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Did you know that this website was originally built with a free website builder?
More than 10 years ago, when I started Tooltester, I used Webnode to create the first version of Tooltester.
After about 6 months, I moved into a paid plan and a few years later we switched to WordPress. But looking back, I’m surprised at how much we were able to accomplish on a free platform.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the best free website builders on the market, so you can also start building your business, portfolio, personal blog or even ecommerce store.
Quick Breakdown: Best Free Website Builders
The 10 best free website builders overall 🥇
- Wix – most powerful site creator
- Hubspot – the business builder
- Webnode – no-frills package
- Weebly – the workhorse
- Site123 – great support
- Godaddy – easy for beginners
- Mozello – free multilingual sites
- Jimdo – powered by AI
- Webstarts – unlimited pages
- Ucraft – the one for creative types
The best free website builders by use case 💡
| Use Case | Website Builder |
|---|---|
| Best overall recommendation for free sites | Wix |
| Best free website builder for small business | Wix / Hubspot |
| Best free online store builder | Square Online |
| Best free designs | Wix |
| Best for advanced users | Webflow / WordPress |
| Best for free blogging | Wix / Weebly |
| Best for using your own domain name | Hubspot |
Video introduction: our favorite free website builders 🎬
In only 4 minutes we’ll show you our top picks (note that Ucraft no longer allow you to connect your own domain for free, and Webnode’s banner ad is also much more obvious):
Found your favorite? Try out Wix, Hubspot or Webnode.
Now it’s time to find the website builder that is right for you!
Feel give our Smart Finder Tool a try, which will determine the best free website builder for you in 5 questions. Or you simply scroll down and read the profiles.
The full list: 20 Free Site Builders 💪
And here’s the full lineup of 20 free website builders (without subscription), including pros and cons. The ranking is based on criteria like designs, the size of the ad, website functionality and SEO options.
1. Wix – Excellent Templates
The biggest of them all is Wix. They have more users than any other site builder, and it’s easy to see why. It’s packed with well-designed templates for almost any kind of use case (e.g. there are even templates for dog walkers). According to our tests, it’s the best website builder to create a paid site – but what about a free one? Does it fare just as well in this arena?
Well, it depends on what you are looking for. It’s great that they hardly have any restrictions on the free plan in terms of features, templates or customer support. On desktop computers, they place a pretty visible ad at the top of your website that is sticky (i.e. it will stay even when you start scrolling the page). Fortunately, on mobile phones, it far less visible and also not sticky.
Next to the classic Wix editor you can also give ADI (artificial design intelligence) a try. ADI is an web creator powered by artificial intelligence that uses a series of questions about your project to create your website automatically. Definitely an interesting approach for beginners and also completely free to use.
In terms of functionality, it’s definitely the strongest free website builder, as well as one of the best website builders for small business.
Only if you want to use a custom domain name or go ad-free, you’ll need the Light plan at least, which is $17 per month.
Wix Screenshots:
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- Wix Ad
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- Wix Ad Mobile
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- Wix Themes
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- Wix App Store
The URL you will get for free: accountname.wix.com/customname
Our demo website: Coworking Barcelona
What we liked about Wix:
- Their spectacular selection of template designs
- Flexibility of their drag and drop editor
- Extensive app market (that lets you add additional features like photo galleries, video players, appointment booking tools etc.)
- Full SEO customization, free SEO tools (SEO Wiz)
Where Wix should improve:
- The Wix ad is very visible and also stays when scrolling down the page
- Free URLs are far too long and not easy to remember
- The vast range of features adds a certain complexity
Wix Video Review
Free Trial: wix.com
2. Hubspot – For Websites That Generate Leads
Hubspot is a huge company that provides tools to help businesses with their online marketing and customer service. It’s most known for its all-in-one CRM, which is essentially a smart customer database that helps you increase your sales.
Doesn’t sound like the typical tool to create a free website, right? We thought so, too. But, when you look closely, you can discover a surprisingly powerful website builder. Hubspot’s CMS (Content Management System) offers businesses an easy way to get online (yes, the focus clearly is on businesses).
With the free plan, you get your pick of around 130 website themes, use of a drag-and-drop editor, and the ability to add a blog and web forms. Hubspot doesn’t do things by halves, and with the free version of the CMS, you also get generous access to the rest of its product suite – email marketing, CRM, live chat widgets, support tickets, and more.
Of course, being on the “freemium” version, you’ll come across some limitations (such as a 25-page limit), and the Hubspot logo will also be displayed on your pages. If you’re a business user, it’s likely that you’ll want to switch to a premium subscription sooner rather than later to remove the Hubspot branding and use your own domain. But, the free plan provides more than enough to try it all out. Plans start at around $25/month.
Hubspot Screenshots
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- Hubspot ad at the bottom
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- Hubspot CMS editor
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- Hubspot CMS page templates
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- Hubspot forms
The URL you will get for free: customname.hs-sites.com (URL format may vary depending on country)
What we liked about Hubspot:
- Hubspot offers marketing features that are often overlooked in other website builders – advanced SEO settings, conversion-focused landing pages, content modules for displaying testimonials and client logos, and customizable forms that can even be connected with email campaigns.
- Multilingual sites are possible with Hubspot’s free CMS.
- The ability to easily integrate your site with other sales and marketing tools is a huge bonus.
- Shows only a small ad
- It’s the only website builder we know of that lets you connect your own domain name (e.g. www.yourwebsite.com) for free. You can also add a brand subdomain (e.g. blog.yourwebsite.com) for free
Where Hubspot should improve:
- The backend is less intuitive than other website builders we’ve tried – for example, you need to exit the editor completely in order to add a new page.
- Likewise, creating a navigation menu or blog listing page isn’t as straightforward as it could be.
- Overall, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed with the platform, due to the sheer number of different tools available, and the way they are organized.
- It takes a little longer to master than other website builders. It’s still easier than WordPress, but more complicated than Wix or Webnode.
Free plan: hubspot.com
Detailed Hubspot CMS Hub Review
3. Webnode – Modern Editor with Some Limitations
As mentioned before, Webnode was the website builder we originally used to create Tooltester more than 10 years ago. But what does it look like now?
A while ago Webnode completely revamped their editor, making it very modern and efficient. The themes they added are stylish and mobile-responsive. A pity you can’t switch to a completely new theme without rebuilding the site from scratch.
Another cool feature is Webnode’s new AI website builder. It asks you a few questions about what you want your site to do, and then it creates a design and content for you.
We used to love Webnode’s free plan because its inconspicuous footer ad was barely noticeable. However, it recently decided to change track. Free sites now display a big, bright blue, and very obvious banner ad that unfortunately doesn’t disappear when you scroll down the page.
But if that doesn’t put you off, there are a few perks of working with Webnode. It’s very intuitive, and while it’s not the most feature-rich site builder ever, it covers the basics pretty well: contact forms, Google Maps integration, plenty of themes, and very decent SEO options.
Webnode also offers a low-cost plan at $4.50 per month (which they fittingly call Limited) essentially allowing you to use a domain name you already own and to contact their premium support. The Webnode branding will stay with this option.
Webnode Screenshots:
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- Webnode Ad
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- Template Selection
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- Image Editor
The URL you will get for free: customname.webnode.com
Our demo website: Coffee Shop
What we liked about Webnode:
- Their selection of stylish, responsive templates
- There’s no page limit
- The full range of SEO settings is available
- AI-powered website builder
Where Webnode should improve:
- Adding/improving their features (blog, ecommerce)
- Storage isn’t very generous, with only 200 MB in the free plan
- No app store for additional site features.
- The in-your-face banner ad
Webnode Video Review
Free Trial: webnode.com
4. Weebly – A Simple Website Builder for Basic Needs
Weebly is one of the largest site creators out there, and used to hit the top spots in our ranking table, before it got acquired by Square. Since then, the platform has been somewhat neglected. Regardless, it’s still worthy of a place on our free website builders list, offering great usability (thanks to its intuitive drag and drop editor), and an App Center with additional features.
The main thing to be aware of is that the free plan will display a very visible ad in the website’s footer (which expands when you hover over it).
Weebly Screenshots:
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- Weebly Themes
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- Weebly Mobile Editor
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- Weebly Dashboard
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- Weebly App Store
The URL you will get for free: customname.weebly.com
Our demo website: Yoga Business
What we liked about Weebly:
- Easy to use drag and drop editor
- The app center with third-party add-ons
- 500MB of free webspace with no limit on pages
- SEO settings can be edited for all pages.
- Can be used for larger sites
Where Weebly should improve:
- The very visible footer ad
- Limited number of themes that mostly look outdated
- General lack of updates (Weebly’s new owner Square doesn’t seem to give it much love)
Weebly Video Review
Free Trial: weebly.com
5. Site123 – Easy as 1-2-3?
Site123 claims to be “by far” the easiest website builder, and while their tool is certainly not too difficult to use, we’d say that there are even more user-friendly ones. What’s great about their builder is that they have some pretty good looking themes that are all responsive. Paid plans start at $9.80 per month and include a basic ecommerce store as well as an email marketing tool. Be prepared to receive multiple daily emails after signing up. Free websites show a little banner stripe at the bottom of the page.
Site123 Screenshots
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- Templates
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- Styles
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- Structure
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- Editor
The URL you will get for free: accountname.site123.me
Our demo website: Business Theme
What we liked about Site123:
- Good choice of plugins
- Templates are responsive.
- Full access to SEO settings
- You can use their live chat support for free, which is really generous.
- Lets you create
Where Site123 should improve:
- The editor is a bit clunky: there is an editing and a preview window, which isn’t really state of the art.
- For basic things, you always need a lot of clicks)
- Templates are pretty restrictive with what you can add
Free plan: site123.com
What features are people looking for, anyway?
We ran a poll and asked our readers what features they were looking for. After collecting 64 votes, these are the results:
As you can see from this survey, the most looked-for features are Nice Templates (32.4%), Use My Own Domain (27.9%) and Non-Intrusive Ads (20.6%). While none of the website builders allow you to use your own domain for free any more, Wix offers excellent free templates, and Hubspot and Webflow’s ads are relatively subtle.
6. GoDaddy – The Easy All-Rounder
GoDaddy is a giant in the domain name and web hosting business, so it’s no surprise that they’d offer their very own website builder, too. It’s called GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, and while it’s seen a few revamps over the past few years, this latest version now comes with some handy new features – and a free plan, too.
As a beginner-friendly website builder, GoDaddy focuses on making things easy – from its simple-to-edit selection of mobile-friendly templates, to useful add-ons such as an email marketing tool, blog, appointment scheduler and member pages. All of these are free to add to your site.
What’s not free is the ability to use your own domain name, or to start selling products through an online store. A GoDaddy banner will also display at the top of all your pages. While this is all pretty standard for a free plan, one thing that’s a little surprising is that your SEO options are severely limited. You’d need to upgrade to one of the higher-level paid plans to be able to edit elements such as image alt tags and keywords.
GoDaddy Websites + Marketing Screenshots:
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- Templates
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- Editor
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- Preview
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- Blog
The URL you will get for free: yoursite.godaddysites.com
Our demo website: Barcelona Bakes
What we liked about GoDaddy:
- Perfect for absolute beginners, it’s dead simple to use
- Features like the blog and the email marketing tool work pretty well, too
- You can manage your entire online presence in the one place
Where GoDaddy should improve:
- SEO options are too basic, even on the higher paid plans.
- A wider range of app integrations would be useful, too.
- We also hope that they make it easier to migrate websites to any future iterations of the website builder, as they don’t provide a lot of support for previous versions.
GoDaddy Website Builder Video Review
Free plan: godaddy.com
7. Mozello – Free Multilingual Websites
This Latvian company is one of the smaller players worldwide. What strikes us about Mozello is that they allow you to create a multilingual website for free – something you won’t get anywhere else. The range of features includes a blog, an online store and decent SEO options. Fortunately, the advertisement is just a link in the footer that most of your visitors won’t even notice. 500MB of free storage is included and should be enough for most of us.
The only real downside is that it doesn’t feature too many templates. But looking at the range of the other free features, this is really just a minor quibble.
Mozello Screenshots:
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- Ad
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- Editor
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- Templates
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- Multilingual
The URL you will get for free: customname.mozello.com
Our demo website: Beauty Studio
What we liked about Mozello:
- The ad is almost unnoticeable
- It’s possible to create a free multilingual website!
- The editor feels quite modern and fast
- Allows you to build a free online store with up to five items
- Includes marketing features (popups, side-widgets)
Where Mozello should improve:
- The range of themes is quite limited
- Features only one type of photo gallery
Free Trial: mozello.com
8. Webstarts – Access to (Almost) All Features
When it comes to Marketing, Webstarts is not exactly shy. With almost 4m users, they claim to be the #1 Rated Free Website Builder (without actually saying who rated them). To be fair, Webstarts’ free plan is a solid choice. It includes access to all the important features such as the blog, and you can even activate the online store.
The product feels similar to Wix – in that all the elements can be moved around quite freely. In the feature and template departments, though, you’ll find a lot less variety. They also added an AI-based editor next to the classic one. But trying out the ‘artificial intelligence‘ builder left me with a rather ugly site. It’s a great idea to offer such an assistant, but it still needs a bit of work I would say.
Webstarts Screenshots:
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- Webstarts ad
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- Adding a product
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- Dashboard
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- Editor
The URL you will get for free: customname.webstarts.com
Our demo website: Business Coaching
What we liked about Webstarts:
- Generous 1GB storage space
- Online store includes 10 products for free
- SEO settings can be edited for all pages
- The footer advertisement is acceptable
Where Webstarts should improve:
- Templates are a bit hit-and-miss, although there are a few nice ones
- Editor feels a bit old-school and not as modern as Wix or Webnode, for example.
- Renewal rate for paid plans isn’t exactly clear
Free Trial: webstarts.com
9. Jimdo – Website Editing Powered by AI
The good thing about Jimdo is that it won’t cost you an arm and a leg, even if you decide to go premium one day. Their cheapest Jimdo Dolphin plan starts at $11 per month and will allow you to use a proper domain. But even if you have no intention of ever upgrading your Jimdo website, you’ll enjoy their very smooth and rapid website setup experience.
Not only is Jimdo the fastest loading website builder we found, but their designs are also mobile responsive and look generally pretty good. And even though it’s not a drag and drop editor, it was still extremely easy to use. Jimdo is pretty limited when it comes to features: there is no blog, no app store, or any fancy tools like that. But if you are a beginner and just want to get that website live on the web, you’ll appreciate the simplicity that Jimdo provides.
Jimdo Screenshots:
The URL you will get for free: customname.jimdofree.com
Our demo website: Bliss Bakery
What we liked about Jimdo:
- Shows only a small ad
- You get 500MB webspace, which should be enough for most sites
- The intelligent setup assistant that lets you create a website in the wink of an eye
Where Jimdo should improve:
- Free plan is limited to 5 pages only
- No app market, blog, or password protection
- No customer support (apart from the help documentation)
Jimdo Video Review
Free Trial: jimdo.com
10. Ucraft – Free 24/7 Support
Unfortunately, Ucraft no longer lets you connect an existing domain name for free, causing them to drop a few places on our list of best free website builders. However, they do offer 24/7 chat support, which is pretty unique.
They also include SSL security at no extra cost but note that you will be limited to 15 pages on the free plan. Their cheapest paid plan is called Pro, starts at $10 per month and includes pro features such as multilingual sites.
Ucraft is a relatively advanced website builder, allowing you to fine-tune your styles such as fonts, colors, and spacings. Overall, we found it more complicated, though, than other free website builders as the editor isn’t quite as self-explanatory.
Ucraft Screenshots
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- Ucraft Ad
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- Ucraft Ad on Mobile
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- Ucraft Editor
The URL you will get for free: customname.ucraft.net
Our demo website: Wedding RSVP (runs on a custom domain name)
What we liked about Ucraft:
- Their free templates look pretty modern and there is a decent selection available
- Support is helpful and free
- The size of the advert on free websites is acceptable
Where Ucraft should improve:
- You are limited to only the Basic Elements in the free plan (that excludes anything to do with articles, social media or ecommerce)
- The editor was sometimes a bit slow loading and felt a little buggy (but nothing too bad)
- Generally, a bit more complicated than other site builders.
- The page limit is 15, and you won’t be able to use the SEO options.
Free plan: ucraft.com
11. Webflow – An Editor That Feels like a Cockpit
Take a heap of functions, add a pinch of visual design and garnish your creation with a nice CMS topping – tadaaa! Your Webflow site builder is ready.
Webflow is a system that falls a bit out of line with all the other regular website builders. This one specifically targets designers, developers and advanced users who want to create a website, but require more design freedom than traditional site builders like Squarespace or Weebly can offer. Although it’s a complex tool with loads of customization options, Webflow still attempts to make it as easy as possible for their users – coding isn’t necessarily required, you get to see your designs immediately thanks to their visual editor, and they offer tons of help material.
Webflow Screenshots:
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- Integrations
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- Presets
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- Example
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- Webflow Tutorials
The URL you will get for free: http://yourwebsite.webflow.io/
Our demo website: Annika’s Coffee Mug Store
What we liked about Webflow:
- The amount of features is massive and you have manifold customization options – for better or worse
- You get a lot of support (videos, articles, forum)
- The advert on free sites is barely noticeable.
- You can publish two website projects with the free plan
Where Webflow should improve:
- The editor can feel quite overwhelming if you aren’t very technical
- There are a bunch of free design templates available, but for most of them, you have to pay. Prices range between $19 and $79 (one-off).
Free plan: Webflow.com
12. WordPress.com – The Blogging Platform
WordPress.com is not to be confused with its bigger brother WordPress.org (read our beginners’ guide). The latter is fantastic if you are not scared of diving into technical terrain, but surprisingly, the .com version is not that much easier to use, and its free plan has a lot of restrictions.
Having said that, if all you want is just to create a blog, WordPress.com could be a great solution for you. For a website, though, we find there are better solutions. Paid plans start at $4 per month.
What we liked about WordPress.com:
- Excellent blogging tool
- Generous storage of 1GB
- Scalable: it’s suitable for larger websites (in its paid plans)
Where WordPress.com should improve
- Personal customer support not included (just knowledge base)
- Basically, no SEO options at all
- Features in free version are generally extremely limited
WordPress.com Video Review
Free plan: wordpress.com
13. Strikingly – Free One-Page Layouts
“Don’t lose your visitors under the weight of a heavy, confusing website” says Strikingly, a website builder from California. That’s probably why they want you to put all your content on a single landing page. If you’d like to create multiple pages, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan. To be fair, they have some pretty decent templates to choose from and the website editor is easy to understand, even for beginners. If you ever leave the free plan, you’ll be charged at least $16 per month.
Strikingly Screenshots
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- Editor
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- Templates
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- App store
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- SEO options
The URL you will get for free: accountname.strikingly.com
Our demo website: Furniture Store
What we liked about Strikingly:
- Great one-pager themes that have clear call to actions
- There is a mobile iOS and Android app for mobile website editing.
- It’s fantastic is that you can access their live chat support – even in the free plan!
Where Strikingly should improve
- The free plan is limited to 5 pages (although the templates are mostly optimized for one-pager websites anyway)
- One-page websites also have certain SEO disadvantages (difficult to target a lot of different keywords).
Strikingly Video Review
Free Trial: strikingly.com
14. One.com – Not Free, but a Cheap Website Builder
One.com doesn’t have a freemium plan like its competitors. They charge you from the beginning but the costs are very reasonable. Of course, your website will be ad-free. Optionally, you can add a proper domain name directly. There’s only one snag: you are limited to 5 pages, otherwise it’s getting rather expensive.
If all you need is a small, ad-free website with its own proper domain name, One.com could be a great fit. Oh, and if you’d rather use WordPress instead of their own site builder you can do that too. Best of all, there won’t be any page limit!
One.com Screenshots:
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- Dashboard
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- Mobile view
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- Templates
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- Editor
The URL you will get: customname.com (.co.uk, .net, .org etc.)
Our demo website: Coworking Space
What we liked about One.com:
- The fact that you are quite flexible: either use One.com’s own site builder or WordPress.
- It’s a great option to get started professionally for very little money.
- All templates are responsive and look modern.
Where One.com should improve:
- The limit to 5 pages isn’t great
- No free plan
- Support wasn’t great in our tests
Sign up (15 days money-back guarantee): one.com
15. Bookmark – Websites created by AI?
The latest fashion in website building are intelligent assistants. Bookmark, Wix ADI and, to a lesser extent, Jimdo Dolphin, all promise to use some kind of magic formula to get your website right with the first draft. Using Bookmark’s AiDA assistant we were left wondering where the intelligent assistant should get the information of what to put on your website. All you enter is your business name and the industry. The outcome was not terrible but it’s also not better than a website created without an assistant.
What we liked about Bookmark:
- Bookmark has quite a lot of features and modules that you can add to your website.
- All the websites are mobile-responsive and the editor makes a lot of sense.
- An advantage is that AiDA teaches you how to modify design elements in a couple of steps.
- They also offer integrated email accounts for $2 per month.
What Bookmark should improve:
- The website we got didn’t look particularly attractive. It was very stock-image heavy.
- With this whole AI-branding, they raise very high expectations which, from our point of view, they can’t really meet.
- The cheapest ad-free paid plan starts at $11.99, which seems quite high compared to other affordable website builders
The URL you will get for free: https://yourname.bookmark.com
Bookmark Screenshots
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- Editor
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- Dashboard
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- Example
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- Bookmark
Free plan: bookmark.com
Tip: Save 15% on your first purchase with Bookmark using this exclusive voucher code websitetooltester15.
16. 000webhost – Your Website, 23 Hours a Day
000Webhost belongs to the same holding that owns Hostinger, a relatively well-known hosting company. They use 000webhost to offer free web hosting services. Those are limited to 1 GB of space, 10 GB of bandwidth and a maximum of 2 websites. But if you don’t really want to use WordPress, they have a website builder with a free plan.
If you ever decide to go premium to remove limitations from the free plan, you’ll be looking to pay about $9 a month. Being completely honest, there are much better tools (like Wix or Weebly) that offer similar deals.
The URL you will get for free: customname.000webhostapp.com
What we liked about 000webhost:
- It’s cool that both their website builder and WordPress are supported for website creation
- They have almost 200 templates to choose from and they are categorized by industry
- They offer a way to easily create multilingual sites
- You’ll be able to download backups and even restore them
Where 000webhost should improve:
- Some of their templates are modern and slick looking, but most of them look a bit aged
- A big limitation of the free plan is that your website will go down, every day, for one hour
- It has some of the basic features and add-ons, but there are key elements missing (e.g. a blog or on-site search)
- When you change to a new template, all the content you had will be lost
000webhost Screenshots
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- Multilingual
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- Editor
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- Downtime
Free plan: 000webhost.com
17. New Google Sites – (Very) Basic Website Creation
Google recently revamped their website builder Google Sites. Now it’s a cleaner, more modern looking affair. After playing around with it for a few minutes, you will notice two things: 1) that it’s super easy to use; 2) that there are hardly any features: you can choose from six templates that all look pretty bare when you start building as there is no sample content at all. It seems to be possible to connect a domain name via Google MyBusiness, but then you have to be a business with a physical address.
The URL you will get for free: sites.google.com/view/yoursitename
What we liked: unsurprisingly, really good integration with other Google products (Maps, Calendar, Docs, Slides, etc.).
Where they should improve: there should be more themes and design elements. There is no access to the SEO settings of the website such as page title and meta description (!!!). Their knowledge base is as basic as the website builder, so it can be quite frustrating searching for answers (especially when all you find are forum posts like this one).
Google Sites Screenshots
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- Templates
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- Editor
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- Example
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- Help
Free Plan: sites.google.com
18. Mobirise – Installable Website Building Software
Usually, we’re big advocates of hosted site builders that run in your web browser. But we do, of course, acknowledge that some of you are more comfortable with an installable Windows or Mac website software. Mobirise is such a program: you install it on your computer and within minutes you’ll be able to start dragging and dropping a free website together – even when you’re offline.
Their templates look quite fresh and offer lots of functionality. The choice is limited to a handful of designs. Also, most of them are paid ones that will set you back $19-$39 (as a one-time payment). It’s also a pity we couldn’t find any blogging functionalities.
Once you are happy with your result, you need to publish the site to your own web space. Of course, that’s a lot more complicated than with a hosted website builder as it requires you to set up a FTP connection and upload it to your own host (there are plenty of cheap web hosting providers to choose from).
Free Download: mobirise.com
19. Adobe Express – from the makers of Photoshop
You’ve certainly heard of Photoshop. Maybe you’ve even heard of Adobe Dreamweaver, which was one of the first big WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors. While it’s powerful, it’s everything else but free (or easy to use). Probably for that reason, Adobe created a free solution called Spark.
Spark is pretty much the anti-Dreamweaver in that it’s as easy as it gets. But that has mainly to do with their limited feature set. Rather than building websites, it allows you to create a single web page. There’s no blog, store or any other business features. It does offer nice design possibilities and lets you create really nice galleries. But be aware – Adobe puts its brand top and bottom. To get rid of their ads you’ll have to pay around $10 monthly. Frankly, for this kind of money you are much better off with site builders like Wix or Ucraft.
Free plan: adobe.com/express
The Best Free Site Builders: Our Overview
This table shows you our ten favorite website builders:
| Provider | Ads | Domain | Storage | Overall impression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix.com (Review) |
Logo in footer and Header | Free subdomain | 0.5 GB | Good product with an incredible amount of features. Unfortunately, it shows very intrusive logos both in the header and the footer of the page. Storage and bandwidth limit of 500 MB. |
| Webnode (Review) |
Sticky banner ad at the top of the page | Free subdomain | 0.2 GB | Banner ad is very obtrusive. Could do with more storage. Unlimited pages. |
| Weebly (Review) |
Logo & expandable sign-up form in footer | Free subdomain | 0.5 GB | The ad-bar at the bottom of the page could be less intrusive. As a basic website builder it’s fine, but its features are outdated compared to its competitors. |
| Site123 | Overlay in footer | Free subdomain | 0.5 GB | Decent site builder with modern templates but a pretty outdated web editor. There are numerous plugins that you can add to your website and support is included. |
| Webstarts | Logo in footer | Free subdomain | 1 GB | Great free option: very small ad, access to all SEO options, decent templates, and an online store. Unfortunately sites are not mobile-friendly. |
| Jimdo (Review) |
Logo in footer | Free subdomain | 0.5 GB | Solid product with unlimited pages. Minimal advertising. |
| GoDaddy (Review) |
Banner ad at top of page | Free subdomain | Unlimited | Easy to use and comes with free extras such as appointment scheduler and email marketing. Also has useful backup and restore feature. However, SEO is limited. |
| Mozello | Footer link to Mozello | Free subdomain | 0.5 GB | Great for multilingual websites. Features decent templates but the editor isn’t very flexible. The only site builder without SSL support. |
| Ucraft | Logo button in footer | Free subdomain | Unlimited | 24/7 chat support included. Limited to 15 individual pages. |
| Strikingly | Overlay in footer | Free subdomain | Unlimited (10 MB max. file size) | Features modern and responsive one-page websites. Multi-pages are only possible in their paid plans. Personal support is included in the free plan. |
How do I create a free website step by step?
For all the website builder we list here, the creation process always consists of these 6 steps:
- Sign up for a free website account
- Choose a template you like
- Add pages to your website
- Customize your content (text, images, video, etc.)
- Optional: Manage the SEO settings
- Publish your site
Find a more detailed guide here on how to make a website or download our free website creation ebook.
So who really pays for these free plans?
It’s true that the best things in life are free, but this generally only applies to the intangibles. Hosting a website, on the other hand, clearly costs the provider money. They have to cover the cost of running their servers and marketing their services, not to mention ongoing development.
Free web page builders are almost always based on a freemium model. This means that the free, entry-level plan is funded by those customers who go on to purchase a paid (or premium) plan.
That’s why it’s worth doing your research before choosing which free website maker is best for you.
And one of the biggest benefits of using a website builder is that it can be quite cost effective compared to other methods. So it’s worth checking out the cheap website builders as well as the free ones!
What about domain names in free websites?
You won’t get a proper domain name, because .com or .net domains always come at a cost. As you have seen, most providers will give you a subdomain such as yourname.providername.com.
A free subdomain may be fine for a personal website, but we wouldn’t recommend it for professional or commercial sites for the following reasons:
- It looks unprofessional.
- You’re not doing yourself any favors in terms of search engine rankings (more on this below).
- It’s not easy to remember such a long name
There are a few places where you can get free custom domain names that aren’t subdomains. They sometimes also offer some (admittedly, obscure) domain names for free: .tk, .ml and .ga for example. However, we won’t mention any specific providers here, as we’ve found that many of them seem shady, complicated or both.
Namecheap allows you to forward your domain name to a URL (such as your free website’s subdomain) or to point it to a website, which is a bit of a technical process. Pointing your domain is actually the professional way, as then it will entirely run on this domain and no one will ever see the subdomain.
Note that Hubspot is the only provider we know of that lets you connect a domain you’ve purchased elsewhere to your free website.
Can I get free email addresses, too?
Yes, you can! Next to the classic free Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook email addresses, you can also have up to 5 email accounts on your own domain name. Zoho Workplace offers a Forever Free plan with 25GB webspace per user. Note that the free plan is a little hidden on their website.
This way you can have an email address like [email protected]. You’ll only need to pay the $12/year or so for your domain name. If you don’t need a .com domain and wouldn’t mind something like info@mycoolwebsite.ml, you could even get it entirely for free as I’ve explained in the section above.
Are there any other downsides of free website builders?
As we’ve seen above, many providers will run advertisements for their own or other businesses on your free website – not a professional look.
Advert on a Strikingly website
Then there are a few providers who offer only dated or unattractive layouts on their free plans, and keep the good designs for their paid plans. Also, free web page builders will restrict the number of pages you can build and keep their most advanced features for paying customers. Webstarts, for example, even blocks your visitors from seeing a mobile-optimized view when accessing the site via a smartphone.
What about search engine optimization (SEO)?
In order to rank highly in Google it’s not only important to provide decent content but also to be able to manage certain settings on your website. For example, you should be able to set a page title and a description for each of your pages. Fortunately all major site builders, with the exception of Jimdo, provide this.
As we’ve learned before, nearly all of the free packages have one limitation in common: you won’t be able to use a proper domain name. The domain name also has an important effect on SEO and most of the time subdomains don’t reach the top spots in search engines.
Another factor that can have a minor influence on your rankings is whether your website uses SSL encryption (https). The screenshot below shows the Chrome web browser bar when it’s activated:
This will ensure that data submitted through a contact form, for example, is safe and can’t be intercepted. This feature is usually included for free with all major website builder companies. From the tools we tested, only Mozello doesn’t secure their free sites by default. When SSL isn’t active, it will look like this to your visitors:
Not very trustworthy, is it?
If you are serious about ranking your site on Google you should consider opting for an affordable website builder rather than a free one (e.g. One.com or Jimdo). Find more information on SEO here.
Which free website builder is best for ecommerce?
Now that we’ve seen it’s possible to have a website at no cost, you might be wondering if you can also create free online stores. We’ve taken a look at these four tools and checked their offer:
| Provider | Type | Overall impression |
|---|---|---|
| Square Online | Complete online store | Apart from physical products, you can also sell digital files, services, event tickets, memberships, etc. There’s no product limit with Square Online’s free plan. It’s also great that you can hand out voucher codes to your potential customers. |
| Mozello | Complete online store | Allows up to 10 products and supports payments via Paypal. Although the store is quite limited, they also support a multilingual setup here. |
| Ecwid (Review) |
Add-on for existing websites | This plugin will turn your current website into an online store. Be aware that the free plan is limited to 10 products. You can also add Ecwid to one of the aforementioned free site builders. |
Find more alternatives in our guide to the best free ecommerce website builders.
In a nutshell, if you’d like a really simple, free ecommerce site, our recommendation would also be Square. Feature-wise they offer much more than all the other store builders in this test. Another option to sell online is Ecwid, but you’ll need to already have a website to add this ecommerce plugin.
Also, we would only recommend a free store if you have means, other than Google, of getting traffic to your website. Without being able to use your own domain name, it will be rather difficult to receive organic search engine traffic. You can find low-cost options in our best ecommerce website builder guide.
Best free website builder: Our conclusion
Wix is the most convincing free website builder in our view.
Wix’s advantage lies in their huge number of features, most of which are available for free. It’s the most future-proof choice should you ever be considering a paid upgrade.
However, it’s important not to be blinded by the word “free.” If you can afford it, stay away from free plans for your business site, even if it’s a small business. Of course, if the alternative is no website, then a free one is still better than nothing. But free plans come with certain restrictions that can give your business website an unprofessional look, such as strange domain names and an obtrusive advert, and opportunities to improve your website can be limited.
Once you’ve built it, moving your website to a new provider can be quite a hassle. So remember to take your future plans into consideration when weighing up your options, especially if you might want to get a proper domain name, matching email addresses or an ad-free version of your website at some stage in the future.
So if your plan is to upgrade to a premium package in the nearer future, you should also check out our paid favorites Wix and Squarespace. While their free plans have certain downsides, they are more advanced when it comes to the complete product.
For more details, please also take a look at our ranking chart of the best website builders.
Who wrote this guide?
This guide was researched and written by me, Robert Brandl and my team of digital experts, including Inka Wibowo and Raphael Damain. We’ve tried out all the providers we mention in here and continuously update the article. You are welcome to leave a comment if you have any questions or found anything that’s inaccurate.
Quick note: if you have been to review sites similar to ours, you may have noticed that our list contains website builders you won’t often find elsewhere.
The reason is simple: companies like Ucraft, Mozello, or Webstarts don’t pay huge commissions, but still have interesting free offerings. At Tooltester you can always be sure you get the full picture.
I hope this article was useful! Let us know if you have any feedback.
FAQ
There are two free website builders allowing to connect a custom domain name at no charge.
ConvertKit is actually a newsletter tool that allows you to create free landing pages, which is a one-page website. If you already have a custom domain, they let you connect it for free.
Shift4Shop is an ecommerce store builder. They let you build an online store for free and also connect a domain name. The way they make money is through processing fees and upgrades to premium plans.
The authors
Learn more about us
We keep our content up to date
15 Jan 2024: Removed IM Creator
28 Aug 2023: Several smaller updates
18 Jan 2023: Website builders with free custom domains added.
08 Jan 2023: Updated Hubspot profile
16 Dec 2022: Smaller updates and corrections
07 Nov 2022: Sellfy removed free plan
21 Oct 2022: Changes in rankings as Ucraft no longer allows you to use your own domain for free, Zoho and Sitebuilder.com removed (no more free plans)
3 Oct 2022: Added Hubspot
15 Apr 2022: Changes in rankings, Webnode demoted due to new obtrusive banner ad
03 Mar 2022: Update in free ecommerce builders
20 Jan 2022: Checked for accuracy and a few small updates
08 Oct 2021: General update
10 Mar 2021: Free email addresses section
22 Dec 2020: Webstarts contact form not available with free plans.
10 Dec 2020: Ucraft changes, Smart Finder updated.
16 Nov 2020: Webs.com removed, no free plan
09 Nov 2020: Webflow profile updated
07 Oct 2020: GoDaddy updated
06 Oct 2020: Jimdo updated
15 May 2019: A few smaller updates
20 Mar 2019: IM Creator added
24 Jan 2019: Changes in Ucraft's free plan.
10 Dec 2018: New video overview added.
30 Nov 2018: Adobe Spark added.
27 Nov 2018: Infographic added.
21 Nov 2018: Smart Finder added.
15 Nov 2018: Added demo pages to most site builders.
20 Feb 2018: New site builders added - Bookmark, Webflow and 000webhost.
18 Jan 2018: Added WordPress.com, Mobirise and Sitely.
16 Jan 2018: Added Strikingly, Google Sites, Site123 and Ucraft.
20 June 2017: Full update of the article, adding Webstarts and Mozello.
18 May 2016:Weebly Free's storage is limited to 500 MB.
13 Apr 2016: General update. Ecommerce free site included.
4 Apr 2015: It is no longer possible to use an existing domain name with your free Webnode site.
9 Jan 2015: We included Wix.com in our selection; it provides a free plan, which is excellent for creative people.
17 Jul 2014: Webnode states on their pricing overview that you can't connect an existing domain name to a free Webnode site. However, this only applies in a few cases, generally it should still be possible.
10 Jun 2014: Weebly's free plan continues to deteriorate: now there is an ad bar in the footer with a Weebly sign-up form.
24 Oct 2013: It's no longer possible to use an existing domain name with your free Weebly site. That's why they are only second in our ranking now.
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