Free Website Builder for Small Business

Free website builders are an easy way to take your business online. But the features vary widely. Read on to see which one is best for your business.

There are a lot of free website builders, but some may lack the features you need. If you start with the wrong one, you may waste a lot of valuable time.

Others limit you to a free trial period. Then they charge a steep price.

Fortunately, the best builders have a free plan or an unlimited trial. They also offer many features and let you scale up as you grow.

Which is best for you? Read on to start building your new site for free today.

10 Best Free Website Builders for Small Business

Professionally developed websites can cost from $50 to $5,000. But a free website builder can help those with a smaller budget to create a good-looking site.

Here are the best free website builders for every type of small business.

1. Squarespace: Best Ease of Use

Squarespace is one of the most intuitive website builders. It's great for small business owners without technical skills looking to make their own websites.

There are many templates to choose from, so you can easily build your site within a day. There are templates for online stores, local businesses, blogs, and more.

The drag-and-drop builder is also easy to navigate. And the sections, colors, and font packs will help make your site look professional and aesthetically pleasing.

How does Squarespace's free trial work?
Squarespace only offers a 14-day free trial. But you can create as many free trial sites as you'd like.

You'll have access to premium features and custom codes. It's great for determining if the interface works for you. The drag-and-drop editor lets you place elements anywhere on the page.

Remember that if you create multiple sites, you'll have to pay for each site separately when upgrading. You can also delete a trial site you don't need.

Trial sites are private, so no one can access them without a password. You'll need to upgrade to a paid plan to publish the site and get SEO tools.

Squarespace's upgraded plans:
The first two plans are suitable for a simple website and an online store:

• Personal: $16/mo., billed annually. Comes with a free custom domain, unlimited bandwidth, video storage, and SEO features.

• Business: $23/mo., billed annually. Comes with personal plan features, premium integrations and blocks, professional email from Google, and fully integrated eCommerce features.

2. WordPress: Best for content-driven websites

CREDIT: WORDPRESS

With WordPress.com, you get a hosted website builder with a free plan. It's the easiest way to build a site with the mega-popular software from WordPress.org.

It's popular with bloggers, small businesses, and even large and established companies from the Fortune 500.

It has professionally designed themes you could use as templates. It's best for content-driven sites, given the available storage and upload features. WordPress works with blocks, so elements are easy to move around. But it's not as flexible when compared to Squarespace.

How does WordPress's free plan work?
WordPress.com comes with a free plan for life. There's no pressure to figure out the interface quickly. It's helpful, given that it has a steeper learning curve.

You'll get access to free themes that are mobile-friendly. You'll also have Jetpack's essential features, such as basic SEO, site stats, and social media sharing. This includes downtime and uptime monitoring and brute force protection.

You'll need to upgrade to a paid Business or eCommerce plan for more.

Keep in mind that you'll be using a subdomain with the free plan. You're also limited to 1 GB of storage.

WordPress's upgraded plans:
Two starting plans are suitable for a simple website and an online store:

• Personal: $4/mo., billed annually. You can connect a custom domain or use the free domain you get for a year.

  It comes with 6 GB of storage, unlimited email support, and you can upload audio files. The WordPress ads are also removed. A paid business plan will help you work with plugins that can make your work easier. There are over 59,000 plugins from the repository created by WordPress developers.

• Business: $45/mo., billed annually. You'll get premium plan features with 200 GB of storage. You can also use plugins, third-party themes and codes, SEO tools, and Google AdSense.

3. Webflow: Best for design flexibility

credit: webflow

Webflow is one of the most popular website builders. Over 3,500,000 designers use it. It works with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but you don't need to know how to code to use it.

You can design your website in any way that you imagine - that's how flexible the editor is. You can keep your website true to your branding.

It's great for building a content website or an eCommerce store. You can also monetize members-only content with it.

How does Webflow's free plan work?
Webflow has a free plan with no time limit. You can use it to create a general website, but not an online store. You won't have SEO features for a free plan, but you can have up to 1,000 visits per month.

You'll use a subdomain, and a Webflow badge will be shown on your website. You're also limited to 1 GB of bandwidth and 2 static pages.

However, you can have up to 50 CMS items and 20 CMS collections. You can also receive up to 50 form submissions in a lifetime.

Webflow's upgraded plans:
For content-based websites, you can choose from two basic plans:

• Basic: $14/mo., billed annually. For simple websites. Connect a custom domain, receive up to 500 monthly form submissions, and have up to 50 GB of bandwidth.

• CMS: $23/mo., billed annually. For content-based websites. Connect a custom domain, have up to 2,000 CMS items and receive up to 1,000 monthly form submissions.

  You can also have up to 3 guest editors for your content. Your site is limited to 200 GB of bandwidth.

If you need an online store, you can start with:

• Standard: $29/mo., billed annually. For new businesses. List up to 500 items. It includes all CMS plan features. Keep in mind that there's a 2% transaction fee.

4. Wix: Best for AI-designed websites

Wix is another great website builder with over 900 free customizable templates. They're suitable for different industries, and you can select one that fits yours.

You can set up an online store, a blog, or an events page. It uses a drag-and-drop editor and AI technology to help you build your site.

If you prefer, Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) can create a website for you based on your personal preference or business information. It does so in a couple of minutes only.

What's great about Wix is that, unlike its competitors, you can access the SEO features even with a free site.

It integrates with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. You can also use AI on your Facebook and Instagram ads.

How does Wix's free plan work?
Wix has a free plan that includes free web hosting. You'll be using a subdomain and their favicon in the URL.

Your site will have Wix ads and won't be able to accept online payments. You're also limited to 500 MB of storage and bandwidth. If you're choosing a template, keep in mind that you can't switch later on. But the interface is intuitive, and you can move things around to match the look you want.

Wix's upgraded plans:
The basic plans for both simple websites and online stores are:

• Combo: $16/mo., billed annually. Connect a custom domain, get a free SSL certificate, 2 GB of storage, and 2 GB of bandwidth.

• Business Basic: $27/mo., billed annually. Suitable for eCommerce stores. Take payments, set up customer accounts, connect a custom domain or get one free for a year.

  You'll also get unlimited bandwidth and 50 GB of storage.

5. Weebly: Best in value

Weebly is a simple website builder that lets you have an online store for free. Because it's part of the Square product suite, Square takes care of the payments for you.

With its eCommerce features, you can sell unlimited items, manage inventory, and use coupons and Square gift cards. Weebly is considered a drag-and-drop builder - but not exactly. It has section layouts you can place on top of each other. That way, you can build your website in only a few hours.

It's one of the most popular website builders used by over 50 million people globally.

How does Weebly's free plan work?
Weebly offers a free plan. It comes with free SSL security, which is especially needed for an online store.

It also includes eCommerce features such as quick shop, in-store pickup, item badges, item options, and an automatic calculator.

You can integrate your Instagram feed or place third-party embed codes as well.
It also comes with SEO features that help drive traffic to your site. Some of these are sitemaps, meta descriptions, and SEO-friendly HTML formatting.

But you can also integrate marketing tools. You can set up Facebook ads or automated email campaigns, for example.

Weebly's upgraded plans:
The starting paid plan with Weebly is the Personal plan.

• Personal: $10/mo., billed annually. Lets you connect your custom domain. Aside from free plan features, you can sell digital goods, offer a shipping calculator and labels, and use pop-up notifications.

6. Jimdo: Best for starting businesses

Jimdo is another website builder working with AI. You can choose from its predesigned templates or let its AI choose for you.

The AI works by asking you about your business. It can integrate your physical store and social media and ask about your target audience.

But if you prefer to create your own, you can skip the question-and-answer after signing up. Jimdo also has a Creator Editor feature that lets you customize your website with code.

How does Jimdo's free plan work?
Jimdo has a free Play plan that lets you have a website or an online store. You can also start a blog with it. But you'll be using a subdomain and will be limited to 5 website pages.

You can sell up to 5 products and set up product variants. You can also offer free shipping and accept PayPal and credit card payments.

This makes the platform great for speciality stores or those just starting their business. The free plan has very few SEO features. But you can edit its site title and description. You can also connect your site to Facebook, Instagram, and Google.

It's an edge since other competitors' free plans don't let your site get indexed on Google.

Jimbo's upgraded plans:
With Jimdo, you can pay monthly, annually, or every 2 years. You can start with:

• Start: $9/mo. You'll get a free domain and an ad-free website. You'll also have up to 5 GB of storage and 10 GB of bandwidth.^[1]

• Business: $18/mo. You can set up an online store. Includes product variants, social marketing, and social selling. Get up to 15 GB of storage and 20 GB of bandwidth.^[2]

7. Webnode: Best for simple websites

Webnode is the best website builder for making simple websites. You can start with their industry-specific templates, such as business, blog, or online store.

It's a drag-and-drop builder where you can place elements around flexibly. You can quickly build your site without experience, and the undo button is helpful if you make a mistake.

Over 40 million people use the site builder, and for good reason. You can use a tablet or phone to edit and update your website from anywhere.

How does Webnode's free plan work?
Webnode has a free plan with no time limits. Or you can ask them for a free trial of the premium plans.

Your free site will have a footer banner showing "Powered by Webnode," a subdomain, 100 MB of storage, and 1 GB of bandwidth.^[4]

You can also invite other people to edit your site. Remember that you can set up an online store, but you'll need at least a Standard plan to start selling.

You'll also need to upgrade to a plan to turn on search engine indexing, then connect Google Analytics and Google AdSense after.

On your free site, you can edit the title, URL, meta description, and meta keywords. You can also add custom HTML header and footer codes.

Webnode's upgraded plans:
Webnode has a minimum contract of 1 year. If you decide to upgrade, you can start with:

• Limited: $4.90/mo. A basic plan that lets you use your own domain.

• Standard: $14.90/mo. Let's create an online store, set up membership registration, and remove the Webnode branding.

8. Site123: Best for quick personal sites

Site123 is a basic website builder best for small businesses and bloggers. You can set up a website quickly with their pre-made templates, without needing to design anything from scratch.

The website builder has three steps, starting with choosing what type of website you want to build and continuing with pre-made templates to get you started. While it is easy to set up, the builder is rather limited in terms of creativity.

How does Site123's free plan work?
Site123's free plan gives you a free domain consisting of a random string of letters and numbers with the subdomain site123.me. Unfortunately, you won't be able to customize this domain. More features would be unlocked with an upgrade to a paid plan.

Site123's upgraded plans:
Site123 has two pricing plans displayed on its website: Free and Premium, which costs $5.80 per month.

• Free: $0/month, includes 250mb of storage and 250mb of bandwidth
  
• Premium: $5.80/month, free domain for 1 year, 10gb of storage and 5gn of bandwidth

9. Strikingly: Best for landing pages

Strikingly's website builder strives to be as easy to use as possible. It needs no code or design experience, and you can create and publish a one-page website in under 30 minutes. It's simple and straightforward, with good mobile integration.

This website builder is good for online shops and blogs, and you can even set up a store (limited to one product) on their free account.

How does Strikingly's free plan work?
Strikingly's free plan allows you to create an unlimited number of one-page sites. This is great for building landing pages for marketing campaigns or online stores.

Strikingly's upgraded plans:
If you'd like access to the other features Strikingly offers, they have three paid plans that you can upgrade to. These all have the option of a subscription on monthly, yearly, 2 years, 3 years, or 5 year basis.

• Basic: $8/month
  
• Pro: $16/month
  
• VIP: $49/month

10. GoDaddy: Best for all-around sites

GoDaddy is one of the best options for website domains. More than just being a marketplace of domains, they also have a website builder with a free plan. Setting up a website with their drag-and-drop editor and pre-built themes is easy. You can have a one up and running within an hour.

Websites using GoDaddy's builder are made mobile-friendly. They also have built-in marketing tools you can use even on a free plan, and their 24/7 support is on hand if you need any help.

How does GoDaddy's free plan work?
GoDaddy's free trial lasts for one month. It doesn't require a credit card either, so you can tinker with the website builder as much as you like.

You have the option to upgrade to a paid plan once your month's free trial is up.

GoDaddy's upgraded plans:
GoDaddy has four paid pricing plans, each with custom domain connection and analytics tools.

• Basic: $9.99/month
  
• Premium: $14.00/month
  
• Commerce: $16.99/month
  
• Commerce Plus: $29.00/month

When Free Website Builders Make Sense

A free website builder is a good option if you need a website right now but don't have the time or budget to make one. Most can help you build a website in less than an hour. And many are easy to use, so you don't need any special skills.

But note that free builders often have limitations. Most likely, you won't even get a proper domain. And you may not be able to sell if you're trying to set up an online store.

But you can always set one up for now, and there's always the option to upgrade to a paid plan with more features later.

Other Costs Related to Website Building

While free website builders can get the job done for you, there may be features that you need further down the line that the free plan doesn't have. There are a few costs that you need to keep in mind when it comes to building and maintaining a website:

• Custom website domain
  If you're setting up a small business, having your website be yoursite.freedomain.com will not look very good to your prospective clients. Custom domain prices vary, but they tend to be upwards of $10 a year on average.

• Website Hosting
  This is different from a website domain. After getting a domain, you need somewhere to host it. This is a service that helps you create and maintain the site itself. Not all website builders offer this service, but it can cost anywhere from as low as $3 a month to several hundreds for big businesses.

• SSL Certificate
  An SSL Certificate ensures visitors know that their connection to your website is safe and secure. It keeps your and your customer's data safe from hackers. Even if you don't sell anything, it's best to have it. Depending on the type of SSL, these can cost between $10 to hundreds of dollars per year.

• Website theme or template
  Most website builders offer pre-made templates that can save you time designing. However, some templates are locked behind premium plans or other kinds of subscriptions.

• eCommerce function
  eCommerce integration is typically included in paid plans. This integration is important to receive payments and donations. Free plans tend to have limited or no functions at all.

Should I upgrade to paid plan?

Whether or not you need to upgrade will depend on your website's function. If your website is for a small business, upgrading might be required for access to the eCommerce tools.

Free website plans also tend to have ads displayed on your site without your control, limited storage, or bottlenecked bandwidth.

Methodology

We identified the website builders with a free plan or extended free trials. Then we compared their free features, so you'll know if it's enough for your business needs.

We also considered that someday, you might plan to hire a professional to help you out. And so we listed their expert marketplaces if any.

You'll need SEO to drive traffic to your website, so we considered the various SEO features.

Finally, if things go well, you may need to upgrade so you'll find the best pricing plans to help your business prosper.

How to build a small business website for free?

Figuring out the business goals for your site will help you understand which website builder is right for you. Let's break down the steps you should take:

1. Identify your business needs.
   Are you building a simple website? Do you need an online store? Or maybe your business will post regular blog posts?

   List the things you want to see on your site and the content you'll add.

2. Canvas the free features of different website builders.
   Take note if the free plan has features that cater to your content. For example, it doesn't matter if the editor is easy to use if it doesn't allow you to set up your store.

3. Take note of the upgrades.
   Your business will grow over time. Your website features should be able to grow with you. Take note of the additional features that come with a paid plan. For example, you may not need an online store at first, but will you want to sell products in a year?

4. Sign up for your chosen website builder.
   Some website builders let you easily sign up through Facebook or Google. Credit card information won't be required if you opt for a free plan.
   Does Google have a free website builder?
   Google Sites lets you create a website for free. Just as long as you have your domain. It also has templates you can choose from. It integrates with Google Docs, Google Maps, and YouTube, which is great for showcasing your content.
   

5. Choose a template or use AI.
   Some website builders have more templates than others. And some templates come free, while others are paid.

   Some use AI to create or choose a template based on your business information.

6. Edit your content.
   Now comes the heavy part. You'll have to input your content, such as photos, videos, articles, contact information, and products.

   Also, don't forget to include your terms and privacy policy on your website.

7. Customize according to your branding.
   After inputting your content, you can customize each page based on your branding. You could be switching palettes or font packs, for example.

8. Publish.
   You're done! But having a website requires maintenance. Be sure to keep updating it, as that will also help with your rankings. But it's also essential for security purposes.

Bottom Line

There are a lot of free website builders, but some have more features than others. There are those that let your free site get indexed by search engines. Others keep it private.

Some have an AI helping you build your site. Others have easy-to-use templates.

Identifying what your business needs will determine the features you should look for.

Some free plans are intended to help you get started. But there are those you could work with for the long term.

References