Best free website builders in 2026 – honest comparison

Free website builders get a bad reputation in some corners of the internet – usually from people trying to sell you something paid.

The truth is more nuanced. Some free website builders are genuinely useful. Others are so limited they’re barely worth the time it takes to set them up. And some are free in name only – technically, no cost to start, but so restricted that you’ll be paying within five minutes or giving up in frustration.

This guide to the best free website builders honestly tells you which ones are actually worth using, what you get on a free plan, and when it’s worth upgrading to a paid plan. No platforms paid to be on this list. The rankings are based on what’s genuinely most useful for someone who needs to get a website live without spending money.

What “free” actually means in website building

Before we get into the platforms, let’s be honest about what free website builders typically involve.

Most free plans come with at least some of the following limitations:

Branded subdomain – your site lives at something like yoursite.wixsite.com rather than yoursite.com. This looks less professional and makes your site harder to find.

Platform branding – the hosting company’s logo or banner appears on your site. For a personal project, this is fine. For a professional website, it undermines credibility.

Limited storage – free plans typically cap storage at 500MB–1GB. For a text-heavy site, this is usually adequate. For image-heavy sites, it fills up quickly.

No custom email – free plans rarely include business email. You’ll be using a personal Gmail or Outlook rather than hello@yoursite.com.

Restricted monetisation – most free plans block or restrict advertising, which limits your options if you want to earn from your site.

Limited ecommerce – you typically can’t accept payments on a free plan.

None of these limitations is a dealbreaker for every use case. For a personal project, a temporary site, or a way to test an idea before committing, a free website builder is a perfectly reasonable starting point.

For a professional website where you want full control, a custom domain, and real monetisation options – a paid plan is worth it.

With that context in mind, here are the best free website builders right now.

1. Wix – best free plan overall

Free plan: Yes – genuine, indefinite free plan. Subdomain: yoursite.wixsite.com. Storage: 500MB Ads on site: Yes – Wix branding. Custom domain: No – paid plans from ~$17/month (USA) or ~£9/month (UK)

Wix offers the most fully-featured free plan of any mainstream website builder. You can build a real, multi-page website with images, text, a blog, and a contact form – all without spending anything.

The drag-and-drop editor is the most intuitive of any platform at this level. If you’ve never built a website before, Wix’s editor is the easiest place to start – you can click on anything and move it anywhere on the page, which feels natural in a way that more structured editors don’t.

The template library has over 900 options covering virtually every type of website. The quality varies, but there’s almost certainly something close to what you’re looking for.

What the free plan includes:

• Full access to the drag-and-drop editor
• 900+ templates
• Wix blog
• Basic SEO tools
• Contact forms
• 500MB storage
• Wix branding on your site

What the free plan doesn’t include:

• Custom domain
• Removal of Wix branding
• Ecommerce
• Email marketing
• Most business features

Who should use Wix’s free plan: Anyone who wants to experiment with website building before committing to a paid plan. People are building a personal site where the subdomain and branding don’t matter. Anyone who wants to test an idea quickly before investing in it.

When to upgrade: As soon as you want a custom domain or a professional appearance. Wix’s Light plan at ~$17/month (USA) or ~£9/month (UK) removes branding and includes a custom domain.

One important caveat: Wix’s portability is poor. If you build a site on Wix and later want to move to WordPress or another platform, you’re largely rebuilding from scratch. If there’s any chance you’ll want to switch platforms later, factor this in before investing significant time in a Wix site. Read our full Wix review →

2. WordPress.com – best free plan for bloggers

Free plan: Yes – with significant limitations. Subdomain: yoursite.wordpress.com Storage: 1GB Ads on site: Yes – WordPress.com may show ads Custom domain: No – paid plans from ~$4/month (USA) or ~£4/month (UK)

WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress – different from the self-hosted WordPress.org that powers over 40% of the internet. The free plan gives you a functional blog on a WordPress.com subdomain.

For a blogger who wants to write and publish without any technical setup or cost, WordPress.com’s free plan is genuinely useful. The writing experience is clean, the editor is capable, and your posts are published immediately without needing to think about hosting, themes, or plugins.

The limitations on the free plan are significant, though. WordPress.com may display its own ads on your free site – ads you don’t earn money from. You can’t install custom plugins. Theme options are restricted. And the jump from free to a plan that actually gives you meaningful control is steeper than some alternatives.

What the free plan includes:

• WordPress blogging platform
• Clean writing editor
• 1GB storage
• Basic themes
• Jetpack security features

What the free plan doesn’t include:

• Custom domain
• Plugin installation
• Removal of WordPress.com ads
• Monetisation tools
• Most advanced features

Who should use WordPress.com’s free plan: Bloggers who want to start writing immediately without any setup. People exploring WordPress before committing to self-hosted WordPress.org. Anyone who wants a simple writing platform with no cost.

When to upgrade: The free plan is quite limited. If you’re serious about your site, the jump to self-hosted WordPress.org with a host like Bluehost (~$2.95/month introductory in the USA, or ~£2.50/month in the UK) gives you vastly more capability at a very similar or lower price. Read: What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? →

3. Carrd – best free plan for simple one-page sites

Free plan: Yes – genuinely useful Subdomain: yoursite.carrd.co Storage: Not specified – adequate for one-page sites Ads on site: No Custom domain: No – Pro plans from ~$19/year (USA) or ~£9/year (UK)

Carrd is different from the other platforms on this list. Rather than a full multi-page website builder, it’s designed specifically for single-page sites – a clean, responsive page that presents you, your project, or your business concisely.

For the right use case, Carrd is exceptional. A personal portfolio page. A link-in-bio page. A landing page for a product launch. A coming-soon page for a new business. For any of these, Carrd’s free plan produces better results faster than any other free option.

The editor is simple and fast. The templates are clean and modern. And uniquely among free platforms, Carrd doesn’t show ads on your free site.

What the free plan includes:

• Up to 3 sites
• Single-page format
• Clean, modern templates
• No ads on your site
• Basic forms

What the free plan doesn’t include:

• Custom domain
• Multi-page sites
• Advanced form features (email capture, etc.)
• Analytics

Who should use Carrd’s free plan: Anyone who needs a clean, simple one-page presence quickly. Freelancers want a portfolio page. People are building a landing page or a link in bio. Anyone who doesn’t need a multi-page site.

When to upgrade: Carrd’s Pro Lite plan at ~$19/year (USA) or ~£9/year (UK) – not per month, per year – is extraordinarily good value. For that price, you get a custom domain, Google Analytics, and more form options. If Carrd suits your needs, Pro Lite is one of the best-value paid upgrades available.

4. Google Sites – best free plan for internal and simple sites

Free plan: Yes – entirely free Subdomain: sites.google.com/view/yoursite Storage: Shared with Google Drive (15GB) Ads on site: No Custom domain: Yes – free with Google Workspace (paid) or via DNS workaround

Google Sites is a free website builder that most people forget exists. It’s not designed for professional public-facing websites – it’s primarily intended for internal team sites, project pages, and simple personal pages.

For those use cases, it’s perfectly adequate. It’s genuinely free (not free-with-limitations like Wix), has no ads, and integrates seamlessly with Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and other Google tools.

The design options are limited, and the output looks somewhat utilitarian. But for a class project, an internal team wiki, a family event page, or anything that doesn’t need to look impressive to strangers – Google Sites works.

Who should use Google Sites: Anyone who needs a simple, free site for internal use. Students building project pages. People who need a quick, no-frills page with Google integration.

Who should use something else: Everyone who needs a professional public-facing website. The design limitations and utilitarian aesthetic make it unsuitable for business or personal branding purposes.

5. Self-hosted WordPress – the best “free” long-term option

Free plan: Technically no – but very close. Cost: USA: hosting from ~$2–$4/month + ~$10/year domain. UK: hosting from ~£1.50–£3.50/month + ~£10/year domain. Subdomain: No – your own domain from the start Ads on site: Complete control – no restrictions Custom domain: Yes – from day one

Self-hosted WordPress.org is the most used website platform in the world – and while it’s not technically free, including it here is important because the software itself costs nothing. What you pay for is hosting (USA: ~$2–$4/month, UK: ~£1.50–£3.50/month) and a domain name (~$10/year USA, ~£10/year UK).

At ~$40–$65 (USA) or £30–£50 (UK) for the first year all in, self-hosted WordPress is cheaper than many “free” platforms the moment you upgrade to remove their branding and add a custom domain. And it gives you capabilities that no free hosted platform comes close to matching.

Why it belongs in a free website builder comparison:

The WordPress software is free and open source. You pay only for the infrastructure it runs on. At Hostinger’s introductory rates, a self-hosted WordPress site costs less per month than a coffee – and it gives you a fully professional website with a custom domain, no branding, complete control over monetisation, and access to over 60,000 plugins.

For anyone who’s serious about building a website – even someone on a tight budget – self-hosted WordPress at budget hosting prices is often the better choice compared to free plans with significant limitations.

Critically for monetisation: Self-hosted WordPress is the only option on this list that gives you full compatibility with display ad networks. If you want to earn from Google AdSense, Mediavine, Raptive, or any other ad network, self-hosted WordPress is the right foundation. Free plans on Wix, WordPress.com, and Squarespace all restrict display advertising in ways that limit your earnings potential.

Read: How to start a WordPress website for beginners →
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Comparison table

Platform	Free plan	Custom domain	Ads on free site	Ecommerce	Portability
Wix	Yes	No	Yes (Wix branding)	No	Poor
WordPress.com	Yes	No	Yes (their ads)	No	Moderate
Carrd	Yes (1-page)	No	No	No	N/A
Google Sites	Yes	Workaround	No	No	Poor
WordPress.org	No (hosting cost)	Yes	No restriction	Yes	Excellent

Which free website builder should you choose?

You want to try website building with no commitment → Wix free plan

You want to start a blog with no technical setup → WordPress.com free plan

You need a clean one-page presence quickly → Carrd free plan

You need a simple internal or project page → Google Sites

You’re serious about building a real site and want the most for your money → Self-hosted WordPress.org at budget hosting prices

Take our quiz for a personalised recommendation →

When should you upgrade from a free plan?

Free plans are great starting points. But there are clear signals that it’s time to move to paid.

You want a custom domain. A yoursite.wixsite.com address is fine for experimenting. For a business or anything you want people to remember, a custom domain is worth the ~$17–$29/month (USA) or ~£9–£14/month (UK) it costs to unlock.

You’re embarrassed by the platform branding. If you’d feel awkward sharing your site’s URL because it has Wix or wordpress.com in it, upgrade. The branding is undermining the impression you’re trying to make.

You want to earn from your site. Free plans restrict monetisation on most platforms. Display ads, affiliate links via full ad network compatibility, and selling products all require a paid plan – or self-hosted WordPress.

You’re serious about SEO. Free plans restrict SEO options. Custom domains, full metadata control, and plugin-level SEO tools (like Rank Math) are only available on paid plans or self-hosted WordPress.

You’re spending meaningful time on the site. Once you’re investing real hours into content and building, the platform’s limitations start to cost you more than the monthly fee would. At that point, upgrading is the rational decision.

Frequently asked questions

Are free website builders actually free? The best ones genuinely are – you can build and publish a website without paying anything. The trade-offs are platform branding on your site, a subdomain instead of a custom domain, and restrictions on features like ecommerce and monetisation.

Can I build a professional website for free? Technically, yes – but it’s hard to look fully professional on a free plan because of the platform branding and subdomain. For a professional website that represents a business or personal brand, a paid plan or self-hosted WordPress is worth the cost.

Which free website builder is best for SEO? None of the free hosted plans is ideal for SEO – subdomain URLs and limited SEO controls work against you. Self-hosted WordPress at budget hosting prices gives you the best SEO foundation. Among free plans, WordPress.com’s clean URL structure and content tools make it the least bad option for SEO.

Can I monetise a free website? Most free plans restrict monetisation. Wix’s free plan doesn’t allow you to sell products or run your own ads. WordPress.com’s free plan may show its ads on your site, which you don’t earn from. Self-hosted WordPress is the only option that gives you full monetisation flexibility, including display advertising.

What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? WordPress.com is a hosted platform with a free tier. WordPress.org is the free, self-hosted software that requires separate hosting. Self-hosted WordPress.org gives you far more control and is what most professional websites use. Read our full explainer →