Have you ever wondered what the best free website builder is for your business? Maybe you already have a website but it’s not converting, or maybe you’re about to start a business and want to know what the best software/program is to use.
Whatever your scenario – I strongly advise against using a free website builder for any type of serious business – I’ll explain why further down this article.
Self-Hosted WordPress
There’s a reason why a third of the web runs on WordPress and it’s the world’s most popular content management system (CMS). That’s because it’s flexible, scalable and easy to use. We don’t want to jump ahead here, but WordPress is pretty much the best free website builder for small business.
Just so you know, there are actually two versions of WordPress (learn more about the difference between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com here). We recommend the self-hosted version (WordPress.org) as your small business website builder because it’s even more flexible than the other version.
Pros:
WordPress is open-source and completely free, so it’s available on most web hosting platforms. For example, Bluehost, an official WordPress partner, has a one-click install.
Designing your site is easy, no web designer required, with thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that cover every business niche you can imagine.
It’s easy to customize your layout using theme customization options and widgets. For those who prefer more control, you can integrate WordPress drag and drop page builders. Two of our recommendations are SeedProd, an easy-to-use landing page builder, which costs $39.95 and Beaver Builder (shown below), a live page builder which costs $99 for use on unlimited sites.
WordPress has tens of thousands of plugins to give your website additional functionality. Many of these tools do have Pro plans that are paid, but many offer free versions to let you get started on a budget.
For example, with the right plugin you can add:
- customizable web and contact forms
- Google Analytics
- SEO tools
- eCommerce store with shopping cart
- forums
- online courses
- event calendars
- and more…
And while WordPress is popular with bloggers, it isn’t just for blogging. In fact, you can create almost any kind of site with WordPress, whether simple or complex.
Dozens of big-name brands use WordPress, including TechCrunch, The New Yorker, BBC America, and many more.
So WordPress is a great platform for your small business website, both when you first launch your business, and as it grows.
When it comes to growing your website traffic, WordPress makes it easy because it’s search engine-friendly by design. You can also use plugins like All in One SEO to ensure your content follows the best search engine optimization (SEO) practices to rank higher.
This will get you more organic exposure and help build your brand’s online presence.
WordPress integrates with virtually every online platform or tool you might want to use, giving you unlimited flexibility to create websites of all kinds, from content-rich blogs to eCommerce websites with thousands of products. You can even design a custom “coming soon” page using the SeedProd plugin to build your audience before your site even goes live. SeedProd is the best landing page builder for WordPress. It lets you easily create beautiful landing pages using a visual drag and drop builder.
Another big benefit of having a WordPress site is its popularity. Because so many people use WordPress, there’s a huge community and plenty of resources out there if you get stuck and need help when building your website.
That means you’ll have plenty of docs, blogs, tutorials, and community support right at your fingertips.
Check out our top picks for WordPress eCommerce plugins to build your best business.
Cons:
To install WordPress, you’ll need web hosting services.
Once WordPress is installed, you’re in charge of maintaining your website. That includes backing up your site, keeping themes and plugins up to date, and updating WordPress itself when needed. Some of this has to be done manually, which means another addition to your to-do list.
One way to solve this is by using managed WordPress hosting, which means someone else looks after the technical aspects of running your site, leaving you free to concentrate on running your business.
Pricing:
It’s hard to believe that one of the best website builders for small business is free, but that’s exactly what WordPress is.
While WordPress software itself is free, you’ll need somewhere to install it. That means getting your own domain name and hosting. Domains (such as www.example.com) cost about $14.99 per year and shared hosting costs around $7.99 per month.
But with our recommended host Bluehost, you can get started for just $2.75/month and even get a free domain.
Get started with WordPress on Bluehost today!
Squarespace: Best for ecommerce
- Starting price: $12.00/mo.*
Drag-and-drop website builder
Tons of built-in tools
Simple, beautiful online store or blog
Data effective 10/1/21. At publishing time, pricing and features are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.
*With annual billing.
Squarespace offers all the features a smaller online store needs. It has built-in functionality that lets you accept credit card payments, track your customers, create gift cards, and so much more. Other builders would require plugins to do all that.
But if you get some plugins, Squarespace has even more ecommerce tools. You can get plugins that add fabric swatch previews to clothing products, plugins that track your inventory, and plugins that highlight certain products.
While large online stores with thousands of orders each month might want a dedicated ecommerce builder, Squarespace offers all the tools a smaller e-store could want. Plus, it creates striking, clean websites with ease, so you’ll have the perfect online storefront for your bath bomb boutique or cosplay supply store.
Pros
Easy-to-use platform
Beautiful designs for sites
Great functionality to support your store and blogWeaknesses
Cons
Bit of a learning curve
So-so search engine optimization
Functionality sometimes hidden by tabs and sidebar menu
Natalie ManiscalcoRetro Media NYC
“Squarespace is extremely easy to use and update. They also offer great design work and hosting of the website. Plus, very inexpensive.”Get Started with SquarespaceRead Our Review
Web.com
Web.com is an easy-to-use, “do it yourself” (DIY) website builder. It allows anyone to quickly and easily create a professional website, regardless of their technical skills or budget.
That’s because this web builder comes with an intuitive drag and drop builder. Plus, there are tons of website templates that you can use to get started FAST.
These template designs save you time, energy, and headaches as you create a website that’s unique to your brand. That way, you can spend more time focusing on your actual business than wasting hours trying to develop a site.
With all that included, you’d think Web.com would be expensive – but it actually has the lowest starting price of all the website builders on our list, making it ultra-friendly for small businesses on a budget.
Finally, Web.com has a fast and reliable support team in place. This gives beginners more confidence in the platform as they can always reach out for help if they’re feeling “stuck.”
In all, Web.com is an excellent choice for people who need a stunning and professional website and don’t have the budget to hire a developer for help.
Pros:
The thing that makes Web.com stand out is how user-friendly and affordable it is. When you sign up, your first month is only $1.95, and it comes with a domain name and professional email address.
From there, beginners can choose a template and use the drag and drop builder to customize their site’s layout. The platform doesn’t require any coding experience, so it’s perfect for small businesses with limited resources.
It also comes loaded with tools to help market your site, including resources for SEO and integrations with 3rd-party tools.
Cons:
Web.com lets you try out their website building software for just $1.95 for the first month, but the price increases a bit after your first month depending on your plan level.
Pricing:
Here is a breakdown of the pricing information we found for each plan:
- Starter: The first month is $1.95, then it becomes $10 every 4 weeks. You can get an annual plan for $50 with your first year, then renewal fees will be $100/year.
- Marketing: The first month is $2.95, then it becomes $15 every 4 weeks. Annual offers start at $75 for the first year and can be renewed for $150/year.
- eCommerce: The first month is $3.95, then it becomes $20 every 4 weeks. Annual offers start at $100 for the first year and can be renewed for $200/year.
Get started with Web.com today!
HubSpot Website Builder
HubSpot Website Builder is an easy drag and drop website builder combined with HubSpot’s powerful marketing automation tools and CRM. These tools let you build a website that’s optimized for every device and personalized for every visitor.
You can use pre-built templates to quickly create blog posts, landing pages, site pages, and even emails.
A unique feature about the HubSpot website builder is its adaptive testing. This lets you choose up to 5 different versions of a web page, and HubSpot will monitor and serve the best performing version.
It also comes with features such as SEO tools, detailed analytics, live chat software, blogging tools, email marketing, and much more.
Pros:
One of the best parts about the HubSpot website builder is that it seamlessly integrates with its CRM platform. This lets you leverage customer data to create a completely personalized experience for each website visitor.
You can dynamically personalize your website content based on location, source, device, language, or any other detail stored in your HubSpot CRM.
Considering all of the other features that come along with this drag and drop website builder like email marketing, live chat software, etc., this is one of the most comprehensive website builders for marketers and small businesses.
Cons:
HubSpot website builder is best suited for landing pages and simple small business websites.
If you want to create an online store or a more complex business website, then a website builder like WordPress.org would be a better choice for you.
Also, beginners might find all of the extra features a bit intimidating to use. So, you should consider if you need just a simple website builder instead of one with extra marketing automation features.
Pricing:
The Starter plan starts at $25 per month and comes with the website builder, email marketing, live chat, reporting dashboard, and much more.
Get started with HubSpot Website Builder today!
Wix
Wix is a well-known brand in the website builder product type. They’ve been around for quite a while (since 2006!), and they offer a very simple and straightforward website builder.
Pros:
Wix has more than 500 templates available for you to use. All you need to do is pick the one you like and replace the pre-populated content with your own. And, the templates are easy to customize.
With Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI), you can quickly build a simple website in minutes.
Wix has limited editing tools, and doesn’t have the same advanced customization features of most of the choices above. However, you can replace the text and images to customize the templates for your site.
Cons:
There are a couple of issues with Wix to consider.
First, once you’ve selected a template, it’s hard to change it. With so many templates available, this may cause some headaches for business owners who find that they have to add their content over and over again just because they want a different look to their site.
Also, if you do end up moving your site away from Wix, it can be quite complicated to make it happen.
This can be a deal-breaker if your site grows and you want to add more features later on. Their premium plans can get quite expensive.
Really, Wix is best for hobby or personal websites and not a great choice for small businesses.
Pricing:
Wix monthly plans start at $11 for the Combo Plan, $14 for the Unlimited Plan, and $29 for the VIP Plan. Business Plans are available at $20, $25, and $35 per month.
You might also want to check out the following resource: Wix Email Capture: 5 Ways to Grow Your Email List.
GoDaddy
Best for Businesses That Need to Get Online Quickly
GoDaddy
Best for businesses that need to get online quickly
- Fastest to set up
- Hands-off ADI building
- Limited creative control
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $9.99 – $19.99 / monthSEE PROS & CONS
Yes, GoDaddy can create a website for you in a matter of minutes with its ADI feature, which requires minimal effort on your part – but after that, GoDaddy feels quite restrictive. And if you don’t use the ADI, you’ll need to use GoDaddy’s drag-and-drop feature, which can’t match Wix for creative freedom.
The majority of users in our research mentioned they wanted more creative control when using the builder. However, 76% of our participants also said they would recommend GoDaddy to a friend who’s looking to get online. So in short, if you value ease of use over creative freedom, then GoDaddy won’t disappoint.
Design Flexibility: 3.8/5
As we’ve just explained, GoDaddy offers little design flexibility. But if you need a simple small business website created quickly, and you’re not too bothered about getting creative yourself, then GoDaddy is a good option.
Having said that, GoDaddy offers over 100 themes (compared to Weebly’s ~50), and its new Theme Customizer feature gives you a sneak preview of your new theme in 20 different styles without losing your content – which helps set it apart from Wix.
All in all, while Squarepsace is the place to go for sleek templates, GoDaddy is more of a quick fix.
Value for Money: 3.1/5
GoDaddy’s prices are fairly reasonable, but you can find a wider range of features and stronger customer support for what you pay with Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace. GoDaddy has four plans in total.
We recommend the $14.99/month Standard Plan because you’ll get to benefit from GoDaddy’s SEO tools. What we really like about GoDaddy is that this platform does a bit of everything – you can manage your domain registration, web hosting, and website building, all in one place.
Duda
Best for Those Who Value Ease of Use over Personalized Branding
See it in action: Newman Decorators
Duda
Best for those who value ease of use over personalizationVERY GOOD
3.8out of 5
- Advanced functionality
- Ideal for agencies
- Easy to use
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $14 – $59 / monthSEE PROS & CONS
Ease of Use: 4.1/5
Duda is a drag-and-drop builder, making it easy to move elements around the page and to update text boxes. Its business website templates, in particular, are visually appealing – but also very structured. This means that you can only place items within certain areas on the page.
The rigidity of Duda’s themes makes it less creatively flexible than Wix, but it’s definitely a beginner-friendly platform. Compared to Sqaurespace, Duda’s themes are much easier for beginners to customize, but they aren’t as modern or minimalist.
Design Flexibility: 4.6/5
Duda’s flexibility comes from its personalized user journey options. With this feature, you can tailor the way different customers see your website, and it’s available even on the cheapest price plan.
For example, you can choose to display a video about your services to users who are visiting your website for the first time, or you can add a widget asking users to call you if they are visiting from a nearby location.
This feature could help you make more positive relationships, since 74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized.
Value for Money: 1.2/5
Duda is the most expensive builder we’ve tested. There is no free plan, and a 14-day free trial period only applies on one of its paid plans. Duda has four paid plans in total, one being a custom Enterprise plan for large companies with multiple websites:
We recommend the Team plan, not just because it comes with a free trial, but because it offers analytics capabilities and branded marketing materials that you won’t get on the Basic plan.
Weebly
Weebly is often listed among the best free website builder software. It’s true; it’s hard to argue with the price tag, but as with most things, you get what you pay for.
Pros:
Weebly’s fully hosted, so you won’t get bogged down in the technical details of running your site.
You can create your Weebly site with its drag and drop builder, choosing from dozens of mobile-responsive templates with modern designs.
Weebly offers features to make your site search engine friendly. Weebly includes some lead generation features, though these are limited in the free version. But, you don’t have unlimited storage.
In fact, site storage is restricted to 500MB in the free version, which means if your website files take up more than that amount, you’ll need to upgrade.
Upgrading lets you use Weebly with your own domain, which is a must for the professional reputation of any small business. Domains are available free with the upgrade, along with a $100 credit to promote your business with Google Ads.
With different plans, you also get access to site analytics, site search, HD audio and video, and the ability to run a membership site.
Weebly also has a number of plans designed for businesses with online stores, though these aren’t free. Depending on the plan you choose, you can benefit from:
- The ability to sell digital goods
- Reduced transaction fees
- The ability to offer coupons and gift cards
- Abandoned cart emails
- Additional shipping functionality
Cons:
While Weebly’s often included among the best free website builders for small business, it’s probably more accurate to call it freemium. That’s because you have to pay if you want your own domain and more extensive site options. Small businesses running eCommerce stores will also have to pay.
Not everyone finds Weebly’s drag and drop builder easy to use, either. And it doesn’t have many SEO features. Under the hood, there’s some unnecessary code, which can hurt your SEO.
Finally, the main disadvantage of using Weebly is that you get locked into their platform. If you want to change website platforms later, you’ll find it difficult to move without having to recreate your entire site from scratch.
Pricing:
Weebly’s pricing for a regular website starts at $0 and ranges up to $25 per month. Its eCommerce pricing is between $8 and $38 per month.
BigCommerce
If you’re looking for an eCommerce website builder, then BigCommerce is a great choice. That’s because it’s specifically designed to help businesses handle online sales. The BigCommerce platform powers Ben & Jerry’s, Skullcandy, CamelBak, and other famous online stores.
Pros:
BigCommerce is a great way to launch an eCommerce store and sell products and services, without having to worry about the technical aspects of managing it. Their Essentials plan includes everything you need to build, run, and scale an online store, without having to know any code.
Even absolute beginners find it easy to create their first online store with their stunning website templates, so you can have a professional-looking eCommerce store up in minutes. They offer more than 80 designs for all different industries, and all of them are fully responsive and look good on mobile devices.
Not only that, but you can easily customize your store with BigCommerce apps. They allow you to unlock more advanced features to grow your online stores, like shipping and inventory solutions, built-in customer reviews, email marketing automation tools, and much more.
BigCommerce gives you your choice of over 55 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, Amazon Pay, and many more.
Since you’re handling financial transactions, you have the added benefit of built-in security features to keep your customer data safe. BigCommerce has 99.99% uptime, which means you won’t lose customers to glitches that bring your site down. They also have protection from hackers and DDoS attacks, which are becoming more and more common even for smaller websites.
BigCommerce integrates with Google Shopping so you can bring new customers to your store through Google. You can also add many other features using apps from their app store.
To help you get started, they also offer educational video courses and 24/7 live support via phone, chat, and email. They answer all calls in under 2 minutes, so you won’t waste your time waiting around on hold.
Cons:
For some small businesses, the biggest disadvantage of BigCommerce is that it isn’t free.
You need to upgrade to more expensive plans to get:
- Google customer reviews
- Abandoned cart recovery features
- Stored credit cards
- Advanced product search and filtering
Want to know how BigCommerce stacks up to other eCommerce platforms? Check out our comparison of BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento.
Pricing:
BigCommerce has a 15-day free trial. The Standard plan starts at $29.95 per month.
Conclusion
If you’re a business owner, startup business, freelancer, or entrepreneur you know the importance of having a website. An online presence is essential for any business to succeed in today’s industry. As competition grows, so does the technology available to build and market your website. This makes it easy to jump onto one of these bandwagon technologies and give up on your original idea. If you’re looking for best website builders for small business, we have just the thing!