar Homepage1,000,000 pixel ads
- The Wall of the Million1,000,000 personal tiles
What I changed, and why
🧱 A name, not a bannerThe original was an ad space. Here you claim a tile that carries your name, a short tagline, a color or gradient, an emoji and a personal link. It's a digital signature, not an advertisement.
⚖️ A price curve that stays honestThe original charged a flat dollar for every pixel. A flat price works, but it does nothing interesting: every square is worth the same, forever. I wanted the Wall to feel like it was growing, so I priced each tile on a square-root curve. It starts at $0.50 and rises slowly, flattening out as the Wall fills. Tile #100 costs $0.95; the final tile #1,000,000 will cost $50.00. Early adopters get the best price, subsequent tiles scale in price to match the Wall’s growing attention.
🔒 Yours foreverWhen all 1,000,000 tiles are claimed, the gates close permanently. No second editions, no re-runs. Your tile stays on the Wall as a piece of collective internet history.
And a dose of honesty
If the Wall fills up, this does make money. I won't pretend it costs a million dollars in hosting bills. It's a commercial artwork: a creative project that funds itself and, if it goes well, the next ones. But what you buy is simple: a permanent, customizable tile on a finite monument. No promises of returns, no speculation. Just a place on the Wall, and a place in its history.
The choice is yours. Read the full manifesto or browse the FAQ to learn more.