Top 7 Cheapest Website Builders in 2024: From $1/month

Best for offline businesses needing a web presence for cheap

Not ideal for actually running an online business

Pricing: $1 per month for the first 12 months

IONOS

The cheapest plans, but comes with limited features

Above Average

3

out of 5

• Excellent load speed
• Customization is limited
• Pretty outdated overall

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $0.5 - $35 / month

Pros

• Scalable tools for growth
• Templates for all industries
• Easy-to-embed features

Cons

• Design of templates could be better
• No free plan
• Editor is outdated

IONOS Review

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IONOS At A Glance

While IONOS takes the first position for its $1 per month pricing, you get what you pay for. With limited customization, an outdated editor, and boring design options, IONOS is fine for taking an offline business online, but we wouldn’t recommend actually running one. IONOS’s value for money score fell by -26.2% from 4.2 to just 3.1 out of 5, due to a lack of features offered by its low price.

However, you can still go far with IONOS for just a dollar! Here’s what features the $1 per month Plus plan offers:

• Free domain for the first year
• Professional email address
• Limited customization and design abilities
• Good online marketing tools
• No ads
• Prices renew at a higher rate in the second year of subscription

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Stockton State Park Marina used IONOS to create its website, informing readers about the area and using images, slideshows and multiple pages to encourage engagement with visitors.

To get started with IONOS, I had the choice of selecting a template or building with AI.

IONOS' AI website builder asked me a few questions and I was impressed the color palette options were tailored to my business.

Once in the editor, I appreciated the overview of my page in the sidebar but the section-based editor felt a little limiting.

I could choose from a range of section layouts, such as contact forms.

Do We Recommend IONOS’ Cheapest Plan?

Yes and No. You aren’t going to find a website builder for cheaper than $1 a month, and you can still create a dynamic website, and translate it into multiple languages. You can connect your site to social media, as well as integrate a blog and advanced features such as photo galleries, parallax scrolling, and video backgrounds. IONOS can provide a functional website if cost is a major factor.

If you have other criteria to be met other than just cheapness, then we suggest you look at providers like Squarespace or Wix. For a few extra bucks, you could find yourself a provider more in line with what you want.

Best for users wanting a full suite of AI tools

Not ideal for those wanting to sell products online

Pricing: $2.99 per month + three months free (if you choose the 48-month plan)

Hostinger - Web Builder

Best for uptime reliability

Good

3.4

out of 5

• One to watch
• Experimental AI tools
• Good customer score

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $2.69 - $39.99 / month

Pros

• Easy-to-use template editor
• Inbuilt AI branding tools
• Free email for 3 months

Cons

• No app market
• Limited social media integration
• Cant switch templates once published

Hostinger Review

Use code WBE for 10% off!

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Hostinger At A Glance

Hostinger boasts some cutting-edge features, such as its AI writer, which is super useful for smaller businesses that can’t afford freelancers.

As a relative newcomer, it’s still growing in a lot of ways, but there are some rough patches compared to Wix or Squarespace. It has no app market to speak of, limited social media integration and once your site is published you can’t change templates.

Here are the features its $2.99 per month ‘Website’ plan offers:

• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited storage
• Free domain for a year (or connect your own)
• Built-in AI tools
• Blogging tools
• Free email for 3 months
• Integrate with Google Analytics
• Can’t sell on this plan

If you’re interested, Hostinger is offering the first 3 months free if you sign on for the plan for 48 months instead of 12 months. Additionally, you can get 10% off at checkout if you use code WBE at checkout.

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SOLD Corp Watches was built with Hostinger. It's AI tools make it so easy to create a website quickly, but the results aren't as good (yet) as what a person could do.

Even on its cheapest plans, Hostinger’s AI tools are impressive – I was able to build a website complete with relevant copy by filling in a short form.

Once in the editor, I found Hostinger’s grid layout to be really useful when making changes to my site’s overall look.

There were lots of sections for me to add to my website, each with different layout options.

I really liked Hostinger’s AI heatmap, which predicts where your users will spend longest when they land on your homepage.

Do We Recommend Hostinger’s Cheapest Plan?

Yes, we do, but not if you want to sell products. The Website plan is super affordable at just $2.99 per month, making it great for small business sites on a budget. Along with the AI tools and improvements made to both features and design functionality, Hostinger provides more of a complete package than other cheap builders. However, its commerce options are very limited. If you want a dedicated online store, we’d suggest opting for another provider like Shopify.

Best for users who want to manage their site on the go

Not ideal for online businesses that want robust marketing capabilities

Pricing: $9.99 per month

GoDaddy

Fastest way to build a website

Very Good

4.2

out of 5

• Hands-off ADI building
• Strong marketing focus
• Cheapest plan is limited

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $6.99 - $469.99 / month

Pros

• GoDaddy Insights tool helps you grow
• Edit your site on the go from your phone
• Fast setup helps you publish sooner

Cons

• No SEO optimizer on cheapest plan
• No sales or payments on cheapest plan
• Poor social integration on cheapest plan

GoDaddy Review

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GoDaddy At A Glance

Thanks to its ADI tool, building a website with GoDaddy is super quick – and at $9.99 per month, it’s pretty cheap too! You can also manage your site from anywhere with the GoDaddy mobile phone app, including creating and scheduling content.

But like IONOS, most of GoDaddy’s best features are not available on the cheapest plan, meaning at some point you are going to want to upgrade. Poor offerings in SEO, social media, and ecommerce hold this builder back, but you will have a running website in the quickest amount of time.

Here are the features the $9.99 per month Basic plan offers:

• 1-month free trial
• No free domain
• No ads on your website
• 24/7 phone support
• GoDaddy Insight analytics
• No built-in SEO website optimizer
• Integrate with one social platform
• Offer one-time appointments (no recurring bookings)
• No ecommerce

GoDaddy in Action: The Brand Phoenix

Janice Isabel Torres

Creative Communications Executive

Janice is a strategic agency partner for top brands, offering white-labeling services, which she has provided to dozens of top communication agencies. Her consulting practice, The Brand Phoenix, was founded in 2014.

Q&A

How did you find your GoDaddy plan?

In addition to an easy user experience, I love GoDaddy because of the customer service by phone. I am a bit old school and like to talk to real people. They are literally open 24/7, which is great for night owl entrepreneurs like me, who occasionally wake up at 3 a.m. with an idea that needs to be paired with the purchase of a domain.

Websites drive industry authority, increase SEO, control company narratives, and offer users safe place to exchange data.

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Brand Phoenix uses GoDaddy for its website. A good all-rounder, GoDaddy can falter in a few areas like social integration.

GoDaddy used ADI to build my website, but I had a range of other options to choose from in case I didn’t like the original layout.

While I was putting content into my website, GoDaddy was on hand to offer copy suggestions in the right-hand toolbar to make my job faster and easier.

I was able to add new sections to my website from GoDaddy’s right-hand menu. Although the list isn’t expansive, there were plenty to meet my needs.

Not all website builders allow you to add a social media feed, but I was able to connect my Instagram account so that my most recent posts showed up on my homepage.

Do We Recommend GoDaddy’s Cheapest Plan?

Yes, but not forever. GoDaddy’s cheapest plan is great if you need a simple site and you want to get it published quickly. Essentially, it’s the perfect starting point, especially given how useful its GoDaddy Insight tool is! However, you’ll want to upgrade as your business grows. This is because GoDaddy’s pricier plans offer greater value for money, especially when it comes to advanced SEO tools like custom headers and URLs, which help Google scroll your site faster.

Best for selling many products online

Not ideal for small stores or hobbyists

Pricing: $5 per month (social media selling only)

Shopify

Best for scaling your online store

Very Good

4.3

out of 5

• Sell unlimited products
• 0% - 2% transaction fees
• Advanced sales tools

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month

Pros

• Shipping discounts on cheapest plan
• Powerful inventory and selling tools
• Very scalable, so can grow larger stores

Cons

• High fees for non-Shopify Payments users
• Upgrading plans quickly grows expensive
• Paid apps can easily add up as you build

Shopify Review

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Shopify At A Glance

Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce platform – its primary function is to help merchants build, run, and grow online stores. This is great for large businesses…but poor for anything else. Shopify’s ecommere-focused editor can confuse newcomers, and if you don’t plan to sell, then you’re wasting Shopify’s potential.

Shopify’s pricing offically starts at $29 per month, with the next tier starting at $79 per month, so it’s definitely not for those starting from scratch and needing to budget.

But Shopify does in fact have a cheaper plan: the Shopify Starter plan. For only $5 per month, you get access to a Shopify store, which is designed specifically for social media selling. You won’t get the same amount of features as the Basic plan, but it’s great for people looking to sell fast!

Here are the features the $5 per month Shopify Starter plan offers:

• A simple storefront
• Unlimited product pages
• Fast and secure checkout
• Contact page for customer inquiries
• Linkpop, the link in bio tool designed for commerce
• Access to Shopify apps
• Shopify order management and integrated fulfillment network
• 2% transaction fee, unless you use Shopify Payments

Shopify in Action: Lucky Dog Design Co.

Kayla Hutchinson

Founder and Graphic Desginer

Founder Kayla Hutchinson has been a graphic designer for more than a decade. When Kayla’s not making cards or stickers, you can find her hula hooping, embroidering, drinking coffee, or getting lost in a good book.

Q&A

Which Shopify plan did you start with?

I started with a template available on Shopify for free for 3 years, then migrated over to a custom website within Shopify 2 years ago.

What did you like about your Shopify plan?

I love how it creates a seamless process for shop owners and buyers. It is easy and painless to create new products, add specific shipping, and accept many different payments.

What could be improved upon in the plan?

I would love more analytics. The analytics for Shopify users at the most common level seems to be cut off. Basic analytics you may want as a small business just does not exist. That said, I would recommend Shopify for product based business owners 100% of the time.

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Shopify is truly the full package. The aesthetic for this website totally suits the product, plus owners can advertise deals with banners.

Shopify’s block-based editor is a little different from the classic drag-and-drops but I was still easily able add new sections and move things around.

Unlike with other builders, I added new pages to my website from my dashboard. Although this was unfamiliar, it didn’t feel like hard work.

Since editing the overall look of my Shopify website took a little longer, I was grateful to turn to Shopify's AI text generator to create snappy copy for me.

Shopify has a whole section dedicated to marketing, and I really liked that I could create Pinterest ads within the Shopify platform.

Do We Recommend Shopify’s Cheapest Ecommerce Plan?

If you need its big-hitting features, then yes. There’s no denying that Shopify is a powerful ecommerce platform. Only being able to sell through social media is very limiting, even if it is only $5 per month. But if you need most of its tools, then even its $29 per month plan can feel expensive. Remember to budget for a theme, apps, and a domain – Shopify doesn’t include a free domain with any of its plans. To get real value, you need to be serious about scaling up your store and making use of its features. If you just want a small online store, we’d recommend Wix.

Best for setting up a small business online

Not ideal for large to enterprise-sized online businesses

Pricing: $14.40 per month with discount code “GET10!”

Wix

Best overall website builder

Outstanding

4.8

out of 5

• Sell unlimited products
• 0% transaction fee
• Great creative freedom

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month

Pros

• Best overall website builder
• 500+ quality templates to choose from
• Free plan available

Cons

• Only 2GB storage on cheapest plan
• No product reviews on cheapest plan
• No stock management alerts

Wix Review

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Wix At A Glance

Wix is a website builder that also provides ecommerce plans for those wanting to build an online store. Its cheapest plan is $16 per month, but you’ll need to upgrade to the $27 per month Core plan to start selling. It strikes a good balance between brand-focused creative freedom and sales features, making it perfect for small businesses with plans to expand.

However, there’s only 2GB of storage on the starting plan, plus no low stock management alerts or product reviews. If you have a large business or want to reach enterprise level, best to stick with specialized ecommerce platforms like Shopify.

Here are the features the $16 per month Light plan, offers:

• Free domain for one year
• No ads on your store
• 2GB storage
• +800 templates across a variety of industries
• 24/7 customer care

Wix in Action: Event Safety Plus

Sarah Davis

Co-Founder and COO

We work with event planners and community leaders to develop strategic plans for safe community events.

Q&A

Why did you choose the cheapest Wix plan?

Our company needed a cost-effective option. We are a bootstrapped consulting startup and watching how we spend our money was definitely a factor in choosing how we built our website.

What were you able to achieve on this plan, and how did you like it?

Wix was amazingly easy and everything is very intuitive. If you want to do something and you can’t figure it out, the help is always available. I have used it numerous times and I have always been able to figure out what I need to do.

What I like most about Wix is the ease of adding functions. Just last week, we decided to add a blog page to the website. Within 30 minutes, I had the page created with 4 pre-written blogs published. Having all of that is priceless!

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Event Safety Plus was built with Wix. If you need a website, Wix has all the necessary functions you need and more.

The number of features and tools Wix offers is vast, so I had a ton of elements to choose from when building my site.

Wix won’t be left behind when it comes to AI – it also offers an AI tool to write your site content, which was very convenient for me!

I really liked that I could edit even the smallest things on my website. Even the buttons on my page had a huge number of settings to amend and tailor.

Part of Wix’s impressive feature score is down to its app market and I wasn't disappointed by the huge number of apps available to download.

Do We Recommend Wix’s Cheapest Plan?

Yes! Wix’s Light plan may be a pricier option than others on this list, but Wix easily offers the best features and the most complete website building package. With Wix, you don’t have to compromise on quality – and there’s always the free plan if you’d like to check it out for yourself!

Best for photographers selling photos online

Not ideal for those not interested in creative design

Pricing: $14.40 per month, with discount code “WBE”

Squarespace

Best value for money

Outstanding

4.7

out of 5

• Excellent brand presence
• Good marketing features
• Inbuilt analytics

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month

Pros

• Stunning templates
• Best help and support
• Marketing features encourage growth

Cons

• Customization limited by template layout
• No free plan
• No ecommerce on cheapest plan

Squarespace Review

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Squarespace At A Glance

Squarespace is one of the big hitters of the website-building world, and for good reason. It’s an ideal choice for photographers thanks to its excellent templates and editor, allowing you to show off your creative side. However, it just can’t beat Wix for features or Shopify for ecommerce plans.

That being said, it is great value for money, the best of any builder we’ve tested with 4.6 out of 5. You can even take advantage of our exclusive WBE 10% discount code, reducing the price for the Personal plan from $16 per month to just $14.40.

Here are the features the $14.40 per month Personal plan offers:

• Connect a custom domain
• Free domain for the first year
• No ads
• Unlimited storage
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Comprehensive SEO features
• Awesome 24/7 customer help and support
• No ecommerce on cheapest plan
• Basic analytics software

Squarespace in Action: A+ Pyschiatry

Jess Levy

Certified Psychiatrist

Jess Levy is a board certified psychiatrist in a Cleveland, Ohio who treats children and adults. He is the proud owner of A+ Psychiatry.

Q&A

How long have you been on your Squarespace plan?

I’ve been using Squarespace for about 14 months. I designed my website using little to no HTML knowledge.  What I like about Squarespace is the templates, they tend to be clean, crisp and pop!

Are there any issues with your Squarespace plan?

What I dislike about Squarespace is you have to pay a for a separate account in addition to the domain name if you want to design a second webpage. It feels like a ripoff.

What do you like about the Squarespace plan you're on?

I do like the drag-and-drop editor. It’s a huge step up from messing with spacers. I also like the SEO analytics. Lastly I like that it comes with a library of free to use stock photos.

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Squarespace has a template for every industry you could imagine, including this psychiatry one used by A+ Psychiatry.

I used Squarespace's guided web design system, Squarespace Blueprint, to generate a custom template.

I could easily find where to add new sections or pages, and I appreciated the pre-set options offered by Squarespace.

It took me a bit of time to choose between the variety of Squarespace's elements - but only because they all look so good!

Squarespace provides access to a library of stock photos, meaning I could populate my site with free imagery.

Do We Recommend Squarespace’s Cheapest Plan?

Yes, we do! Its Personal plan comes with just enough features to get your small business up and running, and the beautiful templates are sure to make an impression on your potential customers. Plus, when you do outgrow this plan, Squarespace has three others to choose from, so you can scale your business with confidence.

Best for food businesses wanting to sell both offline and online

Not ideal for creating entirely online businesses 

Pricing: $29 per month (you can sell for free)

Square Online

Best for selling for free

Very Good

4.2

out of 5

• Sell unlimited products
• 2.9% + $0.30 fee per sale
• Super easy to use

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $12 - $79 / month

Pros

• Free domain and no ads on cheapest plan
• Sync online and offline sales using POS
• Offer a range of delivery options

Cons

• No abandoned cart on cheapest plan
• Transaction fees charged on all plans
• No product reviews on cheapest plan

Square Online Review

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Square Online At A Glance

Square Online is the only builder on this list that lets you sell for free. However, this free plan gives you very limited features, and you’ll have to contend with a Square Online domain name and ads.

The Professional plan is the true starting plan in terms of a fully functional website, but with a starting price matching Shopify, in a versus between the two, we’d always recommend the latter.

Here are the features the $29 per month Professional plan offers:

• Sell an unlimited number of products
• Free domain for one year
• No ads on your store
• Automatic syncing with Square POS
• Offer pickup, delivery, or shipping
• No abandoned cart
• No product reviews
• 2.9% + 30 cents transaction fee

Square Online in Action: The Hive

Alyssa Tollefson

Graphic Designer

I am a Square Online (Weebly) web designer. I help small businesses leverage all the features Square offers so they can provide a top-notch omnichannel experience for their customers or clients.

Q&A

How do you feel about your Square Online plan?

I love how simple Square Online sites are. They make it extremely efficient to offer an excellent experience for my clients and for their customers. For my web design consulting business, I love that I can use Square to host my website, invoice and contract my clients, and manage all my projects. It takes a lot of busy work out of the equation for me.

What particular features stand out?

For my boutique, The Hive, I have made use of the many apps that integrate with Square, but most notably, is Shippo. I’m able to use Square Online to login and fulfill orders, but the Shippo integration allows me to print labels and pay for all my shipping in one place. Then, I simply drop off my packages at the Post Office. It makes my shipping workflow easy and straightforward.

Square Online Gallery

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Alyssa Tollefson's personal website is great insight into what is capable on Square Online.

Although customizability isn’t Square Online’s strongest suit, I was able to easily tweak content in the editor to reflect my business.

Square online has a number of extra sections that could be added in and I chose to incorporate a menu.

I was also able to add products to my store in my Square Online dashboard, specifying everything from price to how my customers would receive their item.

Square Online recognizes the importance of reviews, so adding a customer testimonial section was quick and easy.

Do We Recommend Square Online’s Cheapest Plan?

Yes! Square Online’s cheapest $29 per month Plus plan is perfect for a small online store, and its free plan is a great way to get to grips with running an online store without having to spend a penny. It may be missing weightier features like abandoned cart recovery, but it still offers amazing value for new sellers who need an attractive, feature-rich store.

Before we summarize this list and tell you our verdict, let’s go over what the most important factors are for choosing a cheap website builder, as well as covering some pressing user questions:

• How much is it? – A cheap website builder should be affordable, meaning it fits within your budget while still being useful. It’s important to first clarify what you need from a builder, and then see how much website builders charge for it.
• What do I get for that price? – You also need to get some value for your money. If it can’t do what you want, then there’s no point in investing in it. A good cheap website builder will have a good balance of cheap price but plenty of features.
• How long will it take me? – A frustrating and obtuse website builder will have you quitting quicker than anything else, believe us. Good ease of use is vital to actually being able to build your website.
• Can I grow on it? – Once you’ve built your site, you need to be reassured that it can grow an audience quickly through marketing and SEO.
• Where can I go if I need help? – You want your website builder to provide support if things go wrong and it not feel like a ‘cheaper’ version

Can I Use a Website Builder for Free?

A handful of website builders offer free plans, but they’re essentially glorified demos. Wix has a free plan, for example, but your site will have ads, and you won’t be able to attach a domain to it – not terribly professional. Free plans are great for testing the waters, but that’s about it.

Is Wix Actually Free?

Yes! Wix offers a free plan which you can sign up for today! However, you will have to use a Wix domain, and have Wix ads appear on your site, plus you won’t have access to all of Wix’s extensive features. Other than that, you can still host and create a quality website for free!

Which is the Cheapest Website Builder for Small Businesses?

For small businesses, we would recommend Square Online, as it lets you sell for free. You will have ads and limited access to features, but it is the cheapest way to sell online.

Which is Better, Wix or Squarespace?

With Wix vs Squarespace, Wix is our top-rated website builder overall. It has superior features, excellent ease of use, and great help and support. Squarespace isn’t far behind, boasting better value for money and designs, as well as being Wix’s equal when it comes to help and support, and ease of use.

Does Google Have a Free Website Builder?

Yes, it has Google Sites where you can create a very basic public-facing website. It’s more of a tool for work than for creating a large website but it is completely free!

The Website Builder Expert product testing process

Whether you need a blog, portfolio, online store, or small business website, you now know the cheapest website builders for your specific project.

IONOS is the cheapest of the cheap at just $1 per month, but always make sure you pick a plan that meets your needs – it’s the best way to ensure you get the most value for your money.

Some cheap website builders are better than others. Always check which features you’re getting for your money, to make sure you get the best deal you can.