Top 7 Cheapest Website Builders in 2023: From $1/month
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Sticking to a budget is important, especially in the current economic climate, so value for money is a key factor when looking for the cheapest website builders.
IONOS has the cheapest plan available, starting from only $1 per month for the first 12 months. This is a great deal for those on a budget because you get enough time to see if the builder is right for you while paying a low price. Next is Hostinger, which usually costs $11.99 but is now discounted to just $2.99 per month – you also get the first three months free (if you choose the 48-month plan).
GoDaddy is third with a $9.99 per month price tag, which is a very reasonable appraisal considering you’ll get a complete website builder for that price. You see, while IONOS may have the cheapest plan it doesn’t mean it’s the best value for money. That title belongs to Squarespace which proved to be the best value for money out of the seven cheap website builders we tested.
Top 7 Cheapest Website Builders
- IONOS – $1 per month for the first 12 months
- Hostinger – $11.99 per month, currently discounted at $2.99 + 3 months free
- GoDaddy – $9.99 per month
- Shopify – $5 per month with the Shopify Starter plan
- Wix – $14.40 per month with our code GET10!
- Squarespace – $14.40 per month with our code WBE
- Square Online – $29 per month, ecommerce included for free
We’ve analyzed and researched all the plans across all of the top providers to give you a full breakdown of what they offer for the price they advertise. Every website builder on this list has been tested by us – some of them are more worthy of your money than others, but all of them are trustworthy brands. We’ll give you the skinny on each, arming you with all the information you need to make the right choice.
Compare the Best 7 Cheap Website Builders
Price isn’t the only important thing when it comes to website builders. This chart compares the key features of each platform’s cheapest paid plan, so you can see which ones offer the best value. Use the arrows to compare the platforms side by side.
Cheapest Plan ![]() | ||||||
IONOS | Hostinger | GoDaddy | Shopify | Wix | Squarespace | Square Online |
Overall Rating 3.0 | Overall Rating 3.4 | Overall Rating 4.2 | Overall Rating 4.3 | Overall Rating 4.8 | Overall Rating 4.7 | Overall Rating 3.7 |
Features vs Price 2.0 | Features vs Price 4.0 | Features vs Price 4.0 | Features vs Price 4.0 | Features vs Price 3.0 | Features vs Price 5.0 | Features vs Price 4.0 |
Starting from $1 | Starting from
Currently discounted at $2.99 + 3 months free (starting with the 48-month plan) | Starting from $9.99 | Starting from | Starting from | Starting from | Starting from $29 |
Free plan or free trial No | Free plan or free trial No | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial Free trial | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial | Free plan or free trial Free plan |
Free custom domain | Free custom domain | Free custom domain | Free custom domain | Free custom domain | Free custom domain | Free custom domain |
Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan | Ad-free on cheapest plan |
Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan | Sales tools on cheapest plan |
This is why some of the website builders we’ve listed in first place below don’t always come with the best overall rating. It’s important that you weigh up what’s important to you, and what features are non-negotiable before you commit to a website builder. The chances are that if you choose one just for the small price tag, you might find it lacking in other areas.
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#1. IONOS
The cheapest plans, but comes with limited features
Pricing: $1 per month for the first 12 months
IONOS
The cheapest plans, but comes with limited features
- Excellent load speed
- Customization is limited
- Pretty outdated overall
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $0.5 - $35 / month
Pros
-
Scalable tools for growth
-
Templates for all industries
-
Easy-to-embed features
Cons
-
Design of templates could be better
-
No free plan
-
Editor is outdated
IONOS At A Glance
IONOS is specifically designed to get businesses online, and it stands out from the crowd thanks to its incredibly cheap pricing plans that start at $1 per month for the first year! It’s also good for scalability as your business grows, and it allows you to translate your website into multiple languages for better global reach.
While IONOS takes the first position for its $1 per month pricing, but you do get what you pay for. Our research shows that IONOS has poor customization and design options. Since our last round of research, IONOS’s value for money score actually fell by -26.2% from 4.2 to just 3.1 out of 5, which is due to a lack of features offered by its low price.
However, you can still go far with IONOS for just a dollar! Let’s take a deeper dive into this provider.
$1 per month Plus plan need to know:
- Free domain for the first year
- Professional email address
- Limited customization and design abilities
- Good online marketing tools
- No ads
- Prices renew at a higher rate in the second year of subscription
IONOS Gallery
In general, our testers had the impression that IONOS’s ease of use was more for efficiency than for sparking any love of website building in the user.
One tester said:
“It definitely feels like a website builder run by a company that doesn’t really care about website building, more just pumping out a functional product.”
On the other hand, it is very easy to add additional pages and expand your website. Plus, each new page is a blank canvas, meaning you can structure it however you like. This is great if you like to have a bit more control over your design, but it could pose problems if you just want to get your website up and running as quickly as possible.
There are three website builder plans to choose from:
- Starter: $5 per month
- Plus: $1 per month
- Pro: $15 per month
- Pro (with an online store): $25 per month
It’s worth noting that these are introductory prices, meaning that when you renew your plan for the second year, the price will increase. This increases the yearly cost of the Starter plan to $9, the Plus plan to $15, and the Pro plan to $25 per month. If you choose the online store version, the renewal prices are $19 for the Starter plan, $25 for the Plus plan, and $50 for the Pro plan.
As we mentioned, having the cheapest prices doesn’t automatically make it the best value for money option. Unfortunately, its $1 per month pricing and feature set don’t match up well against its competitors.
While its templates may have improved slightly from last year, getting creative control with this website builder is still tricky. Customization is limited, and you’re often restricted by the template you’ve chosen, unlike Squarespace.
The MyWebsite Now builder is specifically designed to help beginners get online quickly. It’s ideal if you aren’t bothered about creating a website with all the bells and whistles attached, but instead, want something functional to promote your business.
With the beginning Starter plan, you get to sell 500 products; a free domain for one year; integrated payment and shipping methods; cross-platform selling with social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram; and marketing Radar software to track the activity of your competitors.
Do We Recommend IONOS’ Cheapest Plan?
Yes and No. While you aren’t going to find a website builder for cheaper than $1 a month, IONOS gives you what you pay for and does lack in some areas. You can still create a dynamic website, and translate it into multiple languages. It also allows you to connect your site to social media, as well as integrate a blog and advanced features such as photo galleries, parallax scrolling, and video backgrounds. If you want a functional website but the cost is a major factor, then we recommend IONOS.
If you have other criteria to be met other than just cheapness, then we suggest you look at providers like Squarespace or Wix. For a few extra bucks, you could find yourself a provider more in-line with what you want.
#2. Hostinger
Best for uptime reliability
Pricing: $2.99 per month + three months free (if you choose the 48-month plan)
Hostinger - Web Builder
Best for uptime reliability
- One to watch
- Experimental AI tools
- Good customer score
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $2.69 - $39.99 / month
Pros
-
Easy-to-use template editor
-
Inbuilt AI branding tools
-
Free email for 3 months
Cons
-
No app market
-
Limited social media integration
-
Cant switch templates once published
Hostinger At A Glance
Hostinger is the new kid on the block, but it’s already making big waves in the website-building world. It boasts some cutting-edge features, such as its AI writer, which is super useful for smaller businesses that can’t afford freelancers. In our last round of testing, it rose 16% in both overall features and design from last year. It’s still growing in a lot of ways, but there are some rough patches. We awarded it a customer score of 2.8 out of 5 to reflect this, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that score forever.
$2.99 per month ‘Website’ plan need to know:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited storage
- Free domain for a year (or connect your own)
- Built-in AI tools
- Blogging tools
- Free email for 3 months
- Integrate with Google Analytics
- Can’t sell on this plan
If you’re interested, Hostinger is offering the first 3 months free if you sign on for the plan for 48 months instead of 12 months. Additionally, you can get 10% off at checkout if you use code WBE at checkout.
Hostinger Gallery
“Drag and drop when adding elements made it highly customizable while also keeping things tidy.”
This is perfect if you’re looking for a straightforward, no-frills website to accompany your business.
However, the reason for its simplicity is that it isn’t as feature-rich as some of the other builders out there. It provides the basics, but if you want anything advanced, you’ll need to have a bit of coding knowledge to get there – not exactly what we’d call beginner-friendly!
There is only one plan to choose from:
- Website: $2.99 per month
Keep an eye on Hostinger’s prices because it often runs sales, reducing the total cost by up to 75%.
Hostinger used to stumble when it came to customization possibilities. To keep things simple, you couldn’t do too much to your templates to make them stand out from the crowd. It was the trade-off for the easy-to-use editor. But in our research, Hostinger shot up by a dramatic 16% in design functionality, going from a 3.1 to a 3.6 out of 5 since we last tested it.
Its templates jumped from 3 all the way to a perfect 5 out of 5’s, and its aesthetic capabilities rose 200% from 1 to a 3 out of 5. You can use visual guides and dynamic columns to snap elements exactly where you want them, which is helpful for beginners who are new to web building.
However, its cheapest Website plan does include a free email address for three months, a free domain for one year, basic SEO tools to help with growth, Google Analytics integration, and unlimited storage space and bandwidth. Not bad for just $2.99 per month!
All Hostinger’s plans come with a set of unique AI tools that make it feel like a contemporary builder. These include an AI writer for acing keyword-rich copy as well as a logo builder that’s super useful if you need to keep costs down and don’t want to hire a designer.
You also get a free domain and free unlimited SSL certificates.
Do We Recommend Hostinger’s Cheapest Plan?
Yes, we do, but not if you want to sell products. The Website plan is super affordable at just $2.99 per month, making it great for small business sites on a budget. Along with the AI tools and improvements made to both features and design functionality, Hostinger provides more of a complete package than other cheap builders. However, its commerce options are very limited. If you want a dedicated online store, we’d suggest opting for another provider like Shopify.
#3. GoDaddy
Fastest way to build a website
Pricing: $9.99 per month
GoDaddy
Fastest way to build a website
- Hands-off ADI building
- Strong marketing focus
- Cheapest plan is limited
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $2.99 - $469.99 / month
Pros
-
GoDaddy Insights tool helps you grow
-
Edit your site on the go from your phone
-
Fast setup helps you publish sooner
Cons
-
No SEO optimizer on cheapest plan
-
No sales or payments on cheapest plan
-
Poor social integration on cheapest plan
GoDaddy At A Glance
GoDaddy’s artificial design intelligence makes it the fastest way to build a small business website – and at $9.99 per month, it’s pretty cheap too! Every plan includes GoDaddy Insight, which provides a tailored action plan to help boost your online presence – the perfect tool for small businesses. GoDaddy has dropped slightly in our ranking, going from a score of 4.4 to a 4.2 out of 5.
However, it’s also the only website builder to improve its site speed and is now the only one to be rated ‘Good’ in our research, demonstrating a real commitment to improvement. This is a good sign for anyone looking for a website builder that offers long-term growth.
$9.99 per month Basic plan need to know:
- 1-month free trial
- No free domain
- No adverts on your website
- 24/7 phone support
- GoDaddy Insight analytics
- No built-in SEO website optimizer
- Integrate with one social platform
- Offer one-time appointments (no recurring bookings)
- No ecommerce
GoDaddy in Action: The Brand Phoenix

Q&A
How did you find your GoDaddy plan?
Websites drive industry authority, increase SEO, control company narratives, and offer users safe place to exchange data.
GoDaddy Gallery
“It was easy to use. I could find everything I needed to find. If I needed to make a simple website for a business, this is the one I would choose.”
The ADI builder means that your template comes with relevant features already built-in, and you can jump straight into making it your own, filling out your own content before publishing.
- Basic: $9.99 per month
- Premium: $14.99 per month
- Commerce: $16.99 per month
- Commerce Plus: $29.99 per month
While the Basic plan gives you a decent set of tools, it’s designed for very basic websites. Due to its lack of SEO tools, limited social media integrations, and restrictive appointment features, most small businesses are likely to feel its limitations.
GoDaddy’s overall design functionality score took a small dip in our research based on last year’s scores, falling -5.8% overall from 4.3 to a 4.1 out of 5. This was due to a lack of template updates and mobile optimization, two factors of high importance for our users.
However, unless you’re a brand new small business, you may find the features on the cheapest plan limiting. A big let down is a lack of recurring online appointment bookings, as well as having no free domain!
However, while GoDaddy’s overall feature score has fallen -6.7% from 3.3 to a 3.1 out of 5, it has made some improvements by adding a logo maker and the ability to add customer testimonials to your site.
You can have up to 5,000 products to sell, plus the GoDaddy Insights helps you keep track of all your purchases. The Marketplace feature lets you sell across Amazon, Etsy, and more – and GoDaddy also has no transaction payments!
The lack of any real scalability is a downside, as are the general lack of features GoDaddy suffers from. In our research, we gave GoDaddy an overall ecommerce score of 3 out of 5.
Do We Recommend GoDaddy’s Cheapest Plan?
Yes, but not forever. GoDaddy’s cheapest plan is great if you need a simple site and you want to get it published quickly. Essentially, it’s the perfect starting point, especially given how useful its GoDaddy Insight tool is! However, you’ll want to upgrade as your business grows. This is because GoDaddy’s pricier plans offer greater value for money, especially when it comes to advanced SEO tools like custom headers and URLs, which help Google scroll your site faster.
#4. Shopify
Best for scaling your online store
Pricing: $5 per month (social media selling only)
Shopify
Best for scaling your online store
- Sell unlimited products
- 0% - 2% transaction fees
- Advanced sales tools
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month
Pros
-
Shipping discounts on cheapest plan
-
Powerful inventory and selling tools
-
Very scalable, so can grow larger stores
Cons
-
High fees for non-Shopify Payments users
-
Upgrading plans quickly grows expensive
-
Paid apps can easily add up as you build
Shopify At A Glance
Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce platform – its primary function is to help merchants build, run, and grow online stores. This means all its plans, themes, and features are tailored to selling online, making it more suitable for larger businesses. In fact, 28% of online stores in the US use Shopify, the highest percentage out of any ecommerce website builder.
Its cheapest plan, the Shopify Basic, costs $29 per month, with the next tier starting at $79 per month, so make sure you need its features if you want value for money.
Shopify does in fact have a cheaper plan: the Shopify Starter plan. For only $5 per month, you get access to a Shopify store, which is designed specifically for social media selling. You won’t get the same amount of features as the Basic plan, but it’s great for people looking to sell fast!
$5 per month Shopify Starter plan need to know:
- A simple storefront
- Unlimited product pages
- Fast and secure checkout
- Contact page for customer inquiries
- Linkpop, the link in bio tool designed for commerce
- Access to Shopify apps
- Shopify order management and integrated fulfillment network
- 2% transaction fee, unless you use Shopify Payments
Shopify in Action: Lucky Dog Design Co.

Q&A
Which Shopify plan did you start with?
What did you like about your Shopify plan?
What could be improved upon in the plan?
Shopify Gallery
“It’s good for people who are willing to invest a lot of time and money to build something that is professional and scalable.”
In our research, we gave it a 4 out of 5 for ease of use, putting Shopify just behind GoDaddy in this category.
A large part of Shopify’s modus operandi is its app market. Most functions and features that aren’t immediately found in the in-editor navigation bar can be downloaded from the app store.
- Shopify Basic: $29 per month
- Shopify: $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify: $299 per month
The prices increase quickly between plans, so it’s best to think ahead before committing.
If you want to start selling immediately and don’t need a fancy store, then the Starter plan might be for you. You can only sell on social media, but with monetized links and all the robust sales features of a Shopify store, it’s definitely worth it for some. Despite this, Shopify’s plans are still pretty expensive which is why it scores 3 out of 5 in our value for money research.
There are nine free themes, but most of them need to be purchased – the cheapest of these costs around $100, with the most expensive costing $180. If you don’t like any of Shopify’s free themes, this is a big upfront cost that you’ll need to budget for.
In terms of design, Shopify’s themes look great, scoring 4 out of 5 in our design functionality research.
They’re all mobile responsive, cover a range of industries, and some come with multiple styles to choose from. Themes are tailored to specific industries, with relevant features automatically included.
Shopify’s greatest asset is its huge app store – it’s pretty reliant on third-party integrations, so chances are you’ll need to install at least a few apps to get the most out of your store. We recommend browsing Shopify’s app store and adding up which apps you might need to get an idea of the extra costs to budget. In our research, we gave its app store a perfect 5 out of 5!
- Two staff accounts
- Multichannel selling across marketplaces and social media
- Inventory syncing with up to four locations
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Discount codes
- Gift cards
- Shipping discounts
- Print shipping labels
- Fraud analysis
- Shopify POS Lite – accept in-person payments
- Sell in 133 currencies and up to 20 languages
There are even more exciting features on the advanced plans, including real-time shipping rates, manual foreign exchange rates, and professional reports. We gave it a 4.7out of 5 for sales features in our research, a rise of 4.2% from 4.5 since last year.
Do We Recommend Shopify’s Cheapest Ecommerce Plan?
If you need its big-hitting features, then yes. There’s no denying that Shopify is a powerful ecommerce platform. Only being able to sell through social media is very limiting, even if it is only $5 per month. But if you need most of its tools, then even its $29 per month plan can feel expensive. Remember to budget for a theme, apps, and a domain – Shopify doesn’t include a free domain with any of its plans. To get real value, you need to be serious about scaling up your store and making use of its features. If you just want a small online store, we’d recommend Wix.
#5. Wix
Best overall website builder
Pricing: $14.40 per month with discount code “GET10!”
Wix
Best overall website builder
- Sell unlimited products
- 0% transaction fee
- Great creative freedom
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month
Pros
-
Best overall website builder
-
500+ quality templates to choose from
-
Free plan available
Cons
-
Only 2GB storage on cheapest plan
-
No product reviews on cheapest plan
-
No stock management alerts
Wix At A Glance
Wix is a website builder that also provides ecommerce plans for those wanting to build an online store. Its cheapest plan is $16 per month, but you’ll need to upgrade to the $27 per month Core plan to start selling. It strikes a good balance between brand-focused creative freedom and growth-driven sales tools, making it perfect for small businesses with plans to expand.
With the $16 per month Light plan, you’ll have access to the following:
- Free domain for one year
- No adverts on your store
- 2GB storage
- +800 templates across a variety of industries
- 24/7 customer care
Wix in Action: Event Safety Plus

Q&A
Why did you choose the cheapest Wix plan?
What were you able to achieve on this plan, and how did you like it?
What I like most about Wix is the ease of adding functions. Just last week, we decided to add a blog page to the website. Within 30 minutes, I had the page created with 4 pre-written blogs published. Having all of that is priceless!
Wix Gallery
“So many elements are available to add. Everything is there premade and you only have to customize it for your site”
We should mention that while Wix is easy to use, it can be daunting for beginners because it gives you so many features and options! However, it also offers helpful hints and tips as you build, too, so you can just follow Wix’s lead. In our research, it got joint first for ease of use with a score of 4.4 out of 5.
- Light: $16 per month
- Core: $27 per month
- Business: $32 per month
- Business Elite: $159 per month
There’s also an additional Enterprise plan tailored for large-scale businesses that need custom plans.
While these plans are a little pricey, our independent research shows that Wix does indeed offer the best website building service. Its low value for money score comes down to a lack of features offered when prices rose due to economic factors. However, if you want a good deal, Wix is offering our readers an exclusive 10% off when using GET10! at checkout.
Additionally, Wix also has a free plan that you can use indefinitely! Naturally, there are some caveats, like having to use a Wix domain name and have Wix adverts displayed on your site. You also can’t sell online and you won’t have access to Google Analytics.
You also get free reign over your template’s customization – you can change fonts, colors, and the layout as much as you like. This can be great for creating a unique brand, but can also be overwhelming, and result in a cluttered design if you’re not used to best practices. That being said, Wix actually improved their design score from last year by 4.5%, rising from 4.5 to 4.6 out of 5, thanks to improved template offerings and UX.
With the Light plan for $16 per month (or $14.40 is use code GET1O!), you get 2GB of storage and 30 video minutes to put on your website. Recent improvements made to the provider include Semrush integration, allowing you to keyword search directly from the platform. This is a massive ease of convenience for users who can now use built-in SEO tools to optimize their site.
- Core: $27 per month
- Business: $32 per month
- Business Elite: $159 per month
Wix’s cheapest Core plan is designed for new or small online stores, providing basic ecommerce tools to get you started. These include:
- Up to 50,000 products
- 20GB storage space
- 5 hours allowance of video on site
- Sell on social channels
You also have access to advanced tools that will help you grow your store, including abandoned cart recovery, customer accounts, and $300 worth of ad vouchers.
Do We Recommend Wix’s Cheapest Plan?
Yes! Wix’s Light plan may be a pricier option than others on this list, but Wix easily offers the best features and the most complete website building package. With Wix, you don’t have to compromise on quality – and there’s always the free plan if you’d like to check it out for yourself!
#6. Squarespace
Best value for money
Pricing: $14.40 per month, with discount code “WBE”
Squarespace
Best value for money
- Excellent brand presence
- Good marketing features
- Inbuilt analytics
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month
Pros
-
Stunning templates
-
Best help and support
-
Marketing features encourage growth
Cons
-
Customization limited by template layout
-
No free plan
-
No ecommerce on cheapest plan
Squarespace At A Glance
Squarespace is one of the big hitters of the website-building world, and for good reason. It’s an ideal choice for small businesses thanks to its built-in analytics tool, good SEO performance, and extensions library. It provides a supportive framework for small businesses to grow in strength and reach. Plus, it’s great value for money, the best of any builder we’ve tested! It rose a remarkable 15% in our testing from last year from a 4 to a 4.6 out of 5, making it our best value for money builder, especially when you take advantage of our exclusive WBE 10% discount code, reducing the price for the Personal plan from $16 per month to just $14.40.
$14.40 per month Personal plan need to know:
- Connect a custom domain
- Free domain for the first year
- No adverts
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Comprehensive SEO features
- Awesome 24/7 customer help and support
- No ecommerce on cheapest plan
- Basic analytics software
Squarespace in Action: A+ Pyschiatry

Q&A
How long have you been on your Squarespace plan?
Are there any issues with your Squarespace plan?
What do you like about the Squarespace plan you're on?
Squarespace Gallery
“My page ended up looking so much sleeker and neater than when I used Wix.”
As a result, it’s now ranked as one of our easiest website builders to use, scoring 4.4 out of 5 in our user testing. That’s a massive 11% increase from its previous rating!
Its editor uses rows to organize its designs, giving you the ability to reorganize elements within a section. This might be too restrictive if you like free reign to drag-and-drop wherever you please, but it’s great for those with little design experience, and who want to keep their website tidy and attractive.
Its annual plans range from $16 to $49 per month if you choose to pay the full cost upfront:
- Personal: $16 per month
- Business: $23 per month
- Basic Commerce: $27 per month
- Advanced Commerce: $49 per month
If $16 per month sounds a little pricey to you, we’ve got some good news: you can get 10% off the full price when you use our exclusive WBE discount code. Simply enter the code ‘WBE’ at checkout, and you’ll reduce your monthly payments to $14.40.
It is worth noting that you won’t be able to edit your website’s base code if you’re on the Personal plan. This kind of advanced customization is only available from the Business plan up. If you’re a beginner, this limitation will give you a safety net, so you won’t ever accidentally edit the code by mistake and affect your website’s stylish look!
The Personal plan benefits from a fantastic set of blogging tools, high-quality SEO features, and space for up to two website contributors. Its basic analytics also give you a good overview of your performance.
If you need any additional functionality, be sure to take a look at Squarespace’s extensions library. This is the equivalent of an app store and gives you access to plugins such as Delighted, Quickbooks, Mailchimp, and Smart SEO. Major improvements were made to it since last year, and it raised Squarespace’s overall feature score by 4% from a 4.4 to a 4.6 out of 5.
In our research, we gave Squarespace a 4.4 out of 5 for ecommerce overall, a slight drop of -2.3% from last year’s score, due to a lack of additional features when compared with Wix and Shopify.
Do We Recommend Squarespace’s Cheapest Plan?
Yes, we do! Its personal plan comes with just enough features to get your small business up and running, and the beautiful templates are sure to make an impression on your potential customers. Plus, when you do outgrow this plan, Squarespace has three others to choose from, so you can scale your business with confidence.
#7. Square Online
Best for selling for free
Pricing: $29 per month (you can sell for free)
Square Online
Best for selling for free
- Sell unlimited products
- 2.9% + $0.30 fee per sale
- Super easy to use
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $12 - $79 / month
Pros
-
Free domain and no ads on cheapest plan
-
Sync online and offline sales using POS
-
Offer a range of delivery options
Cons
-
No abandoned cart on cheapest plan
-
Transaction fees charged on all plans
-
No product reviews on cheapest plan
Square Online At A Glance
Square Online strikes a great balance of offering affordable starter prices while providing scalable features. From day one on its $29 per month Professional plan, you can sell an unlimited number of products – it’s also easy to use, and is especially ideal if you want to sync an offline business with your online store.
$29 per month Professional plan need to know:
- Sell an unlimited number of products
- Free domain for one year
- No adverts on your store
- Automatic syncing with Square POS
- Offer pickup, delivery, or shipping
- No abandoned cart
- No product reviews
- 2.9% + 30 cents transaction fee
Square Online in Action: The Hive

Q&A
How do you feel about your Square Online plan?
What particular features stand out?
Square Online Gallery
However, things do get trickier once you enter the editor. This is because Square uses its own terminology for well-known ecommerce features, and sometimes it’s difficult to find the element you’re looking for among the many tabs in the toolbar.
Once you’re familiar with it, it couldn’t be easier to get your store up and running. One of our testers said:
“It gave you just the right amount of options, it never felt like it was overloading you. This always makes the process easier when you’re not getting overwhelmed with choice.”
To remove adverts from your storefront, you’ll need to choose one of Square Online’s two premium plans, which start at $29 per month when you pay annually:
- Plus: $29 per month
- Premium: $79 per month
We should also mention that each of the plans comes with different transaction fees, too. On the free and Plus plans you can expect to pay 2.9% + $0.30 on each payment, whereas the Premium plan has a fee of 2.6% + $0.30.
The cheapest Plus plan removes adverts and provides a free domain for one year, or you can connect to your own custom domain if you have one. Other features on this plan include Instagram integration, Square POS syncing, curbside pickup, order status text alerts for customers, gift cards, and more.
However, Square was the only ecommerce builder to see a reduction in Sitespeed performance, decreasing by 10% since last year.
It also throws in some great bonus features, which shows that Square Online is paying attention to sellers’ needs and moving with the times. Examples include order text alerts, curbside pickup, and in-store customization, which lets customers edit their orders and set their pickup hours. All of these features are available on the cheapest plan.
Do We Recommend Square Online’s Cheapest Plan?
Yes! Square Online’s cheapest $29 per month Plus plan is perfect for a small online store, and its free plan is a great way to get to grips with running an online store without having to spend a penny. It may be missing weightier features like abandoned cart recovery, but it still offers amazing value for new sellers who need an attractive, feature-rich store.
Buying Guide: Choosing a Cheap Web Builder
Before we summarize this list and tell you our verdict, let’s go over what the most important factors are for choosing a cheap website builder, as well as covering some pressing user questions:
- How much is it? – A cheap website builder should be affordable.
- What do I get for that price? – You also need to get some value for your money. If it can’t do what you want, then there’s no point in investing in it. A good cheap website builder will have a good balance of cheap price but plenty of features.
- How long will it take me? – A frustrating and obtuse website builder will have you quitting quicker than anything else, believe us. Good ease of use is vital to actually being able to build your website.
- Can I grow on it? – Once you’ve built your site, you need to be reassured that it can grow an audience quickly through marketing and SEO.
- Where can I go if I need help? – You want your website builder to provide support if things go wrong and it not feel like a ‘cheaper’ version
Can I use a website builder for free?
A handful of website builders offer free plans, but they’re essentially glorified demos. Wix has a free plan, for example, but your site will have ads, and you won’t be able to attach a domain to it – not terribly professional. Free plans are great for testing the waters, but that’s about it.
Is Wix cheaper than Squarespace?
Both platforms offer free plans, but Squarespace works out cheaper versus Wix because it offers a lower entry price plan. However, Wix is actually the better platform overall – it has better features and customer support, and it’s easier to use.
Is Wix actually free?
Yes! Wix offers a free plan which you can sign up for today! However, you will have to use a Wix domain, and have Wix ads appear on your site, plus you won’t have access to all of Wix’s extensive features. Other than that, you can still host and create a quality website for free!
Which is the cheapest website builder for small businesses?
For small businesses, we would recommend Square Online, as it lets you sell for free. You will have ads and limited access to features, but it is the cheapest way to sell online.
Which is better, Wix or Squarespace?
With Wix vs Squarespace, Wix is our top-rated website builder overall. It has superior features, excellent ease of use, and great help and support. Squarespace isn’t far behind, boasting better value for money and designs, as well as being Wix’s equal when it comes to help and support, and ease of use.
Does Google have a free website builder?
Yes, it has Google Sites where you can create a very basic public-facing website. It’s more of a tool for work than for creating a large website but it is completely free!
Our Testing Methodology
We’ve been testing website builders for over 10 years. In that time, we’ve seen great website builders and some terrible ones, too. We’ve seen awesome free platforms and really bad paid platforms and, along the way, we looked for value as well as price. Today, our research focuses on a number of categories when deciding the overall scores to award to each of the builders in this list. These categories include:
- Ease of use
- Features
- Value for money
- Design flexibility
- Help and support
- Customer score
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When analyzing these overarching categories, we focus on a number of sub-criteria within each to help us determine the quality of the builder. In the past, each of these categories used to hold equal weight, but as our methodology has developed, we’ve recognized that this doesn’t reflect the reality of what small business owners and entrepreneurs are looking for. As a result, we’ve carefully considered each category and allocated them a different weighting depending on how important our users say they are to them.
Below, we’ll examine the different weightings we used when finalizing our list of the best cheap website builders.
- Website features – weighting: 20%
Whether you’re paying top dollar for a website builder or looking for a cheap plan to get you started, everyone wants to know that they’ve picked a platform that has all the tools and features they need to make their website a success. That’s why this category, at 20%, has one of the highest weightings out of the bunch.
When judging this category, we took into account sub-criteria such as blogging functionality, app markets, SEO and marketing tools, and internationalization capabilities, as well as storage space and the overall quality of features on offer. We also carried out a sitespeed test.
- Design functionalities – weighting: 20%
First impressions are crucial, which is where the design functionality category comes in. The sub-criteria we analyzed here was the template choice, whether an ADI option was available, how flexible the design was, and the quality of the UX. Additionally, we checked whether mobile editing was available and looked out for added extras such as an image editor.
Our users told us that they wanted to be able to build an attractive website, regardless of price, so for that reason, we gave this category a high weighting of 20%.
- Value for money – weighting: 10%
Everyone wants to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth and this is what this category is all about. Here we examined whether the builder offered a free plan or free trial, how much the cheapest plan was, and what features were available for the amount of money paid.
It might be surprising that this category only has a 10% weighting, however, it’s important to stress that ‘value for money’ and ‘cheap’ aren’t the same thing. A plan could be incredibly affordable but offer fewer features because of its lower price point.
- Help and support – weighting: 5%
We hope you never have to use it, but having a good help and support system is crucial in case you run into any problems when building your website. Under this category, we looked at what support options the platform has, whether the restore option was available in case of any accidents, how good the knowledge center was, and the number of help and support features on offer for the price you pay.
Because help and support is (hopefully) something you’ll only need to use occasionally, if ever, we’ve given this category a lower weighting of 5%.
- Customer satisfaction – weighting: 25%
When it comes to cheap website builders, the experiences of other users are crucial in deciding which platform to choose. After all, they’ve tried and tested them, so they can give a real-life accounting of what the builder is like. That’s why this category has our highest weighting of 25%.
When forming the overall scores for this list, we looked at sub-criteria such as Trustpilot scores, brand recognition, UX, and whether other users were likely to recommend a particular builder.
- Ease of use – weighting: 20%
We asked real-life small businesses and entrepreneurs to test each of the builders in this list and give their honest opinions on their experiences. We particularly focused on users who were just starting out, and therefore more likely to opt for a cheaper plan.
No one wants a builder that’s near-impossible to use, which is why this category has a weighting of 20%.
In addition to all of this research, we’ve tried and tested every single website builder on this list, creating free demo sites, so we know that each one has value to offer the right user. The only job left is to find you the perfect platform so you can start building your website!
The Website Builder Expert product testing process
Cheapest Website Builders: Summary
Whether you need a blog, portfolio, online store, or small business website, you now know the cheapest website builders for your specific project.
IONOS is the cheapest of the cheap at just $1 per month, but always make sure you pick a plan that meets your needs – it’s the best way to ensure you get the most value for your money.
Here’s a quick recap of the cheapest website builders and how much they cost:
Cheapest Website Builders for Small Businesses
- IONOS – $1 per month for the first 12 months
- Hostinger – $11.99 per month, currently discounted at $2.99 + 3 months free
- GoDaddy – $9.99 per month
- Shopify – $5 per month with the Shopify Starter plan
- Wix – $14.40 per month with our code GET10!
- Squarespace – $14.40 per month with our code WBE
- Square Online – $29 per month, ecommerce included for free
Some cheap website builders are definitely better than others. Always check which features you’re getting for your money, to make sure you get the best deal you can.
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