Cheapest Website Builder

The best low-cost website builders are WordPress, followed by Weebly and Square. Which is right for you? Read on to learn about pricing and features.

Designing websites used to require coding knowledge and expertise. But that's all changed.

Now, you can create websites using templates and drag-and-drop functionality. And a lot of these website builders are pretty cheap.

The biggest decision to consider is: What's the right website builder for you?

Your answer will depend on your priority. That's why you'll find the best low-cost website builders for e-commerce, blogging, and business below.

Read on to learn about pricing, features, and best-value plans.

Best Cheap Website Builders

You can use website builders to set up an online store, a professional portfolio, a content-based blog, or a business website. And many are free or low-cost.

But their features vary depending on the plan you choose. Here's a summary of what you can get from each builder:

For eCommerce:

For Blogs:

For a Business or Personal Site:

Some website builders also offer all-in-one services like hosting packages, but you can find other hosting service. However, if you're starting, this might be a good way to begin.

Cheapest Website Builders for eCommerce

These website builders have features specific to help you build an online store. Read on to find the 3 cheapest high-quality options.

1. Weebly

CREDIT WEEBLY

Pros:

• Easy to use
  
• Simple drag-and-drop editor
  
• Free online store is possible
  
• Industry-focused templates
  
• Photo gallery from Unsplash
  
• Can upload favicons

Cons:

• Hosting is relatively slow
  
• Limited templates
  
• Limited flexibility compared to other website builders

Weebly is not only one of the cheapest but also one of the most intuitive website builders out there. It's likely suitable for small businesses, although you can use it for larger ones too.

You can set up a store even with their free plan. This is a unique feature among website builders since others make you pay for this feature.

Their interface is simple, and the themes are minimalistic. They also have a mobile app so you can manage your website on the go.

Why we like it:
There are free eCommerce features in Weebly that you may have to pay for with other builders. For example, you can list unlimited items in your store, use an automatic tax calculator, or add coupons and gift cards.

Paid features are also fairly affordable, with the most expensive plan at $29 per month. At that price, you'll basically have everything you need to build and promote your online store.

Pricing:^[1]

Features:
Weebly offers many features that you can use to set up your online store quickly. For example, you can offer coupons and gift cards and make in-store pick-up available.

When creating your website, you can also integrate third-party apps to improve your website's functionality. That way, you can link videos of your business advertisement or share your social media posts with your audience.

SEO and social media integrations are also available to ensure your site reaches your customers.

Here's an overview of the other features you get with their different plans.

All plans come with Live Chat and email support. But they also have forums you can check out.

2. Square Online

CREDIT SQUAREUP

Pros:

• Free online store possible
  
• Responsive and mobile-friendly
  
• SEO features on all plans
  
• Scalable and suitable for large businesses
  
• Integrates with Square payment solutions

Cons:

• Transaction fees
  
• Limited templates
  
• Limited flexibility on website builder

Square Online is another website builder by Square, a mobile payment company offering various tools for businesses. Given that Square offers a point-of-sale system, your website can also sync with their POS, even with the free plan.

This seamless integration allows you to manage online and in-store sales efficiently. You can sync items, create a loyalty program (e.g., sales history and loyalty points), and manage your staff with team-based permissions.

Your site will also be mobile-friendly, so your customers can make purchases wherever they are.

Why we like it:
Square Online lets you set up an online store for free with unlimited products. It integrates with multiple payment gateways, such as Square Pay, Apple Pay, 2Checkout, and others.

You can also use the site for donations, which is great if you're a nonprofit organization. The feature is available for all plans.

With Square, it's convenient if you have multiple businesses because you can build multiple sites at no cost.

Pricing:^[2]

Features:
One of the highlights of using Square Online is that it integrates with your Square tools in-store. For all plans, you have features offering on-demand and in-house delivery, in-store and curbside pick-up, and shipping labels and discounts.

You can also promote your products on social media by connecting your accounts to the site. This way, you can easily engage with your audience from Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Other features available are the following:

3. Big Cartel

Pros:

• Free online store
  
• Simple and intuitive
  
• Stripe Integration
  
• All templates are free
  
• Responsive and mobile-friendly

Cons:

• No free domain available
  
• Limited themes
  
• Limited features
  
• No features for blogging

Big Cartel is a website builder made by artists for artists. If you're just starting a creative business, it's a good option.

It has all the basic features you'll need for an online store. You can start with 5 products or list up to 500 at most. However, compared to other website builders, there's not a lot of flexibility or features when editing your website.

Nonetheless, it makes it simple and easy to use. It also has a mobile app so you can manage your website on the go.

Why we like it:
It's a great tool for starting a small business. You can set up a store for free or even go for their most expensive plan, which costs a reasonable $19.99 per month.

You won't be bombarded with complex features, which means you can set up a simple yet profitable website without technical knowledge.

Big Cartel is often used by businesses selling prints or making crafts and jewelry. Instead of using other platforms such as Etsy, creating your own website with Big Cartel means you don't have to worry about paying a commission.

Pricing:^[3]

Features:
Big Cartel integrates with the popular payment processing platform, Stripe, allowing you to easily take payments and sell to a wider audience. You can also use Stripe to take payments in person. You'll just have to order your card reader from Stripe.

You can also offer discounts and promotions regardless of the plan. Product option groups are also available, making it suitable for clothing businesses. You can add variations in colors and sizes, for example.

Big Cartel also calculates and collects sales tax automatically on all U.S. orders. After your customers make a purchase, you can notify them about shipping information through shipment tracking features.

Other features from each plan are:

Cheapest Website Builders for Blogging

In addition to setting up online stores, website builders can help you manage your content. You can use them for blogs, podcasts, or videos.

If you want a content-focused website, you can choose from WordPress, Webflow, or Wix.

1. WordPress

CREDIT: WORDPRESS

Pros:

• Jetpack on all plans
  
• Dozens of free themes for all plans
  
• Earn ad revenue through WordAds
  
• Newsletters on all paid plans
  
• Subscriber-only feature on paid plans

Cons:

• One plan applies to one site only
  
• Limited free features
  
• Paid premium themes

WordPress is one of the most popular website builders out there. They even claim that 43% of the websites are made with WordPress. That's almost half of all websites created!

And it's popular for a reason. WordPress.com is a hosted WordPress website, but the content management system is free to use.

In this article, we'll be focusing on WordPress.com. Because it's the managed version of WordPress, you don't need much technical knowledge. Software updates are also taken care of.

Why we like it:
WordPress is one of the most flexible website builders. With over thousands of themes and plugins, you're sure to create a website suitable for your branding.

You can design through drag-and-drop editors, but you can also use custom codes for your site. If you have an idea of what you want to do, there's likely a plugin for that.

If you start with a free plan, you can upgrade without difficulty for additional customization options and features. Migrating from different hosts is also easier through export and import tools.

Pricing:^[4]

Features:
WordPress.com has a lot of features, especially on paid plans. It offers a lot more compared to its competitors. This gives you more flexibility on how to structure and design your website based on how you want it to look and function.

Here's a summary of what you can get in each plan. Remember that you only get free domain and live chat support in the annual or two-year plans.

2. Webflow

credit: webflow

Pros:

• Unique and creative templates
  
• Interactions and animations
  
• Large CMS database available
  
• Hire an expert to help build the website
  
• 400+ free lessons from Webflow University

Cons:

• Expensive templates
  
• Complex website builder interface
  
• Expensive eCommerce plans

Webflow is a website builder that's free to use. You can design your website and export static code (JavaScript, HTML, or CSS) to host on another platform. Or, you can just host on Webflow too.

If you know how to use Adobe Photoshop, Webflow's interface looks quite similar. It can initially seem overwhelming, but the number of features increases its flexibility.

Designing and organizing your web pages will almost feel like you're designing a magazine. The editor uses a drag-and-drop feature to help you easily preview and adjust layouts. If you prefer, you can also add your own code to your pages.

Why we like it:
Even though the interface is a little different, it has a step-by-step tutorial to help you design your website. You'll love the amount of editing you can do if you're a designer.

Whether you're building a portfolio, a personal blog, or marketing your business, you can make it look its best and unique from other websites.

You can also set up an eCommerce store as needed. But the CMS plan is their most popular plan that's best for blogs and content-driven websites.

It lets you create CMS Collections, making it easier to manage blog posts and pages seamlessly through its interface.

Pricing:^[6]

Webflow has separate pricing plans if you plan to build an online store. They're not the cheapest, but we'll list them below if you decide to upgrade.

Pricing:

Features:
Features for eCommerce differ from general features. We'll focus on the general ones as they are most suitable for content websites.

Webflow's strength lies in its interactions and CMS. You can place pre-built interactions, trigger-based interactions, and After Effects Lottie integration on your site. Depending on your plan, you can have 10,000 or more CMS items.

If you want to set custom features, you can do so with the Enterprise Plan. But you'll have plenty of room for content with the other paid plans.

3. Wix

Pros:

• Industry-specific templates
  
• Artificial design intelligence website builder
  
• Open dev platform available
  
• Booking and events system
  
• Subscriber-only feature
  
• Responsive and mobile-friendly

Cons:

• Fewer features
  
• Limited storage compared to competitors
  
• Slow compared to competitors

Wix is another popular website builder that's good for both content-driven websites and online stores. Like Webflow, their templates are more unique and aesthetically pleasing compared to competitors.

The editor comes with preset layouts you can easily update, such as an About page, Contact, Promotion, Services, etc. This way, you won't need a lot of brainpower when deciding what a page will look like.

It also offers a lot of flexibility. You can change the colors of the themes to match your branding and add page transitions for dynamics.

Why we like it:
Wix has an intuitive website builder. Even without tutorials, you'll be sure to figure out how to make your way around it. It's a flexible drag-and-drop builder that doesn't follow a fixed grid, so you can move elements around easily.

Templates also make it a lot easier to edit sections. Some are focused on blogs and portfolios, which is great for your content-driven business. You can select presets from their content manager, such as projects, courses, recipes, etc.

If you need more tools, you can easily add integrations through the Wix App Market built within the editor.

Pricing:^[7]

Wix has separate pricing plans for eCommerce stores. Unlike the cheapest ones in the eCommerce section, Wix has storage limits for online stores. If you're interested, the pricing is as follows:

Features:
Features for website and eCommerce plans differ, but let's focus on the website features. Before you start, you can explore over 800 templates to see which suits your business. You can also download the mobile app to manage your website on the go.

Wix offers other services such as email marketing, the creation of social posts and Facebook ads, or client management. These are all available through Ascend plans that can be integrated with your site.

Unlike other website builders, the features are available in one plan. However, these are the only ones available through Wix's website builder:

Cheapest Website Builders for a Business or Personal Site

If your goal is mainly to have a platform for your business or a personal website, then there are website builders for that. You can choose to showcase completed projects or portfolios, for example.

The cheapest include Squarespace, One.com, and Carrd.

1. Squarespace

Pros:

• Combined website and eCommerce pricing plan
  
• Easy-to-use website builder
  
• Industry-specific templates
  
• Enterprise solutions available
  
• Student discount available
  
• Responsive and mobile-friendly

Cons:

• Similar-looking templates
  
• Only new domain names can be registered
  
• No menu hierarchy (deep menus)

If you prefer a minimalist website or one with a timeless design, Squarespace would be a good choice. It's got industry-specific templates so that you can choose one most suitable for photography, health and wellness, food, etc.

Compared to other website builders, however, you don't get a free plan. You can instead opt for a free trial to get an idea of their interface and features. After 14 days, you'll need to upgrade to a plan to continue.

If you prefer, you can also hire a Squarespace expert to do the work for you.

Why we like it:
Everything about the website builder is intuitive. It uses a drag-and-drop feature, but the grid layout isn't limited, so that you can place elements anywhere on the page.

You can easily add section templates for typical pages such as About, Products, Portfolios, etc. Because of this, you can finish your website in just a couple of hours.

The editor is also easy to navigate, so you can customize icons, manage your online store, review analytics, and view your audience profiles from a single sidebar.

Pricing:^[8]

Features:
The Personal Plan lacks most of the features that Squarespace is known for. It's best suited for portfolios or online resumes where you don't need a lot of contributors, integrations, marketing, and online store features.

However, with the rest of the plans, you'll get unlimited contributors, access to Squarespace integrations, a professional email, custom coding, and all the marketing features.

The business plan will be lacking in eCommerce integrations, making Commerce plans best for it. Here are the rest of the features in detail:

2. One.com

Pros:

• Responsive and mobile-friendly
  
• Add-ons available
  
• 1-click installer for WordPress
  
• Can set up a hierarchy of pages from the menu

Cons:

• Separate plans for online store features
  
• Separate plans for professional email
  
• No site migration service

One.com is a web hosting service that also provides a website builder together with their hosting plans. The website builder is easy to use and comes with standard and premium templates.

Before you get started, you'll be prompted to choose the industry of your business. They suggest templates specific to it. But you can still select from other templates if you prefer.

The templates' designs are simple, meaning your web pages may not be unique. But you can always make it yours by editing each section's theme's colors and layouts.

Why we like it:
You can build multiple websites depending on the plan, which is ideal if you manage multiple businesses. Because the editor uses a drag-and-drop feature and a flexible grid, you can position elements (images, text boxes, buttons, etc.) almost anywhere on a page.

You'll also access a gallery of Shutterstock images which could be useful as cover photos or placeholders. With these features, you'll get to set up your website in a few.

Pricing:
The website builder is free for the first year you purchase a hosting plan. The pricing for web hosting are:^[9]

After the first year, you'll have to pay for the website builder. The plans to choose from are:^[10]

Features:
In all of One.com's hosting plans, you'll get unlimited data traffic and database sizes. Each will have a varying number of domains supported, but you can also have unlimited subdomains.

Unlike other website builders, however, SEO is an add-on for most plans. An online shop is an additional charge as well. But there are plenty of additional features which make these plans worth it.

Take a look at them below:

3. Carrd

Pros:

• Simple website builder
  
• Multiple sites in a single plan
  
• Most affordable compared to competitors
  
• Automatic or manual mobile responsiveness

Cons:

• Limited features and templates
  
• No free image gallery
  
• No hierarchy of pages for the menu

Carrd is possibly the simplest website builder compared to its competitors. It's great for building single-page websites, landing pages, portfolios, forms, or online resumes.

You can choose from their pre-made templates or start with a blank canvas. It also comes with a mini-tutorial when you start editing.

It's great for freelancers or small businesses that don't need a lot of complicated features on a website. If your goal is to gain more clients, Carrd provides forms and contact pages you can easily set up.

Why we like it:
A free plan with Carrd will give you three sites. Its Pro plans are billed annually for less than $50. It's one of the most affordable ones out there. If you want to try the Pro features before committing, you can also opt for the free 7-day trial.

Pricing:^[11]

Features:
All Pro features will let you use site icons, pro and custom templates, upload videos and quality images, and set up slideshows.

This way, you can showcase your completed projects or advertise your business simply and effectively.

If you work with other people, you can also share your site and grant full editor access to them.

How to Choose a Website Builder

Aside from payments, domain, and hosting, there are other things to consider in choosing a website builder. These can affect your entire website experience, so it's best to shop around and compare.

• Ease of use. Website builders are supposedly easier to use with the drag-and-drop option. But some require extra plugins to do so. You can use the free versions to test whether the editing interface works for you.

• Responsiveness. Some website builders naturally adapt to whichever device a reader or customer uses. But others don't, so you'll have to check what your pages look like on mobile devices consistently.

• Free elements. In editing mode, the elements refer to the text boxes, images, maps, forms, and other features you can place on your web page. Some elements are free, while others are paid. Paid elements typically come from plugins.

• Payment options. If you're going to set up an online store, this is one of the first things you should consider. Does the website builder integrate with PayPal, for example? Can it accept payments through debit or credit cards? These features don't always come free.

Our Methodology

In choosing the cheapest website builders, we considered the price, features, and what they're best used for.

Some website builders are best for online stores, while others are more suited for simple websites.

There are also options for personal use, such as portfolios or resumes. Usually, if you're focused on content, it's best to go for website builders that let you easily share your content - which is why we also listed them for you.

For ease of use, we considered those with drag-and-drop features - which is the majority of this list. All of them are mobile-friendly, so your audience can reach your platform wherever they are.

Basically, we made sure these choices give the most in terms of functionality and aesthetics to ensure you can create a professional website even at a low price.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the cheapest website designer? Some website designers come with free plans. But even the paid plans will cost you less than $10 per month. You can check out Weebly and WordPress, for example. Prices are typically cheaper if you choose to pay annually instead of monthly.

• What is the least costly way to build a website? It's possible to save if the website builder comes with hosting and a free custom domain. These free domains typically last a year and let you get started with no investment. When you're researching website builders, try the free plan first. If you like it and want more features, then you can pay later.

• Can I build a website myself for free? Yes, you can. Website builders with free plans let you do this. You can even set up an online store with some of them. But free plans typically come with subdomains and ads. If you want a professional-looking website with a custom domain, you'll need to spend some money.

• What is the best free website builder? Weebly is one of the best website builders, and it comes with a free plan. You can use it to create your online store or share content. It comes with free eCommerce features typically paid for in other website builders. It's affordable even if you upgrade to paid plans.

The Bottom Line

There are plenty of low-cost website builders available, and many of them come with free plans. Although some popular website builders are expensive, there are those you can use on a budget.

You could set up an online store, share content, or create a platform for yourself or your business. Typically, the more features you get, the more expensive it'll be.

Remember that many of them come with web hosting and a free domain for a year, which helps you save on costs.

References