7 Best Free Website Builders for Small Businesses (January 2023)
Elizabeth Kraus has more than a decade of first-hand experience building and growing a boutique digital marketing agency and double that in small and mid-size business marketing management. She provides expert answers to marketing questions related to branding, content marketing, web development, email, social media, and SEO.
Free website builders enable anyone to build a free business website in order to establish an online presence quickly, easily—and at no cost. We compared a dozen contenders before narrowing our list to the best free website builders for small businesses. All are beginner-friendly, with tools for marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and ecommerce, as well as modern, ready-made templates and intuitive design tools.
- Best free website builder overall: Wix
- Best free ecommerce website builder: Weebly
- Best way to build a free business website on your own domain: HubSpot
- Best for service-based businesses: GoDaddy
- Best for one-page websites: Strikingly
- Best templates for fast website building: Webnode
- Most intuitive free website builder for beginners: Mozello
Best Free Website Builders at a Glance
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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4.9 |
✓ |
No |
$16 |
| Visit Wix - Save 10% with promo code TAKE10 | ||||
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4.72 |
✓ |
Yes |
$12 |
| Visit Weebly | ||||
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4.7 |
✓ |
Plugin |
$23 |
| Visit HubSpot | ||||
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4.5 |
✓ |
PayPal Links |
$9.99** |
| Visit GoDaddy | ||||
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4.1 |
✓ |
Yes |
$23 |
| Visit Strikingly | ||||
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3.7 |
✓ |
No |
$12.90 |
| Visit Webnode | ||||
 |
3.5 |
✓ |
Yes |
$8 |
| Visit Mozello | ||||
*Monthly plan cost with annual billing
**Renews at a higher cost after the first year
Free website builders can be a great way to get your business online, but keep in mind that your website will be on a subdomain (e.g., yoursite.wix.com), which isn’t credible enough for businesses. We recommend using the free plan to build your site and then choosing a paid plan to host your site on your domain for improved search engine optimization (SEO), branding, and customer perceptions.
Wix: Best Free Website Builder for Small Business Overall
Wix
Overall Score:
4.9 / 5
Pros
- Largest template library (800+)
- Built-in marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and artificial intelligence (AI) tools
- Max design freedom to create a custom-looking website
- Extensive apps directory to extend the functionality of your website
Cons
- Free version displays ads and is hosted on a subdomain—like most other free site builders
- No ecommerce on the free plan, unlike Weebly
- Can’t connect your own domain on Wix’s free plan, unlike HubSpot
- Extremely limited storage on the free plan (500MB)
What You Get for Free
- Free website and SSL security on a Wix subdomain with Wix branding
- Unlimited web pages and blog articles
- Limited to 500MB of storage
- Most full-featured drag-and-drop website editor
When to Use Wix
Wix is one of the most well-known site builders for making a small business website for free. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor comes starting for free, as does its massive template library and access to third-party apps. Robust features, affordable plans, and advanced SEO landed it atop our lists for best small business site builders, best drag-and-drop website builders, and best site builders for SEO, in addition to being the best free website builder for small businesses.
When to Go With an Alternative
As impressive as Wix is, it has a few shortcomings compared to other site builders. True beginners may prefer GoDaddy or Mozello, as both make it easy to build a website, even for true beginners. HubSpot is the best way to create a free website on a branded domain. Webnode has the best templates. Weebly is the go-to for a free ecommerce site builder, as Wix locks ecommerce behind its business and ecommerce plans starting at $27 a month.
Wix wins out as the best free website builder for small businesses for several reasons. First, its drag-and-drop editor offers the most control over site design, and website statistics show 73% of businesses prioritize unique design. While your site will have Wix branding, it’s the best way to build a free website that looks custom-designed to stand out and establish credibility for your brand online.
Wix is well-known for the design freedom that puts it at the top of our list of the best drag-and-drop website builders. You can drag elements around, so you’re not limited to preset content blocks.
Start with one of over 800 premade templates, a blank template, or let Wix’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered template generator build one for you. For more details, check out our step-by-step instructions and video tutorial to better understand what it takes to build a Wix website.
Getting found online is paramount to building a strong online brand presence, and no free site builder offers better SEO features than Wix. From fast site loading to automatic image compression and schema markup, learn more and find out why Wix tops our list of the best website builders for SEO.
Also, several essential search engine marketing (SEM) tools are accessible in the free-forever version. For example, you can set up Facebook and Instagram advertising, and Wix’s AI will manage and test your ads and optimize your budget. GoDaddy has paid social media ad features as well, but not until the second paid tier.
Wix Pricing & Plan Overview
Best Free Alternatives to Wix
Webnode is a better option for those who want to get a site up as quickly as possible as its templates are well-developed. Likewise, Mozello’s intuitive interface makes it a good choice for those wanting to build and publish a small ecommerce website easily (up to five products in the free version) and in a short amount of time.
We found GoDaddy to be one of the easiest free website builders for beginners (along with Webnode). Plus, GoDaddy includes appointment booking starting for free—something you can’t get with Wix or any other free site builders. So GoDaddy is a better choice for service-based businesses (especially since you can take payments via PayPal) and sales teams. Its free website chatbots offer sales and customer support team benefits as well.
Another downside of using Wix to build a free website is that you can’t sell online without upgrading to at least the first ecommerce plan at $27 per month. However, with paid plans starting at just $16, you can gain some ecommerce functionality through apps in the marketplace. Alternatively, the best free website builder for ecommerce is Weebly’s Square-powered site builder.
For more details about Wix’s features and who it’s best for, read our expert Wix review.
Our Expert Opinion
Wix is the best free website builder for small businesses wanting maximum design freedom and solid SEO and marketing tools needed to grow. While upgrading to paid plans is more expensive than some other site builders, being able to extend your site’s functionality through apps and integrations could be more than worth the cost.
Weebly: Best Free Ecommerce Website Builder for Online Stores
Weebly
Overall Score:
4.72 / 5
Pros
- Robust ecommerce features, including unlimited products, inventory management, and automatic tax calculators—starting for free
- Embed third-party code to track your site’s performance
- SEO and lead capture tools
- Ad-free plans cost less than Wix and GoDaddy
- Cheapest site builder for selling digital goods
Cons
- Not as intuitive or as design-friendly as other site builders
- First paid plan (Personal) still shows Weebly ads
- Storage is limited to 500MB on the free plan
What You Get for Free
- Free website and SSL security hosted on a Weebly subdomain with Weebly and Square branding
- Online store with unlimited products, quick view and checkout, and inventory management
- Extend coupons and sell gift cards
- Online ordering for in-store pickup
- Payments via Afterpay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Square Pay, and Cash App and accept donations
- SEO, Instagram integration, Google and Facebook ad management, coupons, and lead-capture forms
When to Use Weebly / Square Online
Powered by parent company Square Online, Weebly is the best way to build a free website with ecommerce functionality. Sell unlimited physical products, take online orders, manage inventory, extend coupons, sell gift cards, and calculate sales tax automatically—all starting in the free plan.
When to Go With an Alternative
Free Weebly websites are hosted on weebly.com subdomains—not ideal for branding, SEO, or customer perceptions. HubSpot is the only site builder to let you build a free business website on your own domain. Appointment booking with Weebly requires a plugin, which comes free with GoDaddy. Wix is a better choice for those wanting a more intuitive site builder and extensive site customization, whereas Mozello is a more beginner-friendly, free ecommerce website builder for beginners.
Weebly, which is owned by the well-known payment processing company Square, is hands-down the best free ecommerce website builder. Most free site builders don’t include ecommerce capabilities until higher tier plans, but with Weebly, you can host an online store for free with unlimited products and multiple payment transaction options. Mozello also offers a free ecommerce plan, but limits you to five products (vs unlimited with Weebly).
Like GoDaddy, Weebly’s site editor is section-based with limited customization. Unlike most free drag-and-drop website builders on this list, you can’t just add a section by hovering over the site builder. Instead, you have to drag sections from the left-hand menu and then add content to them. To learn more, check out our step-by-step instructions on how to build a Weebly website.
A big plus with Weebly is that you can swap out your theme any time without losing all of your previous work, unlike most other small business website builders. It doesn’t offer as much design freedom as Wix, but for those who want a simple online store website with the flexibility to easily change templates, it may be a faster way to get your business online.
With online ordering and unlimited ecommerce available with all plans, Weebly is also our pick for the best website builder for restaurants. Remember, if you want to use third-party apps like GloriaFood with Weebly, you’ll have to use the classic Weebly editor and opt for a paid plan. Still, the Square editor has all the functionalities most restaurant websites need.
Weebly Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to Weebly
Weebly is a well-known free ecommerce website builder. While it does offer unlimited ecommerce, it’s most suitable for casual online sellers vs large ecommerce operations that would do better to go with Shopify.
Like Wix, Weebly doesn’t offer free website chatbots or appointment booking tools in the free plan—for this, choose GoDaddy. Weebly isn’t nearly as intuitive for site design or customization as Wix, nor as beginner-friendly as casual ecommerce site builder Mozello. Those using the free Weebly editor for site design may be disappointed in its template selection. Both Webnode and Wix offer far more modern, design-forward templates to choose from.
For more details about Weebly’s features and who it’s best for, read our expert Weebly review.
Our Expert Opinion
None of the other top website builders for small businesses come close to matching the ecommerce functionality you get for free with Weebly. Sell services and products, and even accept donations without upgrading to a paid plan, while knowing even more functionality is available when you do.
HubSpot: Best Way to Build a Free Business Website on Your Domain
HubSpot
Overall Score:
4.7 / 5
Pros
- Only site builder to let you build a free business website on your own domain
- Enterprise-level SEO, marketing, and sales tools to scale your site up as your business grows
- Ecommerce via apps, starting for free
- Easy to integrate HubSpot’s other freemium tools
Cons
- Paid plans are more expensive than other platforms
- Free sites are limited to 25 pages, 20 landing pages, and 100 blog articles
- Not as intuitive to use as Wix or as beginner-friendly as Webnode
What You Get for Free
- Free-forever plan including SSL security to encrypt data
- Hosted on your domain but displays HubSpot branding
- 25 pages, 20 landing pages, and 100 blog articles
- Free CRM and email marketing
- Embed code
- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
- Multi-language sites
- Analytics & reporting dashboard
- Enterprise grade security
- SEO recommendations
When to Use HubSpot CMS
If your top-most priority is having the ability to build a free business website on your own domain, HubSpot is the best option. In addition, it’s easy to integrate HubSpot’s other freemium tools (e.g., sales customer relationship management (CRM), email marketing, customer service, and operations software hubs). It also has enterprise-level security, making it a good choice for businesses wanting to ensure data and site visitor security. As with Wix, SEO features are robust, and guidance is built-in for those needing their website to be fully search engine-friendly.
When to Go With an Alternative
HubSpot’s paid plans are pricey, especially after the first tier. Go with Wix for robust plans at a more affordable price, with Weebly or Mozello for cheap ecommerce plans, or with GoDaddy for free built-in website chatbots and appointment booking without needing plugins. We also found HubSpot’s templates (called themes) lacking, especially compared to the modern templates available with Webnode (and even Wix).
We were excited to discover HubSpot was making its content management system (CMS) free to create free landing pages and small business websites. This is a game changer for startups and small businesses that levels the playing field for those chasing larger competitors.
Learn how to build a HubSpot website in six steps and see examples of websites built with HubSpot CMS. Your onboarding includes a detailed step-by-step guide—based on this checklist, you can build a website and have it online in as little as an hour if speed is of the essence. Also included are demos and tutorials so you can quickly learn everything you can do with your website.
While your site will still display HubSpot branding on the free version (which isn’t ideal for businesses), it’s the only site builder that allows you to build a free business website on your own branded domain. You can also access HubSpot’s other free marketing, sales, and customer service tools, including the world-class HubSpot CRM.
Integrating the free CRM with your HubSpot website allows you to create an all-in-one solution for sales, marketing, and customer service. You’ll have all the tools you need to generate leads through inbound marketing, ads, landing pages, and email marketing. This helps you convert leads into customers and turn them into repeat buyers and loyal patrons.
HubSpot CMS Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to HubSpot CMS
Web design statistics show about one in four people will leave a poorly designed website, so the template you start with matters. There are only about 40 free themes on HubSpot, and they’re limited in design style. For unfettered access to 800-plus templates, go with Wix. For modern and easy-to-edit free website templates, try Webnode.
No plans include native ecommerce features, so all require plugins and integrations, unlike Weebly. Likewise, tools for appointments, reservations, and online ordering all require plugins. Weebly is the best free site builder for online ordering, whereas Wix is a better choice if you want all of these features built in (albeit in a paid plan). Choose GoDaddy for website chatbots and appointment booking in a free site builder.
The biggest limitation of using HubSpot CMS to build a free business website is the limit to pages and articles. The free plan allows just 25 web pages, 20 landing pages, and 100 blog articles—not enough for companies that want to implement a search engine optimization (SEO) content marketing plan to generate leads and sales. GoDaddy is a better alternative, as neither storage nor page limits are capped in the free version.
For more details about the key features of the HubSpot CMS and who it’s best for, read our expert HubSpot CMS review.
Our Expert Opinion
HubSpot CMS is the best way to build a free business website on your own domain. Plus, its world-class tools for sales, customer support, and marketing make HubSpot the best free website builder for a wide range of business types and industries. This includes business-to-business (B2B) websites as well as sales and service-oriented companies that need contact management, lead generation, nurturing, and conversion tools.
GoDaddy: Best Free Site Builder for Service-based Businesses
GoDaddy
Overall Score:
4.5 / 5
Pros
- Chatbots come standard in the free version
- Appointment booking tools make it easy for site visitors to book meetings for services or sales presentations
- Ability to take payments via pay links and PayPal in the free version
Cons
- Limited templates and customization
- No app marketplace, unlike Wix, Weebly, and HubSpot
- Paid plans don’t include a free domain (Wix and Weebly do)
- Premium plan ($14.99 per month the first year) required to set up an online store or send appointment reminders
- Advanced ecommerce costs more with GoDaddy than others on this list
What You Get for Free
- Free website on a GoDaddy subdomain, with GoDaddy branding
- Chatbots for 24/7 engagement and conversions
- One-time appointment booking
- Accept payments via PayPal
- SSL security to encrypt and protect site visitor data
- GoDaddy Studio access to create branded content for your website and social media
- Integrated social media marketing
- Yelp and Google listings management from the dashboard
When to Use GoDaddy
The best reasons to use GoDaddy’s free website builder are for appointment bookings and website engagement. Your customers can book one-time appointments with you for a service or a sales presentation, consultation, or demo. While online payments aren’t technically enabled, you can get paid through PayPal using Pay Links.
Two website chatbots are also included, allowing you to engage site visitors and collect information for follow-up. This is a great feature for small teams that need to provide the means for customers to get information about orders or request a follow-up for support. It’s also suitable as a marketing tool to increase conversions with site visitors, especially when live staff aren’t available to field common questions.
When to Go With an Alternative
Native ecommerce isn’t included for free, whereas you can get this with both Mozello and Weebly. Template selection and design customization are limited—Wix is far better, as is Webnode. And while GoDaddy’s feature set is relatively robust, there’s no third-party app marketplace to scale your site’s functionality as your business grows, unlike with HubSpot, Weebly, and Wix.
The GoDaddy website builder is the best free site builder for service-based small businesses with appointment booking tools, website chatbots, and reputation management features. For example, you can connect your Yelp and Google Business Profiles and up to three social media profiles and manage them from the dashboard. This is critical, as our roundup of startup statistics reveals most consumers are active across multiple digital platforms.
With any plan, you’ll get 24/7 site visitor engagement chatbots that can respond to prospect and customer queries and take information for follow-up. A “Hello” chatbot prompts site visitors to indicate what they want to talk to you about, while the “Order” chatbot detects order-related inquiries. The chatbots then send the intelligence gathered to your inbox so you can help prospects and customers find what they need more efficiently.
GoDaddy’s site builder comes with a robust appointment booking system. With the free plan, customers and prospects can book one-time appointments or set up meetings for demos or sales presentations. However, you will need a pricier upper-tier plan to accept payments with appointment bookings, set up recurring payments, events, or classes, or have an online store.
To get started, read our article detailing how to build a website with GoDaddy. The free plan includes access to the GoDaddy Studio, where you can create branded content, such as a logo for your website and images for ads and social media posts. However, some templates are limited to paid users. Even so, for a startup or solopreneur needing a logo and graphics, the GoDaddy Studio represents added value.
GoDaddy Website Builder Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to the GoDaddy Website Builder
The GoDaddy site builder is easy to use, but it’s not a true drag-and-drop editor nor does it come with the extensive customizations and templates offered via Wix. There are settings for page-level SEO. However, unlike Wix, access to GoDaddy’s “get found on Google” tools requires upgrading to a paid plan.
GoDaddy’s free and lower-tier plans don’t include online store ecommerce functionality, so if you want to sell online from day one, choose Weebly. Like most free website builders, GoDaddy doesn’t allow you to build a free website on your own domain without a paid plan—for this, choose HubSpot. And no plans include a free domain, unlike Wix, Weebly, and Strikingly.
GoDaddy users don’t get to choose a template, and template variations are limited. For modern, clean templates that will make your small business shine, turn to Webnode. Likewise, while easy to use, Mozello is even easier to use, has better templates, and allows you to sell up to five products in the free version.
For more details about GoDaddy website builder features and who it’s best for, read our expert GoDaddy website builder review.
Our Expert Opinion
If your operation is service-based or sales-oriented, GoDaddy is the best free website builder for your small business. Clients can book appointments or set up sales demos, and chatbots interact with site visitors 24 hours a day to increase engagement and conversions.
Strikingly: Best Free Website Builder for One-page Websites
Strikingly
Overall Score:
4.1 / 5
Pros
- Publish a one or five-page website quickly and easily, for free
- Take payments in the free version
- Book appointments in the free version
- Low starting cost for paid plans
- Paid plans allow multiple websites (from 2-5)
Cons
- Not as intuitive as others on this list
- No drag-and-drop editing, unlike Wix
- Can’t connect your domain in the free plan, unlike HubSpot
- Limited bandwidth in free and base paid tier
- Can only sell one product in the free and base paid plans, unlike Weebly and Mozello
- Can’t embed custom code without a paid plan
- SEO settings are very basic
- No built-in SEO guides, unlike HubSpot and Wix
What You Get for Free
- Free website on a Strikingly subdomain with Strikingly branding
- Free SSL
- Appointments (limited to one type)
- Ecommerce (limited to one product)
- Very basic SEO checklist and ability to set site-wide (not page or image SEO)
- Basic traffic analytics dashboard
- Ability to add Google Analytics and Webmaster tool tags
- Ability to add collaborators
When to Use Strikingly
While not the most intuitive or full-featured free website builder for small businesses, Strikingly does have some great use cases. If you just need a basic free business website, you can build a one-page website quickly and easily by choosing a template and editing the sections. In addition, it’s unique in offering the ability to build multiple websites in each paid plan, making it a good option for small agencies or entrepreneurs with multiple businesses.
When to Go With an Alternative
Strikingly isn’t as intuitive as Wix or GoDaddy, and its templates aren’t as modern and sleek-looking as those you can get with Webnode. The free and base paid tiers still show Strikingly ads—Mozello’s first paid plan is a better choice at the same starting cost per month. Ecommerce is limited to one product in the free and base tiers, so go with Weebly or Mozello for higher limits. If SEO is a top concern, Wix and HubSpot are far better.
One-page websites are great for portfolios, solopreneurs, independent consultants, and any small business that wants a simple, clean, and minimal website. Strikingly is our pick for the best free website builder for one-page websites. It’s also a place to start if you want to build multiple websites, as you can build from two to five premium sites in paid plans.
Start with any of Strikingly’s many templates and then edit each section to make it your own. Multiple layout options are available to save you time and work, and you can easily delete or add premade sections to build out the content of your one-page website. Keep in mind that a few sections are locked behind paid tiers, but plans start as low as $8 per month should you want to gain access.
Similar to GoDaddy and Weebly, pages are section-based, and editing tools are embedded right into the panel. This makes it easy to customize fonts, sizes, and colors, swap out images, and input settings for sliders, videos, and so on.
You can also take payments with the free site builder plan, with the ability to set up Stripe, PayPal, Square, or set terms to take cash on delivery or some other offline payment type. In addition, you can set one appointment event type, control which hours appointments are available, the duration of the appointment, location, and more.
Strikingly Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to Strikingly
Basic site-level SEO settings are easily accessed in Strikingly, and you can add your Google and Bing tracking codes. However, unlike Wix and Weebly, you’ll need a paid plan to embed custom code, and there’s no SEO Wizard or checklists, unlike Wix and HubSpot. For SEO, Wix and HubSpot are the best overall.
You do get ecommerce for free, but for only one product. Mozello allows five in the free plan, while Weebly users can have unlimited physical products for sale online. Alternatively, if you’re fine processing payments through PayPal, GoDaddy is another viable option as a free ecommerce website builder.
Strikingly is also one of the least intuitive free website builders on this list. Wix allows for the most design freedom with a still easy-to-use editor, whereas GoDaddy’s section-based editor is far easier to navigate than Strikingly’s. Template selection is also limited with Strikingly, especially compared to the vast selection of 800-plus with Wix or the high quality of Webnode’s templates.
In both the free and first paid plans, you’re limited to five pages per website. This isn’t enough for most small businesses, especially those looking to build web organic web traffic by ranking higher on Google. Wix allows unlimited pages in the free version, and HubSpot (an excellent platform for content marketing) allows 25 on the free plan.
Our Expert Opinion
Strikingly’s unique use cases earned it a spot on this list of the best free website builders for small businesses, specifically for one-page websites. Though lacking in some features in the free and base plan, its multi-site Pro and VIP plans also make it great for small agencies and those getting multiple small businesses off the ground.
Webnode: Best Templates for Fast Site Design
Webnode
Overall Score:
3.7 / 5
Pros
- Modern, sophisticated templates make it easy to customize and publish a small business website quickly
- Multi-lingual websites in upper-tier plans
- While not included in the free version, paid plans include from 1-100 email accounts
Cons
- Very limited storage in free and first-tier paid plans, and only 7GB in the highest tier
- Bandwidth is also limited on all but the highest tier plan
- Webnode ads aren’t removed until the third paid plan
- No month-to-month billing option
What You Get for Free
- Free website with a Webnode subdomain and branding
- Free SSL
- Unlimited pages, but a 100MB storage limit
- 1GB of bandwidth
- Ability to monetize with Google Ads
- Add code to header and footer
When to Use Webnode
Webnode’s strengths of sleek, modern templates and its highly intuitive editor makes it a contender for building a free business website, especially if you don’t need much storage space or bandwidth. Its paid plans bring added benefits of multi-language websites, membership sites, and up to 100 free email accounts for your business in the highest tier.
When to Go With an Alternative
Feature for feature, where Webnode lags most against competitors is in the storage and bandwidth provided. All of the other free website builders listed here offer significantly more, so as your web traffic and the size of your site grow, this is a concern. Also, Mozello is better if you want equally sleek templates with the ability to sell online for free.
Webnode’s biggest advantage over other free website builders is in its templates. They are visually striking, which can engage site visitors from the get-go, in and of itself. In fact, web design statistics show most site visitors decide whether they like your site in under 50 milliseconds, so visual impact is essential.
In addition to stellar templates, Webnode offers one of the more intuitive page-building experiences of any other free site builders we’ve used. This makes it easy to customize a template and publish your small business website within a few hours, at no cost, and with no need for previous web design or coding experience.
Another standout feature is that, like Weebly, you can invite collaborators to help you design, add content, and manage your site. It’s also easy to add site and page-level SEO settings to ensure your new website can be found online.
Webnode is also the best free drag-and-drop website builder for small businesses that anticipate needing to scale with multi-lingual sites. While Mozello includes multi-lingual website capabilities starting with the free version, it only offers about six language options, whereas Webnode lists about 20.
But if we’re being honest, the free version of Webnode doesn’t provide enough storage, bandwidth, or essential features for many businesses. Still, as with Strikingly, if you just need a basic site but want it to look professional and modern, this may be an ideal option.
Webnode Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to Webnode
One of Webnode’s main drawbacks is the limited storage and bandwidth (even with paid plans). If you need max storage and bandwidth in a free website option, choose GoDaddy. Webnode ads aren’t removed until the third paid tier, whereas Mozello branding is removed in the first paid tier ($8 per month). For ecommerce, Mozello and Weebly’s free plans are the best alternatives.
Our Expert Opinion
We are truly impressed with the stellar templates and prebuilt pages you get with Webnode. They make it easy to create a professional-looking website within hours. If speed-with-style is of the essence in your website-building process, choose Webnode.
Mozello: Most Intuitive Free Website Builder Interface
Mozello
Overall Score:
3.5 / 5
Pros
- Create multi-lingual sites, even with the free version
- Free ecommerce (5 products) with no transaction fees
- Free domain with all paid plans
- Built-in marketing features to help get traffic to your site
Cons
- 500MB storage limit on free plan
- Free version limits you to five products for ecommerce
- Need the highest tier for payment options besides PayPal
- Limited number of templates
What You Get for Free
- Free website with SSL security on a Mozello-branded subdomain
- 500MB of storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Online store with five products and payments through PayPal
- Marketing features including SEO support, social media, Facebook pixel, and access to HTML code
When to Use Mozello
Mozello’s ease of use makes it a great choice for beginners who want to build a free business website. As ecommerce is enabled beginning for free, it’s also a good option for entrepreneurs with just a few products to sell, such as someone starting up a side business. It’s also an economical choice for any small business as its paid plans are the cheapest on this list for removing ads and using your own domain.
When to Go With an Alternative
You can only sell five products in the free version—with Weebly, you get unlimited ecommerce in a free site-building platform and far more robust features. Mozello’s templates are well-designed, but you don’t get as many choices as you get with Webnode and Wix. Plus, SEO isn’t as strong as with Wix or HubSpot for those wanting to rank on Google, and no plans include appointment booking, like you get with GoDaddy.
We found that Mozello has the most intuitive and user-friendly interface of all the top free website builders. This allows for fast, frustration-free website design. It doesn’t have nearly as many templates to choose from as Wix or Webnode, but those available cover a variety of industries and design styles.
Having an intuitive interface can’t be discounted when it comes to ease and speed of site design. For example, when you click on “extras,” you can quickly change your cookie notice or add share buttons to your website, either of which could be easily overlooked if you needed to go find these settings with other site builders.
It’s also easy to find various settings, such as where to update your SEO settings and attach your Google Analytics ID for tracking. If you want to change the look of your site, that’s easy too, although you need to do that before spending a lot of time customizing your site or adding content, since you’ll start over if you choose a new template.
Mozello Pricing & Features
Best Free Alternatives to Mozello
Where Mozello falls short design-wise in comparison to free website builders like Wix and Webnode, in particular, is the lack of prebuilt content blocks front-loaded with images. This makes it harder to visualize what a section will look like after you add it to the site. It also currently offers far fewer templates than Wix and Webnode.
Besides Weebly, Mozello is the only free website builder on this list to include ecommerce at the free plan level. However, it doesn’t come near to offering the same level of features as Weebly in this regard—you can only sell five products on Mozello’s free site builder vs unlimited with Weebly.
Our Expert Opinion
After testing many free website builders, we felt that Mozello provided the most intuitive interface. Plus, it’s one of few to provide native ecommerce in a free version. This makes Mozello a cost-effective and user-friendly option, even though it falls short as to the number of templates and prebuilt content blocks available to you when building a site.
How We Evaluated the Best Free Website Builders for Small Businesses
To be considered for our list of the top free website builders, providers had to offer a free-forever plan and make it easy to make a small business website, even for beginners. To determine the best of the best, we considered what you get within free plans, affordability of entry-level paid plans, ease of use, and our own first-hand expertise testing—and in some cases, using the platforms to build our own fully functional business websites.
Learn more about each of our evaluation criteria by clicking the tabs:
30%
Pricing
20%
General Features
20%
Niche Features
15%
Customer Support & Ease of Use
15%
Expert Score
30% of Overall Score
We considered providers offering 100% free-forever and affordable entry-level plans. As your business grows and your website needs change, you can move into a premium plan that won’t break the bank. For the most budget-friendly paid plan options, check out our list of the best cheap website builders.
20% of Overall Score
It’s one thing to get a free business website, but what matters is what you get for free. We compared free site builder inclusions like storage and bandwidth limits, a free SSL certificate, site analytics, and built-in tools for marketing and SEO.
20% of Overall Score
Website builders make creating websites easy, and part of what makes various providers so compelling is the unique functionality in addition to general features. We looked at how providers add value to free site builder plans such as appointment booking tools, chatbots, ecommerce features, customization levels, and the availability and range of templates and image libraries.
15% of Overall Score
Free doesn’t matter if a site builder is hard for beginners to use and navigate. We looked for site builders with the most user-friendly interfaces and had support available for free plan users.
15% of Overall Score
It’s one thing to look at each provider and see what they claim to be, and it’s another to have firsthand experience using each provider to build a website. To determine which offer the best set of features, are the easiest to use, and provide the best value, we weighed in with our own expertise.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What’s the best free website building site?
Wix is the best free website building platform. It’s intuitive and easy to use, and is feature-rich right out of the gate. It also has robust SEO features, which is unusual for a free site builder. Plus, third-party apps make it possible to add a lot of functionality to your free Wix site. The one area where it’s not the best is ecommerce—for this, use Weebly’s free site builder plan.
Is Wix actually free?
Wix does offer a completely free website plan for those wanting to explore the platform or even build a free business website. But remember, free plans generally mean hosting on a subdomain (e.g., yoursitename.wix.com) rather than on your own domain, and display ads. This isn’t optimal for professional use as it detracts from your business’ credibility and branding. Still, this could be perfectly fine for a personal portfolio or online resume, or your startup side hustle.
Is there any free website builder that lets me use my own domain?
Yes—you can build a free business website on your own domain with HubSpot CMS. The section-based editor is easy to use, and you can create up to 25 pages, 20 landing pages, and 100 blog posts in the free plan. Learn how easy it is to build a HubSpot website for free in just six steps.
Bottom Line
Our top pick for the best free website builder is Wix. Not only is it user-friendly, but it also provides the most design freedom and customizability, including essential SEO and marketing tools small businesses need to create and grow an online brand presence. It’s free to use, forever, if you want, so there’s no risk to checking out this site builder today.
