7 best free website builders to help small business owners and creators. |
There is no need to be tech-savvy or have a bottomless budget to build stunning websites. Discover how seven of the top free website builders stack up.
If you're planning to launch your personal brand or launching an enterprise it is essential to have a website. Your website is the home you have on the internet. However, building a site from scratch for the first time may be a challenge as well as costly.
Luckily, you don't need to be a programmer and possess a keen eye for web style, or pay money for a professional website. The free website builders can make building your website easy, speedy, and affordable.
In this article, we're giving you seven top free website builders for creators and small-scale businesses seeking to design a website that looks good with no time or a hefty price tag.
1.
The intuitive builder for websites, you don't need to master a single line or code line to have your website appear stunning. Make your website unique by adding colors, branding styles as well as logos, fonts, fonts photographs, and tons of content blocks you can pick from.
Within every content block it is possible to customize the layout and contents for a website that's exactly as you want it to be and is your company's image. You can even embed podcasts, videos, and widgets from 1900+ other apps directly on your site.
Every site has an SSL certificate, and they are optimized for mobile. Additionally, it is simple to include Google Analytics on your website to monitor visitors and sales.
That's right, you are able to build a strong and profitable web presence without spending a dime -- which helps score a 90.91 score on the Creator Friendly Index .
The Creator Friendliness Index uses 20 rating factors to determine the degree of how accommodating a business's policies are to creators. The index is highly favorable across the various factors of friendliness including a cost-free plan, ways to remove charges for transactions, as well as multiple currency options and integrations.
2. Wix
Wix is a web-based builder that allows users to create easy web pages for free. With Wix, you can create a storefront, blog, or business website through drag-and drop editors that include hundreds of modern templates.
Wix's site builder is intuitive even if you don't have design chops. You can also get help through Wix's special Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool, which uses artificial intelligence to design a custom site for your brand. Your Wix website also has built-in SEO and search engine optimization (SEO) tools.
The main drawback of Wix's plan for free is the Wix advertising banner on each page. It's hard to ensure your site looks professional when that's the first thing people are exposed to. For you to get rid of the Wix banner the website must be on the Combo plan ($16/month) or greater.
Wix is rated 79.22 according to the Creator Friendliness Index . It earns points for its free plans and for the affordable cost of its paid plans. It is penalized for limit the quantity of items a creator can sell by plans and the lack of help documentation.
3. WordPress
WordPress is an open-source, free content management system (CMS) software, which is popular as a blogging platform and website builder.
There are two ways that you are able to use WordPress to build your website self-hosted or managed hosting.
Using WordPress for your self-hosted site is absolutely free. However, you must consider domain registration, web hosting premium themes, costly plugins and prices rapidly add in.
The other choice is to design your site using WordPress.com managed hosting. WordPress.com provides a no-cost plan and several paid plans.
If you use the trial version of WordPress.com it is possible to create a basic website with 1GB storage with pre-installed themes as well as built-in SEO tools and tools, but that's about all you get.
WordPress is rated 68.33 in the Creator Friendliness Index . It earns points for free plans, the integrations it offers, as well as its language support however, it is slashed for the absence of customer support.
4. Weebly
Weebly is an ecommerce platform and website builder operated by Square.
The Weebly website builder is beginner-friendly and offers customizable templates. It allows you to add custom CSS and HTML, and the App Center lets you integrate extensions and integrations for added features.
Web hosting is included with all plans. Additionally, it is possible to purchase your domain name direct via Weebly. If you aren't ready to buy a domain name, you can use a free subdomain, like yournamehere.weebly.com.
Weebly provides blogs that allow you to share content, and an App Center for adding extra functionality, and analytics to help you monitor how well your website is doing.
Because Square has the majority ownership of Weebly It's been created with the e-commerce market in mind. The plans that are available, even the no-cost plan, come with an e-commerce feature to set up your own online store as well as offer physical items.
The free Weebly option has its downsides. It has storage restrictions and it's not possible to sell digital items. Weebly is also able to display Square ads on Free and Personal plans, so you'll need upgrade to a premium account to remove them.
In the end, Weebly is a solid alternative for people who don't have extensive website experience particularly if you intend to market physical goods online.
5. SITE123
SITE123 is a straightforward website builder that is free for those looking to establish an internet presence. The name says it all, SITE123 makes building a site as simple as one three things:
Select your website type. Choose from templates for a business, blog, event page, service provider, and more.
Include your company's name, content, as well as images.
Publish your website.
All of the templates that are available on SITE123 are adaptable and include free web hosting, 500MB of storage space, along with 1GB of data bandwidth.
There's a catch: the free plan limits your ability to alter the colors and fonts of your choice, as well as other design elements. You must upgrade to a paid plan for access to apps, plugins as well as full option for customization. Additionally, there is none of the free tools for e-commerce.
Also, it's impossible to change the template of your website after you've begun building your website. If you do this, you'll lose all your information. This could be a huge hassle.
It's true that SITE123 won't offer much control over your creativity over your free site. But if you need a simple, no-frills website for your company it is possible to get just enough to get by.
6. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is known as a web hosting provider as well as a domain name registrar however, it also provides an online website builder for free, with limited ecommerce tools. Choose a template, insert your business and content information, and you'll get your website up and running to start in only a couple of steps.
Your free site includes email marketing tools as well as one-time appointment settings, analytics, and SSL certificates. Another thing which makes GoDaddy distinguish itself from other free platforms is 24/7 customer support and community forums, so you'll have plenty of support if you get stuck.
The basic plan has some limitations. It is required to have the godaddysites.com subdomain. GoDaddy will place an ad on the top of every page on your site. Tools like SEO, regular appointments, full online store capabilities, as well as custom domains are only available through paid plans.
All things considered All things considered, GoDaddy's free service is a solid option for personal websites, however the heavy branding at the top of every page could make a company site appear not professional.
7. Jimdo
Jimdo is a free website builder which lets you build an online business site in a few steps:
Answer a few questions about your website.
Incorporate business information through your social media pages.
Choose a design.
Publish your site!
The Jimdo image library gives you access to many different kinds of high-quality stock photos. It is also possible to add contact forms for customers to get in touch.
Jimdo's site creation wizard lets you easily build websites. However, it's a loss of customization. There are some predefined layouts, and diverse color schemes.
On the free plan, you have to use a jimdo.com subdomain. There's a Jimdo advertisement on each page. There's 2GB of bandwidth, and 500MB of storage and may have up to five pages of your site. Finally, you don't have access to any customer support, meaning you're all on your own in the event that you need help creating your website.
If you're in need of a straightforward one-page site and feel confident there won't be any need for customer service, Jimdo could be an acceptable option, however, it's free and one of the most limiting alternatives on this list.
Pick a site builder built to grow with you in mind
Not all free website builders do the same. As you evaluate different options take note for the ways platforms add costs to a "free" tool: Hidden upsells, fees, limits on the number of website pages, or the possibility of customization or unremovable ads. It isn't a good idea to find yourself in the middle of unexpected charges as you are preparing to launch your web site.
By using, you can design a beautiful website for your company in only two steps. It's the best website builder for creators who want to build an online base for their company -- without the technical headache or the pricey cost.