Let me save you a Google search: the cheapest website builder is free. Wix has a free plan. WordPress.com has a free plan. Carrd costs nothing for a single page. There. Saved you twenty minutes of reading SEO-optimised waffle. Now here's the part those articles won't tell you — why free is almost certainly the wrong choice for your business, and where the real sweet spot sits.
There are genuine free options in 2026. Some of them are surprisingly capable. But there are also hidden costs, awkward limitations, and trade-offs that most comparison sites conveniently forget to mention. Here is an honest ranking of the cheapest website builders, broken into three tiers: free, budget, and mid-range.
Tier 1: Genuinely Free Website Builders
Free website builders exist, and they work. The catch is always the same: branding, subdomains, and limited functionality. Whether those trade-offs matter depends entirely on what you are building.
I've seen more businesses damaged by cheap websites than by expensive ones. A £0/month website with a wixsite.com subdomain tells every potential customer: "I'm not serious enough to invest thirteen quid a month in my own business." That's a message you can't afford to send.
Wix Free Plan
Wix offers a permanent free tier that includes hosting, a drag-and-drop editor, and access to most templates. The limitations are significant, though. Your site lives on a wix.com subdomain (yourname.wixsite.com/sitename), Wix displays its own advertising banner on every page, and you get 500MB of storage.
For a personal project, hobby site, or testing an idea, the Wix free plan is genuinely useful. For a business that wants to look professional, it is not. The Wix branding signals to visitors that you are not willing to invest even a few pounds in your web presence, and that impression transfers to how they perceive your product or service.
Carrd (Free Tier)
Carrd is a one-page website builder with a free plan that allows up to three sites. It is extraordinarily simple — you get a single scrolling page with sections for text, images, and buttons. No blog, no ecommerce, no multiple pages.
For freelancers who need a simple landing page, Carrd's free tier is excellent. The designs are clean and modern, the sites load fast, and you can connect a custom domain on the paid plan (£15 per year, not per month). If your entire online presence can fit on one page, Carrd punches well above its weight class.
WordPress.com (Free Tier)
WordPress.com offers a free plan with 1GB of storage, WordPress.com subdomain, and their advertising displayed on your site. It is more capable than most free builders for blogging, but the free theme selection has been reduced significantly in recent years, and you cannot install plugins without upgrading.
The Honest Truth About Free Builders
Free websites work for personal projects and testing ideas. For an actual business, they create problems. The subdomain hurts your credibility and your SEO. The provider's advertising on your site makes you look amateur. And the feature restrictions mean you will outgrow the free plan within weeks of getting serious.
If you are genuinely on a zero budget, start free and upgrade as soon as you can afford £5-10 per month. If you have any budget at all, skip the free tier entirely.
Tier 2: Budget Builders (Under £5/month)
Hostinger slashed its Website Builder plan to £1.79/mo in early 2026, making it the cheapest paid option that doesn't plaster ads on your site. This tier offers the best value in 2026. For the cost of a coffee, you get a custom domain, no third-party branding, and enough features to run a legitimate small business website.
Hostinger Website Builder — £1.79/month
Hostinger is the standout budget option. At £1.79 per month (on a 48-month plan), you get an AI-powered website builder, free domain for the first year, free SSL certificate, and 100GB of storage. The AI builder generates a complete site from a text description in about two minutes.
The catch is the contract length. That £1.79 price requires a four-year commitment. The monthly price without commitment is significantly higher. But if you are confident you will need a website for the foreseeable future, the value is exceptional.
Hostinger's ecommerce features are functional but basic compared to dedicated platforms like Shopify. For service businesses, portfolios, and informational sites, it is more than sufficient.
IONOS MyWebsite — £3/month
IONOS (formerly 1&1) offers a straightforward website builder at £3 per month with a custom domain included. The editor is less flexible than Wix or Squarespace, but it covers the basics well. Templates are modern enough, and the sites load reasonably fast.
IONOS is a solid choice for anyone who wants a professional-looking site without spending time learning a complex editor. It is not exciting, but it is reliable and cheap.
Not sure how much to budget? Mira.AI Launch Plan recommends the right platform at the right price point for your specific business. It even suggests domains. Free, obviously.
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Build My Launch Plan →Tier 3: Mid-Range (£10–£16/month) — The Sweet Spot
Here is the honest recommendation: if your website matters to your business, £10-15 per month is the sweet spot. You get professional templates, proper ecommerce capability, good SEO tools, and no compromises that embarrass your brand.
Wix Business — £13/month
Wix Business at £13 per month removes all the limitations of the free plan and adds ecommerce, custom domain, 50GB storage, and professional analytics. The drag-and-drop editor is the most flexible of any website builder, which is both a strength and a weakness — you can create anything, but you can also create a mess if you lack design sense.
Wix's app market is genuinely useful. You can add booking systems, restaurant menus, event ticketing, and membership areas without touching any code. For businesses that need specific functionality, this flexibility is worth the price difference over cheaper options.
Squarespace Business — £16/month
Squarespace costs more than Wix, and honestly, for most businesses it is worth the premium. Squarespace templates are consistently better-designed than any competitor. Every template is mobile-responsive, visually cohesive, and difficult to make look bad.
The trade-off is less flexibility. You cannot move elements as freely as on Wix, and the app ecosystem is smaller. But the constraint is actually a feature — it prevents you from making design mistakes that drive visitors away.
For creative businesses, restaurants, portfolios, and any brand where visual presentation matters, Squarespace is the right choice at this price point.
WordPress.org + Hosting — £3–10/month
WordPress.org (the self-hosted version, not WordPress.com) is technically the cheapest option for a full-featured website, but only if you are willing to manage hosting, updates, and security yourself. Combined with a hosting plan from Hostinger or similar, total cost sits at £3-10 per month.
WordPress powers 40% of the web for a reason. The plugin ecosystem is unmatched, SEO capabilities are the best available, and you can build literally anything. The downside is complexity. Updating plugins, managing security, and troubleshooting conflicts takes time that most small business owners would rather spend on their actual business.
Which Tier Should You Choose?
| Your Situation | Recommendation | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Testing an idea, no budget | Wix Free or Carrd Free | £0 |
| Side project, minimal budget | Hostinger | £1.79 |
| Real business, budget-conscious | Wix Business | £13 |
| Brand-focused business | Squarespace | £16 |
| Technical user wanting full control | WordPress.org + hosting | £3–10 |
The jump from free to £1.79 per month is the most impactful upgrade you can make. It removes the subdomain, removes third-party branding, and immediately makes your site look professional. The jump from £5 to £13 per month adds genuine business features — ecommerce, analytics, integrations — that justify the cost if your website generates any revenue at all.
Spending more than £20 per month on a website builder rarely makes sense for small businesses unless you need advanced ecommerce features like multi-currency or inventory management across locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are free website builders really free forever?
Yes, the free tiers from Wix, Carrd, and WordPress.com are genuinely permanent. You will never be forced to pay. However, the limitations — subdomains, provider branding, restricted storage — make them impractical for serious business use. Think of free plans as extended trials rather than long-term solutions.
Why do prices vary so much between monthly and annual billing?
Website builders use annual (or multi-year) commitments to lock in customers and reduce churn. The headline prices you see in advertising almost always require a 12-48 month upfront payment. Monthly billing typically costs 30-50% more. Always check what commitment the advertised price requires before signing up.
Can I switch platforms later without losing everything?
You can always switch, but it involves rebuilding your site on the new platform. Most builders let you export blog content, but page designs do not transfer. The main thing you keep regardless is your domain name, as long as you own it. This is one reason buying your own domain from a registrar (rather than getting a free one from your builder) is worth the £10 per year.
Whichever builder you choose, your website is just the foundation. To turn visitors into customers, you need a system for reaching the right people at the right time. See how MiraReach helps small businesses find and convert their ideal customers.