Using a cheap website builder needn't mean cutting corners when creating your perfect website. A well-constructed website can help you grow your business, land that dream job, or give your passion project loads of great exposure – and you can do all of this with a low-cost website builder that won't break the bank.
These days, creating your own website needn’t cost an arm and a leg. There are some great website builders in the market that’ll get you online for a monthly fee that's less than the price of a beer.
If you want to create a great-looking website without spending a fortune, then the best cheap website builder is Wix. Our recommendation is based on expert testing and user feedback, including from complete novices at creating sites. Not only is Wix incredibly easy to use, but it has a range of professional quality templates and regular deals and discounts to make it even more compelling.
When choosing a cheap website builder, don't simply go for the cheapest possible price. Consider the real value of what you're paying for. If you are making your own website, it’s worth making a good one – simply put, if your site isn’t up to scratch, no one will visit it. And if no one’s visiting your website, is there much point in having one at all?
In this guide, we’ll round up the best cheap website builders, offer some guidance about how much different types of websites will cost, and explain why you should avoid a free website.
The table below features the scores from our independent testing and research into website builders, and shows what features you’ll get with each website builder’s pricing tiers.
Wix | Weebly | Squarespace | 1&1 Ionos | WordPress | GoDaddy | Site123 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Test score | |||||||
| Verdict | Comfortably the best website builder we've tested, and brilliantly simple, even for beginners | Another great website builder that's also very approachable for first-timers | Stands out with its attractive templates, though not quite as well-rated as Wix | A good system for producing an e-commerce website | Perfect for blogs, but can be fiddly for other types of site | Some big improvements to templates in the past year, but a little light on features | Can help you build a website, but the options are more limited compared to rival website tools |
| Free Plan Limitations | Unable to publish site | Only 500 MB storage, Weebly.com subdomain, display Weebly ads | 14-day free trial | No free plan | Only 3 GB storage, displays WordPress ads, no access to WordPress support | 30-day free trial | Only 500 MB storage and 1 GB bandwidth, displays Site123 ads |
| Cheapest Plan | Combo – $8.50/month (for 36 months), 2GB bandwidth, 3GB storage, free domain for one year | Starter – $8/month, better site analytics, limited ecommerce, unlimited storage | Websites Personal – $12/month, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free custom domain with annual purchase, 24/7 support | Online– $5/month, access to templates, free domain and email account | Personal – $4/month, custom domain, removal of wordpress adverts, just 6GB storage | Personal – $5.99/month, limited customization functionality, no ecommerce, 24/7 support | Basic – $10.80/month, limited ecommerce features, 10GB and 5GB bandwidth |
| Average Plan | Unlimited – $16/month, 10GB storage and bandwidth, access to Site Booster and Form Builder apps | Pro – $12/month, password protected areas, can list up to 25 products, phone support | Online Stores Basic – $26/month, sell unlimited products, advanced ecommerce functions, professional Gmail, unlimited contributors | Only offers two plans | Premium – $8/month, premium website templates, 13GB storage, improved social media functions, monetize your site through ads | Business Plus – $14.99/month, Yelp & Google My Business functions, online appointment booking, social media integration | Advanced $16.80/month, removes Site123 footer, 30GB storage and 15GB bandwidth, allows 50 ecommerce orders per month |
| Most Expensive Plan | VIP – $29/month, 20GB bandwidth and storage, email marketing and priority support response | Business – $25/month, removed transaction fees, unlimited product listings, digital goods, product reviews, industry management, shipping and tax calculators | Online Stores Advanced – $40/month, subscription product sales, abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping, flexible discount, gift cards and orders API | Online Store– $15/month, create content tailored to user segments, SEO tutorials and email marketing tools | Business – $25/month, upload custom templates, access plugins, SEO tools and Google Analytics, removes all WordPress branding | Online Store – $19.99/month, abandoned cart recovery, accept credit cards, Apple Pay and PayPal, check out on your own site | Gold – $28.80/month, unlimited ecommerce orders, 270GB storage, 135GB bandwidth |
| Features | |||||||
| Design Flexibility | |||||||
| Value for Money | |||||||
| Help and Support | |||||||
| Customer Score | |||||||
| Ease of Use | |||||||
| Try it Today | Visit Wix | Visit Weebly | Visit Squarespace* | Visit 1&1 Ionos | Visit WordPress | Visit GoDaddy | Visit Site123 |
* Take 10% off Squarespace with code ‘TECH10'
Wix
The best overall cheap website builder we’ve tested
Wix offers four pricing plans, including a free option. We wouldn’t recommend the free plan, though – while it will allow you to construct a website, you won’t be able to publish it.
Instead, the Combo plan – which starts at $8.50 per month if you're happy to pay for 3 years – allows you to connect a domain name to your Wix site, remove the Wix adverts that blight the free version, plus enjoy plenty of bandwidth and storage. If you only pay for 12 months, the price increases to $11 per month, so we'd recommend saving and going for the 3-year deal.
The Unlimited plan, which costs $14 per month when billed annually, gives you a free domain as well as 10GB of storage and bandwidth. It also removes adverts from your site. It’s a great option, and if you’re looking to grow a small business, it’s ideal.
Pros
- Incredibly simple to use
- Great value plans
- Easy to preview as you go
- No expertise needed
- Great range of templates
Cons
- Free plan leaves you with a poor URL and Wix adverts
- After publishing with a template, you can't change to another one
Weebly
A great, cheap, easy to use website builder
Weebly, like Wix, offers a free pricing plan – and as with Wix, it’s probably not worth dealing with.
The Starter plan costs $5 per month and removes adverts, gives you unlimited storage plus site analytics, and even lets you sell a small selection of products. The Pro plan costs $12 per month and gives you even more features than the Starter plan, including site search, password protected areas, and HD video and audio uploads. You’ll also get over-the-phone support.
Weebly also has the Business and Performance plans, which cost $25 and $38 respectively. These are designed for ecommerce businesses and give you loads of ecommerce specific features, including inventory management, tax calculators, and the ability for customers to checkout on your own website.
Pros
- Great selection of templates
- Lots of tools you can add to your site
- Good customization options
Cons
- No editor for mobile version of your site
- Expensive for creating an ecommerce site
Squarespace
Making a website this good looking shouldn’t be this cheap
Squarespace prides itself on the quality of its website templates, and this level of quality comes surprisingly cheap.
There’s no free plan, but the $12 per month Personal plan offers a lot of features normally reserved for pricier plans on other website builders. You get unlimited storage and bandwidth, free custom domains, and 24/7 customer support.
You could run a fully-functional, high quality website on the Personal plan, but if you want to sell stuff on your Squarespace site, it’s worth opting for the Basic Online Store plan, which costs $26 per month. You’ll have access to all the key ecommerce features, without transaction fees.
Pros
- The best-looking templates around
- Great ecommerce functions
- Simple to customize
Cons
- Not quite as easy as Wix for first-timers
- Small range of apps
- No free version
1&1 Ionos
Straightforward pricing structure makes choosing the right package easy
1&1 Ionos only offers two pricing plans: Online and Online Store. The Online plan offers you all the basic features to build a website and costs $5 per month. You get a free domain and five associated email accounts, social media widgets, and templates pre-filled with content relevant to your website.
The Online Store plan costs $15 per month. You get access to everything in the Online plan, plus SEO tutorials, an email marketing tool, and — most importantly — online store features. As the Online Store plan isn't too much more expensive than the basic Online plan, it might be worth jumping straight to the Online Store plan to take advantage of those SEO and email marketing tools, even if you don't need to sell products online.
It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that 1&1 Ionos requires users to sign up for a year’s plan when creating their site.
Pros
- Has an in-depth editor with lots of customization options
- Offers multilingual functions
- Easy-to-access HTML and CSS code
Cons
- No free package
- No ecommerce functions
- Outdated templates
WordPress
The ubiquitous blogging platform is a good value website builder
WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org, which doesn’t include website hosting) offers four pricing plans, including a free option. The free option probably isn’t worth bothering with, as you’ll have to host WordPress advertising and banners as well as use a WordPress.com sub-domain.
The Personal plan, which starts from $4 per month, removes WordPress adverts and gives you 6GB of storage space. You can build a proper site on the Personal plan, but it’s not the best feature set.
Instead, the Premium plan – which costs $8 per month – gives you access to unlimited premium website themes, advanced customization and editing, 13GB of storage, and support for basic ecommerce functions.
The Business plan costs $25 per month and is best suited to small ecommerce businesses, with SEO tools, plugin support, Google Analytics integration, and the removal of WordPress footer branding.
Pros
- Great for bloggers and publishing sites
- Easy to get started
- Huge user community
Cons
- WordPress.org might be a better option
- Not a worthwhile choice for non-publishing/non-blogging sites
- Slightly inflexible editor
GoDaddy
GoDaddy offers competitive pricing for businesses and online stores
Instead of a free plan, GoDaddy offers a 30-day trial before you sign up to one of its four paid plans. The cheapest is the Personal plan at $5.99 per month, which offers website hosting and 24/7 support.
Next up is the Business plan, which costs $9.99 per month and adds SEO tools and a PayPal button. It’s not a huge step up from the Personal plan.
Business Plus, on the other hand, costs $14.99 per month and offers a range of extra features. These include email marketing, Yelp and Google My Business listing, social media integration, and in-browser appointment booking.
The Online Store plan costs $19.99 per month, and unsurprisingly gives you basic ecommerce functions. These include a shopping cart, product management, and a range of payment options.
Pros
- Offers a powerful and speedy ADI option
- An easy-to-use editor
Cons
- Lacks real in-depth customization options
- Very few apps or plugins to add extra functionality
- Singular focus on business websites
Site123
A speedy way to build a simple website
Site123 offers five pricing plans, including a free option. The cheapest Basic plan starts from $10.80 per month, and gives you 10GB of storage, 5GB of bandwidth, and limited ecommerce functions. You’re stuck with Site123 branding, though.
The subsequent pricing plans – Advanced ($16.80 per month), Professional ($22.80 per month) and Gold ($28.80 per month) – offer more storage and bandwidth, allow for more ecommerce orders, and provide multilingual options. It’s not the most compelling set of features, and you’re probably better off with the Basic or Advanced plans if you’re looking to use Site123.
Pros
- Incredibly quick setup and ADI features
- Good ecommerce features
Cons
- Slightly dull templates
- Confusing navigation options
How Much Does a Website Cost?
As you can see from above, there’s no one fixed price when it comes to building a website. Instead, you’ll have to make a judgement on the type of website you want to make, and the type of features you’ll need.
After all, the needs of a student looking to create an online portfolio are pretty different to the needs of a sole trader looking to attract customers, and are different again to someone looking to sell their wares online.
You’ll also need to factor in the costs of domains, hosting, plugins and third-party apps, which can all add up.
- For a portfolio site – Expect to pay around $10 per month. You’ll need a website builder that offers a lot of storage so you can upload images of your work – Squarespace could be a good choice.
- For a blog – Expect to pay $4-10 per month. We’d recommend WordPress here, and you can easily build a blog with the Personal plan, which costs $4 a month. If you’re looking for more customization, you can move up to the Premium plan, which costs $8 per month.
- For a small business site – Expect to pay around $10-20 per month. If you’re happy to have a pretty basic website, you could definitely get by spending only $10 per month. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features such as appointment booking or contact forms, you’ll be looking at closer to $20 per month – although the extra outlay will be worth it.
- For a larger business site – Expect to pay $20-40 per month. If you’re running a larger business, your customers will be expecting more from your site, making site uptime and bandwidth essential. Make sure you find a good website hosting service to increase uptime, and look for a website builder with generous bandwidth to make sure customers can get to your site. You’ll also need advanced features such as contact forms, appointment booking and SEO tools to compete in competitive markets.
- For an ecommerce site – Expect to pay $30+. Ecommerce websites are expensive and complicated to run. So much so, in fact, that there are dedicated platforms for running these kind of sites. You’ll need to make sure that the platform you choose doesn’t have transaction fees, supports multiple payment options, and doesn’t limit the amount of sales you can make in a month.
Find out more: How much does a website cost?
Why You Should Avoid Free Website Builder Plans
While lots of the website builders above offer free plans, they’re often very limited in terms of features. And, when you can build a good website from as little as $4 per month, there’s no real reason to compromise.
With a paid-for site, even one that’s only a few dollars a month, you won't have to live with:
- Adverts
- Website builder branding
- A fixed domain name (e.g. username.wixsite.com/website)
- Limited functionality
You'll also get better support and analytics, which free users won't have access to.
If you bump the price up a little bit more (to the value of two or three fancy coffees a month, rather than one) you'll get:
- A professional-looking site
- Improved features, such as social media integration and contact forms
- The possibility to monetize your site
A website like this will help you land that dream job, sell your wares, or grow your business.
Verdict: With paid plans available so cheaply, you don't need to cut corners and settle for a free website. Just a couple dollars investment will pay off, while a free website may cost you in unprofessionalism.
Get Started With Wix from Just $5 per Month
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