- How Do the Top Free Website Builders Compare?
- 1. Wix: Best Free Features and Flexibility
- 2. GoDaddy: Get Online Quickly for Free
- 3. Square Online: Sell Products Online for Free
- Key Criteria for Choosing a Free Website Builder
- How We Test and Rank Free Website Builders
- Summary: Should You Choose Wix?
- FAQs About Free Website Builders
Wix is the best free website builder in 2026, followed by GoDaddy for speed and Square Online for free ecommerce. Of course, you’ll get more out of a website builder like Wix if you choose a paid plan, but not everyone has the budget for that.
After over 300 hours of testing across 12 website builders, our in-house researchers and I have handpicked three winners for 2026.
- The free Wix plan is our top choice because of its drag-and-drop editor, vast template library, and integrated SEO tools
- Square Online is the only builder on this list that lets you sell for free
- GoDaddy is the easiest free website builder to use thanks to its AI tools and simplified dashboard
- Free plans typically restrict growth through forced on-site ads, storage limits, and the inability to connect custom domains
- If you choose to upgrade, GoDaddy is the cheapest option, with plans starting at $9.99 per month
At Website Builder Expert, we use an independent research process combined with hands-on testing to bring you our recommendations.After testing 12 top website builders, we’ve determined our rankings based on free plan availability and their limits (such as ads and storage space), as well as our six core research categories: website functionality (25%), design features (20%), pricing (20%), user experience (20%), help and support (10%), and reputation (5%).
I’ve updated this page to ensure that the information provided is accurate, helpful, and enables you to make an informed decision. I’ve also added new pricing tables to help you compare plans for each builder.
How Do the Top Free Website Builders Compare?
I’ll review each builder in detail below, but you can start with a helpful comparison table of their key features:
|
Overall Rating
|
Cheapest plan
|
Number of free templates
|
Storage space on free plan
|
On-site ad on free plan
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
BEST PICK
 |
 |
 |
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Wix |
GoDaddy |
Square Online |
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|
4.9
|
4.3
|
3.1
|
||||
|
2000+ |
200+ |
5 |
||||
|
500MB |
Unlimited |
500MB |
||||
|
Sticky top banner |
Top banner |
Bottom banner |
You can also watch our video to help you choose which free website builder is right for you:
How Much Do Free Website Builders Cost to Upgrade?
| Website builder | Cheapest premium plan (billed annually) | Cheapest ecommerce plan (billed annually) |
| Wix | $17 per month | $29 per month |
| GoDaddy | $9.99 per month | $20.99 per month |
| Square Online | $49 per month | $0 per month |
1. Wix: Best Free Features and Flexibility
- Paid plans: $17 – $159 per month
- Free site URL: https://carnagelucy.wixsite.com/lucyscupcakes
- Ads on free plan: Yes
- Read our Wix review for a detailed breakdown
Following our 300+ hours of analysis and hands-on testing, Wix is the best free website builder. Wix’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor has AI support, and its free plan comes with a wide range of features, including an AI assistant and over 2,000 professional templates. Because of this, it’s a good starting point for small business owners and personal sites.
What’s Included With Wix’s Free Plan?
✔️ 2,000+ free customizable templates – these cover a variety of industries, such as photography and education
✔️ Wix’s AI website builder – you can use Wix Harmony to vibe code a website, or Wix’s AI chatbot to generate a custom template based on a few minutes of conversation
✔️ Drag-and-drop editor – great for beginners and total creative control
✔️ SEO features – get personalized recommendations to boost your free site’s visibility
✔️ 24/7 support – contact Wix via live chat or phone
✔️ Wix’s AI tools – generate and edit text, page sections, images, product descriptions, logos, and more
What Are the Drawbacks to Wix’s Free Plan?
❌ Free plan ads – Wix places a banner ad at the top of your free website, affecting the user experience, especially for mobile visitors
❌ 500MB storage space and 1GB bandwidth – the free plan will limit the size of your website and growth potential
❌ No custom domain name – Wix’s free plan has a Wix-branded domain name, which may impact brand professionalism
How Much Does It Cost To Upgrade With Wix?
Wix’s premium plans range from $17 to $159 per month (billed annually):
| Plan | Monthly price with our discount TAKE10 | Monthly price (billed annually) | Monthly price (billed monthly) | Ecommerce? |
| Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | No |
| Light | $15.30 | $17 | $24 | No |
| Core | $26.10 | $29 | $36 | Yes |
| Business | $35.10 | $39 | $46 | Yes |
| Business Elite | $143.10 | $159 | $172 | Yes |
Because of limited storage space and the absence of sales tools, businesses should only use Wix’s free plan to get familiar with the platform. This shouldn’t take more than a week or two.Once you’re ready to publish your site, it’s best to upgrade to remove the unprofessional-looking ads and unlock additional features, such as marketing support and ecommerce.
2. GoDaddy: Get Online Quickly for Free
- Paid plans: $9.99 – $20.99 per month
- Free site URL: samspetgrooming.godaddysites.com
- Ads on free plan: Yes
- Read our GoDaddy review for a detailed breakdown
GoDaddy is the easiest free website builder I tested, offering a speedy and user-friendly onboarding process, as well as a simplified dashboard that I found straightforward to navigate.
GoDaddy also boasts a range of built-in features on the free plan, including integrated marketing tools and an AI builder, though the AI building process isn’t as fluid or conversational as Wix’s.
What’s Included With GoDaddy’s Free Plan?
✔️ Fast setup experience – GoDaddy’s AI website builder generated a simple template for me in less than 30 seconds
✔️ GoDaddy Studio – you don’t have access to every feature of GoDaddy Studio on the free plan, but you’ll be able to create and edit visuals for your site
✔️ Email marketing – engage with your audience by creating personalized campaigns and newsletters
✔️ Offer appointments – this is great for service-based businesses on a budget
✔️ Create and schedule social content – create, post, and plan your social media content
What Are the Drawbacks to GoDaddy’s Free Plan?
❌ Free plan ads – your website will feature a banner ad at the top of the page
❌ Limited customization – GoDaddy’s designs and editor are less flexible than Wix’s, but the straightforward approach can be great for those less tech-savvy
❌ No custom domain name – your domain name will feature the GoDaddy brand
❌ No advanced SEO tools – you can make minor tweaks to your site’s SEO on the free plan, but you must upgrade to unlock the full suite of SEO tools, including rank tracking
How Much Does It Cost To Upgrade With GoDaddy?
GoDaddy’s pricing ranges from $9.99 to $20.99 per month (billed annually):
| Plan | Monthly price (billed annually) | Monthly price (billed monthly) | Ecommerce? |
| Free | $0 | $0 | No |
| Basic | $9.99 | $21.99 | No |
| Premium | $14.99 | $39.99 | No |
| Commerce | $20.99 | $44.99 | Yes |
You won’t need more than a week to test things out on GoDaddy’s free plan, and you’ll want to upgrade as soon as possible to experience GoDaddy’s full capabilities. While GoDaddy is a great free option if you want to experiment with website building, you have limited access to GoDaddy’s suite of features.Thankfully, GoDaddy’s plans are incredibly affordable and good value for money, so the upgrade cost isn’t a big leap.
3. Square Online: Sell Products Online for Free
- Paid plans: $49 – $149 per month
- Free site URL: lucys-cupcakes.square.site
- Ads on free plan: Yes
- Read our Square Online review for a detailed breakdown
Square Online is the only free website builder we’ve recommended that lets you sell products on its free plan. An ecommerce-capable free plan is a huge benefit for anyone creating an online store, testing out a new business idea, or starting a side hustle.
That said, Square Online’s free plan includes a 3.3% + $0.30 processing fee per sale, meaning the plan isn’t entirely free.
What’s Included With Square Online’s Free Plan?
✔️ Ecommerce functionality – sell unlimited products on your website and socials without needing to upgrade to a paid plan
✔️ Square POS integration – for brick-and-mortar stores, you can connect seamlessly with Square POS to accept payments in person
✔️ Built-in SEO tools – the free plan handles SEO basics, such as optimizing your pages with metadata
What Are the Drawbacks of Square Online’s Free Plan?
❌ Free plan ads – your website will feature a large footer ad
❌ Processing fees – pay 3.3% + $0.30 per transaction
❌ No custom domain name – like all free plans, your domain name won’t be fully customizable
❌ Limited sales features – Square Online’s free plan doesn’t include abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions, product reviews, or analytics
❌ Lack of customization options – you’ll need to upgrade to unlock full customization and website templates (whereas Wix offers 2,000+ for free!)
How Much Does It Cost To Upgrade With Square Online?
Square Online’s pricing ranges from $49 to $149 per month (billed annually):
| Plan | Monthly price (billed annually) | Ecommerce? |
| Square Free | $0 | Yes |
| Square Plus | $49 | Yes |
| Square Premium | $149 | Yes |
Square Online is a clear choice for new ecommerce sellers who don’t want to commit to a paid plan yet, but you should make the switch once you have a few sales under your belt.Upgrading will help improve your website credibility, since you get your own custom domain and you won’t have ads on your site. Plus, you’ll unlock advanced sales features, such as product badges, which can be helpful as your business grows.
Key Criteria for Choosing a Free Website Builder
When choosing a free website builder, prioritize storage limits, the visibility of ads, and the long-term cost of upgrading to a paid plan.
Do the free plan limitations outweigh the benefits?
A lack of storage space, visible ads, and limited features mean free plans are only really viable for personal projects, informational sites, or as a starting point for new businesses.
Are there additional or hidden costs to consider with a free plan?
Most free plans restrict what you can do with your website, so there aren’t many hidden costs until you look to upgrade your plan. For example, you can’t connect a custom domain name on a free plan. That said, Square Online charges processing fees per sale, so this is another cost to budget for.
How much does it cost to upgrade your plan?
Upgrade costs will vary depending on your chosen website builder, but our top three recommendations range from $9.99 to $49 per month (billed annually). You should view a free plan as a temporary solution, so make sure your business budgets for a subscription as part of your long-term strategy.
Most website builders don’t make it easy to transfer to another platform, even if you outgrow the builder’s plans and capabilities, but it is possible. You’ll need to rebuild your site from scratch and manually migrate your free site to the new platform, costing you time and potential sales during the moving process.
How We Test and Rank Free Website Builders
To bring you the best free website builders, we’ve spent over 300 hours examining each builder using our expert research methodology.
I’ve also carried out hands-on testing with each free plan so I can share my personal experiences and insights with you, from assessing the visual impact of free plan ads on a page to the frustration of features being locked behind a premium plan.
To form our rankings, we prioritized builders that offer free plans – not free trials. We also wanted to evaluate each free plan by its own merits. This involved changing the weighting of our six core research categories to focus on the areas that have the most impact on a free plan:
- What features are available on a free plan? (25%): We looked at the range of features a website builder includes with its plans, such as email marketing and SEO, as well as the limitations of a free plan, such as restricted storage space and no custom domain.
- Can I get a professional-looking website for free? (20%): We looked at the quality of free templates available, AI building support, and the placement of free plan ads on your frontend site.
- How much does the website builder cost? (20%): When you’re ready to upgrade, we reviewed the available premium plans, hidden fees, and value for money.
- Is the platform easy to use? (20%): We carried out hands-on testing with each platform to highlight how easy a free plan is to use, and if there are any frustrations.
- Can I get reliable help and support if I have a problem? (10%): We investigated which customer support channels are available, their responsiveness, and the free online resources you can use to upskill, such as knowledge centers and video tutorials.
- Can you trust the builder and its free plan? (5%): We compared each builder’s reputation in the market through reviews, online ratings, search volume, and general popularity.
Summary: Should You Choose Wix?
Wix is the best free website builder overall because of its quality features, editing tools, and flexibility for users. It’s a great platform to start with, allowing you to build and experiment with your site until you’re ready to upgrade.
Professional growth, especially for small businesses, requires upgrading from a free plan as soon as possible to remove ads and branded domains. Plus, the best features a website builder has to offer will be locked behind its premium plans.
FAQs About Free Website Builders
When you upgrade to a paid Wix plan, you get a free custom domain for one year. After that, it’ll cost you anywhere between $9.90-$45.95 per year (through Wix), depending on your domain ending.
Similarly, GoDaddy and Square Online gift you a free domain for your first year. When it’s time to renew, a GoDaddy domain will cost you $10-$20 per year, with some special offer domains starting from just $0.21 for your first term. A Square Online domain can cost at least $20 per year.
All three of our top free website builders will place ads on your published site. This is the tradeoff if you don’t want to pay for a subscription, and I’ve yet to find a website builder with a free plan that’s ad-free.
Square Online is a free ecommerce website builder, allowing you to sell unlimited products without upgrading to a paid plan. You’ll need to pay processing fees of 3.3% + $0.30 per sale, but this means you only pay when you make money.
Most website builders will require you to upgrade to a paid plan before you can sell products or use monetization features.
Wix has over 2,000 free templates to choose from, offering the largest range of all the builders we’ve tested. Wix’s templates are unique, high-quality, mobile responsive, and cover 15 distinct industries and four different website types, such as ecommerce or blog.
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