The 10 Best Free Website Builders for 2023 Reviewed

The best free website builders are a cost-effective solution for anyone looking to design websites with simple drag-and-drop editors and pre-designed templates. They’re perfect if you’re on a tight budget, but they give you options to add various design elements, collaborate with your team, and even collect payments – without charging at all.

With so many website builders on offer, choosing one can be difficult. That’s why we’ve researched and reviewed the 10 best free website builders based on criteria like the features offered on the free plan, the templates offered, customer support, and so on. Read on to the end to learn why platforms like Wix, GoDaddy, and Webador are among the best in the business.

The 10 Best Free Website Makers in 2023 Ranked

Here’s a rundown of what our best free website makers have to offer to give you an idea of what to expect.

1. Wix — Overall, the best free website builder. It’s great for beginners as it’s easy to use and comes with multi-lingual phone support. Paid plans also offer a Site Booster app that increases your overall visibility.
2. GoDaddy — Ideal for those looking for a website maker that’s equally effective for digital marketing. With its free plan, you can manage email and social media marketing all in one place.
3. Webador — One of the few website creators that offer premium features with a free plan. You can add unlimited pages, manage unlimited traffic, and get a dedicated support team, all for free.
4. Square — Perfect free website builder for selling products on social media with order now buttons. It’s also known for its “After Pay” feature, which lets customers buy products on credit.
5. Ucraft — Highly recommended for its visibility settings. You can create exclusive content with password-protected pages and control visibility with location and IP-based filters.
6. Weebly — One of the best free ecommerce website builders. It lets you list unlimited products, even on the free plan. You can also add various item options to manage inventory.
7. Systeme.io — Sports one of the most diverse plans for creating free websites. You can create an online store or a blog or run online classes or affiliate marketing programs.
8. Squarespace — Ideal for managing customers. Its audience management tools let you create individual profiles for each customer with their details so you can target them in your upcoming campaigns.
9. IONOS — Tailor-made for those who want AI assistance for building a website, courtesy of its AI website builder. Its text generator and image generator are the icing on the cake.
10. WordPress — A popular content management system with a free and easy-to-use website builder that has impressive security tools like built-in spam blocking and brute-force attack protection.

How Does Free Website Building Software Work?

In other words, they handle all the coding and put your site online – you only have to add images, text, and media. These free tools provide an excellent starting point for many beginners to establish an online presence quickly and affordably.

Our handpicked user-friendly tools provide a range of templates and customization options, allowing you to easily design sites.

The software covers the technical aspects, including hosting and domain registration, allowing you to focus solely on creating and designing your site. Once your website is ready, you can publish it with a custom domain or use a subdomain provided by the platform.

However, free website builders typically have limitations, such as limited storage and bandwidth, and branding from the website builder. You may need to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock advanced features and remove branding.

What Will You Get With A Website Builder Free Plan?

Curious about what you can get with a website builder’s free plan? You’re not alone. Many individuals and small businesses are drawn to the idea of creating a website without an upfront cost. Here, we’ll delve into what features you can get with a website builder free plan.

• Basic Website Creation Tools: Free plans offer access to essential website creation tools, including templates and drag-and-drop editors, enabling you to design and customize your site’s layout and content.
• Limited Templates: While you’ll have access to a selection of templates, free plans may offer fewer design options than paid plans.
• Subdomain or Limited Custom Domain: Most free plans provide a subdomain for your website. Some may allow you to use a custom domain but with limitations or the inclusion of the website builder’s branding.
• Easy-to-Use Editor: Free plans often include an intuitive, drag-and-drop editor that simplifies the process of designing and customizing your website.
• Limited Storage and Bandwidth: Free plans usually come with limited storage space for your website files and restricted bandwidth, affecting your site’s loading speed and traffic capacity.
• Basic Customer Support: You may receive basic customer support through email or online resources. However, premium support options are generally reserved for paid plans.
• Branding: Websites created with free plans often display the website builder’s branding or advertisements, which can diminish the professional appearance of your site.
• Essential Features: Free plans may include basic SEO tools, social media integration, and security features to keep your website functional and secure.

The 10 Best Free Website Makers in 2023 Reviewed

Keen on getting your hands on the best free website builder? Read on as we’ll now discuss each of our top recommendations in detail, including their best features and pros and cons.

1. Wix — Overall, the Best Free Website Builder

Wix is a free, easy website builder with a basic free plan with 500 MB of storage and 500 MB of bandwidth. If each page is about 500 KB, you can expect to store 600 to 1000 pages in 500MB of storage. These numbers will vary depending on the elements on the page, of course.

For instance, if you add more pictures and videos to your pages, the size may go up to 1 to 2 MB per page, reducing the number of pages you can have. Overall, though, this should be more than enough for a new website.

The best part is that you can access phone support even on the free plan. For English, phone support is available 24/7, and there are set hours every day for other languages, such as Italian, Dutch, and German.

Once you’re ready to move up to a paid plan, Wix has even better options on offer, for more than just a basic site. Here, you get additional benefits such as the Site Booster app and social media logo files, helping you spread the word about your site.

The Site Booster app boosts your site’s visibility by listing your site online. It also helps you choose the best keywords and then optimizes your site title, meta tags, and descriptions so you organically rank better on search engine results pages.

With the social media logo files, you get 40+ logos for your site in different sizes. Usually, professionally resizing your logos can cost extra, but with Wix, you get it at no extra charge.

Pricing

Wix offers a range of plans for different needs, adding business features and premium support.

2. GoDaddy — Manage Email and Social Media Marketing Along with Free Website Building

The GoDaddy free website builder has a more diverse offering than Wix, and the free plan comes with email and social media support as well.

It’ll only take 15 to 45 minutes for you to connect all your social media platforms to your GoDaddy account. After that, you can create and manage your posts directly from your GoDaddy dashboard.

You can also create posts in bulk and schedule them in advance. Doing this helps you centralize your entire social media marketing process so you don’t have to juggle multiple platforms at once.

If you want to create your own content, you’ll get all the help you need from GoDaddy Studio. Here, you can create and manage branded content and post it directly on your social channels. Even if you’re not a professional designer, the ready-to-use templates will serve as the perfect starting point.

You’ll also benefit from email marketing tools, which help you reach out to your customers or subscribers. You can create custom automation triggers so when somone joins your mailing list or shops from your store, they automatically get emails, thanking them.

You might not have the time to manually engage with new audience members, but a few emails can go a long way in building long-term relationships.

If you want to give your emails a more professional touch, you’ll be happy to know that GoDaddy provides free professional email accounts for the first year. It should be more than enough time to build authority as a new brand and help your customers find your company.

If there’s one thing worth upgrading for, it would have to be GoDaddy’s SEO tools, which can help you significantly develop your site’s visibility for search engines.

Pricing

GoDaddy’s paid plans are slightly more expensive than Wix, but if you need ecommerce features, they’re certainly worth it.

3. Webador — Best Free Website Builder with Premium Features for Small Business

Webador’s greatest USP is that it lets you access premium business features even on the free plan. Benefits include unlimited storage, unlimited traffic, and a dedicated support team, which are usually only available on paid plans but can be found in Webador’s free offering.

You also get access to its built-in media library, where you’ll find 100,000+ high-quality images for free. Every website needs quality images to keep the readers engaged, so this is invaluable, and with Webador, it’s free.

However, if you want to upload unlimited photos, you’ll have to switch to a paid plan. Here, you can upload photos as albums and create slideshows on your website.

For example, you can add a carousel to the bottom of your web pages, with the ability to handle unlimited photos and with pictures loading in record time when someone opens the page.

The paid plans also offer password protection, so you can create private pages. For instance, if you want to offer exclusive content to your VIP customers, you can create a password-protected page to lock out others users.

Similarly, you can use this feature for your online store and create private pages selling limited-time products only available to selected customers. You also get a free custom domain, unlike with Square or Systeme.io.

Pricing

Webador’s business plans offer a range of additional features to take your business to the next level. If you’re worried about the extra cost, we have good news – all Webador paid plans are free for the first three months, giving you enough time to check if they’re worth investing in.

4. Square — Popular for Selling Products On Social Media

Square’s free plan really helps you branch out. Along with offering your services on a website, it also lets you expand to social media sites. Currently, this feature works for Facebook and Instagram.

You can add buttons like “Order Now” to these pages and connect them to your website. This way, you’ll have a centralized dashboard for multiple selling channels.

If you solely want to focus on your website, Square has two more features. Firstly, it helps you manage multiple websites simultaneously (yes, even on the free plan). You can easily toggle between two sites and use the same Square Item Library to assign images and other visual elements to each one of them.

You can also sync your site with your Google Business account to get more visibility online. This feature works best for food businesses. Whenever someone looks up your business online, they’ll get an “Order Online” button.

Clicking on that will take them to your preferred online ordering channels, such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, or your own website. This saves your customers a lot of time, minimizing their temptation to check out.

Another feature that stood out to us was its integration with AfterPay – a tool that allows customers to pay in installments while you get paid upfront. This way, your customers can buy expensive items from your shop comfortably while you’ll have enough to meet your own expenses.

Each transaction through Square is secured with its built-in fraud detection tool that constantly monitors user behavior while playing and looks out for anomalies.

Plus, you get to create your own custom fraud monitoring rules for extra caution. If a new fraud trick is trending in the market, these custom rules are just what you need to impose extra precautions.

Pricing

Upgrading to a Plus account provides more features – but it’s worth mentioning Square will charge you a commission fee on transactions.

5. Ucraft — Curate Password-Protected Pages for VIP Experiences

Ucraft has a basic free plan with various elements to design your website, SSL security, and only 15 pages. But what gives this free plan a little edge over other providers like Wix and GoDaddy is password-protected pages and Google Analytics integration.

Google Analytics integration will give you more insights into your site’s performance. The reports are really detailed. There are individual reports on total sessions, unique users, and page views, among others.

You’ll also get readymade graphs giving you an overview of your audience activity over the last month. Password-protected pages, on the other hand (as we mentioned above), can be used to create exclusive content/products for your VIP customers.

Speaking of page visibility, passwords aren’t the only way to control that. You can also impose certain restrictions based on location and IP so that only a selected group of users are allowed to visit your site.

For example, let’s say your company only serves people within the USA, so there’s no need to allow access to people from Europe, Asia, and Africa, who’ll only slow down your website without bringing in any revenue.

It’s also an ideal free website builder for students, owing to its 20+ attractive resume templates, perfect for designing career and portfolio pages. Simply select one, edit the text, add images, and you’re good to go.

You also get several personal templates that’ll help you design appealing websites even for non-commercial use, making it one of the best personal website builders.

What Ucraft lacks in its free plan is clearly compensated for with its paid subscriptions. It lets you search for products where you can reduce taxes for your customers, and it comes with its very own POS system for stores, so you can sell both online and offline with ease. No additional monthly fees or set-up fees are required.

Pricing

Ucraft offers a 14-day free trial on plans and several levels of upgrade for additional web and ecommerce features.

6. Weebly — Best Free Website Builder and Online Hosting for Businesses

Weebly is the ideal free website builder for ecommerce online stores. That’s because it’s one of the few providers that let you list unlimited items on your site, even on the free plan. Usually, product listings are limited.

For instance, Webador’s Pro plan only lets you list ten items at once. Many other website builders, such as Wix and GoDaddy, also limit the number of products you can list, but with Weebly, the sky’s the limit.

Weebly also lets you add item modifiers, known as Item Options, to your listings, allowing your customers to customize their orders. This is different from regular item options, where customers get the option to choose a specific color or size.

That’s because the Item Option is linked to your inventory. Item Modifiers, on the other hand, are independent. For example, if you are selling custom coffee mugs, the Item Modifier feature can be used by your customers to enter their name or design preferences.

Managing the pricing of your items is just as easy, thanks to Weebly’s built-in automatic tax calculator – and again, is available on the free plan.

Once a customer is heading toward checkout, this feature automatically calculates the sales tax on the purchase and prepares the final bill accurately. This feature can greatly simplify revenue tracking for those doing business in multiple currencies.

The paid plans are both reasonable and feature-packed, and the shipping calculator and labels features make deliveries simpler.

And if you want to offer in-store pickup to local customers, Weebly will help you add your store location and pickup timings and then send automated messages to your customers when their order is ready.

Pricing

Weebly offers ecommerce tools and additional features as you upgrade through its packages.

7. Systeme.io — Solid Option for Managing Online Classes and Affiliate Marketing Programs

Systeme.io is the easiest website builder free of cost with the most diverse complimentary plan. It’s so much more than a website builder, though.

It can help you build your own blog, offer your teaching courses online, or run an affiliate program. In our System.io review, we found that it provides everything you need to run a successful online business.

Just like Wix, Systeme.io has a simple and easy-to-use interface. You only have to enter your site’s name and add a few preferences to get started. It literally takes less than a minute.

We do feel there could be more template options, as you only get eight options on the free plan. We had a chance to preview each template, and all eight are workable. They include a clearly distinguished top header and bottom footer menu, along with spots for social media buttons and a visually impressive home page.

For all online store owners, Systeme.io has the best USP – a sales funnel builder. A sales funnel is the journey that your customer goes through, starting from the first interaction to the purchase.

Systeme.io helps you pre-plan processes so customers get the best experience, and it lets you add automation as well.

You’ll get a list of actions and triggers to choose from, and you get to create a custom pair. For instance, every time a new customer makes a purchase, you can subscribe them to your mailing list.

Systeme.io’s funnel builder also comes with an A/B test tool where you can create different versions of your campaign and test both to see which version your customers like the most – no more spending separately on market research.

Pricing

Systeme.io offers a range of plans, and its wide range of features makes up for its relatively expensive plans.

8. Squarespace — Suited for Managing Customers, with Detailed User Profiles

Squarespace, too, doesn’t have a free plan, but since it starts super cheap and comes with a generous 14-day free trial, even small businesses and start-ups can consider it.

Our favorite feature on its cheapest plan is Audience Management. After all, building a site alone isn’t enough. You also need to take good care of users to keep them loyal.

So, Squarespace automatically captures user data from email and contact forms and then creates a detailed customer profile. These individual customer profiles immensely simplify audience segmentation, helping you target the right audience group with the right kind of campaign.

Just like IONOS, Squarespace AI can make your life a lot easier. If you don’t have an experienced writer on your team, Squarespace can make up for it. Just add a new prompt, such as, “Write a paragraph about the best leaf blowers,” and the tool will have a freshly curated copy ready for you within seconds.

If you want to sell products on your site, you can create custom merch directly on your Squarespace account. Just create a design and decide what kind of items you want to sell. Squarespace will take care of the rest: production, shipping, and everything in between.

To sell digital products like courses and video content, you’ll need to buy the Digital Products add-on. It can be added to all plans, starting from Personal to Commerce, and comes with extra storage space and reduced transaction fees.

Pricing

Squarespace’s plans are relatively expensive, though there is a free trial available, and the cheapest plan includes an SSL certificate and SEO features.

9. IONOS — Comes with a Handy AI Builder to Create Unique Website Designs

IONOS doesn’t have a free plan, but it’s surely one of the cheapest website builders going around. Starting at just $1 per month for the first six months, the best thing about using IONOS to build your website is you’ll have help from an AI builder where you can create your own website in a few seconds.

What’s more, there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee in place, so you can try it out risk-free before committing to paying a dollar for your first six months.

You might wonder why you should care for an AI builder when other tools provide templates that also take only a few seconds to set up. But the problem with those templates is they are too generalized and used by hundreds of other businesses.

IONOS’s free AI website builder, on the other hand, takes a few details about your site, such as your business name and category, and creates a unique design for you.

IONOS’s AI tools also expand to text generation. If you want to create SEO-friendly texts for your site, all you have to do is share a prompt related to the topic. This tool can be used to create blog descriptions, SEO titles, and meta tags, making it one of the best AI writing tools.

To keep an eye on the competition, IONOS equips you with a competitor tracking tool that sends you instant notifications any time there’s a new review, change in Google ranking, or a new social media activity from your competitor’s end.

Every IONOS user also gets a personal consultant who guides you through every step. This personnel will be available via phone, chat, and email and will help you learn your way around the tool.

Pricing

Ionos offers several plans that are super cheap for the first six months – and still pretty competitive beyond that.

10. WordPress.com — Free Domain Website Builder for Hosting Your Website

WordPress is one of the most popular free website builders and domains in the industry, and a huge part of that credit goes to its Free Forever plan.

Unlike tools like Ucraft that limit the number of pages you can create on the free plan, WordPress lets you add unlimited pages. And to manage those unlimited pages, you can also invite unlimited members on board.

The platform also comes with beautiful, free templates that will make your website look professionally designed.

WordPress focuses on site security, even with free plans. For example, account passwords are protected from brute-force attacks, which is a common way hackers try to break into sites. Plus, you get built-in spam protection with Akismet, keeping comments on your site clean without you having to lift a finger.

WordPress also offers a lot of integrations with its plans, and the free plan is no exception. For example, it allows you to collect payments and donations through various plugins on its free plan.

You can even create a “paid subscriber” content website. However, you’d need a paid plan if you want to accept payments via PayPal.

The only thing that bothered us was the transaction processing fee, which is a bit high. WordPress charges both credit card fees and commission fees for payments, making you pay as much as a 10% transaction fee.

This is certainly higher than the industry average and tough for a small business. But on the brighter side, this fee goes down as you switch to paid plans. On the premium plan, it’s just 4%, whereas on the Commerce plan, it’s 0%.

Pricing

WordPress offers a wide range of plans with increasing support, falling transaction fees, faster site loading, and advanced ecommerce features.

The Best Website Creators Compared

Here’s a table highlighting the key differences between each of our top picks so you can make a side-by-side comparison and choose the best solution for you.

Kеy Dеtails to Considеr Whеn Looking for Complеtеly Frее Wеbsitе Buildеrs

Let’s dive into the key factors to consider when looking to create a website, whether you’re wondering if you can use a Google website builder for free or if you want a free website builder with a custom domain.

Ease of Use

The easier the builder is to navigate, the quicker you can create your website without extensive coding knowledge. Remember that while ease of use is essential, you should also assess whether the platform provides the flexibility and features required to build a website that meets your needs.

Customization 

Look for a website builder that provides flexibility in altering layouts, colors, fonts, and adding branding elements. Ensure you can personalize your website’s appearance to match your unique style and business identity.

Additionally, check if this platform allows you to add custom code or integrate third-party tools and plugins, as this can expand your customization possibilities. Making your website uniquely yours is essential for creating a professional and distinctive online presence, even with a completely free website builder.

Lots of Templates

Whether creating a personal blog, an online portfolio, or a small business website, many templates allow for greater customization and creativity, making it easier to craft a unique and visually appealing online presence without incurring any costs.

SEO Features

While some free website builders offer basic SEO tools like meta title and description customization, sitemaps, and keyword optimization, others may limit or exclude these features entirely. Your website’s SEO effectiveness can significantly impact its visibility in search engine results.

Therefore, a free website builder provider with SEO capabilities can enhance your site’s chances of ranking well on search engines like Google is essential.

Responsive Options

A good free website builder should offer responsive templates or the ability to create responsive designs effortlessly. This feature guarantees that your site’s content and layout adjust seamlessly to different screen sizes, providing an optimal user experience for all visitors.

Integrations 

While many free website builders offer basic design and hosting features, integrating third-party tools and services can significantly enhance your site’s functionality.

Look for a platform that easily integrates essential elements like contact forms, social media links, ecommerce solutions, and analytics tools.

A builder that supports various plugins or widgets can broaden your options for customization and help you seamlessly incorporate additional features into your website without the need for coding skills.

Company Reputation 

Online reviews, ratings, and testimonials from other users can be valuable sources of information to gauge a company’s reputation. Opting for a website builder from a reputable company can help ensure you receive a reliable, secure, and user-friendly platform to create your website without hidden fees or unexpected limitations.

Customer Service

While these platforms offer no-cost website creation, their level of customer support can vary significantly. Many free website builders provide limited or community-based support, primarily relying on user forums or email support with potentially slower response times.

Evaluating customer service availability and quality can ensure a smoother website-building experience, especially if you encounter technical issues or need guidance.

Some builders offer paid plans with enhanced support options, which can be worth considering if you anticipate requiring more assistance or quicker responses.

Domain and Hosting

Some free website builders offer subdomains as part of their free packages, while others may allow you to connect an existing custom domain if you have one.

However, it’s common for entirely free plans to include hosting on their servers with limited storage and bandwidth. This can pose limitations as your website grows or if you anticipate heavy traffic.

Therefore, consider your long-term goals and whether the free builder’s domain and hosting options match your needs.

Price to Upgrade and Scalability

As your website and business expand, you might find that you have outgrown the capabilities of the free plan, leading to constraints on storage, bandwidth, and the availability of advanced features.

Typically, upgrading to a paid plan unlocks many benefits, including a custom domain, advanced features, increased storage and bandwidth, and removal of platform branding.

Page Load Speed

Some free website builders may restrict page load speed, leading to slower performance. Slow-loading pages can frustrate visitors and increase bounce rates, potentially driving users away from your site.

Look for platforms that offer optimized performance, efficient content delivery, and reliable website hosting services, even within their free plans.

Additionally, consider whether they provide tools or recommendations to optimize your website’s images and content for faster loading. Choose a website builder with fast page load speeds to provide visitors with a smooth and responsive experience.

How to Make a Website for Free

Creating a website for free has never been easier, thanks to user-friendly website builders like Wix. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of building your own website at no cost using Wix as an example.

Step 1. Sign Up with Wix

First, sign up on the Wix website builder free of charge. You’ll need to provide an email address and set a password.

Step 2. Choose a Template

Wix offers a vast selection of professionally designed templates. Browse the templates and select one that aligns with your website’s goals.

Step 3. Customize Your Template

Once you have chosen a template, you can start customizing it. Wix’s drag-and-drop editor makes changing text, images, colors, and layouts easy. You can add elements like text boxes, photos, videos, and forms.

Step 4. Add Functionality

Wix offers numerous built-in features and apps to add to your site. These include contact forms, galleries, ecommerce tools, and social media integration. Customize your website’s functionality to suit your needs.

Step 5. Create Additional Pages

Most websites consist of multiple pages. Use Wix’s interface to create additional pages such as About Us, Services, or Contact pages.

Step 6. Optimize for Mobile

Wix automatically generates a mobile-friendly version of your website. However, reviewing and optimizing the mobile layout is essential to ensure it looks great on smartphones and tablets.

Step 7. Publish Your Website

Before publishing your site, preview it to see how it’ll look. Test all links, forms, and interactive elements to ensure they work correctly.

Once satisfied with your website’s design and functionality, click the “Publish” button. Your website will now be live on the internet and accessible to anyone.

Other Website Builder Guides and Resources

Now that you’ve got a good idea of the landscape for the best website builders available for free, here are some other website-building guides from our team.

• The Best Ecommerce Website Builders
• The Cheapest Website Builders
• The Best Personal Website Builders
• The Best Website Builder For Small Business
• The Best Website Builders
• The Best AI Writing Software

Conclusion – What’s the Best Website Builder for Free in 2023?

Our list of the best free website builder software has everything you need. From builders focused on designing with templates to business website builders with lots of plugins and integrations, you can choose one that suits your needs.

However, the Wix free website builder is a no-brainer in all scenarios. It comes with 500 MB of storage and 500 MB of bandwidth, so you can host around 500 to 1,000 pages on your website.

You also get phone support on the free plan – something that not many providers offer. As soon as you upgrade to a paid plan, you get access to the Site Booster app, which helps your website get attention and rank on search engines. Try it for free today.

Free Online Website Builder FAQs